Part One of Acintya-bhedābheda: Beware the Pitfalls of Pride and Erudition

Śrī Patrikā 1.2 – Śrī Narasiṁha Caturdaśī Edition

Beware the Pitfalls of Pride and Erudition:
The Histories of Ananta Vāsudeva and Sundarānanda Vidyāvinoda, their deviation from the teachings of their guru and godbrothers, fabrication of new scriptures to support their errant thought, alteration of Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī's words in Tattva-sandarbha, and more...

Part 1:

Contents

Editorial: On faith and the fierce defense of truth, by Śrīvāsa dāsa

How to Deal with Antagonists: Response to a Letter from Gopīnātha Dāsādhikārī, by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Acintya-bhedābheda, the First Conclusion: First installment of an exposé of the attempted sabotage of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism, by Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Editorial: On faith and the fierce defense of truth

No, faith is not necessarily an opium for the masses, though it can easily be abused as such. Faith in something beyond the mundane is virtually omnipresent throughout all human groups across the globe. It is not the relinquishment of power, but the owning of it. It is choosing to believe in self as a vital and indispensable part of the whole. It is a link to the totality of consciousness across the unreachable expanse of reality, a ray from the glowing, central Sun of potential for a larger experience of what is the essence of consciousness—love. Making this connection with that transcendent whole halts our devolution into lower states of consciousness and forms of life. This is what fosters courage, fortitude of character, devotion, humility, kindness, and expertise. Such wholesome conviction does not serve the interests of the narcissists or opportunists, of the Hiraṇyakaśipus who wish to control and exploit. And if we have no sense of our place in the universe(s), we succumb to confusion, depression, apathy, and nihilism. Faith is not just a need, it serves a vital purpose, of preserving what is most important. It is key to our survival and our sustained capacity for growth.

It could be said that faith is the mother of our soul. Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda, 19th century philosopher and reformer of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism, makes a case for this in his Śrī Kṛṣṇa-saṁhitā, a profound meditation on the story of Krishna: "The first appearance of the pure soul principle was within Devakī, who represents the consciousness that embodies true, divine knowledge. However, fearing the wickedness of the atheistic uncle Kaṁsa, that soul principle went to the sanctum of Vraja. There, in Vraja-purī, the abode of viśvāsa (trust and confidence), it entered the womb of Rohiṇī, who is the embodiment of śraddhā (faith, belief)." (Śrī Kṛṣṇa-saṁhitā, 4.7-8)

Across the chasm of nihilism, in the land of faith itself is a world of endless complexity replete with wonder, pathos, anger, disgust, humour, fear, chivalry, serenity, servitude, friendship, parenthood, and maddening romance—a complete spectrum of sublime rasa (experiental flavor in relationships) that comprises a realm of pure consciousness (cit) that rests in an eternal stability and foundation of being (sat), nourished and stimulated by the vastest force of experiential potential culminating in total bliss—saccidānanda. It is not a monotone realm of peachy Sundays, nor is it a sterile void or fossilized unity. There is wondrous variety, including attacks from outside and sinister infiltrations. This is the reality of even the transcendent realm.

So if someone asks me again: "Why can't we all just get along? Why are we the ones going around smashing other people, calling them demons?" Well, look, if there is a special place and you want admission, you have to pay the price. Many try to enter the sublime realm and do not succeed, not really. They may fake their way in, or appear to make it inside, for a time, but sooner or later, their true nature and form will emerge and they will be expelled. The cost of real entrance into the divine mystery is supreme. If there is any selfish motive, any lurking yearnings to gratify animalistic urges or clever refinements of ego, then we will not be admitted. This realm of the supreme experience, the largest dimension of all, is beyond the feeble confines of brain matter and skull-bone but is not inaccessible to our consciousness—only to our mundane attitude. The infinite capacity of transcendence demands the ultimate price: total purity of heart. But surely we are corrupt, each and every one of us, one way or another—wherefore we find ourselves here. This does not mean we give up and settle for anything less than purity. We will not allow for spoiled water that will make us ill. No. We seek the pure source, always, both for body and spirit. And if the reservoir gets contaminated, if some foul player tampers with the quality of what feeds your soul and those of whom you hold most dear, then efforts must be made to safeguard that reservoir, to ensure purity, for ourselves and for future generations. Surely anyone can understand the dire, pressing necessity of this. 
 

The Soft Yet Uncompromising Heart of Prabhupāda Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and His Unparalleled, Timeless Contribution Yet to be Properly Appreciated by the World

The guardians of the reservoir want all to be nourished by its sweet water. They are true lovers. They love all, deeply, without judgement and with infinite compassion, but also without compromise, without a need to placate or appease those who envy and deceive. The records must be set straight, the conspiracies exposed, the sabotage undone. This edition of Śrī Patrikā maybe be a bit dizzying to the total newcomer, but I ask that you please stay and keep an open mind. I pray the seasoned, sincere seekers of knowledge will be intrigued and press further eagerly with me in studying the words of the mahājanas. I hope the devotee community will be delighted and relieved to unravel this highly controversial topic. This is our history, and it can be difficult to get the story straight so long after the fact. I repeatedly encounter godbrothers and godsisters who have an impression of Prabhupāda Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura as harsh, judgmental, and unkind in his demarcation of the line between the pure practice of bhakti and micchā-bhakti, or whatever masquerades as a cultivation of devotion. In response to that, I must insist that this impression is unfounded and only exists because we have not read his writings thoroughly, have not become acquainted with his holistic, pristine perspective, and have not glimpsed that softest flower that is his heart wanting us to be forever at peace and in solid, loving relationship with the all-attractive divinity, Śrī Kṛṣṇa. Perhaps we have only seen the thunderbolt of his resolve, been startled by it, by his fearless commitment to truth and exact purity. But who would want to risk ingesting anything less than totally pure water? So please come and drink of this pure Sarasvati river. Come to its banks. It has not disappeared somewhere in Pakistan. The fabled river of the ancient Indus civilizations, of primeval knowledge, flows strong and pure even today. It flows in the hearts of sincere seekers, between the riverbanks of the Ṭhākura’s precisely worded sentences and those of his Ācārya Keśarī, and other genuine followers.

