Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Ādi 7.101

krishne bhakti kara — ihāya sabāra santosha

vedānta nā śuna kene, tāra kibā dosha

SYNONYMS

krishne — unto Krishna; bhakti — devotional service; kara — do; ihāya — in this matter; sabāra — of everyone; santosha — there is satisfaction; vedānta — the philosophy of the Vedānta-sūtra; nā — do not; śuna — hear; kene — why; tāra — of the philosophy; kibā — what is; dosha — fault.

TRANSLATION

"Dear Sir, there is no objection to Your being a great devotee of Lord Krishna. Everyone is satisfied with this. But why do You avoid discussion on the Vedānta-sūtra? What is the fault in it?"

PURPORT

Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura comments in this connection, "Māyāvādī sannyāsīs accept that the commentary by Śrī Śańkarācārya known as Śārīraka-bhāshya gives the real meaning of the Vedanta-sūtra. In other words, Māyāvādī sannyāsīs accept the meanings expressed in the explanations of the Vedānta-sūtra by Śańkarācārya, which are based on monism. Thus they explain the Vedānta-sūtra, the Upanishads and all such Vedic literatures in their own impersonal way." The great Māyāvādī sannyāsī Sadānanda Yogīndra has written a book known as Vedānta-sāra, in which he writes, vedānto nāma upanishat-pramānam. tad-upakārīni śārīraka-sūtrādīni ca. According to Sadānanda Yogīndra, the Vedānta-sūtra and Upanishads, as presented by Śrī Śańkarācārya in his Śārīraka-bhāshya commentary, are the only sources of Vedic evidence. Actually, however, Vedānta refers to the essence of Vedic knowledge, and it is not a fact that there is nothing more than Śańkarācārya's Śārīraka-bhāshya. There are other Vedānta commentaries, written by Vaishnava ācāryas, none of whom follow Śrī Śańkarācārya or accept the imaginative commentary of his school. Their commentaries are based on the philosophy of duality. Monist philosophers like Śańkarācārya and his followers want to establish that God and the living entity are one, and instead of worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead they present themselves as God. They want to be worshiped as God by others. Such persons do not accept the philosophies of the Vaishnava ācāryas, which are known as śuddhādvaita (purified monism), śuddha-dvaita (purified dualism), viśishtādvaita (specific monism), dvaitādvaita (monism and dualism) and acintya-bhedābheda (inconceivable oneness and difference). Māyāvādīs do not discuss these philosophies, for they are firmly convinced of their own philosophy of kevalādvaita, exclusive monism. Accepting this system of philosophy as the pure understanding of the Vedānta-sūtra, they believe that Krishna has a body made of material elements and that the activities of loving service to Krishna are sentimentality. They are known as Māyāvādīs because according to their opinion Krishna has a body made of māyā and the loving service of the Lord executed by devotees is also māyā. They consider such devotional service to be an aspect of fruitive activities (karma-kānda). According to their view, bhakti consists of mental speculation or sometimes meditation. This is the difference between the Māyāvādī and Vaishnava philosophies.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness