Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
| Ādi-līlā | Chapter 7: Lord Caitanya in Five Features |
Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Ādi 7.144
pańcama purushārtha sei prema-mahādhana
krishnera mādhurya-rasa karāya āsvādana
SYNONYMS
pańcama — fifth; purusha-artha — goal of life; sei — that; prema — love of God; mahā-dhana — foremost wealth; krishnera — of Lord Krishna; mādhurya — conjugal love; rasa — mellow; karāya — causes; āsvādana — taste.
TRANSLATION
"Love of Godhead is so exalted that it is considered to be the fifth goal of human life. By awakening one's love of Godhead, one can attain the platform of conjugal love, tasting it even during the present span of life.
PURPORT
The Māyāvādī philosophers consider the highest goal of perfection to be liberation (mukti), which is the fourth perfectional platform. Generally people are aware of four principal goals of life — religiosity (dharma), economic development (artha), sense gratification (kāma) and ultimately liberation (moksha) — but devotional service is situated on the platform above liberation. In other words, when one is actually liberated (mukta) he can understand the meaning of love of Godhead (krishna-prema). While teaching Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stated, koti-mukta-madhye 'durlabha' eka krishna-bhakta: "Out of millions of liberated persons, one may become a devotee of Lord Krishna."
The most elevated Māyāvādī philosopher can rise to the platform of liberation, but krishna-bhakti, devotional service to Krishna, is transcendental to such liberation. Śrīla Vyāsadeva explains this fact in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (1.1.2):
dharmah projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarānām satām
vedyam vāstavam atra vastu śiva-dam tāpa-trayonmūlanam
"Completely rejecting all religions which are materially motivated, the Bhāgavata Purāna propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries." Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra, is meant for paramo nirmatsarānām, those who are completely aloof from jealousy. Māyāvādī philosophers are jealous of the existence of the Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Vedānta-sūtra is not actually meant for them. They unnecessarily poke their noses into the Vedanta-sūtra, but they have no ability to understand it because, as the author of the Vedānta-sūtra writes in his commentary, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, it is meant for those who are pure in heart (paramo nirmatsarānām). If one is envious of Krishna, how can he understand the Vedānta-sūtra or Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam? The Māyāvādīs' primary occupation is to offend the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna. For example, although Krishna demands our surrender in the Bhagavad-gītā, the greatest scholar and so-called philosopher in modern India has protested that it is "not to Krishna" that we have to surrender. Therefore, he is envious. Since Māyāvādīs of all different descriptions are envious of Krishna, they have no scope for understanding the meaning of the Vedānta-sūtra. Even if they were on the liberated platform, as they falsely claim, love of Krishna is beyond the state of liberation — a fact stated by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and repeated here by Krishnadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī.
Copyright © r The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness