Skip to main content

CC Antya 2.99

Text

jīvājñāna-kalpita īśvare, sakala-i ajñāna
yāhāra śravaṇe bhaktera phāṭe mana prāṇa”

Synonyms

jīva — the ordinary living being; ajñāna — by ignorance; kalpita — imagined; īśvare — in the Supreme Lord; sakala-i ajñāna — all ignorance; yāhāra śravaṇe — hearing of which; bhaktera — of the devotee; phāṭe — breaks; mana prāṇa — mind and life.

Translation

“The Māyāvādī philosopher tries to establish that the living entity is only imaginary and that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is under the influence of māyā. Hearing this kind of commentary breaks the heart and life of a devotee.”

Purport

Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī wanted to impress upon Bhagavān Ācārya that even though someone firmly fixed in devotion to Kṛṣṇa’s service might not be deviated by hearing the Māyāvāda bhāṣya, that bhāṣya is nevertheless full of impersonal words and ideas — such as Brahman — which represent knowledge but which are impersonal. The Māyāvādīs say that the world created by māyā is false and that actually there is no living entity but only one spiritual effulgence. They further say that God is imaginary, that people think of God only because of ignorance, and that when the Supreme Absolute Truth is befooled by the external energy, māyā, He becomes a jīva, or living entity. Upon hearing all these nonsensical ideas from the nondevotee, a devotee is greatly afflicted, as if his heart and soul were broken.