Prabhupāda Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, you will learn, if you stick with this and follow the course of his writings and lectures, takes us back to a time before the dissemination of language and formation of apparently disparate religious ideologies and so-called lore—a time when humanity was rather small in numbers, when we lived at the edge of the Caspian Sea, that ancient cradle of civilization. (See Śrīla Prabhupādera Śrīmad Bhāgavata Vyākhyā, page 18.) This is the time of the Ekāyana, the one source. The date is somewhere around 3,891,102 BCE. Humanity was highly learned, taught by another race of beings, by sages and demigods from higher planetary systems. The Vedas and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam plainly state as much. These texts describe the H2O formula of water, for example, and describe the atom (among countless other scientific phenomena), providing knowledge that predates the discovery of these scientific building blocks by several thousand years. If this is any indication, we are not at the pinnacle of scientific knowledge, but rather benefitting from the remnants bequeathed to us from distant ancestors. And this is but a fraction of the knowledge available. This is the knowledge that survived a global flood. Yes, you know the one. The one that is talked about in every indigenous mythology around the planet. Everyone—literally everyone—has a story about it! These distant ancestors were the Haṁsa people, the Swan people. And this is the Paramahaṁsa family we introduce you to now, the “Supreme Swan” family: your original, primeval family, carrying and sustaining the purity of a most vital wisdom since time immemorial.

Prabhupāda Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura is accused of being a sort of renegade, a disrupter of tradition, despite the plainly evident fact he is the natural heir to the oldest and least corrupted spiritual culture available to humanity. Every outshone peer and beggar reviles the genius prince. Desperate detractors question whether he received proper dīkṣā, though it was well-witnessed and recorded and his guru's burial shrine rests not a stone’s throw from his own. Why did he take sannyāsa? Why did he give it? It is forbidden in Kali-yuga. Yes, karma-sannyāsa is a bad idea, but not tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa, as practiced by the Rāmānujī and Mādhva Dravidians long before the malformed strictures of Bengali Smārta society dug in their sinister, motivated roots. And he did not need or wish to take sannyāsa. He did not need to come back to varṇāśrama-dharma. He was headed to Vṛndāvana to do bhajana after his gurus’ departures. But the call of the age demanded something else from him. He did not advocate doling out sticks to maniacal control freaks and sinister pedophiles. That is a corruption of our time, something for us to fix, to bear his mantle and scour our communities of hypocrisy and criminals. Here I'd like to quote the one and only Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda:

“The reformers, out of their universal love and anxiety for good work endeavor by some means or other to make the thoughtless drink the cup of salvation, but the latter drink it with wine and fall into the ground under the influence of intoxication; for, the imagination has also the power of making a thing what it never was. It is in this way that the evils of nunneries and the corruption of the Akharas proceeded. No, we are not to scandalise the Saviour of Jerusalem or the Saviour of Nadia for these subsequent evils of some perverted followers. Luthers, instead of critics, are what we want for the correction of those evils by the true interpretation of the original precepts.” (The Bhagabat – Its Philosophy, Its Ethics & Theology)

Prabhupāda Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura brought honor to Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas, restored order to a corrupted tradition that had devolved into scandal and shame. He inspired genuine renunciates who upheld lifelong vows and became stalwart mystics, inspiring thousands in turn towards self-realization. The tridaṇḍa he talks about—everywhere, all-throughout his writing—is “vāco-vegam, manasa-krodha-vegam….” He advises control of body, mind, and words. This is dhṛti. This is the basis of Dharma, the order of harmony that runs and nourishes the world. This Dharma is universal. The sacred Vedic bull of Dharma was not unknown to the plains people of North America, for example. They knew his four legs and the four ages, the principles of truth, purity, compassion, and austerity. Ask Black Elk. (See  Black Elk Speaks, by John G. Neihardt.) The elders of indigenous cultures speak timeless, universal wisdom. Rigid scholars still cannot make sense of how the Lakota Blackfoot could have such a core belief nearly identical to that of the "Hindus" half a world away. They rode into war with headdresses made from the tailfeathers of eagles (an image we are all too familiar with thanks to Hollywood), seeking to be incarnations of Wambli Gahleshka, the eagle carrier of Wakan Tanka, their supreme God. "Glory be to Garūḍa-vāhana Viṣṇu!" I say. Throw a dart at the globe and you will find a people with a profound, startling legend that crisscrosses the fabric of their collective psyche and perception of reality to create a beautifully embroidered tapestry that will, without fail, point you back to the Vedas. The Bible and the Quran are no different. They tell the same story. We are all telling the same story, seeking the same pure nourishment for our ageless, timeless, loving spirits. And we cannot tolerate devious, petty detractors who twist the truth, alter our sacred records, and injure, exploit, or frame the innocent, all the while writhing in envy of genuine gentle masters, scrambling to devise ways to discredit or sabotage them. These are the representatives of Adharma, of disorder and tyranny. 
 

