198
Teachings of Lord Chaitanya
as follows: “Acharya Sankara wanted to establish the doctrine of monism, and therefore he had no other alternative than to interpret the  Vedanta Sutra  in a different way. If he accepts the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then the doctrine of monism cannot be established. Therefore, by his illusory scholarship, he has tried to cover the actual meaning of the  Vedanta Sutra . Not only Sankara, but any author who wants to give his own views must curtail and misinterpret the  Vedanta Sutra .”
The Lord therefore gave the direct meaning of the  Vedanta Sutra . No Vedic Scripture can be used for indirect speculation; not only Sankara, but other materialistic philosophers like Kapila, Gautama, Astavakra, Patanjali—every one of them has tried to put forward philosophical speculations in a different way. The philosopher Jaimina and his other followers, who are all more or less logicians, have given up the real meaning of the  Vedas , devotional service, and have tried to establish the Absolute Truth as subject to the material world. It is their opinion that if we do our material activities nicely, then if there is any God He will be pleased and give us the desired result. Similarly, the atheist Kapila has tried to establish that there is no God Who is the Creator of this material world. But he (Kapila) has analyzed the material world’s elements and their combination as the cause of creation. He has tried to establish this. Similarly, Gautama and Kanad have given stress to the material elements, and have tried to establish that atomic energy is the origin of creation. Similarly, the impersonalists and monists like Astavakra have tried to establish the impersonal effulgence of the  Brahmajyoti  as the Supreme. Similarly, Patanjali, one of the greatest authorities on the  Yoga  system, has tried to conceive an imaginary Form of the Supreme Lord.
To summarize their philosophy, it is understood that all these materialistic philosophers have tried to avoid the Supreme Personality of Godhead, as they wanted to put forward their own mentally concocted philosophies. But Vyasadeva, the learned sage and incarnation of Godhead, has thoroughly studied all these philosophical speculations of different sages; and to answer all of them he has compiled the  Vedanta Sutra , which simply indicates the relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, execution of devotional service, and ultimate achievement of love of Godhead. In the very beginning of the  Vedanta Sutra , the verse  Janmadyasa yata  appears and is explained in his  Srimad Bhagwatam  in which Vyasa establishes at the very beginning that the Supreme Source of everything is a cognizant, Transcendental Person.
The impersonalist tries to explain that the impersonal effulgence of the Supreme Lord, or  Brahmajyoti , is beyond these material modes of Nature, but