There is no difference between... (CC)

Expressions researched:
"no difference between" |"no essential difference between" |"no factual difference between" |"no fundamental difference between" |"no material difference between" |"no mundane difference between" |"no potential difference between" |"no practically difference between" |"no qualitative difference between" |"not much difference between" |"not much difference between"

CC Preface and Introduction

CC Preface:

There is no difference between the teachings of Lord Caitanya presented here and the teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā. The teachings of Lord Caitanya are practical demonstrations of Lord Kṛṣṇa's teachings. Lord Kṛṣṇa's ultimate instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā is that everyone should surrender unto Him, Lord Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa promises to take immediate charge of such a surrendered soul. The Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is already in charge of the maintenance of this creation by virtue of His plenary expansion, Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, but this maintenance is not direct.

CC Preface:

Lord Caitanya therefore teaches direct worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who appeared as the foster child of the King of Vraja. He also teaches that the place known as Vṛndāvana is as good as Lord Kṛṣṇa because, Lord Kṛṣṇa being the Absolute Truth, there is no difference between Him and His name, qualities, form, pastimes, entourage and paraphernalia.

CC Preface:

On the basis of the sāṅkhya philosophy of acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, which maintains that the Supreme Lord is simultaneously one with and different from His creation, Lord Caitanya taught that the most practical way for the mass of people to practice sānkhya-yoga meditation is simply to chant the holy name of the Lord. He taught that the holy name of the Lord is the sound incarnation of the Lord and that since the Lord is the absolute whole, there is no difference between His holy name and His transcendental form. Thus by chanting the holy name of the Lord one can directly associate with the Supreme Lord by sound vibration.

CC Introduction:

It is not that Rādhārāṇī is separate from Kṛṣṇa. Rādhārāṇī is also Kṛṣṇa, for there is no difference between the energy and the energetic. Without energy, there is no meaning to the energetic, and without the energetic, there is no energy. Similarly, without Rādhā there is no meaning to Kṛṣṇa, and without Kṛṣṇa there is no meaning to Rādhā.

CC Adi-lila

CC Adi 1.35, Purport:

The service of the spiritual master is essential. If there is no chance to serve the spiritual master directly, a devotee should serve him by remembering his instructions. There is no difference between the spiritual master's instructions and the spiritual master himself. In his absence, therefore, his words of direction should be the pride of the disciple.

CC Adi 1.47, Purport:

Our only shelter is the Supreme Lord, and one who teaches how to approach Kṛṣṇa is the functioning form of the Personality of Godhead. There is no difference between the shelter-giving Supreme Lord and the initiating and instructing spiritual masters. If one foolishly discriminates between them, he commits an offense in the discharge of devotional service.

CC Adi 1.68, Purport:

Lord Balarāma is the first vilāsa expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and the four-handed Nārāyaṇa forms in Vaikuṇṭha expand from Balarāma. There is no difference between the bodily forms of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma except that Their bodily colors are different. Similarly, Śrī Nārāyaṇa in Vaikuṇṭha has four hands, whereas Kṛṣṇa has only two. The expansions of the Lord who manifest such bodily differences are known as vilāsa-vigrahas.

CC Adi 2.9, Purport:

Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī says that Nandasuta has again appeared as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and he bases this statement on his understanding that the Vedic literature concludes there is no difference between Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. This the author will prove. If it is thus proved that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the origin of all tattvas (truths), namely Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān, and that there is no difference between Śrī Kṛṣṇa and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, it will not be difficult to understand that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is also the same origin of all tattvas.

CC Adi 2.100, Translation:

“In these six kinds of forms there are innumerable varieties. Although they are many, they are all one: there is no difference between them.

CC Adi 4.56, Purport:

According to Vedānta philosophy, there is no difference between the potent and the potency; they are identical. We cannot differentiate between one and the other, any more than we can separate fire from heat.

CC Adi 4.81, Purport:

All these womanly forms of Kṛṣṇa are expansions corresponding to His plenary expansions of Viṣṇu forms. These expansions have been compared to reflected forms of the original form. There is no difference between the original form and the reflected forms. The female reflections of Kṛṣṇa's pleasure potency are as good as Kṛṣṇa Himself.

CC Adi 5.22, Purport:

There is no difference between atheists and the faithful in the Vaikuṇṭha planets because all who settle there are freed from the material qualities, and thus suras and asuras become equally obedient loving servitors of the Lord.

CC Adi 5.41, Purport:

The Kūrma Purāṇa also confirms, deha-dehi-vibhedo ’yaṁ neśvare vidyate kvacit: "There is no difference between body and soul in the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Cause and effect are material. For example, it is seen that a father's body is the cause of a son's body, but the soul is neither cause nor effect. On the spiritual platform there are none of the differences we find in cause and effect.

CC Adi 5.128, Translation:

They know that there is no difference between the incarnation and the source of all incarnations. Previously Lord Kṛṣṇa was regarded in the light of different principles by different people.

CC Adi 5.132, Purport:

In this connection we may mention an incident that took place between two of our sannyāsīs while we were preaching the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra in Hyderabad. One of them stated that "Hare Rāma" refers to Śrī Balarāma, and the other protested that "Hare Rāma" means Lord Rāma. Ultimately the controversy came to me, and I gave the decision that if someone says that the "Rāma" in "Hare Rāma" is Lord Rāmacandra and someone else says that the "Rāma" in "Hare Rāma" is Śrī Balarāma, both are correct because there is no difference between Śrī Balarāma and Lord Rāma. Here in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta we find that Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī has stated the same conclusion:

yei yei rūpe jāne, sei tāhā kahe

sakala sambhave kṛṣṇe, kichu mithyā nahe

If someone calls Lord Rāmacandra by the vibration Hare Rāma, understanding it to mean "O Lord Rāmacandra!" he is quite right. Similarly, if one says that Hare Rāma means "O Śrī Balarāma!" he is also right. Those who are aware of the viṣṇu-tattva do not fight over all these details.

CC Adi 5.221, Purport:

There is no difference between meditating and chanting, but in the present age meditation is not possible on this planet. Therefore loud chanting of a mantra like the mahā-mantra, Hare Kṛṣṇa, with soft chanting of the aṣṭādaśākṣara, the mantra of eighteen syllables, is recommended.

CC Adi 7.5, Purport:

In his Anubhāṣya commentary Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura describes the Pañca-tattva as follows: The supreme energetic, the Personality of Godhead, manifesting in order to enjoy five kinds of pastimes, appears as the members of the Pañca-tattva. Actually there is no difference between them because they are situated on the absolute platform, but they manifest different spiritual varieties as a challenge to the impersonalists to taste different kinds of spiritual humors (rasas).

CC Adi 7.83, Purport:

While chanting and dancing or hearing the holy name of the Lord, one automatically remembers the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and because there is no difference between the holy name and Kṛṣṇa, the chanter is immediately linked with Kṛṣṇa. Thus connected, a devotee develops his original attitude of service to the Lord.

CC Adi 7.115, Purport:

One who thinks that there is a difference between Lord Viṣṇu's body and His soul dwells in the darkest region of ignorance. There is no difference between Lord Viṣṇu's body and Viṣṇu's soul, for they are advaya-jñāna, one knowledge.

CC Adi 14.32, Purport:

Sometimes scientists argue that matter and spirit are one, with no difference between them. Factually, in a higher sense, there is no difference between matter and spirit, but one should have the practical knowledge that matter, being an inferior state of existence, is useless for our spiritual, blissful life, whereas spirit, being a finer state, is full of bliss.

CC Adi 17.16, Purport:

There is no difference between the spiritual positions of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu, or Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma. All of Them are but different manifestations of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. During this special ceremony, all the devotees of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu could understand that there is no difference between Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda Prabhu.

CC Adi 17.73, Purport:

The holy name is identical with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is no difference between the person God and His holy name. This is the absolute position of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore one who distinguishes between the Lord and His name is called a pāṣaṇḍī, or nonbeliever, an atheistic demon.

CC Madhya-lila

CC Madhya 4.160, Translation:

There is no difference between My body and Gopīnātha's body. They are one and the same. Therefore if you smear the sandalwood pulp on the body of Gopīnātha, you will naturally also smear it on My body. Thus the temperature of My body will be reduced.

CC Madhya 5.114, Purport:

One should also know that Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi—those places in Bengal where Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stayed—are equal to Vrajabhūmi, or Vṛndāvana. There is no difference between the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana and those of Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi, or Śrīdhāma Māyāpur.

CC Madhya 8.83, Purport:

The only worshipable object is Kṛṣṇa. Therefore although there is no difference between a devotee in śānta-rasa or dāsya-rasa, vātsalya-rasa or mādhurya-rasa, one can still make a comparative study of the intensity of love in these different transcendental positions.

CC Madhya 8.138, Purport:

The Kāma-gāyatrī mantra is just like a Vedic hymn, but it is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. There is no difference between the Kāma-gāyatrī and Kṛṣṇa. Both are composed of twenty-four and a half transcendental syllables (see Madhya 21.125–29). The mantra depicted in letters is also Kṛṣṇa, and the mantra rises just like the moon.

