Looking at the Cultural Background 107

literature names many demigods, who are worshiped for different pur-
poses, but in every case the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead,
Visnu, is accepted as the supreme controller. That is real Vedic culture.

The philosophy of Krsna consciousness does not deny the existence of
God and the demigods, but Mayavada philosophy denies both; it main-
tains that neither the demigods nor God exists. For the Mayavadis,
ultimately all is zero. They say that one may imagine any authority—
whether Visnu, Durga, Lord Siva, or the sun-god— because these are the
demigods generally worshiped in society. But the Mayavada philosophy
does not in fact accept the existence of any of them. The Maya-
vadis say that because one cannot concentrate one’s mind on the imper-
sonal Brahman, one may imagine any of these forms. This is a new
system, called paficopdsana. It was introduced by Sankaracarya, but the
Bhagavad-gita does not teach any such doctrines, and therefore they are
not authoritative.

The Bhagavad-gita accepts the existence of the demigods. The
demigods are described in the Vedas, and one cannot deny their exis-
tence, but they are not to be understood or worshiped according to the
way of Sankaracarya. The worship of demigods is rejected in the
Bhagavad-gita. The Gita [7.20] clearly states:

kamais tais tair hrta-jfanah
prapadyante ‘nya-devatah

tam tam niyamam asthaya
prakrtya niyatah svaya

‘‘Those whose minds are distorted by material desires surrender unto
demigods and follow the particular rules and regulations of worship ac-
cording to their own natures.’’ Furthermore, in the Bhagavad-gitda [2.44],
Lord Krsna states:

bhogaisvarya-prasaktanam
tayapahrta-cetasam

vyavasayatmika buddhih
samadhau na vidhiyate

‘In the minds of those who are too attached to sense enjoyment and
material opulence, and who are bewildered by such things, the resolute
determination for devotional service does not take place.’ Those who
are pursuing the various demigods have been described as hArta-jndnah,
