मनन्तरं त्वबहिर्ब्रह्म सत्यम् ।
प्रत्यक् प्रशान्तं भगवच्छब्दसंज्ञं
यद्वासुदेवं कवयो वदन्ति ॥११॥
jñÄnaá¹ viÅ›uddhaá¹ paramÄrtham ekam
anantaraá¹ tv abahir brahma satyam
pratyak praÅ›Äntaá¹ bhagavac-chabda-saá¹jñaá¹
yad vÄsudevaá¹ kavayo vadanti
jñÄnam - the supreme knowledge; viÅ›uddham - without contamination; parama-artham - giving the ultimate goal of life; ekam - unified; anantaram - without interior, unbroken; tu - also; abahiḥ - without exterior; brahma - the Supreme; satyam - Absolute Truth; pratyak - inner; praÅ›Äntam - the calm and peaceful Supreme Lord, worshiped by the yogÄ«s; bhagavat-Å›abda-saá¹jñam - known in the higher sense as BhagavÄn, or full of all opulences; yat - that; vÄsudevam - Lord Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva; kavayaḥ - the learned scholars; vadanti - say.
What, then, is the ultimate truth? The answer is that nondual knowledge is the ultimate truth. It is devoid of the contamination of material qualities. It gives us liberation. It is the one without a second, all-pervading and beyond imagination. The first realization of that knowledge is Brahman. Then ParamÄtmÄ, the Supersoul, is realized by the yogÄ«s who try to see Him without grievance. This is the second stage of realization. Finally, full realization of the same supreme knowledge is realized in the Supreme Person. All learned scholars describe the Supreme Person as VÄsudeva, the cause of Brahman, ParamÄtmÄ and others.
In Caitanya-caritÄmá¹›ta it is said: yad advaitaá¹ brahmopaniá¹£adi tad apy asya tanu-bhÄ. The impersonal Brahman effulgence of the Absolute Truth consists of the bodily rays of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Ya ÄtmÄntaryÄmÄ« puruá¹£a iti so ’syÄá¹Å›a-vibhavaḥ. What is known as ÄtmÄ and antaryÄmÄ«, the Supersoul, is but an expansion of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Sad-aiÅ›varyaiḥ pÅ«rṇo ya iha bhagavÄn sa svayam ayam. What is described as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, complete with all six opulences, is VÄsudeva, and ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu is nondifferent from Him. Great learned scholars and philosophers accept this after many, many births. VÄsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahÄtmÄ sudurlabhaḥ (Bg. 7.19). The wise man can understand that ultimately VÄsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is the cause of Brahman, and ParamÄtmÄ, the Supersoul. Thus VÄsudeva is sarva-kÄraṇa-kÄraṇam, the cause of all causes. This is confirmed in ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam. The real tattva, Absolute Truth, is BhagavÄn, but due to incomplete realization of the Absolute Truth, people sometimes describe the same Viṣṇu as impersonal Brahman or localized ParamÄtmÄ.
vadanti tat tattva-vidas
tattvaá¹ yaj jñÄnam advayam
brahmeti paramÄtmeti
bhagavÄn iti Å›abdyate
(BhÄg. 1.2.11)
From the very beginning, ÅšrÄ«mad-BhÄgavatam says, satyaá¹ paraá¹ dhÄ«mahi: we meditate on the supreme truth. The supreme truth is explained here as jñÄnaá¹ viÅ›uddhaá¹ satyam. The Absolute Truth is devoid of material contamination and is transcendental to the material qualities. It gives all spiritual success and liberation from this material world. That Supreme Absolute Truth is Kṛṣṇa, VÄsudeva. There is no difference between Kṛṣṇa’s inner self and outward body. Kṛṣṇa is pÅ«rṇa, the complete whole. There is no distinction between His body and soul as there is between ours. Sometimes so-called scholars, not knowing the constitutional position of Kṛṣṇa, mislead people by saying that the Kṛṣṇa within is different from the Kṛṣṇa without. When Kṛṣṇa says, man-manÄ bhava mad-bhakto mad-yÄjÄ« mÄá¹ namaskuru, so-called scholars advise the reader that it is not the person Kṛṣṇa to whom we must surrender but the Kṛṣṇa within. So-called scholars, MÄyÄvÄdÄ«s, cannot understand Kṛṣṇa with their poor fund of knowledge. One should therefore approach an authorized person to understand Kṛṣṇa. The spiritual master has actually seen Kṛṣṇa; therefore he can explain Him properly.
tad viddhi praṇipÄtena
paripraÅ›nena sevayÄ
upadeká¹£yanti te jñÄnaá¹
jñÄninas tattva-darÅ›inaḥ
(Bg. 4.34)
Without approaching an authorized person, one cannot understand Kṛṣṇa.
