Pradyumna: Translation: "Spiritually there are no differences between these five tattvas, for on the transcendental platform everything is absolute. Yet there are also varieties in the spiritual world, and in order to taste these spiritual varieties one should distinguish between them." [Cc. Adi 7.5]

Prabhupada: Pañca-tattva. The Absolute Truth is divided into five subject matter of relishing transcendental mellow. Advaya-jñana, without any difference. Vadanti tat tattva-vidas tattvaṁ yaj jñanam advayam: [SB 1.2.11] Asolute Truth is one, but still, there are varieties, transcendental varieties. Just like Brahman, impersonal Brahman; and Paramatma, localized aspect of the Supreme Lord, Paramatma; and Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead—they are one. There is no difference. Brahman is not different from Bhagavan, and Bhagavan is not different from Brahman. Bhagavan is addressed by Arjuna as Parabrahman. Brahman realization, gradually... First realization: impersonal Brahman; then localized Brahman; then personal Brahman. The personal Brahman is called Parabrahman, the Supreme Brahman. Impersonal Brahman is the beginning of realization of the Absolute Truth. That is not final. Therefore those who are satisfied with impersonal Brahman, their knowledge is not perfect. Ye 'nye 'ravindakṣa vimukta-maninas tvayy asta-bhavad avisuddha-buddhayaḥ; [SB 10.2.32]. The realization of the Absolute Truth is the platform of visuddha-sattva. So unless one comes to the platform of personal realization of the Lord, one is supposed to be avisuddha-buddhi: intelligence is not yet perfectly pure.

So here it is said, eka-vastu. So far the substance is concerned, that is eka-vastu. Just like in logical categories the substance is there, and there are many categories. Take for example that the Absolute Truth is one, but there are categories: "This is sakti-tattva; this is prakasa-tattva; this is incarnation tattva; this is marginal potency; this is external potency." Parasya saktir vividhaiva sruyate [Cc. Madhya 13.65, purport]. There are many multipotencies. Because the original is Absolute Truth, in one sense everyone is in the same absolute platform. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a verse, idaṁ hi visvaṁ bhagavan ivetaraḥ;: "This visva, the whole cosmic manifestation, is Bhagavan, the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Just like Krṣṇa manifested His universal form. So every part and parcel is Bhagavan, but still, it is different. This is the philosophy of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's acintya-bhedabheda: simultaneously one and different, inconceivable. We cannot conceive at the present moment how one thing can be the same, at the same time different; therefore it is called acintya, inconceivable. But bhedabheda... Just like we are—everything—you study. It is acintya-bhedabheda, one and different. Take for example your own body and you, soul. The soul is different from the body. Dehino 'smin yatha dehe kaumaraṁ yauvanaṁ jara [Bg. 2.13]. The dehi, the soul, is within the body. The body is not the soul. So this is different. Soul is different from the body. We have studied. But in another sense, soul is not different from the body, another sense. How? Because the body, the material body, is also coming from the same source, and the spiritual soul is coming from the same source, Krṣṇa. Krṣṇa says, apareyam. Krṣṇa said, bhumir apo 'nalo vayuḥ; khaṁ mano buddhir eva [Bg. 7.4]. "These material elements, they are My bhinna prakrtir aṣṭadha, eight kinds of separated energy." Even though it is separated energy, it is the energy of the Supreme Lord. We have discussed many times. Just like the fire and the heat and light. Light is separated from the fire, heat is separated from the fire, but at the same time, heat and light is not different from the fire. This is to be understood. This is called simultaneously one and different, inconceivable.

