Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Ādi 7.117

jīva-tattva — śakti, krishna-tattva — śaktimān

gītā-vishnupurānādi tāhāte pramāna

SYNONYMS

jīva-tattva — the truth of the living entities; śakti — energy; krishna-tattva — the truth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; śakti-mān — the possessor of the energies; gītā — the Bhagavad-gītā; vishnu-purāna-ādi — Vishnu Purāna and other Purānas; tāhāte — in them; pramāna — there are evidences.

TRANSLATION

"The living entities are energies, not the energetic. The energetic is Krishna. This is very vividly described in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Vishnu Purāna and other Vedic literatures.

PURPORT

As already explained, there are three prasthānas on the path of advancement in spiritual knowledge — namely, nyāya-prasthāna (Vedānta philosophy), śruti-prasthāna (the Upanishads and Vedic mantras) and smriti-prasthāna (the Bhagavad-gītā, Mahābhārata, Purānas, etc.). Unfortunately, Māyāvādī philosophers do not accept the smriti-prasthāna. Smriti refers to the conclusions drawn from the Vedic evidence. Sometimes Māyāvādī philosophers do not accept the authority of the Bhagavad-gītā and the Purānas, and this is called ardha-kukkutī-nyāya, "the logic of half a hen" (See Ādi-līlā 5.176). If one believes in the Vedic literatures, one must accept all the Vedic literatures recognized by the great ācāryas, but the Māyāvādī philosophers accept only the nyāya-prasthāna and śruti-prasthāna, rejecting the smriti-prasthāna. Here, however, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu cites evidence from the Gītā, Vishnu Purāna, etc., which are smriti-prasthāna. No one can avoid the Personality of Godhead in the statements of the Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures such as the Mahābhārata and the Purānas. Lord Caitanya therefore quotes a passage from the Bhagavad-gītā (7.5).

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