There is the important point of Māyāvādī philosophers. Every one of them, they say that "I am God," but actually he thinks within himself that "What kind of God I am?" That is the position. But for argument's sake they will play so many things in support of their views, but actually, any sane man will think that "What kind of God I am? I cannot defend myself from the slightest attack of this material nature, and still I claim..." But they cannot admit frankly. They think like that. That is being admitted here by the chief disciple of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, that "Although we say, 'Yes, this is...,' but it does not appeal to our mind." He is frankly saying.
- śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-vākya dṛḍha satya māni
- kali-kāle sannyāse 'saṁsāra' nāhi jini
Now he says that "What Lord Caitanya, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, has said, that is very nice. And we simply accept this sannyāsa order. Oh, that will not help us. Simply by accepting, changing the garment, colored garment, and without understanding anything properly or dealing properly, that is not the way for salvation." Because according to Śaṅkarācārya, anyone who accepts sannyāsa, he becomes immediately Nārāyaṇa, God. He immediately becomes God. So that is being refuted by one of the disciples, that "This is nonsense, that simply by accepting and changing the garment I become God. This is not..." Actually, one has to understand things as they are. So therefore, the explanation as given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu, that is right.
- harer nāma-ślokera yei karilā vyākhyāna
- sei satya sukhadārtha parama pramāṇa
Caitanya Mahāprabhu has explained before them that "My Guru Mahārāja saw Me a fool. Therefore he has asked Me the 'Chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa.' " So "This explanation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu is very nice."
bhakti vinā mukti nahe, bhāgavate kaya
- kali-kāle nāmābhāse sukhe mukti haya
So far salvation is concerned, nobody can be liberated without bhakti, without devotional service. Bhakti vinā, without devotion, or without love of Godhead, without attaining... That is the verdict of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. So long one is not a surrendered soul to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no question of liberation from this material world. Bhāgavata says, śreyaḥ-sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya te vibho. Here's a nice verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. It is said there that śreyaḥ-sṛtim, the real path of salvation, śreyaḥ-sṛtim, bhaktim, that is devotional service, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Śreyah-sṛtiṁ bhaktim. Bhaktim udasya te vibho. If somebody gives up the path of devotional service, kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye, and wastes time simply for understanding that "This is not Brahman, this is not Brahman..." That is the way of Māyāvādī philosophers. They scrutinize that "This is māyā and this is Brahman"; therefore they are called Māyāvādīs. Simply, what is not Brahman... They say it is one, but simply they distinguish, "This is māyā, this is Brahman." Why this is māyā? They say, wherefrom the māyā comes? Then it becomes dualism actually. Although they say that "We are monists, one," but they explain that this māyā is illusion. Māyā is temporary, and actually, everything is one. Eko brahma dvitīya nāsti. But the Vaiṣṇava philosophy is that "Yes... It is..." It is called viśiṣṭādvaitavāda. We also say, "Yes, one," but one in variety. There are varieties. We don't say that māyā is something external. Māyā is there. Māyā is there. It is not external. It may be inferior, as it is explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that material energy, the material nature is inferior. That does not mean infer... Some part of my body is inferior. That does not mean it has no existence. It is not mithyā. They say everything mithyā. Mithyā means false. So inferior part of my body there may be, but it is not false. Similarly, the māyā, māyā is not false. It is temporary.
So the Bhāgavata says, simply to understand "This is not Brahman, this is māyā, this is not Brahman," if you go on speculating and without any interest for devotional service or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then teṣām eṣa kleśala eva śiṣyate. So their advancement in self-realization is simply troublesome. Troublesome. They simply take the trouble of discriminating that "This is māyā, this is Brahman. This is false, this is reality." Because they have no other engagement. For a devotee there are so many engagements, but the Māyāvādī philosopher takes it for granted that these devotees' activities... "They are cooking for Kṛṣṇa or they are offering prasādam to Kṛṣṇa, they are decorating Kṛṣṇa, or they are singing for Kṛṣṇa, glorifying Kṛṣṇa—these are all mayic activities," they say. Because this bhakti-mārga is not appealing to them. They simply want to... Similarly, the bhaktas also say that "You are simply wasting time. Real thing is Kṛṣṇa. Just engage yourself in the service of Kṛṣṇa." They also say, "Kṛṣṇa is also māyā." According to them, Kṛṣṇa is also māyā. And Kṛṣṇa in Bhagavad-gītā says that they are fools. How? Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā. Mūḍha means "The fools, they minimize Me. They decry at Me." Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritaḥ (BG 9.11). "Because I come as incarnation, therefore the fools, they consider..., or they deride at Me." Paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto. They do not know the background of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Mama bhūta-maheśvaram. Kṛṣṇa says, "I am the Supreme Lord." They do not know. Who do not know? The Māyāvādīs, they do not know. So therefore their labor of love for discriminating what is māyā and what is not māyā is simply troublesome. Teṣām kleśala eva avaśiṣyate nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām. Just like the skins of rice, when it is taken, there is no more grain. So the grain is separated from the skin by beating. There is a beating machine in India. That is a crude, original way of separating the grain from the skin. So when the skin is out from the grain, if you simply beat the skin, no more there is grain. So similarly, if you make minus Kṛṣṇa, then the study of Bhagavad-gītā is simply waste of time and labor of love. That's all. "Not Kṛṣṇa." This means, this Māyāvāda philosophy means simply taking trouble. Bhagavad-gītā is all full..., simply Kṛṣṇa. To understand this, it is a science of Kṛṣṇa. And if somebody says, "It is not Kṛṣṇa," then what is that? Simply waste of time and labor. The same thing: the grain is taken out. Simply the skin, enjoy the skin. What is there in the skin?
So this is the verdict of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that śreyaḥ-sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya te vibho kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye. Bodha-labdhaye. They stress on knowledge. What is this knowledge? You can talk on any insignificant thing for many years. That is not knowledge. Just like in the present modern civlization, so many nonsense articles without any utility, or volumes of volumes of books are sold in the market. There is nothing, no substance. Take for this..., newspaper. Especially in your country, volumes of papers in the news. Just after glancing over, it is thrown away. That's all. No more use. Just as The newspaper is published early in the morning, and just in the afternoon it is useless, it is heap of paper only, because there is no substance. Nobody can take any interest. But see Bhagavad-gītā, it is, five thousand years before it was published, and a few pages only, and how much care is being taken after Bhagavad-gītā. Because there is substance. Similarly, if you don't accept the substance, simply if you are busy with the skin... In Bengali it is called cavara nie tanake (?). Cavara means skin. You have seen coconut. The coconut is covered by heavy, what is called, fibers. So if you give up the coconut and simply quarrel with the fibers, what profit is there? There is no profit. Similarly, if you give up God, or Kṛṣṇa, who is the essence of everything, and you make your advancement in scientific knowledge, in physics and chemistry and so many departments of knowledge, so according to Bhāgavata this is simply waste of time. Simply waste of time. But what we'll gain? Kevala-bodha-labdhaye. Suppose you understand in your human form of life the whole constitution of the universe... That is stated in Bible also, that "If somebody understands everything, but not God, then what does he gain?" Similarly, there is another verse in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that one may be very much expert to count even the atoms of the universe. You smash the universe and grind it into powder, and you just count all the atoms. That is possible . But still, it is not possible to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore who understands the Supreme Personality of Godhead, he understands everything. Tasmin vijñāte sarvam evaṁ vijñātaṁ bhavanti. If somebody understand the Supreme Absolute Truth, Personality of Godhead, he understands everything because He is everything.