A Word (or two) on the Contents of this Edition

The main feature of this edition is a book by Śrī Śrīla Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja, Acintya-bhedābheda. Originally published in installments over two years in the Gauḍīya Patrikā, it will take some time to bring this book to you in its entirety. I pray for your patience. The first two or three parts are forthcoming within the week. This exposé is written in response to some rather devious works by his former "godbrothers"—the infamous Sundarānanda Vidyavinoda and Ananta Vāsudeva. He calls them demons. Some may not like that acerbity of language, but his purpose is not malicious. It is impassioned, yes. He is hurt by what they did and he says so. But he does not bear them ill will. "Suhṛdaḥ sarva-bhūtānām." There is always hope for people who do demoniac things. Think: Kṛṣṇa and Pūtanā, Kṛṣṇa and Kaṁsa, Śiśupāla—the list is literally endless. So do not fret. But do not be so eager to be recklessly, maniacally all-inclusive and accepting either. Ācārya Keśarī—the embodiment of Śrī Nṛsiṁhadeva's ferocious and protective divinity—does not pardon them for the harm they have inflicted. Everyone has their time of reckoning. And we must have some standards, some backbone. Conspiracy and fabrication of scripture is not acceptable. Souls come under demoniac spells, like Jaya and Vijaya, and wreak havoc. But their eternal souls get infinite chances. They must suffer the consequences of their actions. But the flow of time and of existence itself leads them where they must go, onwards and towards redemption, however close or far that may be. The ultimate gentleman and incomparable saint Śrīla Bhakti Pramoda Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja told our generation not to judge Śrīyuta Sundarānanda and Ananta Vāsudeva, because “their pastimes are not complete.” The uttama-mahā-bhāgavata sees past, present and future, and he sees with utmost compassion. Śrīla Purī Gosvāmī Mahārāja has a wonderful edition of Tattva-sandarbha, which I suspect will prove very important in regard to this topic. I hope to publish excerpts from it in future editions of Bigdrum’s Patrikā effort. 

Accompanying our ferocious and unrivalled Vedantin adept in this issue is that eternally loving guide and caretaker, a true friend to all devotees: Bhakta-bāndhava Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja with a brief, loving letter to one Gopīnātha Dāsādhikārī Prabhu who is rather distraught at communal Smārta oppression and utterly befuddling claims of devious, carnivorous Sahajiyās who have the gall to pose as followers of Sanātana Dharma. Śrīla Gurudeva offers him concise, bulletpoint instructions on how to deal with a tough situation.

Following these nuggets of tattva-jñāna and bhajana-śikṣā gold will be a wonderfully cutting satirical play entitled "Vairāgya" by none other than the renowned and revered savior of the modern Western world, Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Svāmi Prabhupāda. I am personally really looking forward to this. My dear friend and Bengali scholar, Candraśekhara Dāsa, will be putting his all into a careful English rendition of the comedic and idiomatic subtleties conveyed in this sidesplitter of a satire that takes unabashed potshots at the hypocrisies of Ramakrishna Mission in particular and the phony renunciate in general. 

Next up will be a rather dense read, a work of scholarly finesse by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Saravatī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda himself, which he titled: "Śrī-Bhāgavatera Punarāvṛttii – A Reiteration (or Reperusal) of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam." I can’t yet say much more about this splendid work than I already have above. I would have to go on yet another rant about the brilliance and integrity that shines through the author's every sentence. You will see themes that closely mirror the contents of Acintya-bhedābheda. He presents an eye-peeling meditation on the ancient truth of the Vedas, explicates the process of bhakti-sādhana in fresh detail, quotes Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda’s Daśamūla-śikṣā in its entirty, then outlines the ancient ascetic heritage of the four Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas, and follows that with an efficiently cutting summary of fourteen Indian philosophical schools that opposed the Vedas (and failed). Finally he dives into a lengthy exposition of sādhana-bhakti as taught by Śrī Gaurasundara. Every line has so much depth, and the attentive reader will easily see what pristine, priceless gems of truth were utterly missed or skipped over by the likes of Ananta Vāsudeva and Sundarānanda. The parama-satya, none other than Kṛṣṇa Himself, only reveals Himself easily to those who are truly inclined to serve, without any other motive or covering of fruitive action, knowledge, etc. I hope the readers can experience this for themselves by careful study of these long, convoluted sentences. I will be including the Bengali for any who can delve deeper and perhaps pull out more polished gems than I ever could. 

Please forgive any errors, typos, overstatements, or just plain foolishness found in these ramblings. If there is anything of substance that inspires the reader to study the teachings of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura and his genuine followers more closely, I will consider my life and efforts a success.

Begging for the mercy of Śrī Hari, guru, and Vaiṣṇavas,

—Śrīvāsa dāsa

"How to Deal with Antagonists"

(Response to a Letter from Śrī Gopīnātha Dāsādhikārī)
By Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

(Translated from Śrī Gauḍīya-patrikā, Year 25, Issue 3 (14/5/1973), page 109)

śrī śrī guru-gaurāṅgau jayataḥ

Village—Ruṇibāḍī
P.O. –Niśigañja (Kochbihar)
20/1/1973

Offering countless prostrated obeisance with complete devotion at the feet of my most worshipful Śrī Śrīla Guru-pādapadma—

            He Deva! First of all, I beseech you in utter anguish to mercifully accept this fallen servant’s countless, devotional sāṣṭāṅga-daṇḍavat obeisances. Having accepted the shelter of your śrī-pādapadma (having received dīkṣā initiation and the related saṁskāra ceremony), I came home to a great many predicaments. My community, even many of my own relatives, and other members of my community have almost entirely cut off interaction and communication with us in every respect. I am now despised by the members of my former caste group. In this sort of situation, if someone in my family dies or is born, how are we to observe aśauca [a ritualized period of quarantine observed in strict Smārta communities]? And if such a situation arises, then who will we get to perform the necessary rituals? So many doubts are arising because we are struggling to determine with any measure of certainty how to deal with this situation.

          "One cannot perform hari-bhajana if one eats fish and meat." When the sādhus and gurus here hear this, they become outraged. They hurl abuses at us and say, “Was it not Nitāi and Haridās Ṭhākura who said: ‘mācha-māṁsa-kāminīra kola, tāi niye jīva hari hari bola – fish, meat, and the arms of beautiful women—taking those things, O soul, just chant the names of Hari.’” At present, I am in a great predicament, which is why I have written you this letter. If there is any error in this letter, I pray that you forgive me. I remain eager to know when you will come to visit. Thus your surrendered servant concludes this letter.

