SB 10.87.25 · Srimad-Bhagavatam

SB 10.87.25

Devanagari

जनिमसत: सतो मृतिमुतात्मनि ये च भिदां विपणमृतं स्मरन्त्युपदिशन्ति त आरुपितै: । त्रिगुणमय: पुमानिति भिदा यदबोधकृता त्वयि न तत: परत्र स भवेदवबोधरसे ॥ २५ ॥

Verse text

janim asataḥ sato mṛtim utātmani ye ca bhidāṁ vipaṇam ṛtaṁ smaranty upadiśanti ta ārupitaiḥ tri-guṇa-mayaḥ pumān iti bhidā yad abodha-kṛtā tvayi na tataḥ paratra sa bhaved avabodha-rase

Synonyms

janim — creation ; asataḥ — of the manifest world (from atoms) ; sataḥ — of that which is eternal ; mṛtim — destruction ; uta — also ; ātmani — in the soul ; ye — who ; ca — and ; bhidām — duality ; vipaṇam — mundane business ; ṛtam — real ; smaranti — declare authoritatively ; upadiśanti — teach ; te — they ; ārupitaiḥ — in terms of illusions imposed on reality ; tri — three ; guṇa — of the material modes ; mayaḥ — composed ; pumān — the living entity ; iti — thus ; bhidā — dualistic conception ; yat — which ; abodha — by ignorance ; kṛtā — created ; tvayi — in You ; na — not ; tataḥ — to such ; paratra — transcendental ; saḥ — that (ignorance) ; bhavet — can exist ; avabodha — total consciousness ; rase — whose composition .

