Mayavada-sata-dusani by Srila Madhvacarya

[Paramananda das]

The Pearl Necklace of Truths or 100 Refutations of the Mayavada Fallacy


by Srila Madhvacarya

 



Sri Tattva-muktavali or Mayavada-sata-dusani The Pearl Necklace of Truths or 100 Refutations of the Mayavada Fallacy

translated by Kusakratha Prabhu


Text 1

All glories to Lord Krsna, who is simultaneously the protector of the faithful devotees and the devastating eternal time factor destroying the cruel demon kings. Krsna, the son of Maharaja Nanda, is as splendid as a young tamala tree. He is the source of the limitless Brahman effulgence. He is the master of all potencies. He is decorated with a vaijayanti flower garland, and His forehead is splendidly decorated with tilaka.

Text 2

A devotee has full faith in the words of the Puranas. Every morning he faithfully and happily studies the Puranas, and in this way his mind penetrates the actual meaning of the scriptures.

Text 3

A certain imaginative Vedanta commentator has presented a false theory that the individual spirit soul and the Supreme Personality of Godhead are one in all respects. A devotee scholar, learned in the Puranas, rejects this fallacy and, with expert logic, establishes the eternal distinction between the individual spirit soul and the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Quoting abundant evidence from the sruti and smrti, the devotee scholar presents many arguments to conclusively prove the difference between the individual spirit soul and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Text 4

The individual spirit soul is always limited. The Supreme is always unlimited. The difference is clearly established in the descriptions of Vedic literature. Because the natures of the Supreme and the individual spirit soul are so different, it must be concluded that they are eternally different entities. They cannot be the same.

Text 5

The Mayavadis may object: "The individual spirit souls are not different from the Supreme, just as the air in a pot and the air in the sky are not different. Indeed, simply by citing this analogy, I have proved that the individual spirit souls are identical with the Supreme." To this statement I reply: "This is not a very good argument. The Supreme is unlimited and cannot be compared to any limited material manifestation, such as the material sky. He is not at all like the material sky and, therefore, your analogy is not very good evidence to support your views."

Text 6

The Mayavadi commentator on the Vedanta claimed that the words tat tvam asi are the maha-vakya, the most important statement in the Vedas. According to this explanation, tat means "the Supreme," tvam means "you," and asi means "are." He interpreted the phrase to mean "you are the Supreme" and he claimed that there is no difference between the Supreme and the individual spirit souls.

The Vaisnava commentator on Vedanta interpreted these words in a different way, saying that tat-tvam is a possessive compound word (sasthi-tatpurusa-samasa). According to his explanation, tat means "of the Supreme," and the entire phrase means "you are the servant of the Supreme." In this way the proper meaning of the scriptural statement is clearly shown.

Text 7

O friend, the Supreme is all-knowing and He sees everything. From Him, this entire astonishing and variegated material cosmos has emanated. He creates, maintains, and destroys the entire universe by slightly moving His eyebrow. O friend, you are not like Him. You are ignorant of so many things and your vision is limited, although you wish to see everything. The Supreme is full of all opulences, and He is the ultimate witness who observes everyone. O friend, the individual living entities are numerous, but the Supreme is one only. You are stunted and impure by material contact, but He remains always pure and free from the touch of matter. O friend, your nature is completely different from His in these ways.

Text 8

The objection may be raised: "The Vedas say brahmaham asmi ('I am Brahman'). The word brahman is certainly in the nominative case (prathama vibhakti). You cannot say it is possessive (sasthi) and thus change the meaning. How is it that you have foolishly interpreted tat tvam asi as a possessive compound (sasthi-tatpurusa-samasa)? How can you avoid interpreting the quote api ca so _yam devadattah ('O Devadatta, you are that') in the nominative (prathama) and try to make it genitive (sasthi)?"