Pleading for a fraction of your causeless mercy,
Your fallen servant—

Gopīnātha Dāsādhikārī

Response

śrī śrī guru-gaurāṅgau jayataḥ
 

Śrī Devānanda Gauḍīya Maṭha,
P.O. Navadvīpa (Nadiyā)
12/5/73

Snehabhājaneṣu (recipient of affection),

            Gopīnātha! I received the letter you addressed to Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja and have gathered a sense of what is going on. At present Pūjyapāda Vāmana Mahārāja is in the city of Kochbihar, at the home of Śrī Surendranātha Sāhā Mahāśaya (boss of the Kohinoor Bidi Factory). Even if he is not staying there, wherever he may be in that region, you can get in contact with him if you go to Surena Bābu’s place. You should go to him and submit all the issues you have doubts about to him in person and resolve them that way. I am only responding to your questions below in a brief manner.

As one proceeds to perform hari-bhajana, many types of obstacles and hindrances appear. It is advised to always remember the example of parama-bhāgavata Śrīla Prahlāda Mahārāja, the Śrī Pāṇḍavas, Śrīla Ambarīṣa Mahārāja, the Śrīla Tridāṇḍi-bhikṣu of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam’s Eleventh Canto, and the Dvija-patnīs. Those who take shelter of a bona fide guru and wish to enter purely into hari-bhajana find that so-called society and the rogues who call themselves their family members, as well as the presiding demigods and even Māyā-devī herself and others create various types of obstacles for those sādhakas in the preliminary stages of their practice. At such a time, if the sādhakas sincerely take shelter at the lotus feet of Śrī Hari, guru, and Vaiṣṇavas and, with steady patience, strive to advance in a pure-hearted manner along the path of the supreme goal, then all the demoniac power of the world, all obstacles, even supernatural forces, or the presiding deities of sheer malevolence, will bow their heads. So what to speak of small, insignificant individuals and a small antagonistic community?

The supremely merciful Bhagavān wants to test the sādhaka and bring about his full surrender, so He stays right behind the sādhaka, watching all these incidents and protecting him at just the right moments. You should turn a deaf ear to the blather of antagonistic people and society. Be steadfast and immovable and follow proper Vaiṣṇava conduct (sadācara). If the whole of society, the whole country, all the members of your caste, your brothers, friends, relatives, and even you spouse and children become inimical to you, you should not raise an eyebrow. One day, they will realize their mistake and failings and be bound to have faith and regard (śraddhā) in you.

Secondly, Vaiṣṇavas do not observe any jātyāśauca (quarantine period after a birth) or maraṇāśauca (quarantine period after a death). Those who chant harināma purely are always pure. There is no injunction mentioned in scripture that dictates they must observe aśauca. The sort of injunction that is seen clearly in scritpure is as follows:

saṅkalpaṁ ca tathā dānaṁ pitṛ-devārcanādikaṁ |
viṣṇu-mantropadiṣṭaśen na kuryāt kuśa-dhāraṇam ||

(Skanda Purāṇa, Revā-khaṇḍa)

If someone has been instructed (initiated) in viṣṇu-mantra, then he need not take various vows, give great amounts of charity, worship the ancestors or demigods, or perform funerary oblations.

kiṁ dattair bahubhiḥ piṇḍai-bhayā-śrāddhādir-mūle |
yair arcito harir-bhaktyā pitryarthañca dine dine ||

 (Skanda Purāṇa)

He Ṛṣe! For those who worship Śrī Hari with devotion daily on behalf of the ancestors, what need is there to offer so many funerary oblations (piṇḍa)?

If someone from a Vaiṣṇava family goes to their eternal abode (dies), then an initiated devotee need not observe any form of aśauca. According to the Vaiṣṇava-smṛti Śrī Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, one can have knowledgeable Vaiṣṇavas offer śrī bhagavat-prasāda to the deceased individual.

Śrī Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu and Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura never partook of wine, meat, fish and other foul substances. There is no record of them accepting such things. Religious antagonists who are averse to Bhagavān and fools who have no knowledge of scripture preach these sorts of bogus ideas because of their envy and thus pave their own way to hell. Do not lend your ears even slightly to their words.

In the sacred texts of the ancient Sātvatas, like the Śrutis, Smṛtis, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and other such texts, and in the books of the most well-renowned ācāryas of India, we see abundant evidence of opposition to the consumption meat, liquor and similar substances. I am quoting but a few of these references below as follows:

loke vyavāyāmiṣa-madya-sevā nityā hi jantor na hi tatra codanā |
vyavasthitis teṣu vivāha-yajña surā-grahair āsu nivṛttir iṣṭā ||

(Bhā. 11.5.11)

Caught up in misinterpretation of the Vedas, many conclude that sex life, meat-eating, and consumption of liquor have in fact been encouraged in the Vedas in various rituals. They do not realize that the tendency to indulge in these things arises from basic instincts found in all living creatures. Such impulses do not need encouragement. It is to curb these impulses that the Vedas ordain sex life within marriage and the consumption of meat and intoxicating substances during certain yajñas. In other words, the Vedas are actually recommending abstinence from such impulsive behavior.

yad ghrāṇa bhakṣṇo vihitaḥ surāyās tathā paśor ālabhanaṁ na hiṁsā |
evaṁ vyavāyaḥ prajayā na ratyai imaṁ viśuddhaṁ na viduḥ svadharmam ||

(Bhā. 11.5.13)

In certain rituals, liquor is offered, but consumed only by taking its scent, not drinking it. Likewise, animals are utilized in certain rituals, but not slaughtered. Similarly, sexual intercourse is ordained only to produce offspring, not to indulge in sensuality. This is the pristine conception of prescribed duties as found in the Vedas, but those who misinterpret the Vedas cannot understand this.

ye tv anevaṁ-vido ’santaḥ stabdhāḥ sad-abhimāninaḥ
paśūn druhyanti viśrabdhāḥ pretya khādanti te ca tān

(Bhā. 11.5.14)

Ignorant of religious principles (dharma-tattva), arrogant persons who think themselves saintly slaughter animals without any qualms. Later, however, all those animals will devour those killers.

