How Kṛṣṇa consciousness is different than Buddhist philosophy & Mayavadis?

In this world everyone is trying to get liberation from material pangs. Those who follow Buddhist philosophy are trying to get liberation from the material miseries by reaching nirvana. Nirvana means “the stage when everything is extinguished”. The Buddhists want to make everything void; they want to make all material varieties zero. That is the sum and substance of Buddhist philosophy. And Mayavada (impersonalistic) philosophy is more or less similar. It is a second edition of Buddhist philosophy. The Buddhists want to make everything zero without life and the Mayavadi philosophers say, “Yes, we should make the material varieties zero, but keep life”. That is their mistake. Where there is life, there must be variety; life without variety is not possible. This is the defect of Mayavada philosophy.

Although, the Mayavadi philosophy claims to be directed by the Vedic conclusions, Lord Siva, however, admits that this philosophy is manufactured by him in the age of Kali in order to mislead the atheists. “Actually The Supreme Personality of Godhead has His transcendental body”. “But I describe the Supreme as impersonal. I also explain the Vedanta-sutra according to the same principles of Mayavadi philosophy”.

In the Siva Purana the Supreme Lord says: “My dear Devi, sometimes I teach Mayavadi philosophy for those who are engrossed in the mode of ignorance. But if a person in the mode of goodness happens to hear this Mayavadi philosophy, he falls down, for when teaching Mayavadi philosophy, I say that the living entity and the Supreme Lord are one and the same”.

Mayavadi philosophy has the audacity to reject the purpose of Vyasadeva, as explained in the Vedanta-sutra, and to attempt to establish a doctrine of transformation which is totally imaginary. According to the Mayavadi philosophy, the cosmic manifestation is but the transformation of the Absolute Truth, and the Absolute Truth has no separate existence outside the cosmic manifestation. This is not the message of Vedanta-sutra. The transformation has been explained by Mayavadi philosophers as false, but it is not false. It is only temporary. The Mayavadi philosophers maintain that the Absolute Truth is the only truth and that this material manifestation known as the world is false. Actually this is not the case. The material contamination is not exactly false; because it is relative truth, it is temporary. There is a difference between something that is temporary and something that is false.

Krsna consciousness is different than Buddhist and Mayavadi philosophy. Kṛṣṇa consciousness brings you to real life – a life of devotional activity in the liberated stage. But it is often difficult to understand the philosophy of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Why? That is explained in Srimad-Bhagavatam [7.5.30]: matir na krsne paratah svato va mitho ‘bhipadyeta grha-vratanam. Grha means “house”, and vrata means “vow”. So the Bhagavatam says, “One who is too interested in maintaining a comfortable family life cannot understand the philosophy in attaining bodily comforts, a nice wife, a nice apartment, a nice bank balance. These things are his aspirations, and nothing more.

Characteristics of spiritual world

The transcendental world or Vaikuntha atmosphere is enriched with transcendental qualities. These transcendental qualities, as revealed through the devotional service of the Krishna, are distinct from the mundane qualities of ignorance, passion and goodness. Such qualities are not attainable by the non-devotee class of men. In the padma purana, Uttara-khanda, it is stated that beyond the one-fourth part of God’s creation is the three-fourths manifestation. The marginal line between the material manifestation and the spiritual manifestation is the Viraja River, and beyond the Viraja, which is a transcendental current flowing from the perspiration of the body of the Lord, there is the three-fourths manifestation of God’s creation. This part is eternal, everlasting, without deterioration, and unlimited, and it contains the highest perfectional stage of living conditions. In the Sankhya-kaumudi it is stated that unalloyed goodness or transcendence is just opposite to the material modes. All living entities there are eternally associated without any break, and the Lord is the chief and prime entity. In the Agama Puranas also, the transcendental abode is described as follows: The associated members there are free to go everywhere within the creation of the Lord, and there is no limit to such creation, particularly in the region of the three-fourths magnitude. Since the nature of that region is unlimited, there is no history of such association, nor is there end of it. The conclusion may be drawn that because of the complete absence of the mundane qualities of ignorance and passion, there is no question of creation or of annihilation. In the material world everything is created, and everything is annihilated, and the duration of life between the creation and annihilation is temporary. In the transcendental realm there is no creation and no destruction, and thus the duration of life is eternal unlimitedly. In other words, everything in the transcendental world is everlasting, full of knowledge and bliss without deterioration. Since there is no deterioration, there is no past, present and future in the estimation of time. It is clearly stated in this verse that the influence of time is conspicuous by its absence. The whole material existence is manifested by actions and reactions of elements which make the influence of time prominent in the matter of past, present and future. There are no such actions and reactions of cause and effects there, so the cycle of birth, growth, existence, transformations, deterioration and annihilation–the six material changes–are not existent there. It is the unalloyed manifestation of the energy of the Lord, without illusion as experienced here in the material world. The whole Vaikuntha existence proclaims that everyone there is a follower of the Lord. The Lord is the chief leader there, without any competition for leadership, and the people in general are all followers of the Lord. It is confirmed in the Vedas, therefore, that the Lord is the chief leader and all other living entities are subordinate to Him, for only the Lord satisfies all the needs of all other living entities.

The inhabitants in Vaikunthaloka are all personalities with spiritual bodily features not to be found in the material world. We can find the descriptions in the revealed scriptures like Srimad-Bhagavatam. Impersonal descriptions of transcendence in the scriptures indicate that the bodily features in Vaikunthaloka are never to be seen in any part of the universe. As there are different bodily features in different places of a particular planet, or as there are different bodily features between bodies in different planets, similarly the bodily features of the inhabitants in Vaikunthaloka are completely different from those in the material universe. For example, the four hands are distinct from the two hands in this world.