To this I reply: "When the scriptures explain that the individual spirit soul is Brahman, the proper understanding is that the individual souls are like tiny sparks that have emanated from the great fire of the Supreme Brahman. As far as the possessive compound (sasthi-tatpurusa) interpretation of tat tvam asi: you may not like it, but it is certainly grammatically sound. Why do you not accept it?"

Text 9

Accustomed to speak in metaphors, poets say: "This youthful brahmana is a blazing fire," "This beautiful face is the disc of the full moon," "These breasts are Mount Meru," or "These hands are blossoming twigs." The charm of these metaphors lies in considering two things, which are actually different, to be completely equal because they have one common feature. The poetic author of the Vedas has used this device in the phrase brahmaham asmi. The spiritual living entities have emanated from the Supreme Brahman, but they are not equal to Him in all respects.

Text 10

Innumerable waves splash within the great ocean and, in the same way, countless spirit souls exist within the Supreme Brahman. A single wave can never become the ocean. O individual spirit soul, how do you think you will become the Supreme Brahman?

Text 11

Everywhere in the Vedic scriptures pairs of opposites are described. Spiritual enlightenment and spiritual darkness, religion and irreligion, knowledge and ignorance are all described as different. The Vedic scriptures also describe the Supreme Brahman and the individual spirit soul as different in the same way. O saintly audience, how can anyone, with an honest heart, claim that the individual spirit soul and the Supreme Brahman are identical in all respects?

Text 12

The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the foundation upon which everything rests. He is the supreme monarch and the independent controller of the illusory potency (maya). O individual spirit soul, you are simply a reflection of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Only one moon shines in the sky, although innumerable reflections of that moon may appear in the water or other places. O individual spirit soul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is like that single original moon, and the individual spirit souls are like innumerable reflections of Him. Just as the reflections remain always distinct from the moon itself, in the same way the individual spirit souls remain eternally different from their original source, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. O individual spirit soul, this is the eternal distinction between you and the Supreme.

Text 13

The Vedic scriptures say that the Supreme Brahman is immeasurable, inconceivable, and without any material activities or duty. O individual spirit soul, you are very easily perceivable by the material mind and describable by material words. How is it possible, then, that you are the same as the inconceivable Supreme Brahman?

Text 14

O individual spirit soul, your intelligence has been stolen by the darkness of the Mayavada theory, and for this reason you continually mutter brahmaham asmi ("I am the Supreme Brahman") as if you have become mad. I say to you, "If you are the Supreme Brahman, where is you unparalleled opulence? Where is you supreme dominion over all? If you are the Supreme Brahman, where is you all-pervasiveness and all-knowledge? Your equality with the Supreme Brahman is like the equality of a mustard seed with Mount Meru!"

Text 15

O individual spirit soul, you are by nature very limited, but the Supreme Lord is unlimited. You can only be at one place at one time, but the Supreme is eternally everywhere. At one moment you enjoy, and at another moment you suffer. In this way, your happiness and suffering is all temporary, but the Supreme Lord experiences the perfection of transcendental bliss at every moment. O individual spirit soul, why are you not embarrassed to speak these words so _ham ("I am the Supreme")?

Text 16

Glass is glass. A jewel is a jewel. An oyster is an oyster. Silver is silver. They will never lose their nature and become each other. If one thinks that glass is a jewel, or an oyster is silver, he is mistaken. Impelled by the same kind of illusion, the individual spirit soul imagines he is the same as the Supreme Brahman. Illusioned in this way, the spirit soul propounds the Mayavada interpretation of tat tvam asi and other statements of the Vedas.

Text 17

The Vedic statement tat tvam asi should be interpreted in the following way: tat means "the Supreme Brahman who is like a nectar ocean of perfect transcendental bliss." Tvam means "the distressed individual spirit soul, whose mind is anguished by the fears produced by continued residence in the material world." Because the natures of the individual spirit soul and the Supreme Brahman are different in this way, they cannot be equated. In reality the Supreme Brahman is the supreme object of worship for innumerable universes, and the individual spirit soul is His servant. This is the actual meaning of tat-tvam asi.

