Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta - First Chapter Fifth Shower
Fifth Shower
Acintya-bhedābheda-tattva
The philosophy of inconceivable oneness and difference between Bhagavān and His potencies
In the previous sections, there was a deliberation on the six types of Prameyas (provable subjects or that which is established by the system of bona fide Pramāṇa), namely Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa-rasa, the svarūpa of the jīva, the conditioned soul and the liberated soul. In this section, we are briefly discussing the philosophy of Acintya-bhedābheda-tattva (the philosophy of inconceivable oneness and difference between Bhagavān and His potencies). First, we will present the teachings on the subject, given by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as described in Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta. At the time of instructing Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, the most prominent impersonal (Māyāvādī) Sannyāsī of Vārāṇasī, Śrīman Mahāprabhu said:
śakti-pariṇāma-vāda—
vyāsera sūtrete kahe 'pariṇāma'-vāda
'vyāsa bhrānta'—bali' tāra uṭhāila vivāda
pariṇāma-vāde īśvara hayena vikārī
eta kahi' 'vivarta'-vāda sthāpanā ye kari
vastutaḥ pariṇāma-vāda—sei se pramāṇa
dehe ātma-buddhi—ei vivartera sthāna
avicintya-śakti-yukta śrī-bhagavān
icchāya jagad-rūpe pāya pariṇāma
tathāpi acintya-śaktye haya avikārī
prākṛta cintāmaṇi tāhe dṛṣṭānta ye dhari
nānā ratna-rāśi haya cintāmaṇi haite
tathāpiha maṇi rahe svarūpe avikṛte
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 7.121-126)
“Śrīla Vyāsadeva has described in his Vedānta-sūtras that everything is a transformation of the energy of the Lord. Śrī Śaṅkarācārya [knowing this theory to be opposed to his own imaginary Māyāvāda theory] commented that Vyāsadeva was mistaken in his presentation of the Vedānta-sūtra. According to Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, by accepting the theory of the transformation of the energy of the Lord, one accepts that the Absolute Truth, Īśvara, is transformed, thus he established the theory of Vivarta-vāda [the illusion such as in experiencing a rope to be a snake, or mother of pearl to be silver]. However, none of the scriptures has supported, or even mentioned this theory of Vivarta-vāda. The scriptures have said that it is the false bodily conception of the self that is an illusion or Vivarta-vāda. Bhagavān possesses inconceivable energy. By His desire, His Māyā-śakti (material energy has transformed into the vast material creation and His Jīva-śakti, a tiny fraction of the spiritual potency (Aṇu-cit-śakti), has transformed into unlimited tiny conscious entities known as the jīvas. Despite this, Bhagavān remains completely without any transformation at all, as only His energies are transformed. A mundane example of this is a Cintāmaṇi, a stone, which, by its potency creates many, many jewels, yet remains unchanged. In the same manner we understand that the energy of Bhagavān creates unlimited worlds and the jīvas within them, yet He remains unchanged Himself.”
svarūpa-aiśvarye tāṅra nāhi māyā-gandha
sakala vedera haya bhagavān se 'sambandha'
tāṅre 'nirviśeṣa' kahi, cic-chakti nā māni
ardha-svarūpa nā mānile pūrṇatā haya hāni
(Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 7.139-140)
“There is no taint of Māyā existing within Bhagavān’s unlimited opulences. The Vedas have established that Brahma is possessed of unlimited potencies, varieties and qualities. By not accepting His potencies, such as His Cit-śakti and only considering Him to be devoid of transcendental varieties or Nirviśeṣa, a conclusion is established which is opposed to all siddhānta. In doing so you are not accepting the Truth in its entirety, rather by rejecting His potency and varieties, you are accepting only half of the Truth.”
What follows is an explanation of Pariṇāma-vāda:
yatholmukād visphuliṅgād
dhūmād vāpi sva-sambhavāt
apy ātmatvenābhimatād
yathāgniḥ pṛthag ulmukāt
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 3.28.40)
“The original fire, its flame, its sparks and smoke are all one, for fire is still fire, yet different from the flame. In this example the fire represents Bhagavān, the flame is the Paramātmā, the sparks which emanate from the fire are the individual jīvas and the smoke represents the illusionary potency named Māyā. The Vedas directly state that the jīvas are to be seen as emanations from Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who is possessed of all knowledge, being Cit-svarūpa. Thus Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the spiritual, all conscious sun and the jīvas are like the rays emanating from Him. Thus there is an eternal difference between the individual jīvas and Śrī Kṛṣṇa. However regarding the subject matter of their spiritual nature, the jīvas are also to be considered non-different from Him. The jīva is a special potency of the Lord. The potency can never be different from the potent. Thus it is proved that there is an inconceivable and simultaneous oneness and difference between the Lord and the jīva souls.”