Translation

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Supposed authorities who declare that matter is the origin of existence, that the permanent qualities of the soul can be destroyed, that the self is compounded of separate aspects of spirit and matter, or that material transactions constitute reality—all such authorities base their teachings on mistaken ideas that hide the truth. The dualistic conception that the living entity is produced from the three modes of nature is simply a product of ignorance. Such a conception has no real basis in You, for You are transcendental to all illusion and always enjoy perfect, total awareness. KB 10.87.25 There are different kinds of philosophers who have tried to understand the supreme source by their mental speculation. There are generally six kinds of mental speculators, whose speculations are called ṣaḍ-darśana. All these philosophers are impersonalists and are known as Māyāvādīs. Every one of them has tried to establish his own opinion, although they all have later compromised and stated that all opinions lead to the same goal and that every opinion is therefore valid. According to the prayers of the personified Vedas, however, none of them is valid because their process of knowledge is created within the temporary material world. They have all missed the real point: the Supreme Personality of Godhead, or the Absolute Truth, can be understood only by devotional service. One class of philosophers, known as Mīmāṁsakas, represented by sages such as Jaimini, have concluded that everyone should engage in pious activities or prescribed duties and that such activities will lead one to the highest perfection. But this is contradicted in the Ninth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, where Lord Kṛṣṇa says that by pious activities one may be elevated to the heavenly planets, but that as soon as one’s accumulation of pious activities is used up, one has to leave the enjoyment of a higher standard of material prosperity in the heavenly planets and immediately come down again to these lower planets, where the duration of life is very short and where the standard of material happiness is of a lower grade. The exact words used in the Bhagavad-gītā are kṣīṇe puṇye martya-lokaṁ viśanti [Bg. 9.21]. Therefore the conclusion of the Mīmāṁsaka philosophers that pious activities will lead one to the Absolute Truth is not valid. Although a pure devotee is by nature inclined to perform pious activities, no one can attain the favor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead by pious activities alone. Pious activities may purify one of the contamination caused by ignorance and passion, but this purification is automatically attained by a devotee constantly engaged in hearing the transcendental message of Godhead in the form of the Bhagavad-gītā, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam or similar scriptures. From the Bhagavad-gītā we understand that even a person who is not up to the standard of pious activities but who is absolutely engaged in devotional service is to be considered well situated on the path of spiritual perfection. It is also said in the Bhagavad-gītā that a person who is engaged in devotional service with love and faith is guided from within by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord Himself as Paramātmā, or the spiritual master sitting within one’s heart, gives the devotee exact directions by which he can gradually go back to Godhead. The conclusion of the Mīmāṁsaka philosophers is not actually the truth which can lead one to real understanding. Similarly, there are Sāṅkhya philosophers, metaphysicians or materialistic scientists who study this cosmic manifestation by their invented scientific method and do not recognize the supreme authority of God as the creator of the cosmic manifestation. They wrongly conclude that the reactions of the material elements are the original cause of creation. The Bhagavad-gītā, however, does not accept this theory. It is clearly said therein that behind the cosmic activities is the direction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This fact is corroborated by the Vedic injunction sad vā saumyedam agra āsīt, which means that the origin of the creation existed before the cosmic manifestation. Therefore, the material elements cannot be the cause of the material creation. Although the material elements are accepted as immediate causes, the ultimate cause is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself. The Bhagavad-gītā says, therefore, that material nature works under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. The conclusion of the atheistic Sāṅkhya philosophy is that because the effects—the phenomena of this material world—are temporary, or illusory, the cause is therefore also illusory. The Sāṅkhya philosophers are in favor of voidism, but the actual fact is that the original cause is the Supreme Personality of Godhead and that this cosmic manifestation is the temporary manifestation of His material energy. When this temporary manifestation is annihilated, its cause, the eternal existence of the spiritual world, continues as it is, and therefore the spiritual world is called sanātana-dhāma, the eternal abode. The conclusion of the Sāṅkhya philosophers is therefore invalid. Then there are the philosophers headed by Gautama and Kaṇāda. They have minutely studied the cause and effect of the material elements and have ultimately come to the conclusion that atomic combination is the original cause of creation. At present the materialistic scientists follow in the footsteps of Gautama and Kaṇāda, who propounded this theory, called Paramāṇuvāda. This theory, however, cannot be supported, for the original cause of everything is not inert atoms. This is confirmed in the Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, as well as in the Vedas, wherein it is stated, eko nārāyaṇa āsīt: “Only Nārāyaṇa existed before the creation.” Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and the Vedānta-sūtra also say that the original cause is sentient and both indirectly and directly cognizant of everything within this creation. In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa says, ahaṁ sarvasya prabhavaḥ [Bg. 10.8], “I am the original cause of everything,” and mattaḥ sarvaṁ pravartate, “From Me everything comes into existence.” Therefore, atoms may form the basic combinations of material existence, but these atoms are generated from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus the philosophy of Gautama and Kaṇāda cannot be supported. Similarly, impersonalists headed by Aṣṭāvakra and later by Śaṅkarācārya accept the impersonal Brahman effulgence as the cause of everything. According to their theory, the material manifestation is temporary and unreal, whereas the impersonal Brahman effulgence is reality. But this theory cannot be supported either, because the Lord Himself says in the Bhagavad-gītā that the Brahman effulgence rests on His personality. It is confirmed in the Brahma-saṁhitā that the Brahman effulgence is the personal bodily rays of Kṛṣṇa. As such, impersonal Brahman cannot be the original cause of the cosmic manifestation. The original cause is the all-perfect, sentient