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Mayavada philosophy (Conversations)

Conversations and Morning Walks

1968 Conversations and Morning Walks

Questions and Answers -- Montreal, August 26, 1968:

Prabhupāda: Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya was considered at that time to be the greatest learned man in India. At that time nyāya-śāstra, logic, amongst the learned scholar logic is the greatest weapon to get victory over His opponent. So learned scholar is always a very learned scholar in logic, nyāya-śāstra. So this logic was taught in Bihar, Dharvanga. India, in different parts of India, different kinds of education was imparted. In Benares, the Mayavāda philosophy was very prominent. In Dharvanga, logic was very prominent. In Navadvīpa, philosophy was very prominent, and nyāya also. Similarly, in Bharampura, Bharatpura. There are many places, just like at the present moment there are many places, university. So He was great logician, Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In His boyhood He would ask His contemporary friends to argue with Him on a subject matter, and He'll defeat him. And again He'll establish it. The very point on which He defeated His friend, He'll again establish it, and again nullify it. He was so talented. His name was therefore, other name, was Nimāi Paṇḍita. One name is Gaurasundara, another name is Nimāi Paṇḍita. Paṇḍita means very learned scholar.

1969 Conversations and Morning Walks

Lord Caitanya Play Told to Tamala Krsna -- August 4, 1969, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: So His mother said, "Oh, why You are eating clay?" Then He said, "What is the difference between clay and this foodstuff? After all, everything is clay. It is produced from clay." This is criticizing the Māyāvādī philosophy that everything is one. So His mother said, "My dear boy, it is very nice, everything is clay. But when you have to use for practical purpose... For example, if you want to keep water, so you have to keep water on the clay pot, not on the clay. So this specific form of the clay is required." Then He said, "Mother, you have taught Me very nice philosophy. I shall not eat any more clay." Sometimes He would sit in some nasty place where pots, clay pots... In India still, the system is, for cooking purpose, for the Deity, every day a new clay pot should be used. In Jagannath temple still it is. No used pot can be accepted. So after using, the rejected pots are stacked in some place.

1972 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation -- February 15, 1972, Madras:

Prabhupāda: ...have no attachment. These are all nonsense. You cannot be (indistinct). A living being, to become desireless, how you can? I am living. I am not a dead body. Desire should be to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. Attachment should be for Him. That's all. You have to change. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. You have now attachment for sense gratification, desire for sense gratification. This has to be changed. Purification of desire, purification of attachment. Tat paratvena nirmalam (CC Madhya 19.170). Eyes, because it is diseased, you don't pluck out. This is nonsense. Cure the eyes of the disease, then you will see things right. The Māyāvādī philosophy is pluck out the eyes. Buddha philosophy is make it zero. That is also same thing, plucking out. Our philosophy is "No. Cure it." That is the difference. It is very simple. Which one is better?

Room Conversation -- February 15, 1972, Madras:

Prabhupāda: ...fact?

Śyāmasundara: Yes.

Prabhupāda: So their philosophy, "You are going to be hanged. Now you can enjoy whatever you like." So this philosophy, that because the Māyāvādī philosophy is impersonal, zero, therefore people don't care for sin. "Enjoy life. You shall finish."

Devotee: There's the story of a man who is being hanged and they said, "You can have whatever you want." So he said, "Whatever I want?" So they said, "Yes." So he says, "I want ten more years life."

Prabhupāda: We don't say whatever you want. You enjoy. Gratify your senses as much as you like.

Room Conversation -- April 2, 1972, Sydney:

Prabhupāda: Not innocent-rascal. Innocent, another thing. Innocent, if he is innocent, if I say, "You do not know, this is..." "Oh," then he will accept. But he will protest, a rascal. Innocent will accept. Therefore, the more one is innocent, simple, it is easy for him, Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The more one is rascal, it is very difficult.

Devotee (2): Is one called Māyāvāda philosophy?

Prabhupāda: Hm?

Devotee (2): Māyāvādīs, are they thinking like that, Kṛṣṇa is...

Room Conversation -- October 25, 1972, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Our process: Kṛṣṇa says that He is the Supreme, we accept. Not blindly—because other ācāryas, they also accept. Now some rascal is taking advantage of that statement, "If Kṛṣṇa can say, 'I am the Supreme, I am God,' so I can also say." Māyāvādī philosophy. (break) Swamis could not do anything, he was (indistinct). There are so many. Vivekananda went in 1893, three years before my birth, and what he has done?

Indian man: He returned converted.

Prabhupāda: Huh?

Indian man: He returned converted. (laughter)

Prabhupāda: Yes. Instead of converting, he became converted.

1973 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- May 14, 1973, Los Angeles:

Paramahaṁsa: So we can also appreciate Kṛṣṇa's creation in that light? For example, this is very beautiful because it is Kṛṣṇa's.

Prabhupāda: Yes. We realize that. We don't say... Just like Māyāvādī philosophy says mithyā. Jagan mithyā. "This world is false." We don't say that. We don't say "jagan mithyā."

Devotee: This material nature is just one energy of Kṛṣṇa acting in a certain way?

Prabhupāda: Why shall I say...? Kṛṣṇa has created so many nice things for His enjoyment, why shall I say, "mithyā." Suppose if you create nice house, very good apartment and you call me, "Just see." And if I say, "It is all mithyā."

Paramahaṁsa: That's also an offense. Because I can't enjoy it.

