Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta

Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā 7.5

Pradyumna: Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. Oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya. [Prabhupāda and devotees repeat] [leads chanting of verse]

pañca-tattva—eka-vastu, nāhi kichu bheda rasa āsvādite tabu vividha vibheda [Cc Ādi 7.5]

[leads chanting of synonyms] [break]

[02:22]

Translation: "Spiritually there are no differences between these five tattvas, for on the transcendental platform everything is absolute. Yet there are also varieties in the spiritual world, and in order to taste these spiritual varieties one should distinguish between them."

Prabhupāda:

pañca-tattva—eka-vastu, nāhi kichu bheda rasa āsvādite tabu vividha vibheda [Cc Ādi 7.5]

Pañca-tattva. The Absolute Truth is divided into five subject matter of relishing transcendental mellow. Advaya: without any difference. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñānam advayam [SB 1.2.11]:

[Learned transcendentalists who know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman, Paramātmā or Bhagavān.]

Absolute Truth is one, but still, there are varieties, transcendental varieties. Just like Brahman, impersonal Brahman; and Paramātmā, localized aspect of the Supreme Lord, Paramātmā; and Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead—they are one. There is no difference. Brahman is not different from Bhagavān, and Bhagavān is not different from Brahman. Bhagavān is addressed by Arjuna as Para-brahman. Brahman realization, gradually... First realization: impersonal Brahman; then localized Brahman; then personal Brahman. The personal Brahman is called Para-brahman, the Supreme Brahman. Impersonal Brahman is the beginning of realization of the Absolute Truth. That is not final. Therefore those who are satisfied with impersonal Brahman, their knowledge is not perfect. Ye 'nye 'ravindākṣa vimukta-māninas tvayy asta-bhāvād aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

[[Someone may say that aside from devotees, who always seek shelter at the Lord's lotus feet, there are those who are not devotees but who have accepted different processes for attaining salvation. What happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahmā and the other demigods said:] O lotus-eyed Lord, although nondevotees who accept severe austerities and penances to achieve the highest position may think themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.]

The realization of the Absolute Truth is the platform of viśuddha-sattva. So unless one comes to the platform of personal realization of the Lord, one is supposed to be aviśuddha-buddhi: intelligence is not yet perfectly pure.

So here it is said, eka-vastu. So far the substance is concerned, that is eka-vastu. Just like in logical categories the substance is there, and there are many categories. Take for example that the Absolute Truth is one, but there are categories: "This is śakti-tattva; this is prakāśa-tattva; this is incarnation tattva; this is marginal potency; this is external potency." Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate [Cc Madhya 13.65, purport]. There are many multipotencies. Because the original is Absolute Truth, in one sense everyone is in the same absolute platform. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam there is a verse, idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ [SB 1.5.20]. Idaṁ hi viśvaṁ bhagavān ivetaraḥ: "This viśva, the whole cosmic manifestation, is Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead," just like Kṛṣṅa manifested His universal form. So every part and parcel is Bhagavān, but still, it is different.

This is the philosophy of Caitanya Mahāprabhu's acintya-bhedābheda:

[It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṅa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṅa and a manifestation simultaneously one and different from the Lord.]

simultaneously one and different, inconceivable. We cannot conceive at the present moment how one thing can be the same, at the same time different; therefore it is called acintya, inconceivable. But bhedābheda... Just like we are—everything—you study. It is acintya-bhedābheda, one and different. Take for example your own body and you, soul. The soul is different from the body. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā [Bg 2.13].

[As the embodied soul continually passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change.]

The dehi, the soul, is within the body, but the body is not the soul. So this is different. Soul is different from the body. We have studied. But in another sense, soul is not different from the body, another sense. How? Because the body, the material body, is also coming from the same source, and the spiritual soul is coming from the same source, Kṛṣṅa. Kṛṣṅa says, apareyam. Kṛṣṅa said, bhūmir āpo 'nalo vāyuḥ khaṁ mano buddhir eva [Bg 7.4].

[Earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and false ego—altogether these eight comprise My separated material energies.]

"These material elements, they are My bhinnā prakṛtir aṣṭadhā, eight kinds of separated energy." Even though it is separated energy, it is the energy of the Supreme Lord. We have discussed many times: Just like the fire and the heat and light. Light is separated from the fire, heat is separated from the fire, but at the same time, heat and light is not different from the fire. This is to be understood. This is called simultaneously one and different, inconceivable.

