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Impersonalism is Unintelligent - Bhagavad-Gita 7.24
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To: alt-hindu@cis.ohio-state.edu
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Subject: Impersonalism is Unintelligent - Bhagavad-Gita 7.24
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From: susarla@rice.edu (H. Krishna Susarla)
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Date: 20 Jan 1995 01:05:09 GMT
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From news@larry.rice.edu Thu Jan 19 19: 52:42 1995
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Newsgroups: alt.hindu
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Organization: Rice University, Houston, Texas
Bhagavad-Gita 7.24
TEXT 24
avyaktam vyaktim apannam
manyante mam abuddhayah
param bhavam ajananto
mamavyayam anuttamam
avyaktam--nonmanifested; vyaktim--personality; apannam--achieved;
manyante--think; mam--Me; abuddhayah--less intelligent persons;
param--supreme; bhavam--existence; ajanantah--without knowing;
mama--My; avyayam--imperishable; anuttamam--the finest.
TRANSLATION
Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, was impersonal before and have
now assumed this personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not
know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme.
PURPORT
Those who are worshipers of demigods have been described as less
intelligent persons, and here the impersonalists are similarly
described. Lord Krsna in His personal form is here speaking before
Arjuna, and still, due to ignorance, impersonalists argue that the
Supreme Lord ultimately has no form. Yamunacarya, a great devotee of
the Lord in the disciplic succession of Ramanujacarya, has written two
very appropriate verses in this connection. He says,
tvam sila-rupa-caritaih parama-prakrstaih
sattvena sattvikataya prabalais ca sastraih
prakhyata-daiva-paramartha-vidam matais ca
naivasura-prakrtayah prabhavanti boddhum
``My dear Lord, devotees like Vyasadeva and Narada know You to be
the Personality of Godhead. By understanding different Vedic
literatures, one can come to know Your characteristics, Your form and
Your activities, and one can thus understand that You are the Supreme
Personality of Godhead. But those who are in the modes of passion and
ignorance, the demons, the nondevotees, cannot understand You. They are
unable to understand You. However expert such nondevotees may be in
discussing Vedanta and the Upanisads and other Vedic literatures, it is
not possible for them to understand the Personality of Godhead.''
(Stotra-ratna 12)
In the Brahma-samhita it is stated that the Personality of Godhead
cannot be understood simply by study of the Vedanta literature. Only by
the mercy of the Supreme Lord can the Personality of the Supreme be
known. Therefore in this verse it is clearly stated that not only are
the worshipers of the demigods less intelligent, but those nondevotees
who are engaged in Vedanta and speculation on Vedic literature without
any tinge of true Krsna consciousness are also less intelligent, and
for them it is not possible to understand God's personal nature.
Persons who are under the impression that the Absolute Truth is
impersonal are described as abuddhayah, which means those who do not
know the ultimate feature of the Absolute Truth. In the
Srimad-Bhagavatam it is stated that supreme realization begins from the
impersonal Brahman and then rises to the localized Supersoul--but the
ultimate word in the Absolute Truth is the Personality of Godhead.
Modern impersonalists are still less intelligent, for they do not even
follow their great predecessor Sankaracarya, who has specifically
stated that Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Impersonalists, therefore, not knowing the Supreme Truth, think Krsna
to be only the son of Devaki and Vasudeva, or a prince, or a powerful
living entity. This is also condemned in the Bhagavad-gita (9.11).
Avajananti mam mudha manusim tanum asritam: ``Only the fools regard Me
as an ordinary person.''
The fact is that no one can understand Krsna without rendering
devotional service and without developing Krsna consciousness. he
Bhagavatam (10.14.29) confirms this:
athapi te deva padambuja-dvaya-
prasada-lesanugrhita eva hi
janati tattvam bhagavan mahimno
na canya eko 'pi ciram vicinvan
``My Lord, if one is favored by even a slight trace of the mercy
of Your lotus feet, he can understand the greatness of Your
personality. But those who speculate to understand the Supreme
Personality of Godhead are unable to know You, even though they
continue to study the Vedas for many years.'' One cannot understand the
Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, or His form, quality or name
simply by mental speculation or by discussing Vedic literature. One
must understand Him by devotional service. When one is fully engaged in
Krsna consciousness, beginning by chanting the maha-mantra--Hare Krsna,
Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama,
Hare Hare--then only can one understand the Supreme Personality of
Godhead. Nondevotee impersonalists think that Krsna has a body made of
this material nature and that all His activities, His form and
everything are maya. These impersonalists are known as Mayavadis. They
do not know the ultimate truth.
The twentieth verse clearly states, kamais tais tair hrta-jnanah
prapadyante 'nya-devatah. ``Those who are blinded by lusty desires
surrender unto the different demigods.'' It is accepted that besides
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there are demigods who have their
different planets, and the Lord also has a planet. As stated in the
twenty-third verse, devan deva-yajo yanti mad-bhakta yanti mam api:
the worshipers of the demigods go to the different planets of the
demigods, and those who are devotees of Lord Krsna go to the Krsnaloka
planet. Although this is clearly stated, the foolish impersonalists
still maintain that the Lord is formless and that these forms are
impositions. From the study of the Gita does it appear that the
demigods and their abodes are impersonal? Clearly, neither the demigods
nor Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, are impersonal. They are
all persons; Lord Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and He
has His own planet, and the demigods have theirs.
Therefore the monistic contention that ultimate truth is formless
and that form is imposed does not hold true. It is clearly stated here
that it is not imposed. From the Bhagavad-gita we can clearly
understand that the forms of the demigods and the form of the Supreme
Lord are simultaneously existing and that Lord Krsna is sac-cid-ananda,
eternal blissful knowledge. The Vedas also confirm that the Supreme
Absolute Truth is ananda-mayo 'bhyasat, or by nature full of blissful
pleasure, and that He is the reservoir of unlimited auspicious
qualities. And in the Gita the Lord says that although He is aja
(unborn), He still appears. These are the facts that we should
understand from the Bhagavad-gita. We cannot understand how the Supreme
Personality of Godhead can be impersonal; the imposition theory of the
impersonalist monist is false as far as the statements of the Gita are
concerned. It is clear herein that the Supreme Absolute Truth, Lord
Krsna, has both form and personality.
Books of A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