Personality of Godhead, Govinda. The most dangerous theory of the impersonalists is that when God comes as an incarnation He accepts a material body created by the three modes of material nature. This Māyāvāda theory has been condemned by Lord Caitanya as most offensive. He has said that anyone who accepts the transcendental body of the Personality of Godhead to be made of material nature commits the greatest offense at the lotus feet of Viṣṇu. Similarly, the Bhagavad-gītā also states that when the Personality of Godhead descends in a human form, only fools and rascals deride Him. This actually occurred when Lord Kṛṣṇa, Lord Rāma and Lord Caitanya moved within human society as human beings. The personified Vedas condemn the impersonal conception as a gross misrepresentation. In the Brahma-saṁhitā, the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is described as ānanda-cinmaya-rasa. The Supreme Personality of Godhead possesses a spiritual body, not a material body. He can enjoy anything through any part of His body, and therefore He is omnipotent. The limbs of a material body can perform only a particular function; for example, the hands can hold but cannot see or hear. But because the body of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is made of ānanda-cinmaya-rasa and is thus sac-cid-ānanda-vigraha [Bs. 5.1], He can enjoy anything and do everything with any of His limbs. Acceptance of the spiritual body of the Lord as material is dictated by the tendency to equate the Supreme Personality of Godhead with the conditioned soul. The conditioned soul has a material body. Therefore, if God also has a material body, then the impersonalistic theory that the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entities are one and the same can be very easily propagated. Factually, when the Supreme Personality of Godhead comes He exhibits a nonmaterial body, and thus there is no difference between His childish body when He is lying on the lap of His Mother Yaśodā and His so-called grown-up body fighting with the demons. In His childhood body He also fought with demons, such as Pūtanā, Tṛṇāvarta and Aghāsura, with strength equal to that with which He fought in His youth against demons like Dantavakra and Śiśupāla. In material life, as soon as a conditioned soul changes his body he forgets everything of his past body, but from the Bhagavad-gītā we understand that because Kṛṣṇa has a sac-cid-ānanda body He did not forget instructing the sun-god about the Bhagavad-gītā millions of years ago. The Lord is therefore known as Puruṣottama because He is transcendental to both material and spiritual existence. That He is the cause of all causes means that He is the cause of the spiritual world and of the material world as well. The Supreme Personality of Godhead is omnipotent and omniscient. Therefore, because a material body can be neither omnipotent nor omniscient, the Lord’s body is surely not material. The Māyāvāda theory that the Personality of Godhead comes within this material world with a material body cannot be supported by any means. It can be concluded that all the theories of the materialistic philosophers are generated from temporary, illusory existence, like the conclusions in a dream. Such conclusions certainly cannot lead us to the Absolute Truth. The Absolute Truth can be realized only through devotional service. As the Lord says in the Bhagavad-gītā, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti: [Bg. 18.55] “Only by devotional service can one understand Me.” Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has composed a nice verse in this regard, which states, “My dear Lord, let others engage in false argument and dry speculation, theorizing upon great philosophical theses. Let them loiter in the darkness of ignorance and illusion, falsely enjoying as if very learned scholars, although they are without knowledge of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As far as I am concerned, I wish to be liberated simply by chanting the holy names of the all-beautiful Supreme Personality of Godhead—Mādhava, Vāmana, Trinayana, Saṅkarṣaṇa, Śrīpati and Govinda. Simply by chanting Your transcendental names, O Lord Madhupati, let me become free from the contamination of this material existence.” In this way the personified Vedas said, “Dear Lord, when a living entity, by Your grace only, comes to the right conclusion about Your exalted transcendental position, he no longer bothers with the different theories manufactured by the mental speculators or so-called philosophers.” This is a reference to the speculative theories of Gautama, Kaṇāda, Pataṣjali and Kapila (nirīśvara). There are actually two Kapilas: one Kapila, the son of Kardama Muni, is an incarnation of God, and the other is an atheist of the modern age. The atheistic Kapila is often misrepresented to be the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Lord Kapila the incarnation of Godhead appeared as the son of Kardama Muni long, long ago, during the time of Svāyambhuva Manu; the modern age is the age of Vaivasvata Manu. According to Māyāvāda philosophy, this manifested world, or material world, is mithyā or māyā, false. The Māyāvādī preaching principle is brahma satyaṁ jagan mithyā: “Only the Brahman effulgence is true, and the cosmic manifestation is illusory, or false.” But according to Vaiṣṇava philosophy, this cosmic manifestation is true because it is caused by the Supreme Personality of Godhead. In the Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that He enters within this material world by one of His plenary portions and thus the creation takes place. From the Vedas also we can understand that this asat, or temporary cosmic manifestation, is an emanation from the supreme sat, or fact. From the Vedānta-sūtra also it is understood that everything has emanated from the Supreme Brahman. Therefore the Vaiṣṇavas do not take this cosmic manifestation to be false. Because the Supreme Personality of Godhead has entered this cosmic manifestation in the form of His plenary expansion and caused the creation, the Vaiṣṇava philosophers see everything in this material world in relationship with the Supreme Lord. This conception of the material world is very nicely explained by Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, who says that when persons renounce the material world as illusory or false without knowing that the material world is a manifestation of the Supreme Lord, their renunciation is of no value. The Vaiṣṇavas, however, are free of attachment to this world because although the material world is generally accepted as an object of sense gratification, the Vaiṣṇavas are not in favor of sense gratification and are therefore not attached to material activities. The Vaiṣṇava accepts this material world according to the regulative principles of the Vedic injunctions and works without attachment. Since the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the original cause of everything, the Vaiṣṇava sees everything in relationship with Kṛṣṇa, even in this material world. By such advanced knowledge, everything becomes spiritualized. In other words, everything in the material world is already spiritual, but due to our lack of knowledge we see things as material.

