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Chapter 7 - His Discource On The Vedanta

"The Lord is beyond the inferior and marginal energies as above mentioned, and His spiritual energy is manifested in three different phases: as eternal existence, eternal bliss and eternal knowledge. As far as eternal existence is concerned, it is conducted by the sandhini potency; similarly, bliss and knowledge are conducted by the hladhini and samvit potencies respectively. As the supreme energetic Lord, He is the supreme controller of the spiritual, marginal and material energies. And all these different types of energies are connected with the Lord in eternal devotional service."

"The Supreme Personality of Godhead is thus enjoying in His transcendental eternal form. Is it not astounding that one dares to call the Supreme Lord nonenergetic? The Lord is the controller of all energies, and the living entities are parts and parcels of one of the energies. Therefore there is a gulf of difference between the Lord and the living entities. How then can one say that the Lord and the living entities are one and the same? In the Bhagavad-Gita also the living entities are described as belonging to the superior energy of the Lord. According to the principles of intimate correlation between the energy, and the energetic, both of them are non-different also. Therefore, the Lord and the living entities are nondifferent as the Energy and the energetic."

"Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and ego are all inferior energies of the Lord, but the living entities are different from all as superior energy. This is the version of Bhagavad-Gita."

"The transcendental form of the Lord is eternally existent and full of transcendental bliss. How then can such a form be a product of the materail mode of goodness? Anyone, therefore, who does not believe in the form of the Lord is certainly a faithless demon and as such is untouchable, a not to be seen persona non grata fit to be punished by the Plutonic king."

"The Buddists are called atheists because they have no repect for the Vedas, but those who defy the Vedic conclusions, as above mentioned, under the pretense of being followers of the Vedas, are verily more dangerous than the Buddists."

"Sri Vyasadeva very kindly complied the Vedic knowledge in his Vedanta-sutra, but if one hears the commentation of the Mayavadi school(as represented by the Sankara sampradaya) certainly he will be misled on the path of spiritual realization."

"The theory of emanations is the begining subject of the Vedanta-sutra. All the cosmic manifectations are emanations from the Absolute Personality of Godhead by His inconceivable different energies. The example of the touchstone is applicable to the theory of emanation. The touchstone can convert an unlimited quantity of iron into gold, and still the touchstone remains as it is. Similarly, the Supreme Lord can produce all manifested worlds by His inconceivable energies, and yet He is full and unchanged. He is purna [complete], and although an unlimited number of purnas emanate from Him, He is still purna."

"The Theory of illusion of the Mayavada school is advocated on the ground that the theory of emanation will cause a transformation of the Absolute Truth. If that is the case, Vysadeva is wrong. To avoid this, they have skillfully brought in the theory of illusion. But the world or the cosmic creation is not false, as maintained by the Mayavada school. It simply has no permanent existence. A nonpermanent thing cannot be called false altogether. But the conception that the material body is the self is certainly wrong."

"Pranava [Om] or the omkara in the Vedas is the primeval hymn. This transcendental sound is identical with the form of the Lord. All the Vedic hymns are based on this pranava omkara. Tattvamasi is but a side word in the Vedic literatures, and therefore this word cannot be the primeval hymn of the Vedas. Sripada Sankaracharaya has given more stress on the side word tattvamasi than on the primeval principle omkara."

The Lord thus spoke on the Vedanta-sutra and defied all the propaganda of the Mayavada School. The Bhattacharya tried to defend himself and his Mayavada school by jugglery of logic and grammar, but the Lord was able to defeat him by His forceful arguments. He affirmed that we are all related with the Personality of Godhead eternally and that devotional service is own eternal function to exchange the dealings of our relations.

And the result of such exchanges us to attain prema or love of Godhead. When love of Godhead is attained, love for all other living beings automatically follows because the Lord is the sum total of all living beings.

The Lord said that but for these three items-namely, eternal relation with God, exchange of dealings with Him and the attainment of love for Him - all that is instructed in the Vedas is superfluous and concocted.

The Lord further added that the Mayavada philosophy taught by Sripada Sankaracharya is an imaginary explaination of the Vedas, but it had to be taught by him (Sankaracharya) because he was ordered to teach it by the Personality of Godhead. In the Padma Purana it is stated that the Personality of Godhead ordered His Lordship Siva to deviate the human race from Him (Personality of Godhead.) The Personality of Godhead was to be so covered so that people would be encouraged to generate more and more population. His Lordship Siva said to Devi: "In the Kali-yuga, I shall preach the Mayavada philosophy, which is nothing but clouded Buddism, in the garb of a brahmana."

After hearing all these speeches of the Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, the Bhattacharya was struck with wonder and awe and regarded Him in dead silence. The Lord then encouraged him with assurance that there was no cause to wonder. "I say that devotional service unto the Personality of Godhead is the highest goal of human life." He then quoted a sloka from the Bhagavatam and assured him that even the liberated souls who are absorbed in the spirit and spiritual realization also take to the devotional service of the Lord Hari because the Personality of Godhead has such transcendental qualities that He attracts the heart of the liberated soul too.

Then the Bhattacharya desired to listen to the explanation of the "atmarama" sloka from the Bhagavatam (1.7.10). The Lord first of all asked Bhattacharaya to explain it, and after that He would explain it. The Bhattacharaya then scholarly explained the sloka with special reference to logic. He explained the sloka in nine different ways chiefly based on logic because he was the most renowned scholar of logic of the time.

The Lord, after hearing the Bhattacharaya, thanked him for the scholarly persentation of the sloka, and then, at the request of the Bhattacharaya, the Lord explained the sloka in sixty-four different ways without touching the nine explanations given by the Bhattacharaya.

Thus after hearing the explanantion of the atmarama sloka from the Lord, the Bhattacharaya was convinced that such a scholarly presentation is impossible for an earthly creature. Before this Sri Gopinatha Acharaya tried to convince him of the divinity of the Lord, but at that time he could not so accept Him. But the Bhattacharaya was astounded by the Lord's exposition of the Vedanta-sutra and explanations of the atmarama sloka, and thus he began to think that he had committed a great offense at the lotus feet of the Lord by not recognizing Him to be Krsna Himself. He then surrendered unto Him, repenting for his past dealings with Him, and the Lord was kind enough to accept the Bhattacharaya. Out of His causeless mercy, the Lord manifested before him first as four-handed Narayana and then again as two-handed Lord Krsna with a flute in His hand.

The Bhattacharaya at once fell down at the lotus feet of the Lord and composed many suitable slokas in praise of the Lord by His grace. He composed almost one hundred slokas in praise of the Lord. The Lord then embraced him, and out of transcendental ecstasy the Bhattacharaya lost consciousness of the physical state of life.

Tears, trembling, throbbing of the heart, perspiration, emotional waves, dancing, singing, crying and all the eight symptoms of trance were manifested in the body of the Bhattacharaya. Sri Gopinatha Acharaya became very glad and astonished by this marvellous conversion of his brother-in-law by the grace of the Lord.

Out of the hundred celebrated slokas composed by the Bhattacharaya in praise of the Lord, the following two are most important, and these two slokas explain the mission of the Lord in gist. They are as follows:

1. Let me surrender unto the Personality of Godhead who has appeared now as Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He is the ocean of all mercy and has come down to teach us material detachment, learning, and devotional service to Himself.

2.Since pure devoltional service of the Lord has been lost in the oblivion of time, the Lord has appeared to renovate the principles, and therefore I offer my obeisances unto His lotus feet.