CC Madhya 9.117, Translation:

Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa continued, “"According to transcendental realization, there is no difference between the forms of Nārāyaṇa and Kṛṣṇa. Yet in Kṛṣṇa there is a special transcendental attraction due to the conjugal mellow, and consequently He surpasses Nārāyaṇa. This is the conclusion of transcendental mellows."

CC Madhya 9.153, Translation:

“There is no difference between Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Nārāyaṇa, for They are of the same form. Similarly, there is no difference between the gopīs and the goddess of fortune, for they also are of the same form.

CC Madhya 9.155, Translation:

“There is no difference between the transcendental forms of the Lord. Different forms are manifested due to different attachments of different devotees. Actually the Lord is one, but He appears in different forms just to satisfy His devotees.

CC Madhya 9.155, Purport:

The Lord is advaita, without differentiation. There is no difference between the forms of Kṛṣṇa, Rāma, Nārāyaṇa and Viṣṇu. All of Them are one. Sometimes foolish people ask whether when we chant "Rāma" in the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra we refer to Lord Rāmacandra or Lord Balarāma. If a devotee says that the name Rāma in the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra refers to Balarāma, a foolish person may become angry because to him the name Rāma refers to Lord Rāmacandra. Actually there is no difference between Balarāma and Lord Rāma. It does not matter whether one refers to Balarāma or to Lord Rāmacandra when chanting Hare Rāma, for there is no difference between Them. However, it is offensive to think that Balarāma is superior to Lord Rāmacandra or vice versa.

CC Madhya 9.155, Purport:

One must learn from a realized devotee. Only then can one learn how to distinguish between one form of the Lord and another. The conclusion is that there is no difference between the forms of the Lord, but there is a difference between His forms and those of the demigods.

CC Madhya 10.166, Purport:

Brahmānanda Bhāratī wanted to prove that there is no difference between the Supreme Lord and the jīva, whereas Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to prove that He and Brahmānanda Bhāratī were jīvas and that although the jīvas are Brahman, they are many but the Supreme Lord, the Supreme Brahman, is one.

CC Madhya 11.187, Purport:

In other words, Māyāvādīs say that if the living entity is pleased, the Lord is also pleased, and if the living entity is displeased, the Lord is also displeased. By juggling words in this way, Māyāvādīs try to prove that there is no difference between the living entity and the Lord. This, however, is not a fact.

CC Madhya 12.194, Purport:

According to the monists, God and the devotee may be separate in the material state, but when they are spiritually situated, there is no difference between them. This is called advaita-siddhānta, the conclusion of the monists. Monists consider devotional service of the Lord to be material activity; therefore they consider such devotional activities to be the same as karma, or fruitive activity.

CC Madhya 13.139, Purport:

Ultimately there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa manifest in matter or Kṛṣṇa manifest in spirit because both are His energies. For Kṛṣṇa, there is no distinction between matter and spirit.

CC Madhya 16.66, Translation:

Nityānanda Prabhu replied, “O Lord, You are the life, and I am the body. There is no difference between the body and life itself, but life is more important than the body.

CC Madhya 17.31, Purport:

A mahā-bhāgavata, being learned and advanced in spiritual consciousness, sees no difference between a tiger, an elephant or a learned scholar. The test of advanced spiritual consciousness is that one becomes fearless.

CC Madhya 17.132, Translation:

The Lord's holy name, His form and His personality are all one and the same. There is no difference between them. Since all of them are absolute, they are all transcendentally blissful.

CC Madhya 17.132, Translation:

There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's body and Himself or between His name and Himself. But as far as the conditioned soul is concerned, one's name is different from one's body, from one's original form and so on.

CC Madhya 17.132, Purport:

There is no such thing as māyā Kṛṣṇa because Kṛṣṇa is not a product of the material creation. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's body and His soul. Kṛṣṇa is simultaneously both soul and body. The distinction between body and soul applies to conditioned souls.

CC Madhya 17.134, Purport:

In the material world, there is no conception of absolute; however, when we come to Kṛṣṇa consciousness we find that there is no material difference between Kṛṣṇa's body and His names, activities and entourage.

CC Antya-lila

CC Antya 2.67, Translation:

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. Therefore there is no difference between Him, Lord Jagannātha and Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva.

CC Antya 5.118, Purport:

There is actually no difference between Lord Jagannātha and Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, but the ignorant poet from Bengal applied a material distinction to the body of Lord Śrī Jagannātha.

CC Antya 5.122, Purport:

One should know perfectly well that there is no difference between the body and the soul of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one conceives of a distinction between His body and His soul, one is immediately conditioned by material nature.

CC Antya 5.148, Translation:

There is no difference between Lord Jagannātha and Kṛṣṇa, but here Lord Jagannātha is fixed as the Absolute Person appearing in wood. Therefore He does not move.