The Manu-saṁhitā (5.15) states:

yo sasya māṁsamaśrāti sa tanmāṁsād ucyate |
matsyādaḥ sarva-māṁsādas-tasmān-matsyān vivarjayet ||

A person is known and judged by the kind of meat he eats [a beef-eater, a dog-eater, etc.], but someone who eats fish is said to be a consumer of every sort of meat (because fish eat everything including other fish, cows, pigs, etc.,), which is why the consumption fish is something to be totally relinquished.

In the Agastya-saṁhitā, it is stated:

jalajair-abhiśaptānāṁ nārīnāṁ vaidhavyaṁ sadā |
māṁsaṁ khādati nityañca surathaḥ sadṛśo yathā ||

Those who eat fish and other aquatic creatures are cursed by all aquatic life, which results in widowhood. Those who eat meat end up in a degraded position like King Suratha.

In the Śrutis, ahiṁsā (non-violence) has been lauded as the supreme dharma. Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam also forbids the consumption of alcohol, meat, etc. “The main purpose of regulated pravṛtti-mārga (the path of sense enjoyment) is to take one towards nivṛtti-mārga (the path of renunciation)—“pravṛttir-eṣā bhūtānāṁ nivṛtti mahāphalā.”

Those who are not acquainted with all these teachings of the scriptures and are attached to consuming meat and liquor lead the public down the wrong path by spouting various unfounded, crackpot ideas.

What more is there to say? In the names of Śrīman Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrīla Haridāsa Ṭhākura and Śrīman Mahāprabhu’s associates, these unreliable characters come up with various rhymes and sonnets that advocate indulgence in liquor, meat, and young women, among other things. These lines are utter mental fabrications and propagated for less than honorable reasons. You should very carefully avoid the association of these sorts of cunning people. If there is anything else you wish to know, please inform me. I will elaborate on these matters in Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā.

nitya-maṅgalākāṅkṣī
(“Your eternal well-wisher”)

Śrī Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa

Śrī Śrī Guru-Gaurāṅgau Jayataḥ

Acintya-Bhedābheda
Inconceivable Oneness and Difference

By Ācārya-keśarī Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Gosvāmī Mahārāja

Prathama Siddhānta
First Conclusion

Maṅgalācaraṇa¹
 

vande ’haṁ śrī guroḥ śrī-yūta-pada-kamalaṁ śrī-gurun vaiṣṇavāṁś ca
śrī rūpaṁ sāgrajātaṁ saha-gaṇa-raghunāthānvitaṁ taṁ sa-jīvam
sādvaitaṁ sāvadhūtaṁ parijana-sahitaṁ kṛṣṇa-caitanya-devaṁ
śrī-rādhā-kṛṣṇa-pādān saha-gaṇa-lalitā-śrī-viśākhānvitāṁś ca

(Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Antya 2.1)

I first venerate the śrīmat [“divine and beautiful”] lotus feet of the śrī-mantra-dīkṣā-guru and bhajana-śikṣā-guru, of the guru-varga—the parama and parātpara-gurus headed by Śrīmat Ānanda-tīrtha and Śrīman Mādhavendra Purī, of the bhāgavatas of the four yugas and Rūpā’s elder brother Śrīmat Sanātana Gosvāmī, of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī, his intimate follower Śrī Raghunātha Dāsa Gosvāmī and his specially favored Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī, and of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu accompanied His associates, the multitude of which are adorned with Śrī Advaita and the Avadhūta Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu. I then bow before the lotus feet of the sakhīs and mañjarīs, and Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, accompanied by Lalitā and Viśākhā.²

(Rendered in accordance with Jagad-guru Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura’s Anubhāṣya)
 

__________

¹ The author, Paramahaṁsa-svāmī Śrī Śrīmad Bhakti Prajñāna Keśava Mahārāja outlines the subject of this ‘Acintya-bhedābheda’ book by this maṅgalācaraṇa verse and several concluding invocation verses of his own composition. And alongside that, he is establishing that the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava followers of Śrīman Mahāprabhu are followers of the Śrī Brahma-Mādhva-Gauḍīya Sampradāya

—Prakāśaka ["Publisher" – Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja]

² The translations of the maṅgalācaraṇa verses have been provided by Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Gosvāmī Mahārāja.

__________

namaḥ oṁ viṣṇupādāya kṛṣṇa-preṣṭhāya bhūtale
śrīmate bhaktisiddhānta-sarasvatīti nāmine

śrī vārṣabhānavī-devī-dayitāya kṛpābdhaye
kṛṣṇa-sambandha-vijñāna-dāyine prabhave namaḥ

mādhuryojjvala-premāḍhya-śrī-rūpānuga-bhaktida
śrī gaura-karuṇa-śakti-vigrahāya namo’stu te

namaste gaura-vāṇī-śrī-mūrttaye dīna-tāriṇe
rūpānuga-viruddhāpasiddhānta-dhvānta-hāriṇe

(Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā Year 1, Issue 2)

