Prayers by the Personified Vedas 289

Sometimes the Mayavadi philosophers push forward the argument that
if this material world is truth, then why are householders advised to give
up their connection with this material world and take sannydsa? But the
Vaisnava philosopher’s view of sannydsa is not that because the world is
false, one must therefore give up material activities. The purpose of
Vaisnava sannydsa is to utilize things as they are intended. Srila Ripa
Gosvami has given two formulas for our dealing with this material world.
When a Vaisnava renounces this materialistic way of life and takes to
sannyasa, it is not on the conception of the falsity of the material world,
but to devote himself fully to engaging everything in the service of the
Lord. Srila Ripa Gosvami therefore gives this formula: one should be
unattached to the material world because material attachment is meaning-
less. The entire material world, the entire cosmic manifestation, belongs to
God, Krsna. Therefore, everything should be utilized for Krsna, and the
devotee should remain unattached to material things. This is the purpose
of Vaisnava sannydsa. A materialist sticks to the world for sense gratifi-
cation, but a Vaisnava sannyasi, although not accepting anything for his
personal sense gratification, knows the art of utilizing everything for the
service of the Lord. Srila Ripa Gosvami has therefore criticized the
Mayavadi sannydsis because they do not know that everything has a
utilization for the service of the Lord. On the contrary, they take the
world to be false and thus falsely think of being liberated from the
contamination of the material world. Since everything is an expansion of
the energy of the Supreme Lord, the expansions are as real as the Supreme
Lord is.

That the cosmic world is only temporarily manifested does not mean
that it is false or that the source of its manifestation is false. Since the
source of its manifestation is truth, the manifestation is also truth, but
one must know how to utilize it. The same example can be cited: the
temporary earthen pot is produced from the whole earth, but when it is
utilized for a proper purpose, the earthen pot is not false. The Vaisnava
philosophers know how to utilize the temporary construction of this
material world, just as a sane man knows how to utilize the temporary
construction of the earthen pot. When the earthen pot is utilized for a
wrong purpose, that is false. Similarly, this human form of body, or this
material world, when utilized for false sense gratification, is false. But if
this human form of body and the material creation are utilized for the
service of the Supreme Lord, their activities are never false. It is therefore
confirmed in the Bhagavad-gita that a little service attitude in utilizing
this body and the material world for the service of the Lord can deliver a