kālād guṇa-vyatikaraḥ pariṇāmaḥ svabhāvataḥ
karmaṇo janma mahataḥ puruṣādhiṣṭhitād abhūt
mahatas tu vikurvāṇād rajaḥ-sattvopabṛṁhitāt
tamaḥ-pradhānas tv abhavad dravya-jñāna-kriyātmakaḥ
(Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam 2.5.22-23)
“After the incarnation of the first Puruṣa {Kāraṇārṇavaśāyī Viṣṇu}, the Mahat-tattva, or the principles of material creation, takes place and then time is manifested and in the course of time the three qualities appear. Nature means the three qualitative appearances. They transform into activities.”
”Material activities are caused by the Mahat-tattva being agitated. At first there is transformation of the modes of goodness and passion, later, due to the mode of ignorance, matter, its knowledge and different activities of material knowledge come into play”
Similarly, in Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s teachings to Śrī Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya it is stated:
upaniṣad-śabde yei mukhya artha haya
sei artha mukhya,—vyāsa-sūtre saba kaya
mukhyārtha chāḍiyā kara gauṇārtha kalpanā
'abhidhā'-vṛtti chāḍi' kara śabdera lakṣaṇā
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya-līlā 6.133-134)
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said:
“The direct import of the mantras of the Upaniṣads has been given by Śrī Vyāsadeva in the Vedānta-sūtra. Śrī Śaṅkarācārya has abandoned the direct import and has, by indirect meanings (Lakṣaṇā-vṛtti), established an imaginary interpretation of the scriptures. He has neglected the direct meaning (Abhidhā-vṛtti).”
At the time of instructing the Sannyāsīs of Vārāṇasī, Śrīman Mahāprabhu also stated:
'praṇava' se mahāvākya—vedera nidāna
īśvara-svarūpa praṇava sarva-viśva-dhāma
sarvāśraya īśvarera praṇava uddeśa
'tat tvam asi'—vākya haya vedera ekadeśa
‘praṇava’, mahā-vākya—tāhā kari' ācchādana
mahāvākye kari 'tat tvam asi'ra sthāpana
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 7.128-130)
“The Vedic sound vibration oṁkāra is the principal statement and basis of the Vedas. Thus Oṁkāra is the Supreme Lord Himself and the shelter of the cosmic manifestation. The Supreme Person has presented praṇava (Oṁkāra) as the reservoir of all Vedic knowledge. The statements of the Vedas such as “tat tvam asi” (“you are that”) are only a partial explanation of the Vedic knowledge. Praṇava (Oṁkāra) is the principle statement or Mahā-vākya in the Vedas, but Śrī Śaṅkarācārya have tried to cover this to stress the mantra “tat tvam asi.”
In the Śrī Bhagavad-gītā (17.23), it is stated:
oṁ tat sad iti nirdeśo
brahmaṇas tri-vidhaḥ smṛtaḥ
“It is said that Oṁ, Tat and Sat are the three words used to indicate Brahma, the Supreme Absolute Reality.”
