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Eternal Individual Existence Is A Fact
from Bhagavad-Gita AS IT IS:
(Copyright Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, Used with Permission)
TEXT 12
na tv evaham jatu nasam
na tvam neme janadhipah
na caiva na bhavisyamah
sarve vayam atah param
WORD FOR WORD
na--never; tu--but; eva--certainly; aham--I; jatu--at any time; na--did not;
asam--exist; na--not; tvam--you; na--not; ime--all these; jana-adhipah--kings;
na--never; ca--also; eva--certainly; na--not; bhavisyamah--shall exist; sarve
vayam--all of us; atah param--hereafter.
TRANSLATION
Never was there a time when I did not exist, nor you, nor all these kings; nor
in the future shall any of us cease to be.
PURPORT
In the Vedas, in the Katha Upanisad as well as in the Svetasvatara Upanisad,
it is said that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the maintainer of
innumerable living entities, in terms of their different situations according
to individual work and reaction of work. That Supreme Personality of
Godhead is also, by His plenary portions, alive in the heart of every living
entity. Only saintly persons who can see, within and without, the same Supreme
Lord can actually attain to perfect and eternal peace.
nityo nityanam cetanas cetananam
eko bahunam yo vidadhati kaman
tam atma-stham ye 'nupasyanti dhiras
tesam santih sasvati netaresam
(Katha Upanisad 2.2.13)
The same Vedic truth given to Arjuna is given to all persons in the world who
pose themselves as very learned but factually have but a poor fund of
knowledge. The Lord says clearly that He Himself, Arjuna and all the kings who
are assembled on the battlefield are eternally individual beings and that the
Lord is eternally the maintainer of the individual living entities both in
their conditioned and in their liberated situations. The Supreme Personality
of Godhead is the supreme individual person, and Arjuna, the Lord's eternal
associate, and all the kings assembled there are individual eternal persons.
It is not that they did not exist as individuals in the past, and it is not
that they will not remain eternal persons. Their individuality existed in the
past, and their individuality will continue in the future without
interruption. Therefore, there is no cause for lamentation for anyone.
The Mayavadi theory that after liberation the individual soul, separated by
the covering of maya, or illusion, will merge into the impersonal Brahman and
lose its individual existence is not supported herein by Lord Krsna, the
supreme authority. Nor is the theory that we only think of individuality in
the conditioned state supported herein. Krsna clearly says herein that in the
future also the individuality of the Lord and others, as it is confirmed in
the Upanisads, will continue eternally. This statement of Krsna's is
authoritative because Krsna cannot be subject to illusion. If individuality
were not a fact, then Krsna would not have stressed it so much--even for the
future.
The Mayavadi may argue that the individuality spoken of by Krsna is not
spiritual, but material. Even accepting the argument that the individuality is
material, then how can one distinguish Krsna's individuality? Krsna affirms
His individuality in the past and confirms His individuality in the future
also. He has confirmed His individuality in many ways, and impersonal Brahman
has been declared to be subordinate to Him. Krsna has maintained spiritual
individuality all along; if He is accepted as an ordinary conditioned soul in
individual consciousness, then His Bhagavad-gita has no value as authoritative
scripture. A common man with all the four defects of human frailty is unable
to teach that which is worth hearing. The Gita is above such literature. No
mundane book compares with the Bhagavad-gita. When one accepts Krsna as an
ordinary man, the Gita loses all importance.
The Mayavadi argues that the plurality mentioned in this verse is conventional
and that it refers to the body. But previous to this verse such a bodily
conception is already condemned. After condemning the bodily conception of the
living entities, how was it possible for Krsna to place a conventional
proposition on the body again? Therefore, individuality is maintained on
spiritual grounds and is thus confirmed by great acaryas like Sri Ramanuja and
others. It is clearly mentioned in many places in the Gita that this spiritual
individuality is understood by those who are devotees of the Lord. Those who
are envious of Krsna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead have no bona fide
access to the great literature. The nondevotee's approach to the teachings of
the Gita is something like that of a bee licking on a bottle of honey. One
cannot have a taste of honey unless one opens the bottle. Similarly, the
mysticism of the Bhagavad-gita can be understood only by devotees, and no one
else can taste it, as it is stated in the Fourth Chapter of the book. Nor
can the Gita be touched by persons who envy the very existence of the Lord.
Therefore, the Mayavadi explanation of the Gita is a most misleading
presentation of the whole truth. Lord Caitanya has forbidden us to read
commentations made by the Mayavadis and warns that one who takes to such an
understanding of the Mayavadi philosophy loses all power to understand the
real mystery of the Gita. If individuality refers to the empirical universe,
then there is no need of teaching by the Lord. The plurality of the individual
soul and of the Lord is an eternal fact, and it is confirmed by the Vedas as
above mentioned.
