CC Adi 7.144 (1975)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 144
- pañcama puruṣārtha sei prema-mahādhana
- kṛṣṇera mādhurya-rasa karāya āsvādana
SYNONYMS
pañcama—fifth; puruṣa-artha—goal of life; sei—that; prema—love of God; mahā-dhana—foremost wealth; kṛṣṇera—of Lord Kṛṣṇa; mādhurya—conjugal love; rasa—mellow; karāya—causes; āsvādana—taste.
TRANSLATION
"Love of Godhead is so exalted that it is considered to be the fifth goal of human life. By awakening one's love of Godhead, one can attain the platform of conjugal love, tasting it even during the present span of life.
PURPORT
The Māyāvādī philosophers consider the highest goal of perfection to be liberation (mukti), which is the fourth perfectional platform. Generally people are aware of four principal goals of life-religiosity (dharma), economic development (artha), sense gratification (kāma) and ultimately liberation (mokṣa)-but devotional service is situated on the platform above liberation. In other words, when one is actually liberated (mukta) he can understand the meaning of love of Godhead (kṛṣṇa-prema). While teaching Rūpa Gosvāmī, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu stated, koṭi-mukta-madhye 'durlabha' eka kṛṣṇa-bhakta: "Out of millions of liberated persons, one may become a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa."
The most elevated Māyāvādī philosopher can rise to the platform of liberation, but kṛṣṇa-bhakti, devotional service to Kṛṣṇa, is transcendental to such liberation. Śrīla Vyāsadeva explains this fact in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (SB 1.1.2):
- dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo 'tra paramo nirmatsarāṇāṁ satāṁ
- vedyaṁ vāstavam atra vastu śiva-daṁ tāpa-trayonmūlanam
"Completely rejecting all religions which are materially motivated, the Bhāgavata Purāṇa propounds the highest truth, which is understandable by those devotees who are pure in heart. The highest truth is reality distinguished from illusion for the welfare of all. Such truth uproots the threefold miseries." Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the explanation of the Vedānta-sūtra, is meant for paramo nirmatsarāṇām, those who are completely aloof from jealousy. Māyāvādī philosophers are jealous of the existence of the Personality of Godhead. Therefore the Vedānta-sūtra is not actually meant for them. They unnecessarily poke their noses into the Vedanta-sūtra, but they have no ability to understand it because the author of the Vedānta-sūtra writes in his commentary, Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, that it is meant for those who are pure in heart (paramo nirmatsarāṇām). If one is envious of Kṛṣṇa, how can he understand the Vedānta-sūtra or Śrīmad-Bhagavatam? The Māyāvādīs' primary occupation is to offend the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. For example, although Kṛṣṇa demands our surrender in the Bhagavad-gītā, the greatest scholar and so-called philosopher in India has protested that it is "not to Kṛṣṇa" that we have to surrender. Therefore, he is envious. Since Māyāvādīs of all different descriptions are envious of Kṛṣṇa, they have no scope to understand the meaning of the Vedānta-sūtra. Even if they were on the liberated platform, as they falsely claim, here Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī repeats the statement of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu that love of Kṛṣṇa is beyond the state of liberation.