prabhu kahe, vedānta-sūtra īśvara-vacana
vyāsa-rūpe kaila yāhā śrī-nārāyaṇa
bhrama, pramāda, vipralipsā, karaṇāpāṭava
īśvarera vākye nāhi doṣa ei saba
upaniṣat-sahita sūtra kahe yei tattva
mukhya-vṛttye sei artha parama mahattva
gauṇa-vṛttye yebā bhāṣya karila ācārya
tāhāra śravaṇe nāśa haya sarva kārya
tāṅhāra nāhika doṣa, īśvara-ājñā pāñā
gauṇārtha karila mukhya artha ācchādiyā
'brahma'-śabde mukhya arthe kahe—'bhagavān'
cid-aiśvarya-paripūrṇa, anūrdhva-samāna
tāṅhāra vibhūti, deha,—saba cid-ākāra
cid-vibhūti ācchādi' tāṅre kahe 'nirākāra'
cid-ānanda—teṅho, tāṅra sthāna, parivāra
tāṅre kahe—prākṛta-sattvera vikāra
tāṅra doṣa nāhi, teṅho ājñā-kārī dāsa
āra yei śune tāra haya sarva-nāśa
(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta Ādi-līlā 7.103-114)
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu said:
“The Vedānta philosophy consists of words spoken by Bhagavān Śrī Nārāyaṇa in the form of Vyāsadeva. The four material defects of mistakes, illusions, cheating and sensory inefficiency do not exist in the words of the Supreme Person. The Absolute Truth is described in the Upaniṣads and Brahma-sūtra, but one must understand the verses as they are, by taking the direct meaning. Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya has described all the Vedic literatures in terms of indirect meanings. One who hears such explanations is ruined. Śrī Śaṅkarācārya is not to be blamed, for the Supreme Lord ordered him to present the secondary explanations, not the direct meanings. According to direct understanding, Brahma indicates the Supreme Person, who has all spiritual opulences and no one can be equal to or greater than Him. Everything about the Supreme Lord is spiritual, including His body, opulence and paraphernalia. However, by covering His spiritual opulence, You are advocating the theory of impersonalism. The Supreme Person is full of spiritual potencies and His body, name, fame and associates are all spiritual, yet the Māyāvādī philosopher, due to ignorance, says that these are all merely transformations of the material mode of goodness. Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, who is an incarnation of Lord Śiva, is faultless because he is a servant carrying out the orders of the Lord. But those who follow his Māyāvādī philosophy will be completely destroyed.”
svāgamaiḥ kalpitais tvaṁ ca
janān mad-vimukhān kuru
māṁ ca gopaya yena syāt
sṛṣṭir eṣottarottarā
(Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 62.31)
Addressing Lord Śiva, Śrī Kṛṣṇa said:
“Please make the general populace averse to Me by presenting your own imaginative interpretation of the Vedas. Cover Me in such a way that people will take more interest in the advancement of materialistic civilisation.”
māyāvādam asac-chāstraṁ
pracchannaṁ bauddham ucyate
mayaiva vihitaṁ devi
kalau brāhmaṇa-mūrtinā
(Padma Purāṇa, Uttara-khaṇḍa 25.7)
Lord Śiva informed Goddess Durgā:
“In the Age of Kali, I will take the form of a Brāhmaṇa and present Buddhism in a covered manner by giving an imaginary explanation of the Vedic scriptures.”
Praṇava (Oṁkāra) is the Mahā-vākya, the principal mantra, of the Vedic scriptures
The fully ripened meaning of this Mahā-vākya (principal Vedic mantra), as given by Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanyadeva, is that Praṇava or Oṁkāra is a confidential name for Kṛṣṇa. It is the primordial seed of the Vedas and the spiritual sound that pervades the Vedas. The syllables pra + nu (to praise) + an = Praṇava. The sound incarnation of Para-Brahma, who is worthy of praise, is Oṁkāra. All of the Vedic scriptures emanate from the seed, Oṁkāra. It is the Mahā-vākya and all other statements in the Vedas are subsidiary. The preacher of the Māyāvāda philosophy, Śrī Śaṅkarācārya, covering the real Mahā-vākya of the Vedas, established these four subsidiary or incidental statements as Mahā-vākyas:
1. ahaṁ brahmāsmi (I am that same Brahma)
2. prajñānaṁ brahma (pure knowledge is Brahma)
3. tattvamasi (You are also that Brahma)
4. ekamevādvitīyam (apart from the one, there is none other)
Śrī Śaṅkarācārya’s reason for saying this was to cover pure devotion (Śuddhā-bhakti) so he could preach absolute monism in the form of Māyāvāda philosophy. Because the Praṇava is full of devotion, by accepting it as a Mahā-vākya, it would have been an obstacle to fulfilling his desired intention. It is for this reason that he abandoned the real Mahā-vākya and said that these four subsidiary statements of the Vedas (which were favourable to his conception) are the Mahā-vākyas. With these he manufactured a fitting commentary for preaching his desired conception of Kevala-advaita-vāda or absolute monism. According to the conception of Kevala-advaita-vāda, the existence of the jīva and the position of the Supreme Controller, Brahma, are both due to Māyā. He says the jīva receives liberation (Mukti) only by Brahma-nirvāṇa (merging one’s existence in Brahma), or by becoming free from the grip of Māyā. Yet in this conception, the pure relationship between Para-Brahma and the jīva is concealed because the Vedas have not been considered in their entirety. Therefore, it is for this very reason that Śrī Madhvācārya has established, based on the complete statements of the Vedas, the conception of Dvaita-vāda, or the theory of dualism. However, because even in this theory there has not been a complete deliberation on the Vedas in their entirety, the topic of Sambandha-tattva is not fully blossomed.
