We are not expert. Kaniṣṭha-adhikārī. Kaniṣṭha-adhikārī means neophytes, neophytes who are not conversant with the conclusion of the Vedas. They have got some, I mean to say, faith. That's all. But faith can be changed. Any . . . if a person, strong in arguments and strong in presenting things in jugglery of words, oh, the neophyte, his idea can be changed. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu warns, therefore, in the Vaiṣṇava philosophy that, "You should not worship any other demigods." It does not mean that you should show disrespect to demigods. No. That is not.
But because he is in the lower stage, if he is allowed to worship or to show respect to the demigod, he will think that he is also like Kṛṣṇa. "Kṛṣṇa is another demigod, and this Candra is another demigod, the Śiva is another demigod." Just like some foolish person, they propagate that "Whatever deity you worship, oh, that is God." Even, they say, if you worship a cat or a dog, that is also God. So therefore there is stricture.
And in the Bhagavad-gītā also, mām ekam, "Simply unto Me, one," Kṛṣṇa says. Because one is a neophyte, he can be turned, his faith can be disturbed at any moment—therefore in the beginning one has to, I mean to say, pin his faith only in Kṛṣṇa, mām ekam. Otherwise, he cannot make progress. And when one understands Kṛṣṇa, janma karma me divyam (BG 4.9), in truth, then he can understand other things also. Āra yei śune tāra haya sarva-nāśa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu warns that "Anyone who hears Śaṅkara's bhāṣya, Śārīraka-bhāṣya, he is doomed."
- prākṛta kariyā māne viṣṇu-kalevara
- viṣṇu-nindā āra nāhi ihāra upara
- (CC Adi 7.115)
Prākṛta kariyā māne. Prakṛta means material. "If somebody thinks that the Supreme Personality of Godhead, His body is material, that is the greatest offense." The greatest offense is that . . . to accept a material thing as God, that is the greatest offense, and God . . . and to accept a material thing as God or to accept God as material.
Just try to understand. Just like they are preaching that "Anything you worship, that is God," or "God is also material. When He comes, when He appears, He is also material." So these kinds of conclusion is the greatest offense. Viṣṇu-nindā āra nāhi ihāra upara nindā. Blasphemy. So this should be avoided.
- īśvarera tattva-yena jvalita jvalana
- jīvera svarūpa-yaiche sphuliṅgera kaṇa
- (CC Adi 7.116)
Now, tattva, the Absolute Truth, He is comparing just like blazing fire. Absolute Truth is blazing fire and, jīvera svarūpa-yaiche sphuliṅgera kaṇa, and the living entities, they are just like sparks, sparks of the fire. We have seen fire, blazing fire, and when fire is blazing, we can see the sparks and the original fire.
- jīva-tattva—śakti, kṛṣṇa-tattva—śaktimān
- gītā-viṣṇupurāṇAdi tāhāte pramāṇa
- (CC Adi 7.117)
Now, Caitanya Mahāprabhu says that "Jīva-tattva, the living entities, they are never the energetic; they are energy." Energetic and energy. So how it is so? The evidence is from Bhāgavata, Viṣṇu Purāṇa and Bhagavad-gītā. Because one has to give evidence. How do you say that jīva-tattva, the living entities, they are not the Supreme? Caitanya Mahāprabhu says . . . they are not su . . .
Not to, I mean to say, speak of Supreme, they are not even of the same category. Because there are different categories. Viṣṇu-tattva, jīva-tattva and śakti-tattva—there are so many categories. So He says that, "Jīva, the living entities, they are in the categories of energy. They are not energetic."
Energetic and energy, you should try to understand. Just like the fire, fire and its heat. Heat is the energy, and the fire is the energetic. Similarly, the Supreme Lord, He is the energetic, Supreme Person, and we, the living entities, we are energy. But as you cannot separate energy and energetic separately . . . wherever there is energy . . . wherever there is fire, there is heat also.
You cannot separate the fire . . . so as soon as we are separated, that is our conditional state. How we are separated? Just like the sparks of the fire, as soon as it's come out of the fire and falls down on the ground, it loses its illumination immediately. Immediately. That illuminating spark which was dancing with the fire, as soon as falls down, it becomes black, charcoal; it is just like carbon. So, so long with the fire, it is just like, as good as fire, illuminating.
So our position is like that. We are sparks, energy. As from the energy of the fire there are so many sparks dancing, similarly, we are all sparks of the Supreme Lord. But as soon as we come out of the fire, as soon as we want to become independent of the Supreme Absolute Truth, our that spiritual energy becomes almost extinguished. It is never to be extinguished, but it appears. It appears.
Just like fire covered with ashes. So again, when ashes are removed, the fire comes. So our position is like that. We are now covered by the ash of this material energy and, as soon as this will be removed . . . the removal process is Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa—ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12), cleansing process. As soon as we are completely cleansed, we are as good, I mean, as illuminating as Kṛṣṇa. So this is the process.