So Mayavadi philosophers, they take one side only, that it is one. They do not understand what is the difference, what is the different taste, varieties. They cannot understand the varieties, unity in diversity. They cannot understand. Just like sugar and milk—you prepare so many sweetmeats: "This is rasagulla, this is sandeṣa, this is burfi, this is this, this is that." Hundreds of preparation you can... But what is that? That sugar and milk. So similarly, variety is the mother of enjoyment. The Mayavadi philosophers, they cannot understand. Therefore they have been described in the Bhagavata, vimukta-maninaḥ;, avisuddha-buddhayaḥ; [SB 10.2.32]. They are thinking that now they have become one with the Supreme, Narayaṇa. They address between themselves, "Namo narayaṇa," that "Everyone has become Narayaṇa." This is their... "Everyone is Narayaṇa," that's all right, but still, different. That distinction is made by the Vaiṣṇavas. The same example: The different energies, material energy and spiritual energy, they are different. One is superior, one is inferior. But when you go to the central point from where all energies are coming... Yato va imani bhutani jayante. This is the Vedic injunction, "From where everything is emanating."

agnir mahi gaganam ambu marud disas ca
kalas tathatma-manasiti jagat-trayaṇi
yasmad bhavanti vibhavanti visanti yaṁ ca
govindam adi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajami

Agni is coming from Krṣṇa. Mahi, the earth, it is coming from Krṣṇa. Agni, mahi, gagana, the sky, it is coming from Krṣṇa. Ambu, water, is coming from Krṣṇa. Agni mahi gaganam ambu... Marut, air, is coming from Krṣṇa. Because it is coming from Krṣṇa, it is not different from Krṣṇa. Everything is Krṣṇa. But when you taste the air breezing and the water and the earth and the fire, you cannot say, "Because the air is coming from Krṣṇa and water is coming from Krṣṇa, so either I may be in the air or in the sea, it is all the same." We are living in air, but if I think that air and the water is the same, I jump over the ocean, that is not very good idea. But actually, air is also Krṣṇa, water is also Krṣṇa, earth is also Krṣṇa, fire is also Krṣṇa, because they are all Krṣṇa's energy.

So in this way, if we try to understand that Pañca-tattva, sri-krṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityananda, sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda... This is Pañca-tattva: Sri Krṣṇa Caitanya, Sri Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Sri Gadadhara, and Srivasadi. Srivasadi means jiva-tattva. The jiva-tattva, sakti-tattva, viṣṇu-tattva, these are all tattvas. So Pañca-tattva. Sri Krṣṇa Caitanya is the supreme tattva, Krṣṇa. Sri-krṣṇa-caitanya, radha-krṣṇa nahe anya. We are worshiping Radha-Krṣṇa. So Sri Krṣṇa Caitanya is Radha-Krṣṇa combined. Sri-krṣṇa-caitanya, radha-krṣṇa nahe anya.

radha-krṣṇa-praṇaya-vikrtir hladini-saktir asmad
ekatmanav api bhuvi pura deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau
caitanyakhyaṁ prakaṭam adhuna tad-dvayaṁ caikyam aptam...
[Cc. Adi 1.5]

Radha-Krṣṇa... Krṣṇa is the Supreme. When Krṣṇa wants to enjoy... The enjoyer... Bhoktaraṁ yajña-tapasaṁ sarva-loka-mahesvaram [Bg. 5.29]. He's enjoyer. So when He wants to enjoy, that is not material enjoyment. That is spiritual, superior energy, not material energy. Because Krṣṇa is the supreme, therefore He enjoys the superior energy. So Krṣṇa's... The Radha-Krṣṇa lila is not material. One who understands Radha-Krṣṇa lila as material, they are misled. Krṣṇa cannot enjoy anything material. He's supreme pleasure... If you say that "We are seeing daily that you are offering prasada, the vegetable, rice. They are all material," no, they are not material. This is real understanding. How it is not material? That is acintya, inconceivable. Krṣṇa can turn material into spiritual and spiritual into material. That is Krṣṇa's inconceivable power, acintya-sakti. Unless you accept acintya-sakti of Krṣṇa, you cannot understand Krṣṇa. Acintya-sakti.