Purport

The true position of the Supreme Personality is a sublime mystery, as is also the dependent position of the jīva soul. Most thinkers are mistaken in one way or another about these truths, since there are countless varieties of false designation that can cover the soul and create illusion. Foolish conditioned souls submit to obvious delusions, but the illusory power of Māyā can easily subvert the intelligence of even the most sophisticated philosophers and mystics. Thus there are always divergent schools of thought propounding conflicting theories concerning basic principles of truth. In traditional Indian philosophy, the followers of Vaiśeṣika, Nyāya, Sāṅkhya, Yoga and Mīmāṁsā philosophies all have their own erroneous ideas, which the personified Vedas point out in this prayer. The Vaiśeṣikas say that the visible universe is created from an original stock of atoms ( janim asataḥ ). As Kaṇāda Ṛṣi’s Vaiśeṣika-sūtras (7.1.20) state, nityaṁ parimaṇḍalam: “That which is of the smallest size, the atom, is eternal.” Kaṇāda and his followers also postulate eternality for other, nonatomic entities, including the souls who become embodied, and even a Supreme Soul. But in Vaiśeṣika cosmology the souls and the Supersoul play only token roles in the atomic production of the universe. Śrīla Kṛṣṇa-dvaipāyana Vedavyāsa criticizes this position in his Vedānta-sūtras (2.2.12): ubhayathāpi na karmātas tad-abhāvaḥ. According to this sūtra, one cannot claim that, at the time of creation, atoms first combine together because they are impelled by some karmic impulse adhering in the atoms themselves, since atoms by themselves, in their primeval state before combining into complex objects, have no ethical responsibility that might lead them to acquire pious and sinful reactions. Nor can the initial combination of atoms be explained as a result of the residual karma of the living entities who lie dormant prior to creation, since these reactions are each jīva’s own and cannot be transferred from them even to other jīvas, what to speak of inert atoms. Alternatively, the phrase janim asataḥ can be taken to allude to the Yoga philosophy of Pataṣjali Ṛṣi, inasmuch as his Yoga-sūtras teach one how to achieve the transcendental status of Brahmanhood by a mechanical process of exercise and meditation. Pataṣjali’s yoga method is here called asat because it ignores the essential aspect of devotion — surrender to the will of the Supreme Person. As Lord Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā (17.28) : aśraddhayā hutaṁ dattaṁ tapas taptaṁ kṛtaṁ ca yat asad ity ucyate pārtha na ca tat pretya no iha “Anything done as sacrifice, charity or penance without faith in the Supreme, O son of Pṛthā, is impermanent. It is called asat and is useless both in this life and in the next.” The Yoga-sūtras acknowledge the Personality of Godhead in an oblique way, but only as a helper whom the advancing yogī can utilize. Īśvara-praṇidhānād vā: “Devotional meditation on God is yet another means of achieving concentration.” ( Yoga-sūtra 1.23) In contrast, Bādarāyaṇa Vedavyāsa’s philosophy of Vedānta emphasizes devotional service not only as the primary means to liberation but also as identical with liberation itself. Ā-prāyaṇāt tatrāpi hi dṛṣṭam: “Worship of the Lord continues up to the point of liberation, and indeed goes on in the liberated state also, as the Vedas reveal.” ( Vedānta-sūtra 4.1.12) Gautama Ṛṣi, in his Nyāya-sutras, proposes that one can attain liberation by negating both illusion and unhappiness: duḥkha-janma-pravṛtti-doṣa-mithyā-jṣānānām uttarottarāpāye tad-anantarābhāvād apavargaḥ. “By successively dispelling false conceptions, bad character, entangling action, rebirth and misery — the disappearance of one of these allowing the disappearance of the next — one can achieve final liberation.” ( Nyāya-sutra 1.1.2) But since Nyāya philosophers believe that awareness is not an essential quality of the soul, they teach that a liberated soul has no consciousness. The Nyāya idea of liberation thus puts the soul in the condition of a dead stone. This attempt by the Nyāya philosophers to kill the soul’s innate consciousness is here called sato mṛtim by the personified Vedas. But the Vedānta-sūtra (2.3.17) unequivocally states, jṣo ’ta eva: “The jīva soul is always a knower.” Although the soul is in truth both conscious and active, the proponents of Sāṅkhya philosophy wrongly separate these two functions of the living force ( ātmani ye ca bhidām ), ascribing consciousness to the soul ( puruṣa ) and activity to material nature ( prakṛti ). According to the Sāṅkhya-kārikā (19-20): tasmāc ca viparyāsāt siddhaṁ sākṣitvaṁ puruṣasya kaivalyaṁ madhya-sthyaṁ draṣṭṛtvam akartṛ-bhāvaś ca “Thus, since the apparent differences between puruṣas are only superficial (being due to the various modes of nature that cover them), the puruṣa’s true status is proven to be that of a witness, characterized by his separateness, his passive indifference, his status of being an observer, and his inactivity.” tasmāt tat-saṁyogād acetanaṁ cetanā-vad iva liṅgam guṇa-kartṛtve ’pi tathā karteva bhavaty udāsīnaḥ “Thus, by contact with the