Text 18

The Mayavadis claim that when the Supreme Person is described in the Vedic literatures, one should reject the literal meanings of such descriptions, and instead accept them allegorically, or not in the sense conveyed by the primary meaning of the words.

Text 19

O Mayavadis, if you insist on interpreting the Vedic description of the Supreme in an allegorical, or indirect, sense, then please tell us why you abandon the direct literal meaning in favor of this indirect interpretation?

Text 20

There are three reasons for rejecting a word_s primary meaning and accepting a secondary meaning instead. They are: 1. If the primary meaning makes no sense; 2. If tradition or common usage supplants the primary meaning with a generally accepted secondary meaning; 3. If an authorized commentary explains that a secondary meaning should be understood. In these circumstances one may reject the primary meaning and accept the secondary meaning of a word.

Text 21

If the primary meaning is senseless, one must find a secondary meaning that makes sense.

Text 22

One should not accept the primary meaning if it makes no sense. For example, the primary meaning of grama is "village," but if the grama is described as unlimited, one must reject the primary meaning and accept a secondary one ("multitude"). In the same way, the primary meaning of putra is "son," but if the putra is described as appearing without a father, the primary meaning should be rejected and a secondary one ("that which rescues from hell") should be accepted.

Text 23

The sentence kumbha-khadga-dhanur-banah pravisanti is an example of the use of secondary meaning. Pravisanti means "enter" and kumbha, khadga, dhanuh, and bana mean "pitchers, swords, bows and arrows" respectively. The primary meaning of the sentence is "pitchers, swords, bows, and arrows enter." This interpretation clearly makes no sense. In these circumstances, the secondary meaning should be accepted. If the first two words are accepted as bahuvrihi-samasas, then the secondary interpretation "men carrying pitchers, swords, bows, and arrows enter" may be accepted to replace the rejected primary meaning.

Text 24

The sentence gangayam ghosah is another example of the use of secondary meaning. The primary meaning here is "the River Ganges spoke." This primary meaning should be rejected because a body of water cannot speak. Here the secondary interpretation "he spoke the word Ganges" is more appropriate.

Text 25

The sentence ayur ghrtam is another example of the use of secondary meaning. Taken literally, the sentence means, "Clarified butter is identical with long life." In this sentence clarified butter and long life are equated although they are not at all the same thing. In this sentence, the secondary interpretation "Eating foods prepared with clarified butter prolongs one_s life" must be accepted if the sentence is to make sense.

Text 26

A text may be interpreted in three ways: 1. The literal (primary) meaning may be accepted; 2. One may reject the literal meaning and accept a secondary, not so commonly used, meaning of the words, or 3. One may accept the statements as metaphorical or allegorical. In order to establish their theory, the Mayavadis have diligently rejected the literal interpretation of the Vedic statements and have put forward an interpretation based on accepting the secondary meanings of the words.

Text 27

Taken literally, the Vedic statements do not at all support the theory that the individual spirit soul is the same as the Supreme Brahman. For this reason, the Mayavadis have rejected the literal meaning of the texts and concocted a figurative interpretation based on accepting obscure definitions of words and rejecting the commonly used meanings of words. How do the Mayavadis expect to understand the truth about Brahman if they adopt this devious policy?

Text 28

The Vedas directly state that the Supreme Brahman is the original creator of the universe (jagat-karta). From this statement it is only logical to infer that the one Supreme is the cause of the many living entities. The many living entities thus have the Supreme as their creator. This is the direct meaning of the Vedic statement.

[Paramananda das]

Text 93
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is full of knowledge. He is the enjoyer of a host of transcendental pastimes. His every desire is immediately fulfilled without His endeavor. He is full of all transcendental opulences and auspicious qualities. Where do the Vedas say that He has no qualities or opulences? O friend, why have you become silent? Why will you not say anything to describe the lack of auspicious transcendental qualities in the Supreme, who is like an ocean of transcendental qualities? O friend, please consider all these points within your heart and mind. Try to understand what is the actual truth.