Room Conversation with Indian Guests -- July 11, 1973, London:

Prabhupāda: So that is chief. Kṛṣṇa personally says, mattaḥ parataraṁ nānyat (BG 7.7). "There is no more superior living being than Me." So these things are there in the Vedas. And they are supposed to be Vedic scholars, but they do not know the simple thing. So in that way they are ignorant. They read the Vedic literatures, but they do not understand, or they misinterpret in a different way for their own purpose. So they are, they're offender. Otherwise, there is no difficulty. This Māyāvāda philosophy has created this situation, that "God is impersonal, and, everyone can become God, or everyone is God." This Māyāvāda philosophy has created this havoc. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended that māyāvādī haya kṛṣṇe aparādhi. "All the Māyāvādīs, they are offenders to Kṛṣṇa." Therefore they cannot make any progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. That difficulty is there—offenders.

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, Dr. Suneson -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Professor: And they are... Yes. And they are, of course, a bit different. So he, Śaṅkara himself, seemed to...

Prabhupāda: That is explained in this Caitanya-caritāmṛta, why Śaṅkara prepared, presented his Māyāvāda philosophy. It is explained there.

Śrutakīrti: I remember where it was.

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Śrutakīrti: I remember where it was...

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes, yes. (break)

Professor: Do you have classes on Caitanya-caritāmṛta?

Prabhupāda: Oh yes. Read it.

Room Conversation with Sanskrit Professor, Dr. Suneson -- September 5, 1973, Stockholm:

Prabhupāda: ...haya sarva-nāśa. Read the English translation.

Pradyumna: "Śaṅkarācārya, who is an incarnation of Lord Śiva, is faultless because he is servant carrying out the orders of the Lord, but those who follow his Māyāvādī philosophy are doomed. They will lose all their advancement in spiritual knowledge."

Prabhupāda: This is the opinion of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Anyone who hears Śaṅkara's comment on Vedānta philosophy, he is doomed.

Professor: That's about it.

Prabhupāda: What is the purport?

Room Conversation -- September 18, 1973, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: These rascals, they meditate, "I am moving the sun, I am moving the moon. I am this, I am that." This is their meditation. So 'ham. So they are rascals. And how you can become the Supreme? As soon as you have got a toothache, you have to go to the doctor. And he was thinking he was supreme, nonsense. Rascal. (break) ...bhāṣya śunile haya sarva-nāśa. These are Māyāvādīs, those who are after, "I am the Supreme." They are Māyāvādīs. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu says, "Anyone who hears the philosophy of Māyāvāda, he is doomed. He is gone." (break) ...teaching, "Why you are seeking after God?" Just like Vivekananda taught, "Oh, why you are seeking after God? Don't you see so many gods are on the street? They are hungry. They are lame. They are daridra-nārāyaṇa. Why don't you worship them?" This is Māyāvādī.

Morning Walk -- December 5, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: ...throw him away, "Go away. I have now learned." Guru-mara-vidyā, to, the knowledge of how to kill guru. Guru-mara-vidyā. Their, the philosophy is that you cannot rise up. You take a ladder. But as soon as you rise, throw away the ladder. No more. No more needed. That is Māyāvāda philosophy. Our philosophy is dhyāyan stuvaṁs tasya yaśas tri-sandhyam.

Yaśomatīnandana: Three...

Prabhupāda: Eternally.

Yaśomatīnandana: Somebody told me, Prabhupāda, about Vallabhācārya, that he sometimes, he once went to Lord Caitanya and said that he wrote a better commentary than a previous ācārya, and Lord...

Prabhupāda: Yes. Śrīdhara Svāmī.

Morning Walk -- December 12, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: If God has cause, then he is not God. That is the difference between God and everything. Everything has got cause, but God has not cause. Therefore he is God. That, the rascal, he does not know. He equalizes God and everything on the same level. Then what is the meaning of God? If He hasn't got the extraordinary qualification, then how he is God? He is everything. He does not know. Why there is distinction between God and everything? Because God is not caused by everything, but everything is caused by God. That is the difference. (break) ...is equal to God, then everything is God. That is going on, Māyāvāda philosophy. (break)

Morning Walk -- December 20, 1973, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: This is called impersonalism...

Karandhara: But the food was always there.

Prabhupāda: ...that... We talk in relationship, everything, because this is relative world. Everything we talk, that is in relative consideration. That is Māyāvāda philosophy. They do not accept the relativity. Although when there is some toothache, he will go to the doctor. Why does he not..., "No, it is māyā. Why I shall be troubled with the toothache?" Why does he go to the doctor? That is the defect of Māyāvāda philosophy. They are being affected by the change, but still, they will say, "There is no change. It is all the same."

Karandhara: Well, that is what they say. They say, "If it is all the same, then I can go to the doctor."

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- January 11, 1974, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: The first is desire. "I desire to serve Kṛṣṇa." That is the beginning. Then Kṛṣṇa will give you chance as you deserve. This is the process. And that is explained: anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyam (Brs. 1.1.11). When you become completely desireless for anything material, then bhakti begins. That is desirelessness. Desirelessness means when becomes free to desire anything except Kṛṣṇa. That is desirelessness. Desirelessness means not to desire anything material. That is desirelessness. Their Māyāvādī philosophy that "Everything is māyā, and therefore Kṛṣṇa is māyā." That is called Māyāvādī. They do not know the distinction between māyā and reality. Everything māyā. Therefore they are called Māyāvādīs.

Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, I don't...

Mr. Sar: You know, they forget that this will be sukṛtina. Bhakta should be sukṛtina first, and then bhakta. That they forget. So it happens, you see, in all the...

Prabhupāda: No, this thinking, that "I am as good as Kṛṣṇa," this Māyāvāda philosophy has done so much havoc.

Dr. Patel: The highest philosophy of all is that you must give your ego. So there is no question of "I" remaining there. Even in bhakti-yoga and in jñāna-yoga, the real jñāna-yoga. Falsehood, anything can be... Even in bhakti-mārga also there are rascals, you know, who have done all sorts of humbug things.

Yaśodānandana: They are Māyāvādīs.

Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This, this philosophy, that there's allegory, that Kṛṣṇa never danced with gopīs, that...

Prabhupāda: That is...

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: ...directly leads to Māyāvādī philosophy.

Prabhupāda: That is Māyāvādī.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Guest (4): (Hindi for couple sentences.)

Prabhupāda: He knows also.

Guest (4): I know also. He spoiled so many girls, you see.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: We have gone to him so many times in Calcutta.

Morning Walk -- February 20, 1974, Bombay:

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Everywhere. Everywhere.

Guest (4): (some Hindi conversation)

Bhava-bhūti: Just like they import gañjā, they import Māyāvādī philosophy also.

Prabhupāda: In America.

Bhava-bhūti: Yeah. And all these books.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes. Actually the Māyāvādī philosophy was started with Vivekananda. Because I don't find in the Christian faith that they are Māyāvādīs. Their belief is service to God. Of course, they are somewhat Māyāvādīs. But this real strong Māyāvādī was brought from East with Buddhism and Vivekananda's philosophy.

Morning Walk -- March 2, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. You time fix up. I am ready.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Yes.

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. Jaya. (break) Hare Kṛṣṇa. (break) ...when I don't remember, "Get out." This is Māyāvāda philosophy. "So long I require your help, I catch your hand. And as soon as I don't require, please get out" (break)

Gargamuni: We have Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Yes. He, he was worshiping Viṣṇu at home, and he was trying to kill Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, there are many Vaiṣṇavas like Jarāsandha-apparently worshiping Viṣṇu—but trying to kill Kṛṣṇa. Jarāsandha-Vaiṣṇava.

Jayapatākā: So what is the value of such worship of Viṣṇu?

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Morning Walk -- March 2, 1974, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Hare Kṛṣṇa. It is all respectively. You are all Vaiṣṇavas. To take bath along with you is a great opportunity.

Gurukṛpā: A great opportunity to be purified. (break)

Bhavānanda: ...spiritual master. Then when he reaches a certain point, he lets go. What is...? What becomes of Him? He is also Māyāvādī.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is Māyāvādī philosophy. (break) ...philosophy, cakhudāna dilo yei janme janme prabhu sei. Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings that, "One who has opened my eyes, my spiritual master, he's my father, life after life." So how he can, he can say, "Go away now"? That is Māyāvāda philosophy.

Morning Walk -- March 23, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Just like Kṛṣṇa... Kṛṣṇa is expanding Himself in so many ways. Still, He's Kṛṣṇa. He's not impersonal. The Māyāvādī says, "Because Kṛṣṇa has expanded in so many ways, therefore no more Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa is finished." Because this is Māyāvāda. "Because Kṛṣṇa has expanded in so many ways, therefore there is no personal Kṛṣṇa." This is Māyāvāda philosophy. But the Upaniṣads say, "No, even though He has expanded in so many thousands ways, still He's Kṛṣṇa."

Dr. Patel: But even Bhāgavata says that even though He was born as an embodied, He was still so in His eternal place there.

Morning Walk -- March 26, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Ah. Manyante mām...

Guest (1): Abuddhayaḥ.

Prabhupāda: Abuddhayaḥ. That is the position. "God is nirākāra. Now He has assumed a form, accepting māyā." This is Māyāvāda philosophy.

Dr. Patel: No, but the difference between God and us, that the God has control over the māyā, while we are controlled by the māyā, the jīvas.

Prabhupāda: But they do not know what is māyā even.

Dr. Patel: Then if they know māyā, then you call them Māyāvādīs.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Māyāvādī is different.

Morning Walk -- March 27, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Ah. And that is going on, transmigration.

Chandobhai: ...gṛhītvaitāni saṁyāti vāyur gandhān ivāśayāt. How the body goes away?

Prabhupāda: Yes. According, according to the quality or the modes of nature, he has to change his body. This Māyāvāda philosophy has made the whole world atheist. They don't believe in God.

Dr. Patel: I think this, what do you call Māyāvāda philosophy is not... (break)

Prabhupāda: Māyāvādī was introduced...

Chandobhai: By Buddha.

Prabhupāda: ...by Śaṅkara.

Chandobhai: Śaṅkara and Jains mostly.

Morning Walk -- March 30, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: So the hiṁsā begins from the Supreme. So all negative. These Māyāvādīs, they are hiṁsā, they are proud, they have no sense of what is amānitvam. This is Māyāvāda philosophy.

Dr. Patel: Kṣāntir ārjavam.

Prabhupāda: And there cannot be śanti. Because... There cannot be. Śanti must be there.

Dr. Patel: Kṣānti.