So Māyāvādī philosophers, they take one side only, that it is one. They do not understand what is the difference, what is the different taste, varieties. They cannot understand the varieties, unity in diversity. They cannot understand. Just like sugar and milk—you prepare so many sweetmeats: "This is rasagullā, this is sandeṣa, this is burfī, this is this, this is that." Hundreds of preparation you can... But what is that? That sugar and milk. So similarly, variety is the mother of enjoyment. The Māyāvādī philosopher, they cannot understand. Therefore they have been described in the Bhāgavata that vimukta-māninaḥ, aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ [SB 10.2.32].

They are thinking that now they have become one with the Supreme, Nārāyaṅa. They address between themselves, "Namo nārāyaṅa," that "Everyone has become Nārāyaṅa." This is their... "Everyone is Nārāyaṅa," that's all right, but still, different.

That distinction is made by the Vaiṣṅavas. The same example: The different energies, material energy and spiritual energy, they are different. One is superior, one is inferior. But when you go to the central point from where all energies are coming... Yato vā imāni bhūtāni jāyante [Taittirīya Upaniṣad 3.1].

[The Supreme Absolute Truth is that from which everything is born.]

This is the Vedic injunction, "From where everything is emanating."

agnir mahī gaganam ambu marud diśaś ca kālas tathātma-manasīti jagat-trayāṅi yasmād bhavanti vibhavanti viśanti yaṁ ca govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi [Bs 5.51]

Agni is coming from Kṛṣṅa. Mahī, the earth, it is coming from Kṛṣṅa. Agni, mahī, gagana, the sky, it is coming from Kṛṣṅa. Ambu, water, is coming from Kṛṣṅa. Agni mahī gaganam ambu... Marut, air, is coming from Kṛṣṅa. Because it is coming from Kṛṣṅa, it is not different from Kṛṣṅa. Everything is Kṛṣṅa. But when you taste the air breezing and the water and the earth and the fire, you cannot say, "Because the air is coming from Kṛṣṅa and water is coming from Kṛṣṅa, so either I may be in the air or in the sea, it is all the same." We are living in air, but if I think that air and the water is the same, I jump over the ocean, that is not very good idea. But actually, air is also Kṛṣṅa, water is also Kṛṣṅa, earth is also Kṛṣṅa, fire is also Kṛṣṅa, because it is..., they are all Kṛṣṅa's energy.

So in this way, if we try to understand that Pañca-tattva,

śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda, śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

This is Pañca-tattva: Śrī Kṛṣṅa Caitanya, Śrī Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Śrī Gadādhara and Śrīvāsādi. Śrīvāsādi means jīva-tattva. The jīva-tattva, śakti-tattva, viṣṅu-tattva, these are all tattvas. So Pañca-tattva. Śrī Kṛṣṅa Caitanya is the supreme tattva, Kṛṣṅa. Śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya, rādhā-kṛṣṅa nahe anya. We are worshiping Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa. So Śrī Kṛṣṅa Caitanya is Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa combined. Śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya, rādhā-kṛṣṅa nahe anya.

rādhā-kṛṣṅa-praṅaya-vikṛtir hlādinī-śaktir asmād ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptam... [Cc Ādi 1.5]

Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa... Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme. When Kṛṣṅa wants to enjoy... The enjoyer... Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram [Bg 5.29].

[The sages, knowing Me as the ultimate purpose of all sacrifices and austerities, the Supreme Lord of all planets and demigods and the benefactor and well-wisher of all living entities, attain peace from the pangs of material miseries.]

He's enjoyer. So when He wants to enjoy, that is not material enjoyment. That is spiritual enjoyment, superior energy, not material energy. Because Kṛṣṅa is the Supreme, therefore He enjoys the superior energy. So Kṛṣṅa's... The Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa līlā is not material. One who understands Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa līlā as material, they are misled. Kṛṣṅa cannot enjoy anything material. He's supreme pleasure... If you say that "We are seeing daily that you are offering prasādam, the vegetable, rice. They are all material," no, they are not material. This is real understanding. How it is not material? That is acintya, inconceivable. Kṛṣṅa can turn material into spiritual and spiritual into material. That is Kṛṣṅa's inconceivable power, acintya-śakti. Unless you accept acintya-śakti of Kṛṣṅa, you cannot understand Kṛṣṅa. Acintya-śakti.