I bow to He who is the dearly beloved of Kṛṣṇa, Oṁ Viṣṇupāda Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī—who is renowned throughout the world by this name. He is an ocean of mercy, replete with all potency to bestow scientific knowledge of relationship with Kṛṣṇa, and who is very dear to Vārṣabhānavī Śrī Rādhārāṇī. I bow to he who is the bestower of mādhurya-ujjvala-prema-bhakti in the line of Śrī Rūpa and who is the personified form of Śrī Gaurasundara’s energy of compassion (karuṇā-śakti. I offer my obeisance to him (that Jagad-guru Śrīla Sarasvatī Prabhupāda) who is the vāṇī-vigraha, or personification of Śrī Gaurasundara’s holy message, the deliverer of the fallen, and who removes the darkness of the misconceptions that oppose the Rupānuga tradition (the acintya-bhedābheda-siddhānta, or conclusive philosophy, approved by the Brahma-Mādhva-Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇavas).
 

namo bhaktivinodāya saccidānanda-nāmine
gaura-śakti-svarūpāya rupānuga-varāya te

(Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā 1st Year, 1st Issue)

I offer my obeisance to Saccidānanda Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, who is the personality of Gaurasundara’s instrinsic potency and revered by the Vaiṣṇavas who are followers of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī.
 

nānā śāstra-vicāraṇaika-nipuṇau sad-dharma-saṁsthāpakau
bhūtva dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau
ānandāmbudhi-vardhanaika-nipunau kaivalya-nistārakau
vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau śrī-jīva-gopālakau

(Śrī Ṣad-Gosvāmyaṣṭakam 2, 4, 3)

They who are supremely expert in deliberating various scriptures and who are establishers of true dharma … who mercifully became the protectors of the fallen and destitute, donning kaupīna (loincloth) and kanthā (simple outer garment) … who are extremely expert at expanding the ocean of bliss and who are protectors of all jīvas, saving them from kaivalya-mukti (impersonal liberation)—I offer my obeisance unto those Gosvāmīs, namely Śrī Rūpa, Sanātana, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa, Raghunātha Dāsa, and Śrī Jīva.

jayo navadvīpa-pradīpaḥ, svabhāva-pāṣaṇḍa-gajaika-siṁhaḥ
sva-nāma-śikṣā-japa-sūtradhārī, caitanya-candro bhagavān murāriḥ

(By one mahājana)

Glory be to Bhagavān Murāri Śrī Caitanya-candra, who is the fresh, bright flame of Navadvīpa, who by nature is like a lion subduing the multitudes of heretics and hypocrites. He teaches the performance of loud kīrtana of the sixteen-name tāraka-brahma-nāma, without counting its recitations (asaṅkhyāt) and carries a rosary of knotted cloth for the japa of mahā-mantra.

yasya prabhā prabhavato jagad-aṇḍa-koṭi,
kotiṣvaśeṣa-vasudhādi-vibhūti-bhinnam
tad-brahma-niṣkalam-anantam-aśeṣa-bhūtaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi

(Spoken by Śrī Brahmā himself—Brahma-saṁhitā 5.40)

I worship that original Person, Govinda, whose effulgence produces (or suffuses) the indivisible, ceaseless, infinite brahma, which is distinct from the infinite splendor (or opulence) of infinite Earthly planets within millions and millions of material universes.

(From Śrī Ṭhākura Bhaktivinoda’s Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya)

janmādy asya yato ’nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ svarāṭa
tene brahma-hṛdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayaḥ
tejo-vāri-mṛdāṁ yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo ’mṛṣā
dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakaṁ satyaṁ paraṁ dhīmahi

(By Śrī Vyāsa himself—Bhāgavata 1.1.1)

The genesis, stasis and annihilation of this world is effected by that Supreme Lord in direct and indirect ways. That Supreme Lord is fully cognizant in His agency over the world. Within Him exists self-evident knowledge itself, and He has initiated the intelligence of the original poet Brahmā, thereby manifesting tattva-vastu via the mind. Indra and other demigods are bewildered by the Supreme Lord, just as fire, water, and earth are perceived to truly be one or another of those same elements. Likewise, though the material modes of sattva, rajaḥ, and tamo appear to truly be present within that Supreme Lord, in reality it is impossible for any sort of material function to exist within Him. Never is there any foothold of deceit in that Supreme Person. We meditate on that Supreme Lord, who is characterized by the form of absolute truth.

(Translation by Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura of Bhāgavata 1.1.1)

devakī-nandana nanda-kumāra vṛndāvanāñcana gokula-candra
kanda-phalāśana sundara-rūpa nandita-gokula vandita-pāda

(By Śrīla Madhvācārya—Dvādaśa-stotra 6.5)

O son of Yaśodā, who is known as Devakī, O son of Nanda Mahārāja, You who play in Vṛndāvana, moon of Gokula, eater of kanda fruit [a rare, huge, sweet, nutritious root of a type of agave that grows around Govardhana], whose form is so very beautiful, who delights Gokula, is venerated by all—I bow to You.

yasya brahmeti saṅjñāṁ kvacid api nigame yāti cinmātra-sattā-
'py-aṁśo yasyāṁśakaiḥ svair vibhavati vaśayann eva māyāṁ pumāṁś ca
ekaṁ yasyaiva rūpaṁ vilasati parama-vyomni nārāyaṇākhyaṁ
sa śrī-kṛṣṇo vidhattāṁ svayam iha bhagavān prema tat-pāda-bhājām

(By Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī—Tattva-sandarbha 8)

In some places in the Vedas, just the existential feature of His cit aspect is referred to as brahma. His portional expansion, as the Puruṣa, dominates the illusory energy of māyā and manifests a pastime of majesty throughout His expansions. His form known as Nārāyaṇa sports in the spiritual sky, Paravyoma. May that original Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, offer prema for Him to those who perform bhajana of His sacred feet.