Prabhupāda: Śanti.

Dr. Patel: Kṣā, Kṣā.

Morning Walk -- March 31, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Prakṛti.

Mr. Sar: Oh, jīva is prakṛti. Ah.

Prabhupāda: And the Māyāvādī philosophy, they say it is puruṣa. Therefore... Therefore aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ. The Māyāvādīs, Māyāvādīs are described as aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ.

Dr. Patel: Buddha was also an avatāra of Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Oh... And in Bhagavad-gītā it is also said, abuddhayaḥ. What is that śloka?

Mr. Sar: Abuddhayaḥ.

Prabhupāda: Manyante mām abuddhayaḥ.

Morning Walk -- April 3, 1974, Bombay:

Dr. Patel: But he must have got special powers deputed to certain people. And these are that vibhūtis.

Prabhupāda: Yes, yes. That is vibhūti. That does not mean... Māyāvādī philosophy is: "Because He has spread everywhere, therefore He is imperson." He remains person, without any change, avyaya. But still, He is spread. That he is asking that "How I shall understand You, that You are spread everywhere." Akhilātma-bhūtaḥ. Goloka eva nivasaty akhilātma-bhūtaḥ (Bs. 5.37). That is... So we have to understand from Kṛṣṇa how He is all-pervading, not that mental speculation. "Just like if you take a thing and distribute all over, the original thing is lost." Not like that. Original Kṛṣṇa is there.

Morning Walk -- April 8, 1974, Bombay:

Devotee: The Jains have the same kind of philosophy also.

Prabhupāda: Everyone. All philosophies, they are more or less Māyāvāda. All Māyāvāda. Different types of Māyāvāda philosophy. Therefore they should be discarded. Hare Kṛṣṇa. Thank you very much. What you are, all students?

Students: Yes. (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Student: (indistinct)

Prabhupāda: You have seen our temple?

Student: Not seen your temple.

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That's all right. But that is the system. That is the system. You should begin. That... That is described in the Bhāgavatam. The First and Second Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam are the two legs of Kṛṣṇa. That is the beginning. Janmādy asya yataḥ (SB 1.1.1). These professional reciters, they read Bhāgavata. They jump over immediately to the face. The Tenth Canto is described as the face of Kṛṣṇa. So you cannot go immediately to the head. You must begin from the feet. First Canto, Second Canto. Therefore there are nine cantos, and then Tenth Canto. And the Kṛṣṇa's rasa dance, that is the smiling of Kṛṣṇa. So you cannot ask the superior to take the facility of his smiling. Smiling will be when he is pleased. The difficulty is that the Māyāvādī philosophy, they do not accept the form of the Lord. And they do not know how to behave with the form. Of course, there is no difference between Kṛṣṇa's face and Kṛṣṇa's feet. There is no difference.

Morning Walk -- April 12, 1974, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is called bhakti. (break) ...in devotional service. Without devotional service, all activities, they are false, simply just like jumping like the monkey. What is the value? The monkey is always busy, but his business has no value. His business has no value. Therefore as soon as one monkey..., "Get out! Get out! Get out! Get out!" But he is always busy. So to become busy like a monkey has no value. To busy, to become busy as a devotee, that has value. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. The Māyāvādī philosophy is that "This business is useless, so stop it altogether." No. That is negation. If you stop... Just like a child, if you stop playing mischief, always doing, then he will be mad, psychologically. You must give him some engagement, better engagement, so that he will not commit any more mischief. So bhakti is a service, activity. If he is not engaged in activity, then he will become again a rascal. Because we are living entities. We are not dead stone.

1975 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Metaphysics Society -- February 21, 1975, Caracas:

Lady (Hṛdayānanda): This is Māyāvādī philosophy. She's saying that when she says, "I am," she doesn't mean "I" in the sense of the lower self but in the higher self.

Prabhupāda: That we have admitted. God is spirit; I am spirit. So both of them "I." But God's power and your power is not equal. God said, "Let there be creation." There was creation. But you say, "Let there be capati," there will be no capati unless you work. (laughter) You have to work for it.

Lady (Hṛdayānanda): God is the whole, and we are parts, and we are evolving to integrate ourselves with that whole.

Evening Discussion -- May 6, 1975, Perth:

Prabhupāda: Inside does not mean He is not beside. We are inside this room, that does not mean I an not beside the room. Because I live within the room, does it mean that the room and myself are the same? Then, why don't you understand this? God may be within anything, but that does not mean that He is equal or one with that thing. That is Māyāvādī philosophy, foolish philosophy. Because I am within this room, does it mean that the room and myself are the same? I am more important than the room. So what is the difficulty to understand? Does it mean because I am within the room, I am less important than the room? The room is important or I am important? Who is important?

Morning Walk -- May 8, 1975, Perth:

Paramahaṁsa: But isn't it better to give up all ego altogether?

Prabhupāda: Why? Why? That is Māyāvādī philosophy. We make our ego purified. "I am servant of Kṛṣṇa." That is wanted. Not that to make my egoism zero. That is Māyāvāda. They are disappointed, they think finish this egoism. It cannot be finished. Because you are individual soul, it cannot be finished. Simply it has to be purified. I am thinking Indian, you are thinking American. You are neither American neither Indian. We are all part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa. Direct we have to come to that point. Not to falsely think that I am American, I am Indian, I am cat, I am dog. That has to be finished. But you'll come to the real egoism, that I am eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. That "I am" will go on. No that... They are thinking in a way to finish the "I am" or "I am the same." Wrong thing.