Śrī Rāmānujācārya has also not fully presented the idea of Sambandha in his theory of Vaśiṣṭādvaita-vāda (qualified monism). There is also some incompleteness preached by Śrī Nimbāditya in his theory of Dvaitādvaita-vāda (naturally occurring difference and non-difference). Again there is some obscurity in the theory of Śuddhādvaita (pure monism) that Śrī Viṣṇu Svāmī preached. Finally, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, in order to establish the eternality of the pure religion of Prema, has by the theory of Acintya-bhedābheda-tattva (simultaneous and inconceivable oneness and difference between the jīvas and Bhagavān) and by teaching fully the pure relationship (Sambandha-jñāna) between the jīvas, the material energy and Bhagavān, has removed darkness in the form of false arguments from the world.
The theories of Acintya-bhedābheda-tattva (simultaneous and inconceivable oneness and difference between the jīvas and Bhagavān) and Śakti-pariṇāma-vāda (the transformation of the energies of Bhagavān) are the real conclusions of the Vedānta or Brahma-sūtra
Śrīman Mahāprabhu says that only Praṇava is the Mahā-vākya. The meaning of which is effulgently presented in the Upaniṣads. Śrīla Vyāsadeva condensed the instructions of the Upaniṣads and placed them in the Vedānta-sūtras. The commentary of the Vedānta-sūtra, as presented by Śrī Vyāsadeva, is the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam. In the first aphorism or sutra of the Vedānta, “janmādyasya yataḥ” (or Brahman is He from whom everything emanates), transformation of Śakti or Pariṇāma-vāda is established. In exactly the same way, the teachings of Pariṇāma-vāda have been given in the mantra from the Upaniṣads, “yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante” (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 2.1.1), which means, “All of these creatures were born from the Supreme.” Established in the first verse of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (1.1.1) is the same meaning. Śrī Śaṅkarācārya made the point that by accepting the theory of Pariṇāma-vāda (transformation of Brahma) one accepts that Brahma is transformed, thus he established his theory of Vivarta-vāda. Actually, it is this theory of Brahma-vivarta-vāda (the theory of the transformation of Brahma) that is completely untrue.
The theory of Śakti-pariṇāma-vāda is the pure truth established in all the scriptures. By not accepting the eternal Śakti of the Supreme, Pariṇāma-vāda would be fallacious and the fault established would be that of the illusionary transformation of Parameśvara. However, upon accepting the eternal and naturally occurring Para-śakti of Param-Īśvara, then there is no possibility of this fault occurring. The veritable truth is that this world manifests from these astonishing transformations of Śakti. There is never a transformation of Brahma. The result of the transformations of the Śakti of Brahma is the material world and the existence of the jīvas.
With regard to this topic, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has given the example of the Cintāmaṇi jewel. Even though so much gold emanates from the Cintāmaṇi, it always remains unchanged – that is, by this there is no enlargement or diminution in the Cintāmaṇi itself. This analogy clearly shows that the entire creation has come from the energy or Śakti of Śrī Kṛṣṇa and by this Kṛṣṇa has not become transformed at all. By the complete pariṇāma or transformation of the Cit-śakti (spiritual potency), the Dhāmas (transcendental abodes) such as Vaikuṇṭha and Vṛndāvana, as well as the names, forms, qualities and pastimes of the Lord have manifest. Also, by a tiny transformation of the Cit-śakti, the innumerable minute conscious jīvas have come. By the transformation of Māyā-śakti, the material universes and the gross and subtle bodies of the living entities have manifest. We should understand the terms, material worlds or universes, to refer to the fourteen planetary systems.
This theory of Pariṇāma-vāda or transformation of the energies of Bhagavān, has been mentioned everywhere throughout the Vedanta-sūtra and the Upaniṣads. The manifestation of transformations of Pariṇāma-vāda, known as the Mahat-tattva, is comprised of earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and the false ego. In the final attainment for one practicing Kevalādvaita-vāda (exclusive monism), it can be seen that they are left with nothing. The proposal is that both the jīva and this world are an imaginary product of ignorance. However, such a position is without foundation and is only a troublesome invention.
