According to śāstra, if somebody thinks . . . just like here is Deity. If somebody thinks, "Oh, it is made of stone . . ." It is stone to the eyes of the nondevotee, but it is personally Supreme Personality of Godhead to the devotees. It requires the eyes to see. So devotee sees in a different angle of vision.
Just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu, when He entered Jagannātha temple, immediately He fainted, "Oh, here is My Lord." And the nondevotee is seeing, "It is wood, a lump of wood." Therefore, to the nondevotee, He remains always as wood, but to the devotee He speaks. That is the difference. Premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena (Bs. 5.38).
If God is everything, why wood, through wood and stone, God cannot manifest? If God is everything, according to Māyāvāda philosophy . . . that's a fact. God, omnipotent. He can express Himself even through wood and stone. That is God's omnipotency. That is called omnipotency. Not that God is unable to express Himself through wood and stone. Then how He's omnipotent? Omnipotent means His potency can be expressed through anything.
Because anything, everything is the expansion of God's energy. Parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis tathedam akhilaṁ jagat (Viṣṇu Purāṇa 1.22.52). The whole world is manifestation of different energies of God. Therefore . . . just like through the energy of electricity the electric powerhouse, although far, far away from this place, was expressing: there is electricity. Through this glass, through these wires, the power can be expressed. There is a process.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura became very much . . . because a devotee cannot tolerate blaspheming another devotee or God. So as soon as he said that, "Why shall I go to Jagannātha Purī to see the wooden Jagannātha? I am personally Viṣṇu," Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura immediately ordered his constables, "Arrest him. Arrest this rascal." So he was arrested.
And when he was arrested—he had some yogic mystic power—all the constables, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura and his family member became affected with high fever, 105 degrees fever. So when he came back, his wife became very much disturbed that, "You arrested Viṣṇu, and we are all going to die. We have got now high fever." Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura replied, "Yes, let us all die, but this rascal must be punished." This is the view of pure devotee.
So he was put into the custody. And there was a date fixed for his trial, and all these days Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura himself and his family especially, they were suffering from high fever. Maybe that yogī was planning to kill all the whole family. But it was going on as fever. So on the trial day, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, Kedāranātha Datta, when he came to the bench the man was presented, the so-called yogī, and he had big, big hairs.
So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura ordered that, "Bring one barber and cut his hair." So no barber dared. The barbers thought, "Oh, he's a Lord Viṣṇu. If I offend, as he's suffering from fever, so I shall also die." So Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura ordered that, "Give me the scissor. I'll cut." So he cut his hairs and ordered him to be put into jail for six months, and in the jail that Viṣṇu incarnation managed to took some poison, and he died.
So this is one of the incidents. There are many incidences. He was very strong man. He punished many paṇḍas in the tīrthas who exploit visitors. So this is the position of devotee. In spite of his becoming a responsible magistrate, a householder, still, he was ācārya. So we have to follow the ācāryas.
If we at all . . . if we are at all interested in spiritual science, then we must follow the Vedic instruction, tad-vijñānārthaṁ sa gurum evābhigacchet (MU 1.2.12). We must approach. You cannot have spiritual knowledge simply by speculating. Impossible. Simply waste of time. Śrama eva hi kevalam (SB 1.2.8). You must go to the . . .
In the Bhagavad-gītā, therefore, it is recommended ācāryopāsanam. Ācārya-upāsanā. Not only worshiping the Lord, but also the ācārya. Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, guru-kṛṣṇa-kṛpayā pāya bhakti-latā-bīja (CC Madhya 19.151). Guru, ācārya and Kṛṣṇa. One should seek favor of both of them. Not that "I am now seeking favor of Kṛṣṇa.
What is the use of guru or ācārya?" No. You cannot overlap ācārya and go to Kṛṣṇa. That is not possible. Kṛṣṇa will not accept you. Just like if you want to see a big man you should go through his secretary, through his orderly, doorkeeper; similarly, our process is ācāryopāsanam, go through the ācārya. That is the injunction of the Vedas. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ.
If you want to enter into the spiritual world, you cannot get through simply by arguments. Because there is no limit of argument. I place my argument in one way; another man, who is better arguer, he places his argument in a different way. So if you simply go on arguing, it is not possible. Tarko 'pratiṣṭhaḥ. It will never help you, argument.
Śrutayo vibhinnāḥ. If you think that, "I shall read scriptures and I shall understand God," no, that is also not possible. Śrutayo vibhinnāḥ. Scriptures are also different, because scriptures are made according to time, circumstances, people. Just like Bible. Bible, Lord Jesus Christ preached in the desert, Jerusalem.
Or where it is? People who were not so advanced. Therefore his first instruction is, "Thou shall not kill." That means they were very much engaged in killing affairs, otherwise, why is this instruction? And actually, it so happened that they killed Jesus Christ. So that society was not very enlightened society.
So a scripture for a society which is not very enlightened and a scripture for a society which is very enlightened must be different. Just like a dictionary. For the schoolboy, a pocket dictionary, and for a college student, international big dictionary. Both of them are dictionaries, but the small pocket dictionary is not equal to the big dictionary—because it is different made for different classes of men.
So scriptures are made according to different classes of men. There are three classes of men: first class, second class and third class. The third-class man cannot understand the philosophy and scriptural injunction of the first-class man. That is not possible.
Higher mathematics cannot be understood by the small schoolboys who are simply trying to understand, "Two plus two equal to four." But "Two plus two equal to four" is equally good to the higher mathematics student. But still, higher mathematics and lower math is different. Therefore it is said, śrutayo vibhinnāḥ: the scriptures are different.