Morning Walk -- May 12, 1975, Perth:

Amogha: Śrīla Prabhupāda, many times when I am seeing professors or students also, they seem to think that traditional Hinduism or whatever they think it is, they say that the Māyāvādī philosophy, or monist, they think this is traditional, and..., because there's so many translations of the Bhagavad-gītā and the Upaniṣads they've read, and they're all impersonal. So I was wondering what is the best way to convince them that actually, that is not actually the original tradition of understanding?

Prabhupāda: How they are becoming foolish, that they are reading Bhagavad-gītā and they are accepting original tradition of the Māyāvāda? In the original tradition of Bhagavad-gītā, it is said, Kṛṣṇa said, ahaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ proktavān: "I said. I am person." How these rascals are accepting imperson? Why do they read Bhagavad-gītā? If they have got different theory, let them differently... They are cheating. Bhagavad-gītā is popular. Therefore they are taking advantage of Bhagavad-gītā and pushing on impersonalism. But here the tradition begins, ahaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ. Where is imperson? So if they want to be cheated willingly, who can save them? They are reading Bhagavad-gītā and devīating from the words of Bhagavad-gītā. Then what is the meaning?

Room Conversation with Dr. Copeland, Professor of Modern Indian History -- May 20, 1975, Melbourne:

Prabhupāda: No. Śaṅkarācārya is also not authority because he does not follow the ācāryas. Of course, Māyāvāda philosophy was there always, but that was never taken very seriously. Vyāsadeva is the authority. So Vyāsadeva is not Māyāvādī. He is Vaiṣṇava. We belong to Vyāsadeva's sampradāya, Brahma-sampradāya. Therefore we worship our spiritual master as Vyāsadeva's representative, vyāsa-pūjā.

Dr. Copeland: And how about in the south? Do you have many...

Prabhupāda: Yes, everywhere. South is the same thing.

Dr. Copeland: Surely not as many as in the north, or as much?

Morning Walks -- June 18-19, 1975, Honolulu:

Prabhupāda: And in any circumstance they are happy. It is not that in Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa is a sannyāsī. He cannot see the face of woman. It is not like that. (chuckles) But because it is spiritual, it is all-attractive. There are also the trees, animals, the river, the fruits, the flowers, the father, the mother, the beloved girls, beloved boys, sporting among the cowherd boys, going to the forest, the cows and calves, everything. So that attraction is required. The Māyāvādī philosophers, they are thinking, "Again attraction like this? So make it zero, no attraction. Become zero." So their philosophy is zero philosophy. That is also no information of the spiritual world, Buddha philosophy and Māyāvāda philosophy, śūnyavādī, nirviśeṣa, without varieties or zero. Without varieties means zero. So two philosophers. But therefore they invent: "Anything is all right." They invent. After all, they want zeroism. (break) ...pārtha yogaṁ yuñjan mad-āśrayaḥ. (break) ...one increases the attraction for Kṛṣṇa, they will never be happy. (break) ...simply changing attraction on the material platform under different names. That will be failure. (break) Dr. Wolfe is missing that evolution?

Morning Walk -- July 2, 1975, Denver:

Prabhupāda: How is that? You can see the universe; that does not mean that you can become universe. You can see the sky; that does not mean you become as big as sky. (break) ...small, minute shining sparks, minute combination. So they are also shining, but that does not mean they can become as good, as big, as the sun. (break) ...the defect of the Māyāvāda philosophy. They think of themselves too much. Therefore they remain here, always in māyā. (break) ...abuddhayaḥ, means the intelligence is not purified. They are called aviśuddha-buddhayaḥ or viśuddha (SB 10.2.32), "without purification of knowledge." (break) ...kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ patanty adhaḥ anādṛta-yuṣmād-aṅghrayaḥ. They fall down. (break) ...this symbol?

Morning Walk -- July 2, 1975, Denver:

Devotee (2): So the same gross senses will be able to see spiritual things.

Prabhupāda: Yes, it is purified. Bhakti is the purifying process. I have already said. Not that the eyes are suffering from cataract disease, "Pluck out." That is Māyāvādī philosophy.

Devotee (2): What does that mean, then, when the yogis withdraw their senses from the objects like it says like the tortoise withdraws his limbs within the shell? What does that refer to then?

Prabhupāda: Hm? What is that? I do not follow.

Brahmānanda: He asks, in the yoga system...

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prabhupāda: Eh?

Prof. Hopkins: The failure is a failure to go beyond, to realize beyond that level of identity, that there is a Lord, who is...

Prabhupāda: Māyāvādī philosophy is defective. They say if everything is God then where is the Lord's separate existence. That is their defect. That is materialist theory. If you take a big paper and make it into small pieces and throw it away, then the big paper is lost. (laughs) The Māyāvādī thinks like that, that if everything is Brahman, Brahman is distributed, then where is..., why you call the Supreme Lord? They think that Brahman being distributed, He is finished. This is Māyāvādī. He does not know the potency of God. And that is stated in Upaniṣad. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam.

Conversation with Professor Hopkins -- July 13, 1975, Philadelphia:

Prof. Hopkins: What is your view of Śrī Aurobindo? (loud laughter) Or should I have left well enough alone? He is not an impersonalist, he's not a Māyāvādī.

