veda nÄ mÄniyÄ bauddha haya ta' nÄstika
vedÄÅ›raya nÄstikya-vÄda bauddhake adhika

 veda - the Vedic literature;  - not; mÄniyÄ - accepting; bauddha - the Buddhists; haya - are; ta' - indeed; nÄstika - agnostics; veda-ÄÅ›raya - taking shelter of Vedic civilization; nÄstikya-vÄda - agnosticism; bauddhake - even Buddhists; adhika - surpassing.


Text

“The Buddhists do not recognize the authority of the Vedas; therefore they are considered agnostics. However, those who have taken shelter of the Vedic scriptures yet preach agnosticism in accordance with the MÄyÄvÄda philosophy are certainly more dangerous than the Buddhists.

Purport

Although the Buddhists are directly opposed to Vaiṣṇava philosophy, it can easily be understood that the Åšaá¹…karites are more dangerous because they accept the authority of the Vedas yet act contrary to Vedic instruction. VedÄÅ›raya nÄstikya-vÄda means “agnosticism under the shelter of Vedic culture†and refers to the monistic philosophy of the MÄyÄvÄdÄ«s. Lord Buddha abandoned the authority of the Vedic literature and therefore rejected the ritualistic ceremonies and sacrifices recommended in the Vedas. His nirvÄṇa philosophy means stopping all material activities. Lord Buddha did not recognize the presence of transcendental forms and spiritual activities beyond the material world. He simply described voidism beyond this material existence. The MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers offer lip service to Vedic authority but try to escape the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. They concoct some idea of a transcendental position and call themselves NÄrÄyaṇa, or God. However, God’s position is completely different from their concoction. Such MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers consider themselves above the influence of karma-kÄṇá¸a (fruitive activities and their reactions). For them, the spiritual world is equated with the Buddhist voidism. There is very little difference between impersonalism and voidism. Voidism can be directly understood, but the impersonalism enunciated by MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers is not very easily understandable. Of course, MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers accept a spiritual existence, but they do not know about the spiritual world and spiritual beings. According to ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam (10.2.32):

ye ’nye ’ravindÄká¹£a vimukta-mÄninas
 tvayy asta-bhÄvÄd aviÅ›uddha-buddhayaḥ
Äruhya ká¹›cchreṇa paraá¹ padaá¹ tataḥ
 patanty adho ’nÄdá¹›ta-yuá¹£mad-aá¹…ghrayaḥ

The intelligence of the MÄyÄvÄdÄ«s is not purified; therefore even though they practice austerities for self-realization, they cannot remain within the impersonal brahmajyoti. Consequently, they fall down again into this material world.

The MÄyÄvÄdÄ«s’ conception of spiritual existence is almost identical to the negation of material existence. The MÄyÄvÄdÄ«s believe that there is nothing positive in spiritual life. As a result, they cannot understand devotional service or the worship of the Supreme Person, sac-cid-Änanda-vigraha. The MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers consider Deity worship in devotional service to be pratibimba-vÄda, or the worship of a form that is the reflection of a false material form. Thus the Lord’s transcendental form, which is eternally blissful and full of knowledge, is unknown to MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers. Although the term “BhagavÄn†is explicitly described in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam, they cannot understand it. Brahmeti paramÄtmeti bhagavÄn iti Å›abdyate: “The Absolute Truth is called Brahman, ParamÄtmÄ and BhagavÄn.†(BhÄg. 1.2.11) The MÄyÄvÄdÄ«s try to understand Brahman only, or, at the most, ParamÄtmÄ. However, they are unable to understand BhagavÄn. Therefore the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, says, mÄyayÄpahá¹›ta-jñÄnÄḥ. Because of the temperament of the MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers, real knowledge is taken from them. Because they cannot receive the mercy of the Lord, they will always be bewildered by His transcendental form. Impersonal philosophy destroys the three phases of knowledge — jñÄna, jñeya and jñÄtÄ. As soon as one speaks of knowledge, there must be a person who is the knower, the knowledge itself and the object of knowledge. MÄyÄvÄda philosophy combines these three categories; therefore the MÄyÄvÄdÄ«s cannot understand how the spiritual potencies of the Supreme Personality of Godhead act. Because of their poor fund of knowledge, they cannot understand the distinction in the spiritual world between knowledge, the knower and the object of knowledge. Because of this, ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu considers the MÄyÄvÄdÄ« philosophers more dangerous than the Buddhists.