Hare Krishna!
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
I was listening to Srila Prabhupada's Bagavad Gita lecture.In the lecture Bg 00-02 He said that the Impersonalists followers reach the impersonal Bramha where there is only chit but no Sat and Ananda!
But according to Bg 14.27
Chapter 14: The Three Modes of Material Nature
TEXT 27
brahmano hi pratisthaham
amrtasyavyayasya ca
sasvatasya ca dharmasya
sukhasyaikantikasya ca
amrtasyavyayasya ca
sasvatasya ca dharmasya
sukhasyaikantikasya ca
SYNONYMS
brahmaṇaḥ—of the impersonal brahmajyoti; hi—certainly; pratiṣṭhā—the rest; aham—I am; amṛtasya—of the imperishable; avyayasya—immortal; ca—also; śāśvatasya—of eternal; ca—and; dharmasya—of the constitutional position; sukhasya—happiness; aikāntikasya—ultimate; ca—also.
TRANSLATION
And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman, which is the constitutional position of ultimate happiness, and which is immortal, imperishable and eternal.
And the purport written by Prabhupada contradicts this verse.Please explain
Hare Krishna!
Replies
Hare Krsna Prabhuji,
PAMHO.
Srila Prabhupada has mentioned that there are 3 stages of God realisation - beginning with Brahman realisation. Its like taking a picture with a camera. You can take a bird's eye view, a full length view and a close up. All 3 are of the same object - all 3 are correct, but still the pictures are different.
Same with Brahman, Paramatma and God Realisations. The bird's eye view is the impersonal brahman - it is basically the effulgence of the lord. If one persists and prays to the lord to let one see beyond the effulgence, then only one gets to see the person behind the effulgence. That is the absolute realisation. There is a category in the middle - paramatma realisation - that is the realisation of supersoul with every single living soul in the material world. That is when we see God in every living and non living entity in the world.
Now coming to Srila Prabhupada's purport - he is very clearly explaining what I have mentioned above. THere is no contradiction - because the verse is only talking about Brahman, whereas SP is describing all 3 features. The verse is saying - immortal, impershable and eternal - all 3 mean sat feature only na, so that part is no issues I hope.
Now the part that is it the constitutional position of ultimate happiness - it is the first destination which is beyond the 3 modes, beyond the material world and therefore sat, therefore the material pangs of sometimes happiness and sometimes sorrow are not there. Therefore, it is the beginning of ananda feature, but ananda as a feature is fully manifested in the Supreme Lord - the 3rd level - Absolute Truth described above.
I hope I have been able to explain somewhat.
Haribol,
Your servant,
Radha Rasamayi DD
In that purport Srila Prabhupada said :
In Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is stated that although a person may rise to the stage of impersonal Brahman, without going further, with no information of the Supreme Person, his intelligence is not perfectly clear. Therefore, in spite of being raised to the Brahman platform, there is the chance of falling down if one is not engaged in the devotional service of the Lord.
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God has three aspects: Bhagavan, Paramatma and Parambrahman.
Srila Prabhupada want to say that those who meditate on impersonal aspect of God, Brahman, dont progress as those who adore Supreme Personality Of Godhead, Bhagavan. Their progress is very slow and difficult.
On another side, Supreme Person always take care for His devotees and even if they fall from the path, dear Lord never forgets them. His Love for His Devotees is unlimited, no matter of the body form, education, caste, gender or karma of devotees.
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