soul, the unconscious subtle body seems to be conscious, while the soul appears to be the doer although he is aloof from the activity of nature’s modes.” Śrīla Vyāsadeva refutes this idea in the section of the Vedānta-sūtra (2.3.31-39) that begins, kartā śāstrārtha-vattvāt: “The jīva soul must be a performer of actions, because the injunctions of scripture must have some purpose.” Ācārya Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa, in his Govinda-bhāṣya, explains: “The jīva, not the modes of nature, is the doer. Why? Because the injunctions of scripture must have some purpose ( śāstrārtha-vattvāt ). For example, such scriptural injunctions as svarga-kāmo yajeta (‘One who desires to attain to heaven should perform ritual sacrifice’) and ātmānam eva lokam upāsīta ( Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 1.4.15: ‘One should worship with the aim of attaining the spiritual kingdom’) are meaningful only if a conscious doer exists. If the modes of nature were the doer, these statements would serve no purpose. After all, scriptural injunctions engage the living entity in performing prescribed actions by convincing him that he can act to bring about certain enjoyable results. Such a mentality cannot be aroused in the inert modes of nature.” Jaimini Ṛṣi, in his Pūrva-mīmāṁsā-sūtras, presents material work and its results as the whole of reality ( vipaṇam ṛtam ). He and later proponents of Karma-mīmāṁsā philosophy teach that material existence is endless — that there is no liberation. For them the cycle of karma is perpetual, and the best one can aim for is higher birth among the demigods. Therefore, they say, the whole purpose of the Vedas is to engage human beings in rituals for creating good karma, and consequently the mature soul’s prime responsibility is to ascertain the exact meaning of the Vedas’ sacrificial injunctions and to execute them. Codanā-lakṣaṇo ’rtho dharmaḥ: “Duty is that which is indicated by the injunctions of the Vedas. ” ( Pūrva-mīmāṁsā-sūtra 1.1.2) The Vedānta-sūtra, however — especially in the Fourth Chapter, which deals with life’s ultimate goal — elaborately describes the soul’s potential for achieving liberation from birth and death, while it subordinates ritual sacrifice to the role of helping one become qualified to receive spiritual knowledge. As stated there ( Vedānta-sūtra 4.1.16), agnihotrādi tu tat-kāryāyaiva tad-darśanāt: “The Agnihotra and other Vedic sacrifices are meant only for producing knowledge, as the statements of the Vedas show.” And the very last words of the Vedānta-sūtra (4.4.22) proclaim, anāvṛttiḥ śabdāt: “The liberated soul never returns to this world, as promised by the revealed scripture.” Thus the fallacious conclusions of the speculative philosophers prove that even great scholars and sages are often bewildered by the misuse of their own God-given intelligence. As the Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.2.5) says: avidyāyām antare vartamānāḥ svayaṁ dhīrāḥ paṇḍitam-manyamānāḥ jaṅghanyamānāḥ pariyanti mūḍhā andhenaiva nīyamānā yathāndhāḥ “Caught in the grip of ignorance, self-proclaimed experts consider themselves learned authorities. They wander about this world befooled, like the blind leading the blind.” Of the six orthodox philosophies of Vedic tradition — Sāṅkhya, Yoga, Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Mīmāṁsā and Vedānta — only the Vedānta of Bādarāyaṇa Vyāsa is free of error, and even that only as properly explained by the bona fide Vaiṣṇava ācāryas. Each of the six schools, nonetheless, makes some practical contribution to Vedic education: atheistic Sāṅkhya explains the evolution of natural elements from subtle to gross, Pataṣjali’s yoga describes the eightfold method of meditation, Nyāya sets forth the techniques of logic, Vaiśeṣika considers the basic metaphysical categories of reality, and Mīmāṁsā establishes the standard tools of scriptural interpretation. Apart from these six, there are also the more deviant philosophies of the Buddhists, Jains and Cārvākas, whose theories of voidism and materialism deny the spiritual integrity of the eternal soul. Ultimately, the only perfectly reliable source of knowledge is God Himself. The Personality of Godhead is avabodha-rasa, the infinite reservoir of unfailing vision. To those who depend on Him with absolute conviction, He grants the divine eye of knowledge. Others, following their own speculative theories, must grope for the truth through the obscuring curtain of Māyā. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī prays: mithyā-tarka-śukarkaśerita-mahā-vādāndhakārāntara- bhrāmyan-manda-mater amanda-mahimaṁs tvad-jṣāna-vartmāsphuṭam śrīman mādhava vāmana tri-nayana śrī-śaṅkara śrī-pate govindeti mudā vadan madhu-pate muktaḥ kadā syām aham “For the bewildered soul wandering within the darkness of those exalted philosophies promoted by the harsh methods of false logic, the path of true knowledge of You, O Lord of magnificent glory, remains invisible. O Lord of Madhu, husband of the goddess of fortune, when will I become liberated by joyfully chanting Your names — Mādhava, Vāmana, Trinayana, Śrī Śaṅkara, Śrīpati and Govinda?”