śreyaḥ-sṛtiṁ bhaktim udasya te vibho
kliśyanti ye kevala-bodha-labdhaye
teṣām asau kleśala eva śiṣyate
nānyad yathā sthūla-tuṣāvaghātinām
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 10.14.4)
“Oh all-pervading Lord! The only way to attain factual auspiciousness is to perform Bhakti unto You. Those who abandon Your devotional service and endeavour to attain knowledge, which is devoid of relation to You, can never possibly attain any real auspiciousness. As a person who beats empty husks of wheat cannot get grain; rather, he only attains difficulty, nothing else.”
Following the conception of pure Pariṇāma-vāda, by the desire of Kṛṣṇa the jīvas and the world have both come about and both are true. The creation is neither false nor imaginary. Yet even though it is true, still, by the desire of Kṛṣṇa, the material world is subject to dissolution and it is for this reason that it has been called temporary. Even though the Supreme Controller, who is possessed of an all-spiritual Svarūpa, enters within every atom of the creation, still, served by His own independent complete potency, He eternally remains present in His own independent and separate form as Śrī Kṛṣṇa.
yathā mahānti bhūtāni
bhūteṣūccāvaceṣv anu
praviṣṭāny apraviṣṭāni
tathā teṣu na teṣv aham
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.9.35)
“O Brahmā, please hear this confidential truth, this material world is not false; it is a transformation of My potency. I reside within it in My eternal form therefore this world is also true. Even though it is true, this world is destructible, as it comes again and again. Just as the five material elements enter into all the material bodies, such as those of demigods and animals, yet at the same time they also remain outside of them. In the same way, even though in a minute form I enter within the material world, which is a transformation of My potency, I also do not enter it. I stay in My abodes of Goloka Vṛndāvana and Vaikuṇṭha in My Svarūpa. By constitution, the jīva, who is a transformation of My Jīva-śakti, is My surrendered servant. Even though I enter inside of them in the form of the Paramātmā, still I also perform eternal pastimes with those jīvas who have attained Prema, in My eternal spiritual abode.”
Only those persons who know this unprecedented truth are able to taste the unlimited sweetness and opulence of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. The jīva has a factual relationship with Kṛṣṇa and also a temporary relationship with this destructible material world, in the same manner that a traveller has a temporary relationship with the hotel in which he stays, or the people that he meets there. It is proper for the jīvas who are desirous of their own good fortune to practice Yukta-vairāgya (appropriate renunciation) towards the material goods of this world, utilising them in a proper manner by seeing them as ingredients to be engaged in the service of Bhagavān. As long as such intelligence regarding relationships with what is eternal and what is temporary has not awakened, then the conditioned soul cannot properly discriminate.
This philosophy of inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference between Bhagavān and His various potencies (Acintya-bhedābheda-tattva) is beyond mundane logic and argument
According to this siddhānta, it is true that Kṛṣṇa is both different and non-different from the jīva and this material world. Because human intelligence is limited, this philosophy is beyond their understanding; it is for this very reason that this simultaneous difference and non-difference has been called acintya or inconceivable. Even though it is inconceivable, there is no reason for logic or reasonable arguments to be dissatisfied with this conception. The Śakti (energy) of Bhagavān is inconceivable, this is a reasonable argument, and whatever His Śakti establishes, it is possible to grasp by His grace.
yāvān ahaṁ yathā-bhāvo
yad-rūpa-guṇa-karmakaḥ
tathaiva tattva-vijñānam
astu te mad-anugrahāt
(Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 2.9.32)
“By My mercy understand that My Svarūpa, My Bhāva, My Tattva-jñāna and My Qualities and activities which are different from matter.”
Our predecessor spiritual masters have taught that one should not raise mundane arguments against a subject that is inconceivable, for such arguments cannot be established as factual proof with regard to materially inconceivable subject matters. To people who cannot accept this truth, there is no end to their misfortune.
acintyāḥ khalu ye bhāva
na tāṁs tarkeṇa yojayet
prakṛtibhyaḥ paraṁ yac ca
tad acintyasya lakṣaṇam
(Śrī Mahābhārata - Udyoga-parva)
“That which is beyond material nature and outside the parameter of sense perception is inconceivable. It cannot be understood through logic or empirical arguments”
“naiṣā tarkeṇa matir apaneyā proktāny eva jṇānāya preṣṭha iti”
(Śrī Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.9)
“My dear Naciketā, simply by logic one will never be able to understand the Supreme Person, but one may understand by hearing descriptions of Him from a realised spiritual master.”
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