Ādi-līlā, Chapter 7
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the sun, which has been giving off unlimited amounts of heat and light since time immemorial and yet has not even slightly decreased in power. Modern science believes that it is by sunshine that the entire cosmic manifestation is maintained, and actually one can see how the actions and reactions of sunshine maintain order throughout the universe. The growth of vegetables and even the rotation of the planets take place due to the heat and light of the sun. Sometimes, therefore, modern scientists consider the sun to be the original cause of creation, not knowing that the sun is only a medium, for it is also created by the supreme energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Aside from the sun and touchstone, there are many other material things which transform their energy in different ways and yet remain as they are. It is not necessary, therefore, for the original cause, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, to change due to the changes or transformations of His different energies.
The falsity of Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya's explanation of  vivarta-vāda  and  pariṇāma-vāda  has been detected by the Vaiṣṇava  ācāryas , especially Jīva Goṣvāmī, whose opinion is that actually Śaṅkara did not understand the  Vedānta-sūtra . In Śaṅkara's explanation of one  sūtra ,  ānandamayo 'bhyāsāt , he has interpreted the affix  mayaṭ  with such word jugglery that this very explanation proves that he had little knowledge of the  Vedānta-sūtra  but simply wanted to support his impersonalism through the codes of the  Vedānta-sūtra  but simply wanted to support his impersonalism through the codes of the  Vedānta-sūtra  philosophy. Actually, however, he failed to do so because he could not put forward strong arguments. In this connection, Śrīla Jīva Goṣvāmī cites the code  brahma-pucchaṁ pratiṣṭhā , which gives Vedic evidence that Brahman is the origin of everything. In explaining this verse, Śrīpāda Śaṅkarācārya interpreted various Sanskrit words in such a way that he implied, according to Jīva Goṣvāmī, that Vyāsadeva had very little knowledge of higher logic. Such unscrupulous deviation from the real meaning of the  Vedānta-sūtra  has created a class of men who by word jugglery try to derive various indirect meanings from the Vedic literatures, especially  Bhagavad-gītā . One of them has even explained that the word  kurukṣetra  refers to the body. Such interpretations imply, however, that neither Lord Kṛṣṇa nor Vyāsadeva had a proper sense of word usage or etymological adjustment. They lead one to assume that since Lord Kṛṣṇa could not personally sense the meaning of what He was speaking and Vyāsadeva did not know the meaning of what he was writing, Lord Kṛṣṇa left His book to be explained later by the Māyāvādīs. Such interpretations merely prove, however, that their proponents have very little philosophical sense.
Instead of wasting one's time falsely deriving such indirect meanings from  Vedānta-sūtra  and other Vedic literatures, one should accept the words of these books as they are. In presenting  Bhagavad-gītā  As  It Is , therefore, we have not changed the meaning of the original words. Similarly, if one studies  Vedānta-sūtra  as it is, without whimsical and capricious adulteration, one can understand the  Vedānta-sūtra  very easily. Śrīla Vyāsadeva therefore explains  Vedānta-sūtra , beginning from the first  sūtra ,  janmādy asya yataḥ , in his  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam :
janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārtheṣv abhijñaḥ sva-rāṭ
"I meditate upon Him [Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa], the transcendent reality, who is the primeval