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Not only is your nature hard to understand, but because, there is no unity of opinion among the learned, true knowledge is almost impossible for the jiva aspiring for highest truth to get knowledge. "Patanjali and others say that liberation, attaining Brahman, arises from matter ( janim asat). The logicians (naiyayikas) speak of liberation as the destruction of the consciousness (satah mrtim), with its twenty one types of suffering: the six senses, the six whirlpools (heat, cold, greediness, illusion, hunger and thirst), the six objects, happiness and distress and body. Sankhya philosophers speak of liberation as separation of the soul from its qualities, or separating spirit from matter (atmani bhidam). The mimasakas say that enjoying the results of karma, such as attainment of svarga, is the highest goal (vipanam rtam). All these teach by attribution, not by seeing the truth. If the jiva were made of the three gunas, then these would all be true. But this is not so, the jiva is without material qualities." This is what the srutis imply by their words in the third line. "The modification of the jiva in the form of the three gunas is caused by your avidya sakti (abodha krta), but it is not factual transformation. And that modification takes place only in the jiva and not in you, the paramatma. The covering of ignorance of the jiva does not take place in you (tvayi na tatah). Why? Because you are beyond maya (paratra). Ignorance is a function of maya, and maya is under your control, for you are endowed with complete knowledge (avabodha rase). Darkness cannot cover the light of the sun, but can cover objects like gold or silver which have small portions of light." Avidyayam antare vartamanah svayam dhirah panditam manyamanah jamghanyamanah pariyanti mudhah andhenaiva niyamana yathandah Those who think themselves learned but are actually ignorant, involve themselves in arguments and counterarguments, and wander about like blind leading the blind. Kena upanisad 1.2.5