It appears that in the Vaikuntha planets there are also airplanes brilliantly glowing, and they are occupied by the great devotees of the Krsna with ladies of celestial beauty as brilliant as lightning. As there are airplanes, so there must be different types of carriages like airplanes, but they may not be driven machines, as we have experience in this world. Because everything is of the same nature of eternity, bliss and knowledge, the airplanes and carriages are of the same quality as Brahman. Although there is nothing except Brahman, one should not mistakenly think that there is only void and no variegatedness. Thinking like that is due to a poor fund of knowledge; otherwise no one would have such a misconception of voidness in Brahman. As there are airplanes, ladies and gentlemen, so there must be cities and houses and everything else just suitable to the particular planets. One should not carry the ideas of imperfection from this world to the transcendental world and not take into consideration the nature of the atmosphere, as completely free from the influence of time, etc., as described previously.

Do devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa have to suffer for their past misdeeds

In court an important man is sometimes found to be a culprit, and the judge may be able to fine him a hundred thousand dollars and know that the man can pay it. But he may tell the man, “You just give one cent”. That is also punishment, but it is greatly minimized. Similarly, we have to suffer for our past deeds. That is a fact, and we cannot avoid it. But karmani nirdahati kintu ca bhakti-bhajam (Brahma-samihta. 5.54): the sufferings of those who engage in devotional service in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are minimized. For example, one may have been destined to be killed, but instead of being killed with a knife, he may instead get some little cut on his finger. In this way, for those who engage in devotional service, the reactions of past activities are minimized. Lord Kṛṣṇa assures His devotees, aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami: “I shall give you protection from the reactions of sinful life”. So even if a devotee has a history of very grievous criminal activities behind him, instead of being killed he may only get a little cut on his finger. Why then should a devotee fear danger? When a person gives up all other duties and simply takes to the transcendental service of Kṛṣṇa, he has no desire and is not subjected to or likely to perform sinful activities. If however, he performs sinful activities (not wilfully but by chance), Kṛṣṇa gives him all protection.

What is pure love if Radha Krishna

When one’s desire to love Kṛṣṇa in his particular relationship becomes intensified, this is known as pure love of Godhead. In the beginning a devotee is engaged in the regulative principles of devotional service by the order of his spiritual master. When one thereby becomes completely purified of all material contamination, there develops an attachment and taste for devotional service. This taste and attachment, when gradually intensified in the course of time, becomes love. The word “love” can only be actually applied in relationship with the Personality of Godhead. In the material world, love is not applicable at all. What goes on under the name of love in the material world is nothing but lust. There is a gulf of difference between love and lust, like the difference between gold and iron. In the Narada-pancaratra it is clearly stated that when lust is completely transferred to the Supreme Godhead and the concept of kinship is completely reposed in Him, such is accepted as pure love of God by great authorities like Bhisma, Prahlada, Uddhava and Narada.

A great authority like Bhisma has explained that love of Godhead means completely giving up all so-called love for any other person. According to Bhisma, love means to repose one’s affection completely upon one person, withdrawing all affinities for any other person. This pure love can be transferred to the Supreme Personality of Godhead under two conditions – out of ecstasy and out of the causeless mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself.

Krishna

Thank you for sharing such great information. It has help me in finding out more detail about Krishna .

A devotee is never disturbed by reverses, when something is arranged by Krishna

When something is arranged by Krishna, one should not be disturbed by it, even if it appears to be a reverse according to one’s calculations. For example, sometimes we see that a powerful preacher is killed, or sometimes he is put into difficulty, just as Haridasa Thakura was. He was a great devotee who came into this material world to execute the will of the Lord by preaching the Lord’s glories. But Haridasa was punished at the hands of the Kazi by being beaten in twenty-two marketplaces. Similarly, Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, and Prahlada Maharaja was put through so many tribulations.

The Pandavas, who were direct friends of Kṛṣṇa, lost their kingdom, their wife was insulted, and they had to undergo many severe tribulations. Seeing all these reverses affect devotees, one should not be disturbed; one should simply understand that in these matters there must be some plan of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Bhagavatam’s conclusion is that a devotee is never disturbed by such reverses. He accepts even reverse conditions as the grace of the Lord. One who continues to serve the Lord even in reverse conditions is assured that he will go back to Godhead, back to the Vaikuntha planets. Lord Brahma assured the demigods that there was no use in talking about how the disturbing situation of darkness was taking place, since the actual fact was that it was ordered by the Supreme Lord. Brahma knew this because he was a great devotee; it was possible for him to understand the plan of the Lord.

Lord Krsna gave knowledge of Bhagavad-gita to the sun-god

 

The Vedic literatures are taught in higher planets also, as there is reference in the Bhagavad-gita (4.1) about the teachings to the sun-god (Vivasvan) by the Lord, and such lessons are transferred by disciplic succession, as it was done by the sun-god to his son Manu, and from Manu to Maharaja Ikshvaku. There are fourteen Manus in one day of Brahma, and the Manu referred to herein is the seventh Manu, who is one of the prajapatis (those who create progeny), and he is the son of the sun-god. He is known as the Vaivasvata Manu. He had ten sons, and Maharaja Ikshvaku is one of them. Maharaja Ikshvaku also learned bhakti-yoga as taught in the Bhagavad-gita from his father, Manu, who got it from his father, the sun-god.

Later on the teaching of the Bhagavad-gita came down by disciplic succession from Maharaja Ikshvaku, but in course of time the chain was broken by unscrupulous persons, and therefore it again had to be taught to Arjuna on the Battlefield of Kurukshetra. So all the Vedic literatures are current from the very beginning of creation of the material world, and thus the Vedic literatures are known as apaurusheya (not made by man). The Vedic knowledge was spoken by the Lord and first heard by Brahma, the first created living being within the universe.