So this is simultaneously one and different. This acintya-bhedabheda-tattva you'll find everywhere in Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Similarly, here the author of Caitanya-caritamrta is trying to explain that pañca-tattva eka-vastu, they are one Krṣṇa, but asvada, taste... Akhila-rasamrta-sindhu. Krṣṇa is the ocean of all pleasure, reservoir of all pleasure. There are different types of pleasure. Just like pleasure like master and the servant. The master is also pleased by the service of the servant, and the servant is pleased by rendering service to the master. This is taste. Husband and wife: Husband is pleased having a wife, wife is pleased having... These are the different tastes: between master and servant, between friend and friend, between father and son, mother and son, between the lover and the beloved. These are different tastes. So this taste is required, transcendental mellow. The Mayavadi philosophers, they cannot understand this taste. They think everything is one. And in the material world also, we accept, "Variety is the mother of enjoyment." Without varieties, although everything is spiritual... In Vrndavana everything is spiritual. Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhumi, yeba jane cintamaṇi. Just like this place, Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhumi, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's place of pastimes, and the Vrndavana-dhama, the place of pastimes of Lord Krṣṇa, they are one and the same. Therefore Narottama dasa Ṭhakura says that gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhumi, yeba jane cintamaṇi, ta 'ra haya vraja-bhumi vasa. These are the theses given by great acaryas.

So we should not consider that Nityananda is different from Krṣṇa, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, or Advaita Prabhu is different from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. But at the same time, They are different. This is inconceivable, a taste. If you worship Nityananda Prabhu, it is as good as to worship Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The best thing is... Because Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in His five different features, therefore the acaryas, they worship all of them at a time. That is our prayer:

sri-krṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda

[I offer my obeisances to Sri Krṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa and all others in the line of devotion.]

This is the varieties, transcendental varieties, different tastes. Nityananda Prabhu is guru-tattva, and Caitanya Mahaprabhu is sevya-tattva. The guru is teaching, Nityananda Prabhu is teaching how to worship Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

bhaja gauraṅga kaha gauraṅga laha gauraṅgera name
ye jana gauraṅga bhaje sei amara praṇa re (?)

This is Nityananda Prabhu's business. Narottama dasa Ṭhakura says that gauraṅgera balite habe, pulaka sarire, hari hari balite, nayane ba'be nira. Gauraṅga. So to become immediately in ecstasy of transcendental love, if we chant this sri-krṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityananda, it is easier. There is no offense in chanting this Pañca-tattva, but there is offense if you do not properly chant Hare Krṣṇa mantra. There are ten kinds of offenses, you know. But in chanting sri-krṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityananda, there is no aparadha. You chant in any way; you'll get the result. This is the difference, taste. This is variety. Although there is no difference by chanting sri-krṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityananda and Hare Krṣṇa mantra, maha-mantra, but still by chanting this Pañca-tattva, you'll get immediately, quickly, result. Therefore our process is to chant the holy names of the Pañca-tattva and then we chant Hare Krṣṇa maha-mantra. That is perfect. And neither mixing. The mixing taste is called rasabhasa. Rasabhasa. And we don't manufacture anything. Just follow. We disagree with the persons who chant that bhaja nitai-gaura radhe-syama. No. We must follow strictly. Mahajano yena gataḥ; sa panthaḥ; [Cc. Madhya 17.186]. We cannot manufacture simply for some worldly cheap reputation and prestige. If we manufacture something, that will not help us. We must follow. Mahajano yena. Dharmasya tattvaṁ nihitaṁ guhayaṁ mahajano yena gataḥ; sa panthaḥ;. We must follow the mahajanas. So you'll find in the Caitanya-caritamrta, the Kaviraja Gosvami, in every chapter he begins, sri-krṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityananda, jaya advaita..., gaura-bhakta-vrnda. This is the process.

So we may read herewith one commentary by my Guru Maharaja Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Ṭhakura. "In his Anubhaṣya commentary Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Ṭhakura describes the Pañca-tattva as follows: The supreme energetic, the Personality of Godhead, manifesting in five kinds of pastimes, appears as the Pañca-tattva. Actually there is no difference between them because they are situated on the absolute platform, but they manifest different spiritual varieties as a challenge to impersonalists to taste different kinds of spiritual humors, rasas..." Because they do not accept the different tastes. The Mayavada philosophy and Vaiṣṇava philosophy, the only difference is... Although the aim is one, Absolute Truth, but the difference is that they do not accept varieties, varieties of taste. Therefore they fall down. It is not our version, but it is stated in the Vedic literature, aruhya krcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ; patanty adho 'nadrta-yuṣmad-aṅghrayaḥ;: [SB 10.2.32] "By severe penance and austerities, these Mayavadis, they go up to the Brahman effulgence, but from there they fall down, fall down." Because for want of varieties. You cannot live without varieties. Anandamayo 'bhyasat: "The Absolute Truth is anandamayo by nature," abhyasat. There are the interpretation of the Mayavadis of this Vedanta-sutra, anandamayo 'bhyasat (Vedanta-sutra 1.1.12). But we see that the Supreme Absolute Person is anandamaya. Krṣṇa, you'll never see without ananda. He is, I mean to say, taking care of the cows, He's dancing with the gopis, He's playing with His cowherd boys. Anandamaya. These are ananda maya. These are the varieties.

