CC Adi 7.117
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 117
- jīva-tattva—śakti, kṛṣṇa-tattva—śaktimān
- gītā-viṣṇupurāṇādi tāhāte pramāṇa
SYNONYMS
jīva-tattva — the truth of the living entities; śakti — energy; kṛṣṇa-tattva — the truth of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; śakti-mān — the possessor of the energies; gītā — the Bhagavad-gītā; viṣṇu-purāṇa-ādi — Viṣṇu Purāṇa and other Purāṇas; tāhāte — in them; pramāṇa — there are evidences.
TRANSLATION
“The living entities are energies, not the energetic. The energetic is Kṛṣṇa. This is very vividly described in the Bhagavad-gītā, the Viṣṇu Purāṇa and other Vedic literatures.
PURPORT
As already explained, there are three prasthānas on the path of advancement in spiritual knowledge—namely, nyāya-prasthāna (Vedānta philosophy), śruti-prasthāna (the Upaniṣads and Vedic mantras) and smṛti-prasthāna (the Bhagavad-gītā, Mahābhārata, Purāṇas, etc.). Unfortunately, Māyāvādī philosophers do not accept the smṛti-prasthāna. Smṛti refers to the conclusions drawn from the Vedic evidence. Sometimes Māyāvādī philosophers do not accept the authority of the Bhagavad-gītā and the Purāṇas, and this is called ardha-kukkuṭī-nyāya, “the logic of half a hen” (See Adi-līlā 5.176). If one believes in the Vedic literatures, one must accept all the Vedic literatures recognized by the great ācāryas, but the Māyāvādī philosophers accept only the nyāya-prasthāna and śruti-prasthāna, rejecting the smṛti-prasthāna. Here, however, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu cites evidence from the Gītā, Viṣṇu Purāṇa, etc., which are smṛti-prasthāna. No one can avoid the Personality of Godhead in the statements of the Bhagavad-gītā and other Vedic literatures such as the Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas. Lord Caitanya therefore quotes a passage from the Bhagavad-gītā (BG 7.5).