750414 - Lecture - Hyderabad

Lectures by Date, 1975

His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

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750414LE-HYDERABAD - April 14, 1975 - 22:21 Minutes

Prabhupāda: (break) . . .śakti, śaktimān. The Supreme Lord is śaktimān. Just like the sun and the sunshine and the sun-god, and practically they are one. From the sun-god there is. . . The abode of the sun-god is the sun globe, and the shining of the sun globe is also sunshine. So in one sense they are one; in other sense they are different. Just like the sunshine is reaching here, it does not mean the sun globe is reaching here. That is also explained in the Bhagavad-gītā, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ jagad avyakta-mūrtinā (BG 9.4): "I am spread." So sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma, everything is Kṛṣṇa. But at the same time, if you commit mistake. . . The same way, "Because the sunshine is here, therefore sun is here," that is a mistake. This is viśiṣṭa-advaita.

They are all one, advaya-jnana, but still they're different. Advaita-viśiṣṭa. That is explained in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that brahmeti paramātmeti bhagavān iti śabdyate. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jnanam advayam (SB 1.2.11). Advayam means advaya, advaita, no difference, the same thing. But viśiṣṭa—this is Brahman, this is Paramātmā—viśiṣṭa. Advaita but viśiṣṭa. A specific reference: Brahman, Paramātmā and Bhagavān, they are one. But still, you cannot say Brahman is Bhagavān. The same example: the sunshine and the sun globe, they are one. Unless there is appearance of the sun globe, sun planet, you cannot have sunshine. So in that sense, they are one, but still, if you take sunshine as the sun globe, that is not correct.

'Indian lady:' . . . (indistinct) . . . one.

Prabhupāda: Yes. They're all one.

'Indian lady:' They're all one . . . (indistinct) . . ..

Prabhupāda: Yes. But still there is specific differences. That is called viśiṣṭa: one with specific difference. And the Māyāvādī philosophers, they say, "No, there is no specific difference. This is māyā." But we Vaiṣṇava, we don't say that. That sunshine is sunshine, sun globe is sun globe, and sun-god is sun-god. But taken together, they are all one. Diversity in unity. That is viśiṣṭa-advaitavāda. So actually, all the Vaiṣṇava ācāryas—Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Nimbārka and Viṣṇu Svāmī—there is no difference of opinion, but they have explained the Absolute Truth more vividly in their own angle of vision. Otherwise there is no difference. They never say that God and the living being are one. They will never say that. That is not Vaiṣṇava philosophy. That is Māyāvāda philosophy. So the propounder of Māyāvāda philosophy is Śaṅkarācārya, and other Vaiṣṇava ācāryas—Madhvācārya, Rāmānujācārya, Nimbārka, Viṣṇu Svāmī—practically they are all one opinion. There is no. . . They differ from Śaṅkarācārya.

And if we study philosophy intelligently, then we can understand that living being, jīva, how he can become one with the Supreme. Then why he has become jīva? Jīva is eternally. In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated, mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ jīva-loka sanātana (BG 15.7). Sanātana. Sanātana means eternally. He is fragmental parts of the Supreme. Not that by māyā he is thinking fragmental parts but actually he is one. That is Māyāvāda philosophy. But Kṛṣṇa does not say that. Kṛṣṇa says sanātana. He is fragmental parts sanātana, eternally. Besides that, it is clearly explained in the Bhagavad-gītā that the spirit cannot be cut into pieces, acchedyo 'yam adāhyo 'yam (BG 2.24), so how it becomes a small fragment? Acchedyo 'yam: you cannot cut into pieces, spirit. And it is further explained that these fragmental parts eternally, from the very beginning.

Kṛṣṇa also says in the Bhagavad-gītā, "My dear Arjuna, you, Me and all these soldiers and kings who have assembled there, they existed like this in the past, they're existing in the same way, and they'll continue to exist like that." There is no question of becoming one. Past, present, future, always we are distinct. So how they can be one, sanātana? We are part and parcel sanātana, eternally. But in quality we are one. In quality we are one. Kṛṣṇa is eternal; we are eternal. Kṛṣṇa is spirit; we are spirit. Kṛṣṇa is also person; we are also person. In this way, we are one, but He is the great and we are servants. This is actual position. And if we claim that after being freed from māyā, we shall become one with the Supreme, that is called Māyāvāda. We eternally, we are separate. Dvaitavāda. That is Madhvācārya's philosophy, dvaitavāda. So if you consider very, I mean, cool-headed, then Vaiṣṇava philosophy is the best, not this Māyāvāda's philosophy.