(From Śrī Satyānanda Gosvāmī’s Tattva-sandarbha, published 1318 [Baṅgāba])

yad advaitaṁ brahmopaniṣadi tad apy asya tanubhā
ya ātmāntaryāmī puruṣa iti so’syāṁśa-vibhavaḥ
ṣaḍ-aiśvaryaḥ pūrṇo ya iha bhagavān sa svayam ayaṁ
na caitanyāt kṛṣṇāj jagati para-tattvaṁ paramiha

(By Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja—Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi 1.3)

What the Upaniṣads refer to as advaita-brahma, or nondifferentiated divinity, is the bodily splendor of my Prabhu [Lord]. He who is referred to in the Yoga scriptures as the antaryāmī-puruṣa [immanent Person], or Paramātmā, is the portional expansion of my Prabhu. He who is referred to as Bhagavān, who is the refuge and source of brahma and Paramātmā and who is replete with all six opulences of divinity is my Prabhu, Svayaṁ Bhagavān [the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself].

(From Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura’s Amṛta-pravāha-bhāṣya on Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta)

satyānantācintya-śaktyeka-pakṣe, sarvādhyakṣe bhakta-rakṣāti-dakṣe
śrī govinde viśva-sargādi-kande, pūrṇānande nityam āstāṁ matir me

(By Śrīla Baladeva—Gītā-bhūṣaṇa-bhāṣya 1.1)

The one truth, the infinite, the possessor of inconceivable potency, the controller of all, most expert in protecting the devotees, the root of Svarga and all material universes, and the form of total bliss—may that Śrī Govinda remain forever within my consciousness.

cil-līlā-mithunaṁ tattvaṁ bhedābhedam-acintyakam
śakti-śaktimator-aikyaṁ yuga-padvarttate sadā

tattvam ekaṁ paraṁ vidyāl-līlāyā tad-dvidhā sthitam
gauraḥ kṛṣṇaḥ svayaṁ hy etad ubhāv ubhayam āpnutaḥ

saguṇaḥ nirguṇaṁ tattvam ekam evādvitīyakam
sarva-nitya-guṇair-gauraḥ kṛṣṇo rasastu nirguṇaiḥ

śrī-kṛṣṇaṁ mithunaṁ brahma tyaktvā tu nirguṇaṁ hi tat
upāsate mṛṣā vijñāḥ yathā tuṣāvaghātinaḥ

śrī-vinoda-bihārī yo rādhayā milito yadā
tadāhaṁ vandanaṁ kuryāt sarasvatī-prasādataḥ

(By the author—Śrī Rādhā-Vinoda-bihāri Tattvāṣṭakam 3, 4, 6, 7, 8)

Śakti and śaktimān, which are existentially one, the twin principles of divine interplay [cil-līlā-mithuna-tattva] are situated together for all eternal time in a way that is inconceivably one and different. In other words, the para-tattva-vastu, the reality that comprises the supreme principle, is never deprived of potency; in that tattva, śakti and śaktimān exist eternally as one. They are fully conscious [pūrṇa-cetana-maya], the topmost personality that embodies divine interaction [Līlā-Puruṣottama], Themselves the twin epitome [Svayaṁ Mithuna-vigraha], or the combined form of male and female (śakti and śaktimān). That mithuna-vigraha is Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa or Śrī Gaura-tattva. Within Them, these contradictory roles are eternally extant in simultaneous difference and nondifference by effect of inconceivable potency. Know that para-tattva is one, but that one tattva-vastu is situated in two variations by  the influence of līlā; as is the case with Śrī Gaura and Śrī Kṛṣṇa. They are Themselves that tattva-vastu, which is to say Śrī Gaura is Kṛṣṇa Himself and both of Them achieve a duality. In other words, Śrī Gaurasundara becomes Śrī Kṛṣṇasundara and Śrī Kṛṣṇasundara also becomes Śrī Gaurasundara. Saguṇa and nirguṇa-tattva are one and nondual. Śrī Gaurasundara is rasa-svarūpa, the embodiment of rasa, via the aggregation of all eternal sad-guṇa, or transcendental qualities, whereas Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in the nirguṇa aspect, in the absence of all guṇa, or material designations, is the rasa-svarūpa; in other words, that vastu is rasa itself. Rasa is nirguṇa and aprākṛta, or supramundane; it is never conditioned by material qualities. Śrī Kṛṣṇa, or Gaura, is the mithuna-brahma. Discarding Him (or His bhajana), the false jñānīs, or ignorant persons, worship the nirguṇa, impersonal brahma like people thrashing empty husks. In other words,  just as people thrashing empty husks in the hope of reaping rice grains simply engage in futile toil, the jñānīs give up Kṛṣṇa’s service and willfully accept futile worship of nirguṇa-brahma. In other words, such endeavor will never lead to real mokṣa. When Śrī Vinoda-bihārī Kṛṣṇa meets with Śrī Rādhā, then by the mercy of Śrīla Sarasvatī (by the mercy of the author’s Śrī Gurudeva), I then propitiate and glorify Them in this manner.

‘ananta’-‘sundarānanda’-‘hari’-guru-virodhinām
daityānāṁ dalanaṁ vande gaura-vāṇī-vinodakam

(By the author)

I venerate Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the scriptures that follow its guidance as expressions of pure delight in the holy message of Śrīman Mahāprabhu, who embodies triumph over the demons who are inimical to the infinite [ananta], beautiful embodiment of bliss [sundarānanda], Śrī Hari and guru.

Alternatively: I venerate Śrīla Gaura-kiśora, vāṇī or Śrīla Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, and Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura who are the personifications of the demolishment of Ananta Vāsudeva, and the writer of Acintya-bhedābheda-vāda and other books, Sundarānanda, as well as Haridāsa Bābājī of Navadvīpa’s Haribola Kuṭīra and other demonic antagonists of my gurus.

