106 THE SCIENCE OF SELF-REALIZATION
Puranas. The goal of this institution of Vedic culture is to educate every
man for advancement in knowledge of Krsna, or God. That is the entire
Vedic program.

When Lord Caitanya talked with the great devotee Ramananda Raya,
the Lord asked him, ‘‘What is the basic principle of human life?’’ Rama-
nanda Raya answered that human civilization begins when varndsrama-
dharma is accepted. Before coming to the standard of varnasrama-dharma
there is no question of human civilization. Therefore, the Krsna con-
sciousness movement is trying to establish this right system of
human civilization, which is known as Krsna consciousness, or daiva-
varnasrama—divine culture.

In India, the varndsrama system has now been taken in a perverted
way, and thus a man born in the family of a brdhmana (the highest social
order) claims that he should be accepted as a brdhmana. But this claim is

not accepted by the sdstra (scripture). One’s forefather may have been a
bradhmana according to gotra, or the family hereditary order, but real var-
nasrama-dharma is based on the factual quality one has attained, regard-
less of birth or heredity. Therefore, we are not preaching the present-day
system of the Hindus, especially those who are under the influence of
Sankaracarya, for Sankaracarya taught that the Absolute Truth is imper-
sonal, and thus he indirectly denied the existence of God.

Sankaracarya’s mission was special; he appeared to reestablish the
Vedic influence after the influence of Buddhism. Because Buddhism was
patronized by Emperor Asoka, twenty-six hundred years ago the Bud-
dhist religion practically pervaded all of India. According to the Vedic
literature, Buddha was an incarnation of Krsna who had a special power
and who appeared for a special purpose. His system of thought, or faith,
was accepted widely, but Buddha rejected the authority of the Vedas.
While Buddhism was spreading, the Vedic culture was stopped both in
India and in other places. Therefore, since Sankaracarya’s only aim was
to drive away Buddha’s system of philosophy, he introduced a system
called Mayavada.

Strictly speaking, Mayavada philosophy is atheism, for it is a process in
which one imagines that there is God. This Mayavada system of philoso-
phy has been existing since time immemorial. The present Indian
system of religion or culture is based on the Mayavada philosophy of
Sankaracarya, which is a compromise with Buddhist philosophy. Accord-
ing to Mayavada philosophy there actually is no God, or if God exists, He
is impersonal and all-pervading and can therefore be imagined in any
form. This conclusion is not in accord with the Vedic literature. That
