
LESSON 9  ACINTYA BHEDABHEDA

Excerpts from "Teachings of Lord Caitanya."

p. 258
In other words, from Srimad-Bhagavatam we can know the substance as well as
the relativities in their true sense and perspective. The substance is the
Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and the relativities are
the different forms of energy which emanate from Him. Since the living entities
are also related to His energies, there is nothing really different from the
substance. In the material sense, this conception is self-contradictory, but
Srimad-Bhagavatam explicitly deals with this aspect of simultaneous oneness and
difference. This philosophy is also found in the Vedanta-sutra beginning with
the janmady asya sutra. Knowledge of the simultaneous oneness and difference
found in the Absolute Truth is imparted for the well-being of everyone. Mental
speculators mislead people by establishing the energy of the Lord as absolute,
but when the truth of simultaneous oneness and difference is understood, the
imperfect concepts of monism and dualism cease to satisfy. By understanding the
Lord's simultaneous oneness with and difference from His creation, one can
immediately attain freedom from the threefold miseries - miseries inflicted by
the body and mind, by other living entities and by acts of nature.

Srimad-Bhagavatam begins with the surrender of the living entity unto the
Absolute Person. This surrender is made with clear consciousness and awareness
of the devotee's oneness with the Absolute, and, at the same time, of his
eternal position of servitorship. In the material conception, one thinks himself
to be the Lord of all he surveys; consequently he is always troubled by
the threefold miseries of life. As soon as one comes to know his real position
in transcendental service, he at once becomes freed from all these miseries.
The position of servitor is wasted in the material conception of life. In an
attempt to dominate material nature, the living entity is forced to offer his
service to relative material energy. When this service is transferred to the
Lord in pure consciousness of spiritual identity, the living entity at once
becomes free from the encumbrances of material affection.

p. 55
This simultaneous oneness and difference always exists in the relationship
between the living entities and the Supreme Lord. From the marginal position of
the living entities, this conception of "simultaneously one and different" can
be understood. The living entity is just like a molecular particle of sunshine,
whereas Krsna may be compared to the blazing, shining sun itself. Lord Caitanya
compared the living entities to blazing sparks from a fire and the Supreme Lord
to the blazing fire of the sun. In this connection, the Lord cites a verse from
Visnu Purana (V.P. 1.22.52):

eka-desa-sthitasyagner  jyotsna vistarini yatha
parasya brahmanah saktis  tathedam akhilam jagat

"Everything that is manifested within this cosmic world is but the energy of
the Supreme Lord. As fire emanating from one place diffuses its illumination
and heat all around, so the Lord, although situated in one place in the
spiritual world, manifests His different energies everywhere. Indeed, the whole
cosmic creation is composed of different manifestations of His energy."

The energy of the Supreme Lord is transcendental and spiritual, and the living
entities are part and parcel of that energy. There is another energy, however,
called material energy, which is covered by the cloud of ignorance. This energy,
which is material nature, is divided into three modes, or gunas (goodness,
passion and ignorance). Lord Caitanya quoted from Visnu Purana (V.P. 1.3.2) to
the effect that all inconceivable energies reside in the Supreme Personality of
the Lord and that the whole cosmic manifestation acts due to the Lord's
inconceivable energy.
The Lord also said that the living entities are known as ksetrajna, or "knowers
of the field of activities." In the Thirteenth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, the
body is described as the field of activities, and the living entity as
ksetrajna, the knower of that field. Although the living entity is
constitutionally conversant with spiritual energy, or has the potency to
understand spiritual energy, he is covered by the material energy and
consequently identifies the body with the self. This false identification is
called "false ego." Deluded by this false ego, the bewildered living entity in
material existence changes his different bodies and suffers various kinds of
miseries. Knowledge of the living entity's true position is possessed to
different extents by different types of living entities.
In other words, it is to be understood that the living entity is part and parcel
of the spiritual energy of the Supreme Lord. Because the mateial energy is
inferior, man has the ability to get uncovered from this material energy and
utilize the spiritual energy. It is stated in Bhagavad-gita that the superior
energy is covered by the inferior energy. Due to this covering, the living
entity is subjected to the miseries of the material world, and, in proportion
to the different degrees of passion and ignorance, he suffers material
miseries. Those who are a little enlightened suffer less, but on the whole
everyone is subjected to material miseries due to being covered by the material
energy.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu also quoted from the Seventh Chapter of Bhagavad-gita in
which it is stated that earth, water, fire, air, ether, mind, intelligence and
ego all combine together to form the inferior energy of the Supreme Lord. The
superior energy, however, is the real identity of the living being, and it is
because of that energy that the whole material world functions. The cosmic
manifestation, which is made of material elements, has no power to act unless
it is moved by the superior energy, the living entity. It can actually be said
that the conditioned life of the living entity is due to forgetfulness of his
relationship with the Supreme Lord in the superior energy. When that
relationship is forgotten, conditional life is the result. Only when man
revives his real identity, that of eternal servitor to the Lord, does he become
liberated.

