The Vaiṣṇavism is directly. Directly. Kṛṣṇa says, sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). If you go directly . . . just like if you reach the sun planet or the predominating deity of, namely, the sun-god, Vivasvān, then naturally you know what is sunshine and what is sun globe. Similarly, if you directly go, if you directly can understand what is Kṛṣṇa, then you understand what is impersonal Brahman and what is localized aspect, Paramātmā. It is . . . brahmaṇo 'haṁ pratiṣṭhā, Kṛṣṇa says. What is this Brahman? Just like the sunshine is situated on the sun globe. Sunshine, although it is very big, it is covering the whole universe, but it is coming from the sun globe. So similarly, the Brahman effulgence may be very, very great, but it is coming as the bodily effulgence of Kṛṣṇa. That we get information from Brahma-saṁhitā:
- yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi-
- koṭiṣv aśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam
- tad brahma niṣkalam anantam aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
- govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi
- (Bs. 5.40)
So actually, either you try to realize impersonal Brahman, or by yogic process the localized Paramātmā, or directly you want to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead, they are all the same. All the same. But this differentiation is due to my angle of vision. Therefore Kṛṣṇa says, ye yathā māṁ prapadyante tāṁs tathaiva bhajāmy aham (BG 4.11). If you want to realize only the Brahman effulgence, all right, you can do that. Or if you want to realize Paramātmā by yogic principle, by meditation, all right, Kṛṣṇa says, it is also all right. And if you want to realize the Supreme Personality of Godhead in directly contact with Him, directly playing with Him as cowherds boy, directly dancing with Him like the gopīs, directly treating Him as your son like Yaśodā-mātā, you can do also. Kṛṣṇa is open to everyone, and you can approach Kṛṣṇa in any capacity—as Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. But it is up to you to relish which one is relishable for you. That is up to you. But Kṛṣṇa is prepared to accept you in any way you like.
So Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān, they are the same one truth, but it is difference of realization. Just like you see one big mountain from a distant place, you'll see just like something, hazy cloud. If you go still further, you'll find something greenish. But if you go actually to the mountain, you'll find so many varieties. So many varieties. There are houses, there are trees, there are men, there are animals. Similarly, to the spiritual world. First of all, this material world becomes . . . just like Lord Buddha, he did not say anything further than making this material world as void, śūnyavāda. That is a fact. If you are . . . in the previous verse it has been stated, vīta-rāga-bhaya-krodhāḥ (BG 2.56). If you are attached to these material varieties, then you cannot enter into the spiritual varieties, or in the spiritual world. Kṛṣṇa is so kind. If you have got a pinch of desire to enjoy this material world, then you'll have to remain here as . . . either as Lord Brahmā or as a small ant, according to your karma. But when you completely become free from material attachment, then the spiritual world is . . . so when the Buddha philosophy says śūnyavāda, nirvāṇa, nirvāṇa, it means the same thing, vīta-rāga: you have to become detached. You have to make this material enjoyment zero.