Prabhupāda: He says that above the Māyāvāda philosophy there is something else, super. That is bhakti. (indistinct) ...bhakti, but he could not understand because he did not take any education from realized person. He wanted to realize himself. That is his defect.

Prof. Hopkins: So one who... You would see his effort to transcend, I suppose you would call it...

Prabhupāda: That effort was for life after life. Then when his effort will be successful he will realize Kṛṣṇa. Vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā su-durlabhaḥ. Bahūnāṁ janmanām ante (BG 7.19).

Morning Walk -- August 27, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Dakkha ta. (Hindi) From there you have to take it. Sadhana. On the bottle it is written there. (Hindi exchange with someone) They will never take seriously your Māyāvāda philosophy. (Hindi) Kṛṣṇa aparādhī. They are offender to Kṛṣṇa, all these Māyāvādīs. And in Vṛndāvana this Māyāvādī philosophy has become very strong. Even the so-called Vaiṣṇavas, they are also... (Hindi) Buddhist, they say that there is no God.

Indian man: They can't believe God.

Morning Walk -- August 27, 1975, Vrndavana:

Akṣayānanda: ...people in India, Prabhupāda, are still pure vegetarians, but almost all of their children eat eggs, and try to smoke cigarettes, and they don't stop them because they don't have any philosophy because of the Māyāvādī philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Akṣayānanda: Almost 90% of all the people we preach to, they are all influenced by Māyāvādī philosophy.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That I was talking. (break)

Brahmānanda: ...say that the egg is from God, and the apple is from God.

Prabhupāda: So why don't you eat apple? (laughter)

Morning Walk -- September 13, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes. Therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu has forbidden. Māyāvādī-bhāṣya sunile haya sarva nasa (CC Madhya 6.169). One is finished if he follows the Māyāvāda philosophy. He is doomed. He will never be able to accept the real philosophy. He will be absorbed in that false philosophy. This is Māyāvādī's position. Māyāvādī haya kṛṣṇe aparādhī. They are aparādhī, offender. Therefore they shall remain perpetually in ignorance and think himself, "I am God." This is Māyāvādī's position. Vivekānanda preached openly that "Why you are thinking that you are sinful? You are God." He preached like that.

Morning Walk -- September 13, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Harikeśa: This Māyāvādī philosophy, is this...?

Prabhupāda: They are atheist. They are first-class atheist, more than the Buddhist. Veda na maniya bauddha haila nāstika. The Buddhists, they did not accept Vedic authorities; therefore they are considered as nāstika. But vedāśraya nāstikya vada. These rascals, they accept Vedas and preaches atheism. So they are more dangerous than the Buddhists. This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu's version. (aside) Hare Kṛṣṇa. Bauddha ke adhika: "They are more dangerous than the Buddhists." The Buddhists, although they are supposed to be atheists, they worship the Deity Lord Buddha. But they say it is māyā. And more advanced than these atheists.

Morning Walk -- September 15, 1975, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: No. Yes, we also say. Although everything is expansion of the energy of Kṛṣṇa, not that everything is Kṛṣṇa. That is the difference between Māyāvāda philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Vaiṣṇava philosophy takes everything as expansion of Kṛṣṇa's energy. Parāsya brāhmaṇa śaktiḥ. (Aside:) Jaya. Sarvedam akhilaṁ jagat. Everything is expansion of the energy of the Supreme Brahman. Kṛṣṇa confirms it, mayā tatam idaṁ sarvam. Without Kṛṣṇa, there is no existence. But that does not mean anything existentional is Kṛṣṇa. That is Māyāvāda philosophy.

Morning Walk -- November 13, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: That is Māyāvāda philosophy.

Dr. Patel: We are in the process of making soul-consciousness.

Prabhupāda: No, no, that is Māyāvāda philosophy.

Dr. Patel: But still every moment we are body conscious.

Prabhupāda: Yes, that's it. But that is Māyāvāda philosophy, "Everything one. Everything one."

Dr. Patel: Māyāvāda or no vāda, this is a fact, that we are body conscious. We look to the facts, sir, we scientists.

Morning Walk -- November 17, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: No, no.

Dr. Patel: All those, sir...

Prabhupāda: This service to Kṛṣṇa has disappeared on account of this māyāvāda philosophy.

Dr. Patel: You think so.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dr. Patel: And māyāvāda philosophy was necessary to dislodge the Buddhist, degenerated Buddhism.

Morning Walk -- November 21, 1975, Bombay:

Prabhupāda: Then we reject them. At once we reject it. Yes. These Māyāvādīs, they know that if they accept Bhagavad-gītā as it is, then their Māyāvādī philosophy is finished.

Mahāṁsa: And those of the Vivekananda or Ramakrishna āśrama, there is only one senior devotee that they have now, he is the president of the Hyderabad branch. His name is Ranganath.

Prabhupāda: Oh, Ranganath, yes.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Morning Walk -- February 6, 1976, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: So the angels, Lord Brahmā, Lord Śiva, they are offering their obeisances, and these rascals are claiming, "I am God." How great rascals they are. Śiva-viriñci-nutam (SB 11.5.33). Śiva-viriñci-nutam. Lord Śiva, Lord Brahmā, they are offering their respects, and these things are: "I am equal with God." This Māyāvāda philosophy. Mūḍhas.

