Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Ādi 7.130

'pranava, mahā-vākya — tāhā kari' ācchādana

mahāvākye kari 'tat tvam asi'ra sthāpana

SYNONYMS

pranava — omkāra; mahā-vākya — principal mantra; tāhā — that; kari' — making; ācchādana — covered; mahā-vākye — in place of the principal mantra; kari — I do; 'tat tvam asi'ra sthāpana — establishment of the statement tat tvam asi.

TRANSLATION

"Pranava [omkāra] is the mahā-vākya [mahā-mantra] in the Vedas. Śańkarācārya's followers cover this to stress without authority the mantra tat tvam asi.

PURPORT

The Māyāvādī philosophers stress the statements tat tvam asi, so 'ham, etc., but they do not stress the real mahā-mantra, pranava (omkāra). Therefore, because they misrepresent Vedic knowledge, they are the greatest offenders to the lotus feet of the Lord. Caitanya Mahāprabhu says clearly, māyāvādī krishne aparādhī: "Māyāvādī philosophers are the greatest offenders to Lord Krishna." Lord Krishna declares:

tān aham dvishatah krūrān samsāreshu narādhamān

kshipāmy ajasram aśubhān āsurīshv eva yonishu

"Those who are envious and mischievous, who are the lowest among mankind, I perpetually cast into the ocean of material existence, into various demoniac species of life." (Bg. 16.19) Life in demoniac species awaits the Māyāvādī philosophers after death because they are envious of Krishna. When Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gītā (9.34) man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī mām namaskuru ("Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My devotee, offer obeisances to Me and worship Me"), one demoniac scholar says that it is not Krishna to whom one must surrender. This scholar is already suffering in this life, and he will have to suffer again in the next if in this life he does not complete his prescribed suffering. One should be very careful not to be envious of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the next verse, therefore, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu clearly states the purpose of the Vedas.

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