Purport (Jiva Goswami)

Approving of this statement some śrutis discuss this with further proofs, and show that even some who are respected as gurus do not know this. Because they do not think of the Paramātmā, the followers of Sāṅkhya think the jīvas are completely aloof from the body. Some think incorrectly that you Paramātmā (tvayi) are the jīva (pumān) endowed with the three guṇas. This arises from ignorance. It is not possible in you. What to speak of making this a philosophy (bhidā). This is because you have a spiritual form (paratra), that cannot be dealt with as the object or subject of material experience. And this is because ignorance cannot exist in you since you have pure knowledge (avabodha-rase). How can one in knowledge make you into the subject and object, filled with darkness or contaminated light? Because of ignorance of the greatness of your acintya-śakti, they imagine in this manner. To refute the idea that everything comes from matter, it is said sad eva saumyedam agra āsīt: the Lord existed before this world. (Chāndogya Upaniṣad) To refute the idea that the ātmā is destructible it is said yat prayanty abhisaṁviśanti: after annihilation everything is conserved in Brahman. (Taittirīya Upaniṣad 3.1.1) yathodakam suddhe suddham asiktam tadrgeva bhavanti evam muner-vijanata atma bhavati gautama As pure water poured into pure water becomes the very same, so the self of the seer who is endowed with knowledge becomes like the Supreme Self. Kaṭha Upanisad II. 1. 15 samāṇe vkṣe puruṣo nimagno nīśayā śocati muhymānaḥ The jīva is in the same tree, bewildered and lamenting, unaware of the Lord. Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 4.7 The Lord being the jīva is refuted with the following. Eko devaḥ sarva-bhūteṣu gūḍhaḥ: he is the one Lord situated in all beings. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.11) Sarva-bhūta-antarātmā: the lord resides within all beings (Kaṭha Upaniṣad) Ekadhā bahudhā caiva dṛśyate jala-candravat: he is perceived as one and as many like the moon in the water. (Amṛta-bindu Upaniṣad) One form appears like many reflections, but does not really become reflections. Ambuvat agrahaṇāt tu na tathātvam: the jīva is not a reflection of the Lord since he is not perceived as such. (Brahma-sūtra 3.2.19) Vṛddhi-hrāsa-bhāktvaṁ antarbhāvād ubhaya-sāmañjasyād eva: in a secondary sense the comparion of the Lord and jīva to the sun and its reflection is acceptable in terms of greaness and smallness. (Brahma-sūtra 3.2.20) That material world is the only reality is also refuted. tad yatheha karma jito lokaḥ kṣīyate evam evāmutra puṇya jito lokaḥ kṣīyata Just as whatever benefit one works hard to attain in this world is eventually depleted, so whatever life one earns for oneself in the next world by his piety will also eventually end. Chāndogya Upaniṣad 8.1.16 The Lord is beyond the three guṇas. Āditya-varṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt: the Supreme Lord is beyond the material world and beyond all darkness. (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad) Acintya-śakti is illustrated in the following. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śruyate: the Lord has a variety of śaktis. Māyāṁ tu prakṛtiṁ vidyān māyinam tu maheśvaram: know the material energy and its Lord, the cause of māyā. naiṣā tarkeṇa matir āpaneyā proktānyenaiva su-jñānāya preṣṭha This realization, dear boy, cannot be acquired by logic. It must be spoken by an exceptionally qualified spiritual master to a knowledgeable disciple. Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.9 avidyāyām antare vartamānāḥ svayaṁ dhīrāḥ paṇḍitaṁ manyamānāḥ. jaṅghanyamānāḥ pariyanti mūḍhā andhenaiva nīyamānā yathāndhāḥ Caught in the grip of ignorance, self-proclaimed experts consider themselves learned authorities. They wander about this world befooled, like the blind leading the blind. Kaṭha Upaniṣad 1.2.5

