Devotee: "The Māyāvādī may argue that the individuality spoken of by Kṛṣṇa is not spiritual but material. Even accepting the argument that the individuality is material, how can one distinguish Kṛṣṇa's individuality?"
Prabhupāda: They also think of Kṛṣṇa, therefore, as material. That is also condemned by Kṛṣṇa. You'll find, avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum āśritam (BG 9.11): "Because I have appeared just like a human being, these rascals deride at Me that I am also one of them." Mūḍha. Mūḍha means rascal. Just like Dr. Radhakrishnan says, "It is not to Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa . . . it is the soul within the Kṛṣṇa." That means he identifies Kṛṣṇa as one of us: His body and His soul different.
But Kṛṣṇa is not . . . Kṛṣṇa said, sambhavāmy ātma-māyayā (BG 4.6): "I appear in My own, original stature. I do not change." We change. The individual soul . . . prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni (BG 3.27). He's conducted by, influenced by this prakṛti, nature, but He's not conducted or influenced by the nature. He comes in His own influence, as He is, ātma-māyayā. This is the distinction. Therefore He does not change body. When I come, I change bodies. This time I may have this body; next time I may have another body. That is material, and therefore I forget. Just like Kṛṣṇa says in the Fourth Chapter that "Many times you and I came. You have forgotten." Because we change our material body, therefore we forget. These things all will be explained.
Go on.
Devotee: "Kṛṣṇa affirms His individuality in the past and confirms His individuality in the future also. He has confirmed His individuality in many ways, and impersonal Brahman has been declared as subordinate to Him. Kṛṣṇa has maintained spiritual individuality all along, and if He is accepted as an ordinary conditioned soul in individual consciousness, then His Bhagavad-gītā has no value as an authoritative scripture."
"A common man with all the defects of human frailty is unable to teach that which is worth hearing. Bhagavad-gītā is above such literature. No mundane book compares with the Bhagavad-gītā. When one accepts Kṛṣṇa as an ordinary man, the Bhagavad-gītā loses all importance."
"The Māyāvādī argues that the plurality mentioned in this verse is conventional, and that the plurality thus refers to the body. But previous to this verse such a bodily conception has already been condemned. After condemning the bodily conception of living entities, how was it possible for Kṛṣṇa to place a conventional proposition on the body again?"
"Therefore, the plurality is on spiritual grounds, as is confirmed by great teachers like Śrī Rāmānuja. It is clearly mentioned in many places in the Bhagavad-gītā that this spiritual plurality is understood by those who are devotees of the Lord."
"Those who are envious of Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead have no bona fide access to the great literature. The nondevotee's approach to the teachings of the Bhagavad-gītā is something like a bee licking on a bottle of honey. One cannot have a taste of honey unless one can taste within the bottle. Similarly, the mysticism of the Bhagavad-gītā can be understood only by devotees."
"No one else can taste it, as is stated in this Fourth Chapter of the book. Nor can the Gītā be touched by persons who envy the very existence of the Lord. Therefore the Māyāvādī explanation of the Gītā is a most misleading presentation of the whole truth. Lord Caitanya has forbidden us to read commentaries made by the Māyāvādīs."
Prabhupāda: Yes. Lord Caitanya has clearly said, māyāvadi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa (CC Madhya 6.169). One meets a disaster if he hears a Māyāvādī philosopher to understand Vedic literature. That is His injunction. Māyāvadi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. Sarva-nāśa means disaster. It is actually disaster. A māyāvadi-bhāṣya, Māyāvādī commentary, they have simply tried, the individual, tiny individual spiritual spark that, "You are the Supreme."
So he's just a Dr. Frog. You see. So puffed up, puffed up, when he . . . at one time, it will burst. Therefore it is disastrous. It is disastrous. (chuckling) Māyāvadi-bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. So that's all. Finished? Yes. Oh, not yet?
Devotee: "Therefore the Māyāvādī explanation of the Gītā is a most misleading presentation of the whole truth. Lord Caitanya has forbidden us to read commentaries made by the Māyāvādīs and warns that one who takes to understanding of the Māyāvādī philosophy loses all power to understand the real mystery of the Gītā."
"If individuality refers to the empirical universe, then there is no need for teachings of the Lord. The plurality of the individual souls and of the Lord is an eternal fact, and it is confirmed by the Vedas as above mentioned."
Prabhupāda: So you read very carefully Bhagavad-gītā. You have to meet so many opposing elements, so you have to argue and you convince them.