BY: SUN STAFF
Jan 1, CANADA (SUN) —
Tattva Sandarbha
by Srila Jiva Goswami
SECTION THIRTY-FIVE
Thus it is highly improper to conclude that the one undivided, conscious Brahman, who is the basis of Maya and the embodiment of knowledge, can simultaneously fall under the influence of Maya and be covered by ignorance. This explains the difference of class between the jiva and the Lord, and it proves that because of this difference in their natures, the jiva and the Lord are essentially distinct from each other.
Sri Jiva Toshani Commentary
Srila Jiva Gosvami, has analyzed the trance of Srila Vyasadeva and drawn the proper conclusions. Now, based on the same analysis, he gives arguments against the Mayavada theory of absolute oneness between God and the jiva. This understanding is completely antagonistic to bhakti and is therefore one of the greatest obstacles on the path of devotion. Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami compares impersonalism to a tigress that devours one's spiritual life. He says, katha mukti-vyaghrya na shrnu kila sarvatmagilanih (Manah siksha 4), "My dear mind, never listen to talk about liberation, which is like a tigress who swallows everything, including the jiva."
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu gave a stern warning to those who aspire for a correct understanding of the Personality of Godhead. He said, "mayavadi bhashya sunile haya sarvanasa" (C.C. Madhya 6.153), "hearing Mayavada philosophy can completely destroy one's spiritual life". Ultimately, He says, the Mayavadis, by describing Absolute Reality as not having any features, are the greatest offenders against the Supreme Lord, Sri Krishna.
In a similar vein, Sri Madhvacarya wrote forceful refutations of the Mayavada theory. One of his most impressive is the Mayavada-Khandanam. In this and other works he exposes the Mayavadis for their jugglery of Sanskrit grammar and faulty logic in their vain attempt to prove absolute non-difference between God and the jiva.
For these reasons, after refuting the Mayavada theory in the upcoming sections, Srila Jiva Gosvami concludes by exhorting his readers to further investigate the Mayavadis "unintelligible imaginations". In other words, those who are followers in the line of Sri Gauranga Mahaprabhu have a duty to demolish the word jugglery of the impersonalists in as many ways as possible. When they are so thoroughly exposed that not one of the pillars supporting their errant doctrine is left standing, then none but the foolish will fall prey to their misleading conclusions.
The impersonalists, headed by Sri Sankaracarya, base their tenets on Vedanta Sutra and eleven principle Upanishads and try to support their conclusions with Bhagavad-gita, but Jiva Gosvami contends that their interpretation is not in agreement with the trance of Srila Vyasadeva as narrated in the Srimad Bhagavatam, which is the essence of the Upanishads, Vedanta, and the Puranas.
Mayavadis claim that ultimate reality is non-dual, pure consciousness, without form or attributes. Hence they define ultimate reality only in negative terms. They say neti neti [i], "Not this, not that". In their support they cite statements of the Vedas such as ekameva dvitiyam (Chhandogya 6.2.1), "One without a second"; vijnanamanandam brahma (Brihad. A. 3.9.28), "Brahman is consciousness and bliss"; neha nanasti kincana (Brihad. A. 4.4.19), "No variety exists in this world, in the ultimate sense"; sarva khalvidam brahma (Chhandogya 3.14.1), "Indeed all this is Brahman".
But then, according to the Mayavadis, there is something called Maya, which is beginningless and indefinable being distinct from both existence (sat) and non-existence or void (asat). This Maya has two features--knowledge (vidya) and ignorance (avidya). Somehow or other some part of Brahman comes in contact with Maya and the result is illusion for that portion of Brahman. Either it contacts the knowledge aspect of Maya or the ignorance aspect. When Brahman contacts the vidya, or the knowledge aspect of Maya, it turns into Isvara, or the Lord. When it contacts the avidya aspect it turns into jiva.
According to the Mayavada doctrine, the difference between Isvara and jiva is neither eternal nor because of their intrinsic nature; it is only due to upadhis, or the apparent limitation of Brahman by either the vidya or avidya potency of Maya. Once these upadhis, or limiting adjuncts, are removed from the jiva, by acquiring knowledge, he realizes himself to be the unlimited, non-variegated Brahman. This attainment is the perfection of spiritual life. In their support they quote the Vedas, rite jnanat na muktih, "There is no liberation without acquiring knowledge".
A favorite analogy the Mayavadis cite to explain how unlimited Brahman becomes limited as jiva is that of the sky and the pots. Just as there is a vast sky, but it becomes limited in a pot and gets the designation of "the sky in the pot," similarly the unlimited Brahman becomes limited by a subtle and gross material body; but when the pot is broken there is no more distinction between the sky in the pot and the all-pervading sky, because total oneness is achieved. In fact this distinction did not exist even when the pot was intact; it was only imagined to exist. To the monistic mind Srimad Bhagvatam (12.5.5) seems to confirm all this, because Sukadeva, the chief of all transcendentalists, in his closing instruction to Pariksit Maharaja spoke as follows:
"Just as when a pot is broken, the sky in it again becomes one with the great sky, as it was before. Even so after the death of the body, the jiva again attains Brahman." And later in the same chapter (SB. 12.5.11), Sukadeva says:
"I am Brahman, the Supreme Shelter, the Supreme Brahman am I. Meditating like this in your mind, merge yourself into that nameless Universal self."
This of course needs an explanation, but the Mayavadis take it out of context to explain it. Only when such verses are taken out of context they may be translated as above. The reason that such verses seem to have an impersonal slant is explained briefly in the fifty-second anuccheda, but Srila Jiva Gosvami gives a detailed discussion on this point in Sri Paramatma Sandarbha, sections 72-84.
Here, to counter the Mayavada philosophy, Srila Jiva Gosvami begins establishing the essential distinctions between the jiva and Isvara. His first point is that it is evident from Vyasadeva's trance that only the jiva is controlled by Maya and not the Lord. Rather Maya is dependent upon Him and controlled by Him. The same Brahman cannot be the controller as well as the controlled, because ignorance and knowledge cannot exist in the one Brahman simultaneously, just as light and darkness cannot occupy the same space.
The capacities and qualities of the jiva and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are different and the difference is not caused by Maya. By constitution the jiva is atomic in size and thus vulnerable to the influence of Maya when he is disassociated from the Lord, but he can free himself from the shackles of Maya by surrendering to the Lord. This was Srila Vyasa's experience.
[i] The real meaning of neti neti is "not this much", implying that the Lord is not limited to this phenomenal world but exist even beyond it. A description of this is given in Srimad Bhagavatam verse 2.2.18.
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