Purport (Sanatana Goswami)

Some think that everything is completely different from Brahman (ātmani bhidam) or that Brahman is divided up into many. Some think (smaranti) that everything arises from matter (asataḥ) or that the goal of life is wealth (asataḥ). āśā-pāśa-śatair baddhāḥ kāma-krodha-parāyaṇāḥ | īhante kāma-bhogārtham anyāyenārtha-sancayān || Bound by hundreds of shackles of desire, surrendered to lust and anger, they strive to amass heaps of wealth through illegal means in order to enjoy sense objects. BG 16.12 Meditating on these material attainments, they become sinful and thinking that everyone else is similar, they think of how to kill the devotees (sataḥ mṛtim), making the devotees enemies because of their evil nature. They think of everyone as different from themselves. idam adya mayā labdham idaṁ prāpsye manoratham | idam astīdam api me bhaviṣyati punar dhanam || I have gained this today. Next I will fulfill my other desires. I have this wealth now. This wealth will also be mine. asau mayā hataḥ śatrur haniṣye cāparān api | īśvaro ’ham ahaṁ bhogī siddho ’haṁ balavān sukhī || I have killed my enemy. I will kill others also. I am the lord. I am the enjoyer. I am perfect, strong and happy. āḍhyo ’bhijanavān asmi ko ’nyo ’sti sadṛśo mayā | yakṣye dāsyāmi modiṣya ity ajñāna-vimohitāḥ || I am wealthy and high born. Who is equal to me? I shall perform sacrifices, give charity and rejoice. In this way, they are bewildered by ignorance. BG 16. 13-15 Those who think that material endeavors for sons, wive and wealth are the highest truth speak because of bad intentions in the mind (ārupitaiḥ). Because (yat) all jivas (pumān) are covered by the three guṇas, the person of demonic mentality think and teach according to their nature of rajas or tamas. Or the three qualities are wealth, strength and knowledge. Sampad ātmopabhogāya śatru-nāśāya pauruṣam Goṣṭhi-jayāya vidyeti saṅkhyāḥ puṁsāṁ guṇās trayaḥ Wealth is for one’s enjoyment. Strength is for destroying enemies. Knowledge is for victory in discussion. These are the three qualities of a human. They teach that one becomes a human by having these three qualities in abundance. In this way there are many ideas produces by ignorance of you (abodha-kṛtāḥ). Such a person who thinks or teaches is not a person in you: he does not know you. He attains fearful saṁsāra. The plural is used at the beginning and singular (saḥ) at the end of the verse. This indicates that among the many, not even one becomes favorable to you. Or the one who is most ignorant and wicked (saḥ) does not know you, does not touch your path but rather goes to the greatest hell. He does not know you, because you are far away (paratra) and rare to achieve even by knowledge (avabodha-rase).