Text 94
Something that exists but has no qualities has never been perceived, either in anyone’s direct experience or in the transcendental revelation of the Vedas. This conception of a qualityless substance is a phantasmagoria that exists only in the mind of the Mayavadis. It is like a great flower imagined to float in the sky. O friend, if by juggling words you think you have found a scriptural quote describing this mythical qualityless substance, then I say no intelligent person will believe you. You will search the Vedas in vain for this description.

Text 95
The Vedic texts explain that just as when a Vedic sacrifice is completed the performer of the sacrifice may become inactive for a moment, in the same way, the Supreme may sometimes be described as qualityless for He sometimes declines to display His transcendental qualities.

Text 96
When the Vedas explain that the Supreme is without qualities, they mean that He has no material qualities imagined by a fanciful worshiper.

Text 97
O friend, although you say the Supreme has no qualities, the Vedas will not support your view. The Vedas say, sa satya-dharmah (”the Supreme is full of auspicious transcendental qualities”).

Text 98
One can only conceive of a thing by understanding its qualities. If one does not properly understand the qualities of something, then he misunderstands it. For example, a glittering oyster shell looks like silver and one may easily mistake it for silver. Such an illusion arises from misunderstanding the qualities of the two objects. As one may mistake an oyster for silver, in the same way, one may mistakenly think that the Supreme has material attributes. The attributes of the Supreme are perfectly spiritual.

Text 99
The Vedas explain, yato va imani bhutani jayante (”the entire cosmic manifestation has emanated from the Supreme”). Some foolish theorists claim that the material cosmos is simply a transformation of ignorance and does not have the Supreme as its creator. No intelligent person will accept this foolish idea.

Text 100
It is not logical to say that this material universe is manifested of ignorance. This world cannot be simply ignorance, for the Supreme Lord Krsna enacts His eternal transcendental pastimes here.

[Paramananda das]

Text 101
The Mayavadis compare material existence to a dream, but in truth it is not at all like a dream. The dreaming condition is full of many faults. In a dream one may eat and drink unlimitedly, but he will never became satiated, although in the waking condition one quickly becomes satiated by eating and drinking. The use of this analogy by the Mayavadis is a great blunder, for the waking condition is not at all like a dream.

Text 102
If this material world is an illusion, as you say, then why do you perform different activities for material and spiritual elevation? Just as an earthen pot is useful for carrying water, in the same way, this material world is useful to the individual spirit souls. It may be temporary, but it is not unreal.

Text 103
If the material universe is simply created from illusion and is false, then all religious principles and penances described in the religious scriptures are meaningless. If this world is an illusion, then why should pious kings punish thieves and criminals? Because the Mayavadis are full of dirty material desires, they are very fond of saying that this material world is false. In this way, they seek to become free from all moral restraints.

Text 104
O Mayavadi friend, you say that this material world is unreal, just as when a garland of flowers is mistaken for a snake in the dark, the imagined snake has no actual existence. This is a poor analogy. In this analogy one thing is mistaken for another, but still the garland exists. This analogy does not at all show that the material world has no existence. In truth, the material world exists eternally, although is constantly changing.

Text 105
This material world is created by the real Supreme Personality of Godhead, the husband of the goddess of fortune. Because the real Lord has created it, and because He is present as the Supersoul within every atom of His expanse, this material world is reality. Indeed, when the productions of this world are offered to the Supreme Lord with devotion, these material products become spiritually pure, just as ordinary bell metal becomes gold by the touch of a sparsamani (”alchemist’s stone”).

Text 106
Pure devotional service to Lord Krsna bears no relation at all to the enjoyment or renunciation of material objects. The devotee accepts all conditions of his life as the great mercy of the Lord. He does not consider his own sense gratification, but only the Lord s service.