So this is simultaneously one and different. This acintya-bhedābheda-tattva

you'll find everywhere in Vaiṣṅava philosophy. Similarly, here the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta is trying to explain that pañca-tattva eka-vastu, they are one Kṛṣṅa, but āsvāda, āsvāda, taste... Akhila-rasāmṛta-sindhu. Kṛṣṅa is the ocean of all pleasure, reservoir of all pleasure. There are different types of pleasure. Just like pleasure, like master and the servant. The master is also pleased by the service of the servant, and the servant is pleased by rendering service to the master. This is taste. Husband and wife: husband is pleased having a wife, wife is pleased having... These are the different tastes: between master and servant, between friend and friend, between father and son, mother and son, between the lover and the beloved. These are different taste. So this taste is required, transcendental mellow. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot understand this taste. They think everything is one. And in the material world also, we accept, "Variety is the mother of enjoyment." Without varieties, although everything is spiritual... In Vṛndāvana everything is spiritual. Just like gauḍa-maṅḍala-bhūmi, yebā jāne cintāmaṅi. Just like this place, Gaura-maṅḍala-bhūmi, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's place of pastimes, and the Vṛndāvana-dhāma, the place of pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṅa, they are one and the same. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that gauḍa-maṅḍala-bhūmi, yebā jāne cintāmaṅi, tā 'ra haya vraja-bhūmi vāsa. These are the theses given by great ācāryas.

So we should not consider that Nityānanda is different from Kṛṣṅa..., Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, or Advaita Prabhu is different from Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. But at the same time, They are different. This is inconceivable, a taste. If you worship Nityānanda Prabhu, it is as good as to worship Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The best thing is... Because Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared in His five different features, therefore the ācāryas, they worship all of them at a time. That is our prayer:

śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

This is the varieties, transcendental varieties, different taste. Nityānanda Prabhu is guru-tattva, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu is sevya-tattva. The guru is teaching; Nityānanda Prabhu is teaching how to worship Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

bhaja gaurāṅga kaha gaurāṅga laha gaurāṅgera nāme ye jana gaurāṅga bhaje sei amāra prāṅa re

This is Nityānanda Prabhu's business. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says that gaurāṅgera balite habe, pulaka śarīre, hari hari balite, nayane ba'be nīra. Gaurāṅga.

So to become immediately in ecstasy of transcendental love, if we chant this śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda, it is easier. There is no offense in chanting this pañca-tattva, but there is offense if you do not properly chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra. There are ten kinds of offenses, you know. But in chanting śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda, there is no aparādha. You chant in any way, you'll get the result. This is the difference, taste. This is variety. Although there is no difference by chanting śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda and Hare Kṛṣṅa mantra, mahā-mantra, but still, by chanting this pañca-tattva, you'll get immediately, quickly, result. Therefore our process is to chant the holy names of the Pañca-tattva and then we chant Hare Kṛṣṅa mahā-mantra. That is perfect. And neither mixing. The mixing taste is called rasābhāsa. Rasābhāsa. And we don't manufacture anything. Just follow. We disagree with the persons who chant that bhaja nitāi-gaura rādhe-śyāma. No. No. We must follow strictly. Mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186].

[Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized person. Consequently, as the śāstras confirm, one should accept whatever progressive path the mahājanas advocate.]

We cannot manufacture simply for some worldly cheap reputation and prestige. If we manufacture something, that will not help us. We must follow. Mahājano yena. Dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhāyāṁ, mahājano yena gataḥ sa panthāḥ [Cc Madhya 17.186]. We must follow the mahājanas. So you'll find in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, the Kavirāja Gosvāmī, in every chapter he begins, śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda, jaya advaita..., gaura-bhakta-vṛnda. This is the process.

So we may read herewith one commentary by my Guru Mahārāja Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura. [reading:] "In his Anubhāṣya commentary, Śrī Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura describes the Pañca-tattva as follows: The supreme energetic, the Personality of Godhead, manifesting in five kinds of pastimes, appears as the Pañca-tattva. Actually, there is no difference between them because they are situated on the absolute platform, but they manifest different spiritual varieties as a challenge to impersonalists to taste different kinds of spiritual humors, rāsas..." Because they do not accept the different taste. The Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṅava philosophy, the only difference is... Although the aim is one, Absolute Truth, but the difference is that they do not accept varieties, varieties of taste. Therefore they fall down. It is not our version, but it is stated in the Vedic literature, āruhya kṛcchreṅa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adho 'nādṛta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ [SB 10.2.32]:

"By severe penance and austerities, these Māyāvādīs, they go up to the Brahman effulgence, but from there they fall down." Fall down, because for want of varieties. You cannot live without varieties. Ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt: "The Absolute Truth is ānandamayo by nature," abhyāsāt.

So there are the interpretation of the Māyāvādīs of this Vedānta-sūtra, ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt [Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12].

[By nature, the Supreme Lord is blissful.]