Dayānanda: Śrīla Prabhupāda, that tendency to be puffed up seems to be so strong, as soon as they get just a little bit of so-called qualification, then they... Everyone is becoming puffed up, even great personalities like Lord Indra and Lord Brahmā.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Dayānanda: What to speak of all the...

Prabhupāda: Lord Brahmā is also one of the living entities.

Morning Walk -- June 7, 1976, Los Angeles:

Prabhupāda: Very good.

Nalinīkaṇṭha: In the West, people are generally unfamiliar, I think, with the philosophy of Śaṅkara, yet in your books you devote so much argument to defeating Māyāvāda philosophy. I was wondering if it is within every conditioned soul's heart to be an impersonalist. Is it.... Does every conditioned soul have the propensity for impersonalism?

Prabhupāda: No, they cannot understand God; therefore it is impersonalism. It is due to their poor fund of knowledge. So most people are in poor fund of knowledge.

Hari-śauri: As soon as one forgets Kṛṣṇa, he's impersonal.

Prabhupāda: Yes.

Garden Conversation -- June 27, 1976, New Vrindaban:

Prabhupāda: Then? It is the same thing. Suppose Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja has brought this car, so he says, "All of you can come." So I go, you go, does it mean that you and your spiritual master is equal? Do you think like that? It is same thing. Everyone can go to Godhead, there is no doubt, but still there is difference between brāhmaṇas, kṣatriyas, śūdras. So far going into the car, the equal right is there, but it does not mean that your spiritual master or the next group, they are not greater than you. Don't think like that. The same car, Kīrtanānanda Mahārāja is driving, I am also there, you are also there. Does it mean that we are all equal? There must be gradation. The right is given to everyone. It does not mean that immediately they become all one. It is Kṛṣṇa's mercy that He accepted everyone, "Come on." But the distinction is there. We are inviting everyone to partake Kṛṣṇa prasādam. That does not mean that immediately all of them have become of the equal rank. Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He was so kind, but still there was distinction. When He was taking prasādam, personal associates, they were sitting with Him. Is it not? So this is called maryādā. Maryādā means honor. That must... Varieties must be there. Otherwise we become Māyāvādīs—everything is equal, all one. This is Māyāvāda philosophy.

Room Conversation -- July 31, 1976, New Mayapur (French farm):

Prabhupāda: Huh? Ukta, ukta means "said." And sadbhiḥ, "by great personalities." Sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair uktas **, tathā, and "accordingly," tathā means "accordingly," bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ, those who are actually in transcendental platform, they should accept it. So why? Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva... It does not mean Māyāvādī, that he has become God. But kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya, he is the most confidential servant. He's therefore servant-God. He's God, servant-God. God is master-God. Kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya. So why he has become priya? That is, Kṛṣṇa says personally, na ca tasmān manuṣyeṣu kaścin me priya-kṛttamaḥ: (BG 18.69) nobody is dearer than him in the whole world. Why? Ya idaṁ paramaṁ guhyaṁ mad-bhakteṣv abhidā... (Bg 18.68). "Who preaches this gospel of Bhagavad-gītā among My devotees." So the guru has got two business. He has to make devotees and teach them the principles of Bhagavad-gītā. Therefore he's so dear. Not that he has become God, not Māyāvādī philosophy. He's living entity, but because he acts very confidentially on behalf of Kṛṣṇa, therefore he's as good as God. This is bhakti. Not the Māyāvādī philosophy that guru has become God. Guru as God, not become. He's servant-God.

Room Conversation -- August 25, 1976, Hyderabad:

Indian man (2): It will never stop, that's the fact. That is that a man...

Prabhupāda: But Māyāvādī philosophy is that you offer upāsana now and when you are perfect you become one.

Indian man (2): Not one. I mean you merge with one. Not you become one. You merge with one.

Prabhupāda: Then there is no advaita-vāda. There is dvaita-vāda. Two. There is no advaita-vāda. If you accept that you remain different, then there is no advaita.

Indian man (2): We don't dare do you see, ācchā, at a particular stage you like to merge with Him?

Room Conversation with Life Member, Mr. Malhotra -- December 22, 1976, Poona:

Prabhupāda: I will give you practical example. Just like you take red water, colored water. So put into the sea, does this mean that sea becomes red? That little spot may be for the time being. Besides that, merging, this is the philosophy of the Māyāvādīs. Actually that is superficial. Just like a bird, green bird, enters into the green tree. You see that bird is vanished. Because the tree is green and the bird is green, you do not know the separate identification. But the bird is there, separate identification. It is not the bird has become zero. A airplane goes to the sky, after some time you don't find the airplane. That doesn't mean the airplane has no more identity, separate. It is separate. It is your defective eyes that you cannot see, that it has got separate existence.

1977 Conversations and Morning Walks

Room Conversation with Sannyasis -- January 22, 1977, Bhuvanesvara:

Prabhupāda: Yes. People heard that Indian philosophy is Māyāvāda. Māyāvādam asac chāstraṁ pracchanaṁ bauddhaṁ ucyate. Caitanya Mahāprabhu repeatedly said, māyāvāda bhāṣya śunile haya sarva nāśa: "He is doomed." Māyāvādī haya kṛṣṇe aparādhi. These are the direct charges against the Māyāvāda. My Guru Mahārāja also, a staunch enemy of the Māyāvāda philosophy. And you are also singing, nirviśeṣa-śūnyavādī. The śūnyavādī are the Buddhist, and nirviśeṣavādī are the Māyāvādīs. Paścatya-deśa, they are embarassed with this śūnyavādī and nirviśeṣavādī. Now we are trying to give them solid personification of the Absolute Truth. Here also, India, they are spoiled by these Māyāvādī. Now it is in your hand, able hands. You are resourceful, intelligent. Spread this Vaiṣṇava philosophy and challenge this Māyāvāda and śūnyavāda. Thank you. Jaya. (devotees offer obeisances) Here is a would-be Vaiṣṇava. (laughs) Very nice. He is a very nice child.