Text 107
When one is intent on enjoying material sense objects, he is called a visayi “materialist”). Rejection of that enjoying spirit is called viraga (”renunciation”).That renunciation makes one eligible to attain the supreme goal of life (pure devotional service).

Text 108
In the company of saintly devotees, we repeatedly hear the description of the transcendental pastimes of the supremely opulent and powerful Personality of Godhead, and in this way the lake of our hearts has become overwhelmed by great tidal waves of pure love and devotion. We reject the false Mayavada theory of impersonal monism, and we accept the truth that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is eternally distinct from the many individual spirit souls. Fixed in this truth, we worship the two lotus feet of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the husband of the goddess of fortune.

Text 109
In the ordinary affairs of this world, the king s representative is often called “king” or “his majesty,” although the person is not the king himself but only his representative. In the same way, the Vedic literatures describe the individual spirit souls as “brahman,” not because they are the Supreme Brahman, but because of their eternal relationship with Him.

Text 110
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is the source from whom the sun, moon, all the planets, and the entire cosmos has arisen. At the time of cosmic devastation, everything enters the body of the Suprem

[Paramananda das]

Text 111
Just as a troop of insects resides within a ripe udumbara fruit, all the material universes, composed of subtle and gross material elements and populated by innumerable spirit souls, rest within the form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead during the time of cosmic devastation, and then emerge at the time of cosmic creation. At that time they do not rest within the Lord. In truth, they remain always separate from Him. O Mayavadi teacher, I am not as great as He. How is it possible or sensible for the slogan so ham (”I am the Supreme”) to come from my mouth?

Text 112
By the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, a dumb man can become an eloquent orator, a lame man can leap over mountains, and a man blind from birth can attain a pair of beautiful lotus eyes. I offer my respectful obeisances to the moon-faced Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is the son of Maharaja Nanda and a cintamani jewel for His devotees.

Text 113
Devotional service to Lord Visnu brings a great and eternal result. In addition to attaining that result, I shall also become famous in some circles for some time on this earth as result of having written this book.

Text 114
I have carefully studied the book Sri Narayana-bhakti-bhusa composed by Sri Narayana Bhatta, the best of scholars, as well as many other similar books. By the mercy of the devotees, I have been able to understand the confidential truths of devotional service, which I have described in this book of one hundred verses, Sri Tattva-muktavali, a description of the truth of the eternal difference between the individual spirit souls and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Text 115
If in the course of writing this book we have become bewildered and made some mistake, we beg the expert scholars to please correct all the mistakes. Just as a baby crawling on his hands and feet may sometimes stumble and fall down, the speaker of this discourse may have become bewildered and spoken something against the revelation of scripture.

Text 116
An envious person will search for some small defect in the poetry of a saintly devotee and will ignore all the good qualities in his poem. He is like a person who searches for an ant hole in a great palace bedecked with jewels. Such a person will never see the good in anything.

Text 117
Let they whose intelligence has been destroyed by envy find fault with my verses and refrain from seeing any good in them. They who know how to see the good in others will see only good and no faults in my poem. Let that saintly audience delight in this book.

Text 118
O most exalted devotees of the Lord, if you wish to attain in your hearts pure devotion to the Lord, then please hear and read this book, Tattva-muktavali, written by a poet who is now filled with happiness. This book is very pure and is full of very beautiful poetry. It is very auspicious because it carefully distinguishes truth from illusion. It describes the truth of pure devotional service and reveals the eternal difference between the individual spirit souls and the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Text 119
This book is filled with many poetic ornaments. Its verses are very sweet. It is very charming, splendid, and beautiful. Its words are like nectar. It is a pleasure garden where the intelligent devotees enjoy many pastimes. It is full of all good qualities and free from the slightest fault. May this book, Tattva- muktavali (”The Pearl Necklace of Truths”), always rest upon the neck of the devotees.