The Mayavadi philosophers, they cannot understand; therefore they think that "This Krṣṇa-lila is maya." Therefore we call them Mayavadi. Everything... Maya maya, neti neti. They take Krṣṇa also as maya; therefore they are called Mayavadis. Because a living entity comes in this material world accepting this material body, similarly, when Krṣṇa comes, they think that He has also a material body. This is Mayavadi. Krṣṇa has no such thing. Therefore you'll find in Dr. Radhakrishnan's book, when Krṣṇa says, man-mana bhava mad-bhakto mad-yaji maṁ namaskuru [Bg. 18.65], he says, "Not to the Krṣṇa person, but the Absolute which is within the Krṣṇa." He does not know that Krṣṇa is not different from His body. That he does not know. Krṣṇa is absolute. Sambhavamy atma-mayaya [Bg. 4.6].

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanaṁ srjamy aham
[Bg. 4.7]

Sambhavamy atma-mayaya [Bg. 4.6]. He does not accept this mayic body. Etad isanam isasya. That is the, I mean to say, power, omnipotency of Krṣṇa. Even He accepts this material body, it does not mean that He is material. Just like we see the Deity, the Deity, Radha-Krṣṇa Deity, in our front. Everyone will say, "Oh, this is a Deity made of brass, material." But no, it is not material. You have to study in that way. Arcye viṣṇu sila-dhir guruṣu nara-matiḥ;. These are naraki buddhi. Vaiṣṇave jati-buddhiḥ;. The Deity as material, siladhiḥ;, considering as metal or stone or wood, and guruṣu nara-matiḥ;, and guru as ordinary human being. Vaiṣṇave jati-buddhiḥ;: a Vaiṣṇava, to consider, "Here is American Vaiṣṇava and here is a brahmaṇa vaiṣṇava." No, Vaiṣṇava is Vaiṣṇava. This is absolute. Guruṣu nara-matiḥ;. Guru, although he is appearing like human being, he should not be considered. Acaryaṁ maṁ vijaniyan navamanyeta karhicit [SB 11.17.27]. These are the injunction of the sastras. Suppose we are worshiping here. The Mayavadi will say, "They are worshiping a brass, metal Deity." So are we so fools that we are spending so much money for worshiping a lump of metal? That they do not know. This is acintya-bhedabheda. And fact is that. Krṣṇa is omnipotent. He can accept your service in any way, as He likes. This is called arca-vigraha. As Krṣṇa's avatara is there, here is also another avatara, arca-vigraha. He is so kind. You cannot see Krṣṇa, you cannot touch Krṣṇa at the present moment, but Krṣṇa is so kind that He appears before you as you can touch, you can dress, you can offer your respect, you can see. That is Krṣṇa's mercy. But don't think that Krṣṇa has become metal. No. And even if He becomes metal, there is no difference. And what is this metal? That is Krṣṇa's energy. We have to understand in that way.

So this acintya-bhedabheda-tattva... Pañca-tattva-eka-vastu, nahi kichu bheda rasa asvadite. Rasa asvadite, the mellows, transcendental mellows. So these chapters of Caitanya-caritamrta are very... These are postgraduate study. You have to read it very carefully and as they are described. We have tried to describe them as far as possible for being understood by us, but we should be very careful.

sri-krṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityananda
sri-advaita gadadhara srivasadi-gaura-bhakta-vrnda

[I offer my obeisances to Sri Krṣṇa Caitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa and all others in the line of devotion.]

Thank you very much. (end)

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