Evening Darsana -- February 19, 1977, Mayapura:

Prabhupāda: Yes. "You, Me, and all these kings, they were existing—the individual. You, Me, and... They're existing now, and they'll continue to exist." So where there is oneness? All individual eternally, as aṁśa, aṁśī, this finger and the body. You can say this finger is my body, but finger is not the body, whole body. Finger is finger. Not that if Kṛṣṇa's body is eternal, the finger is also eternal. Not that today it is finger, tomorrow is whole body. That is defective, Māyāvāda philosophy. Finger always exists as finger. Kṛṣṇa is eternal, His finger is eternal, but the finger and the body is the same material. They're not different. They become different when they come to material world without touch of Kṛṣṇa. This finger is finger even it is cut, but it is useless. When this finger is cut and fallen in the ground it will be said, "finger of Swamiji or somebody."

Talk with Svarupa Damodara -- June 20, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Everything is spirit. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Therefore I say there is no matter. Only matter means when the spirit is not discovered. When people are rascals, then there is matter. When people are intelligent, there is no matter. Sarvaṁ khalv idaṁ brahma. Therefore Māyāvādī philosophy, that "You are thinking you are not God," that is māyā.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Like a kīrtana party now, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: This is kīrtana, going on. You do not understand what is kīrtana. Any topics on Kṛṣṇa, that is kīrtana. Abhavad vaiyāsakī kīrtane. Vaiyāsakī, Śukadeva Gosvāmī, he became perfect by kīrtana. What kind of kīrtana did he do? Hm?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Bhāgavata discussion.

Room Conversation -- October 14, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: Dr. Kapoor came?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Dr. Kapoor was there this morning. I was not there during the part where he spoke, but apparently he spoke some Māyāvādī philosophy, this Dr. O.B.L. Kapoor.

Gurukṛpā: He said that everything is made of molecules, and molecules are invisible; therefore actually everything is invisible. Therefore everything is like a dream, everything is unreal.

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: This is the result of all of his years of study in order to write his book. He's become a Māyāvādī. Or at least his... Mādhava dāsa, our Mādhava dāsa, he got up and completely defeated him.

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: Purport: "Factually the devotional service of the Lord is described in Vedānta-sūtra, but the Māyāvādī philosophers, the Śaṅkarites, prepared a commentary known as Śārīraka-bhāṣya, in which the transcendental form of the Lord is denied. The Māyāvādī philosophers think that the living entity is identical with the Supreme Soul, Brahman. Their commentaries on Vedānta-sūtra are completely opposed to the principle of devotional service. Caitanya Mahāprabhu therefore warns us to avoid these commentaries. If one indulges in hearing the Śaṅkarite Śārīraka-bhāṣya, he will certainly be bereft of all real knowledge. The ambitious Māyāvādī philosophers desire to merge into the existence of the Lord, and this may be accepted as sāyujya-mukti. However, this form of mukti means denying one's individual existence. In other words, it is a kind of spiritual suicide. This is absolutely opposed to the philosophy of bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga offers immortality to the individual conditioned soul. If one follows the Māyāvādī philosophy, he misses his opportunity to become immortal after giving up the material body. The immortality of the individual person is the highest perfectional stage a living entity can attain."

Prabhupāda: Who were..., was present all through in the meeting?

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Prabhupāda: So, if they pay, we shall allow?

Bhavānanda: I don't think so, Śrīla Prabhupāda. Just like yesterday, I was noticing in their afternoon meeting, they had microphone, and you could hear the speakers outside. I was thinking that this Māyāvādī... Someone is speaking Māyāvādī philosophy, it's polluting the boys. Even you don't understand Hindi, the sound vibration itself is polluting. You once told me, Śrīla Prabhupāda, that to even hear Sanskrit Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam from the mouth of a Māyāvādī, it will poison you. Even you don't understand, just the sound vibration coming from that source is polluting. So what is the necessity for us to rent out our facility to them?

Prabhupāda: Tamāla Kṛṣṇa?

Room Conversation -- November 2, 1977, Vrndavana:

Bhavānanda: Actually I think you're the only one on the whole planet who is not Māyāvādī-Māyāvādī or influenced by Māyāvādī philosophy. Actually until you came to the West, the only philosophy that had come to America from India was Māyāvādī philosophy. No one knew anything else. (break)

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Each verse is like a separate lecture, Śrīla Prabhupāda. What, Śrīla Prabhupāda?

Prabhupāda: We shall chant our beads or read book?

Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Which would you like?

Prabhupāda: For me, everything is all right.

Page Title:Mayavada philosophy (Conversations)
Compiler:Visnu Murti, RupaManjari
Created:04 of Apr, 2012
Totals by Section:BG=0, SB=0, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=0, Con=60, Let=0
No. of Quotes:60