But we see that the Supreme Absolute Person is ānandamāyā. Kṛṣṅa, you'll never see without ānanda. He is, I mean to say, taking care of the cows, He's dancing with the gopīs, He's playing with His cowherd boys. Ānandamāyā. These are ānandamāyā. These are the varieties. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they cannot understand; therefore they think that "This kṛṣṅa-līlā is māyā." Therefore we call them Māyāvādī. Everything... Māyā māyā, neti neti. They take Kṛṣṅa also as māyā; therefore they are called Māyāvādīs. Because a living entity comes in this material world accepting this material body, similarly, when Kṛṣṅa comes, they think that He has also a material body. This is Māyāvāda. Kṛṣṅa has no such thing. Therefore you'll find in Dr. Radhakrishnan's book, when Kṛṣṅa says, man-manā bhava mad-bhakto mad-yājī māṁ namaskuru [Bg 18.65],

[Always think of Me and become My devotee. Worship Me and offer your homage unto Me. Thus you will come to Me without fail. I promise you this because you are My very dear friend.]

he says, "Not to the Kṛṣṅa person, but the Absolute which is within the Kṛṣṅa." He does not know that Kṛṣṅa is not different from His body. That he does not know.

Kṛṣṅa is absolute. Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā [Bg 4.6].

[Although I am unborn and My transcendental body never deteriorates, and although I am the Lord of all sentient beings, I still appear in every millennium in My original transcendental form.]

yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata abhyutthānam adharmasya tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham [Bg 4.7]

Sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā [Bg 4.6]. He does not accept this māyic body. Etad īśanam īśasya [SB 1.11.38]. That is the, I mean to say, power, omnipotency of Kṛṣṅa. Even He accepts this material body, it does not mean that He is material. Just like we see the Deity, the Deity, Rādhā-Kṛṣṅa Deity, in our front. Everyone will say, "Oh, this is a Deity made of brass, material." But no, it is not material. You have to study in that way. Arcye śilā-dhīr... Arcye viṣṅu śilā-dhīr guruṣu nara-matiḥ [Padma Purāṅa]. These are nārakī buddhi. Vaiṣṅave jāti-buddhiḥ. The Deity as material, śiladhiḥ, considering as metal or stone or wood, and guruṣu nara-matiḥ, and guru as ordinary human being... Vaiṣṅave jāti-buddhiḥ: a Vaiṣṅava, to consider, "Here is American Vaiṣṅava and here is a brāhmaṅa Vaiṣṅava..." No, Vaiṣṅava is Vaiṣṅava. This is absolute. Guruṣu nara-matiḥ. Guru, although he is appearing like human being, he should not be considered. Ācāryaṁ māṁ vijānīyān nāvamanyeta karhicit [SB 11.17.27].

[One should know the ācārya as Myself and never disrespect him in any way. One should not envy him, thinking him an ordinary man, for he is the representative of all the demigods.]

These are the injunction of the śāstras.

Suppose we are worshiping here. The Māyāvādī will say, "They are worshiping a brass, metal Deity." So are we so fools that we are spending so much money for worshiping a lump of metal? That they do not know. This is acintya-bhedābheda. And fact is there. Kṛṣṅa is omnipotent. He can accept your service in any way, as He likes. This is called arcā-vigraha. As Kṛṣṅa's avatāra is there, here is also another avatāra, arcā-vigraha. He is so kind. You cannot see Kṛṣṅa, you cannot touch Kṛṣṅa at the present moment, but Kṛṣṅa is so kind that He appears before you as you can touch, you can dress, you can offer your respect, you can see. That is Kṛṣṅa's mercies. But don't think that Kṛṣṅa has become metal. No. And even if He becomes metal, there is no difference. And what is this metal? That is Kṛṣṅa's energy. We have to understand in that way.

So this acintya-bhedābheda-tattva...

Pañca-tattva-eka-vastu, nāhi kichu bheda rasa āsvādite. Rasa āsvādite, the mellows, transcendental mellows. So these chapters of Caitanya-caritāmṛta are very... These are postgraduate study. You have to read it very carefully and as they are described. We have tried to describe them as far as possible for being understood by us, but we should be very careful,

śrī-kṛṣṅa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda śrī-advaita gadādhara śrīvāsādi-gaura-bhakta-vṛnda

[I offer my obeisances to Śrī Kṛṣṅa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityānanda, Śrī Advaita, Gadādhara, Śrīvāsa and all others in the line of devotion.]

[devotees join in] Thank you very much.

Devotees: Jaya... [break] [end]