C.C. Mad 6.162

mayadhisa maya-vasa--isvare-jive bheda
nena-jive isvara-saha  kaha ta abheda

TRANSLATION:
"The Lord is the master of the potencies, and the living entity is the servant
of them. That is the difference between the Lord and the living entity.
However, you declare that the Lord and the living entities are one and the
same."

PURPORT:
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is by nature the master of all potencies. By
nature, the living entities, being infinitesimal, are always under the influence
of the Lord's potencies. According to the Mundaka Upanisad (3.1.1-2):

dva suparna sayuja sakhaya  samanam vrksam parisa-svajate
tayor anyah pippalam svadv atty  anasnann anyo bhicakasiti

samane vrkse puruso nimagno  nisaya socati muhyamanah
justam yada pasyaty anyam isam  asya mahimanam eti vita-sokah

The Mundaka Upanisad completely distinguishes the Lord from the living
entities. The living entity is subjected to the reaction of fruitive activity,
whereas the Lord simply witnessnes such activity and bestows the results.
According to the the living entity's desires, he is wandering from one body to
another and from one planet to another, under the direction of the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, Paramatma. However, when the living entity comes to his
senses by the mercy of the Lord, he is awarded devotional service. Thus he is
saved from the clutches of maya. At such a time he can see his eternal friend,
the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and become free from all lamentation, and
hankering. This is confirmed in Bhagavad-gita (18.54), where the Lord says,
brahma-bhutah prasannatma na socati na kanksati: "One who is thus
transcendentally situated at once realizes the Supreme Brahman. He never
laments nor desires to have anything." Thus it is definitely proved that the
Supreme Personality of Godhead is the master of all potencies and that the
living entities are always subjected to these potencies. That is the difference
between mayadhisa and maya-vasa.

C.C. Mad 6.163

gita-sastre jiva-rupa sakti kari mane
hena jive bheda kara isvarera sane

TRANSLATION:
"In Bhagavad-gita the living entity is established as the marginal potency of
the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Yet you say that the living entity is
completely different from the Lord."

PURPORT:
The Brahma-sutra states that according to the principle of sakti-saktimatayor
abhedah, the living entity is simultaneously one with and different from the
Supreme Personality of Godhead. Qualitatively the living entity and the Supreme
Lord are one, but in quantity they are different. According to Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu's philosophy (acintya-bhedabheda-tattva), the living entity and the
Supreme Lord are accepted as one and different at the same time.

C.C. Adi 1.91

PURPORT:
The real form of religion is spontaneous loving service to Godhead. This
relationship of the living being with the Absolute Personality of Godhead in
service is eternal. The Personality of Godhead is described as vastu, or the
Substance, and the living entities are described as vastavas, or innumberable
samples of the Substance in relative existence. The relationship of these
substantive portions with the Supreme Substance can never be annihilated, for
it is an eternal quality inherent in the living being.
By contact with material nature the living entities exhibit varied symptoms of
the disease of material consciousness. To cure this material disease is the
supreme object of human life. The process that treats this disease is called
bhagavata-dharma or sanatana-dharma - real religion. This is described in the
pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam. Therefore anyone who, because of his background of
pious activites in previous lives, is anxious to hear, immediately realizes the
presence of the Supreme Lord within his heart and fulfills the mission of his
life.

C.C. Mad 9.42

tarkika-mimamsaka, yata mayavadi-gana
sankhya, patanjala, smrti, purana, agama

TRANSLATION:
"There are many kinds of philosophers. Some are logicians who follow Gautama or
Kanada. Some follow the mimamsa philosophy of Jaimini. Some follow the Mayavada
philosophy of Sankaracarya, and others follow Kapila's sankhya philosophy or
the mystic yoga system of Patanjali. Some follow the smrti-sastra composed of
twenty religious scriptures, and others follow the Puranas and the tantra-
sastra. In this way there are many different types of philosophers."

C.C. Mad 9.43

nija-nija-sastrodgrahe sabai pracanda  <~><|> sarva mata dusi prabhu kare khanda
khanda

TRANSLATION:
"All of these adherents of various scriptures were ready to present the
conclusions of their respective scriptures, but Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu broke
all their opinions to pieces and established His own cult of bhakti based on
the Vedas, Vedanta, the Brahma-sutra and the philosophy of acintya-bhedabheda-
tattva."

C.C. Preface
Lord Caitanya instructed the mass of people in the sankhya philosophy of
acintya-bhedabheda-tattva, which maintains that the Supreme Lord is
simultaneously one with and different from His creation. Lord Caitanya taught
this philosophy through the chanting of the holy name of the Lord. He taught
that the holy name of the Lord is the sound incarnation of the Lord and that
since the Lord is the absolute whole, there is no difference between His holy
name and His transcendental form. Thus by chanting the holy name of the Lord
one can directly associate with the Supreme Lord by sound vibration. As one
practices this sound vibration, he passes through three stages of development:
the offensive stage, the clearing stage and the transcendental stage. In the
offensive stage one may desire all kinds of material happiness, but in the
second stage one becomes clear of all material contamination. When one is
situated on the transcendental stage, he attains the most coveted position -
the stage of loving God. Lord Caitanya taught that this is the highest stage of
perfection for human beings.