Prabandhera Preraṇā – The Inspiration for This Essay

With great sadness I convey that some days ago I read a book titled “Acintya-bhedābheda-vāda” and became particularly heart-rent. The author of this book is Śrīyuta Sundarānanda Vidyāvinoda. This writer has written two other books with the same intention. Those two books are titled “Gauḍīya Darśanera Itihāsa o Vaiśiṣtya (The History and Specialities of Gauḍīya Philosophy) and “Gauḍīyāra Tina Ṭhākura (The Three Masters of the Gauḍīyas)”. The ‘Gauḍīya Darśana’ book is almost 500 pages, and ‘Gauḍīyāra Tina Ṭhākura’ concludes at a little more than 600. The Acintya-bhedābheda-vāda book is also almost 400, including the appendix. Although these three books look like three different titles from an external vantage, at root they are one book. Though they have some basic, rudimentary differences, those are not worthy of mention at present. At the root, the purpose and subject of these three books is one and the same. Therefore, of the three aforementioned books, I have at present set about a critical review of only Acintya-bhedābheda-vāda, because if this book is critiqued, no separate, extensive critique of the other two books will be necessary.

Although in some places the author’s efforts in writing and in collecting historical information from various places is praiseworthy, what I intend by critiquing this Acintya-bhedābheda-vāda book is a refutation of it. Last year (6th of Pauṣa 1363 Baṅgābda, 21st December 1956, Friday), while delivering a lecture on the occasion of Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura’s disappearance day during a special conference of the Śrī Gauḍīya Vedānta Samiti at Chunchura’s Śrī Uddhāraṇa Gauḍīya Maṭha, I conveyed before everyone present something of a refutation related to the aforementioned three books. In this book, Vidyāvinoda Mahāśaya has tried to prove that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is advaya-vādī [monist] and kaivalya [“ultimate solitude”] is its only prayojana, or objective—which is to say that ‘acintya-bhedābheda’ is not the philosophy of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. Tridaṇḍisvāmī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Vāmana Mahārāja has published the aforementioned refutational speech in the (monthly) Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā’s 8th Year, 12th Issue, from page 462—470, in an article3 with the heading “Śrīla Ācāryadevera Vaktṛtā.” Pages 465 and 466 therein are especially worth deliberation. Several of my truth-seeking, intellectually keen friends read this article and encouraged me with special delight to deliver an extensive refutation of those books.  And they conveyed a request to shed light on what the real acintya-bhedābheda-tattva is. In order to fulfill their and other various devotees’ desires and to shed light on the real philosophical truths of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava world and knowing this to be the ideal of my guru-sevā, I am writing this article. I hope that the refined readers will read this with steady minds and will be able to become acquainted with the real facts of acintya-bhedābheda.

_________

³ The article referred to above has been excerpted below for the convenience of the readers:

“Ananta Vāsudeva and Sundarānanda were not able to grasp even a drop of Śrīla Prabhupāda’s kathā. Though they stayed in Śrīla Prabhupāda’s proximity, they were so far away that the extent [of their distance from him] cannot even be determined. We are seeing that their fate is a much more impoverished, hateful, and avaracious fate than befell Kālā Kṛṣṇadāsa despite living with Śrīman Mahāprabhu. What more degraded fate can there be for a man than guru-drohitā, or bearing malice towards one’s guru. One does not become a guru-sevaka just by staying in the proximity of Śrīla Guru-pādapadma. Śrīla Prabhupāda has shown us the example of this through the character of these two dānavas.

“Sundarānanda has created a world of mess by writing three books entitled ‘Gauḍīyāra Tina Ṭhākura’, ‘Acintya-bhedābheda-vāda’ and ‘Gauḍīya Darśanera Itihāsa’. With these three books, an arrow has been shot into the chests of Śrīman Mahāprabhu and Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. These three books are three spears or a trident. With these, the immaculate flow of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava thought has been killed. This trident has been created from the venomous seed of killing Hari, guru, and Vaiṣṇavas. We will gradually discuss these three books. He has also written another book titled ‘Mahā-mantra’ that is full of heresy. With that he has forbidden the kīrtana of the harināma mahā-mantra. We have resolved not to judge such daityas and dānavas during the age of Kali. But as we go to discuss the life of Śrīla Prabhupāda, we are being reminded on his disappearance day of just what sort of daityas and dānavas have been created in this world in his absence.

“In the age of Kali, the one path to deliverance is the loud kīrtana of mahā-mantra. Vāsudeva and Sundarānanda are antagonists of śrī nāma-kīrtana. The sixteen-name, thirty-two syllable mantra is forever and in every respect kīrtanīya [“to be sung”] in a loud voice and there is to be a fixed number of such recitations (saṅkhyāt) and also, beyond that, an immersive recitation of it wherein one does not keep track of the number (asaṅkhyāt). This is the Rūpānuga Bhaktivinoda-dhārā and this is Śrīla Prabhupāda’s teaching. These two daityas have joined forces and crafted a trident, wherein they have tried to prove that Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam is advaya-vādī and kaivalya is its only objective, and that  ‘acintya-bhedābheda’ is not the philosophy of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. They have used the statement ‘yaj-jñānam-advayam’ not to convey acintya-bhedābheda, but rather advayatva [nondualism]. With the statement ‘kaivalyaika-prayojanam’, they have tried to establish that kṛṣṇa-prema is not the ultimate goal, but rather that kaivalya is. We, under the guidance of Mahāprabhu, know Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam sheds light on acintya-bhedābheda-tattva and we accept that kṛṣṇa-prema is the only prayojana. These two dānavas, two fake ascetics that they are, have committed offenses at the feet of the crest-jewel of supremely liberated ācāryas, the ocean of mercy, Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, and have thus chosen to be demoniac. We are witnessing in them a degradation like that of the prākṛta-sahajiyās. Śrīla Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa is the ultimate guardian of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Sampradāya. Even remembering the pāṣaṇḍa heretics who commit offenses at his feet will result in total ruin.”

(“Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā,” 8th Year, 12th Issue, page 465–466)

[First installment of Acintya-bhedābheda, from Śrī Gauḍīya Patrikā, Year 9, Issue 3 (14/5/57), after page 112]