Adi-lila, Chapter 7 133
beauty, knowledge and renunciation. Brahman means the greatest, but the Supreme
Personality of Godhead is greater than the greatest, just as the sun globe is greater
than the sunshine which is all-pervading in the universe. Although the sunshine that
spreads all over the universes appears very great to the less knowledgeable, greater
than the sunshine is the sun itself, and greater than the sun is the sun-god. Similarly,
impersonal Brahman is not the greatest, although it appears to be so. Impersonal
Brahman is only the bodily effulgence of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but
the transcendental form of the Lord is greater than both the impersonal Brahman
and localized Paramatma. Therefore whenever the word Brahman is used in Vedic
literature, it is understood to refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In Bhagavad-gita the Lord is also addressed as Parabrahman. Mayavadis and
others sometimes misunderstand Brahman because every living entity is also
Brahman. Therefore Krsna is referred to as Parabrahman (the Supreme Brahman).
In the Vedic literature, whenever the words Brahman or Parabrahman are used,
they are to be understood to refer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna.
This is their real meaning. Since the entire Vedic literature deals with the subject of
Brahman, Krsna is therefore the ultimate goal of Vedic understanding. The imper-
sonal brahmajyoti rests on the personal form of the Lord. Therefore although the
impersonal effulgence, the brahmajyoti, is the first realization, one must enter into
it, as mentioned in the /Sopanisad, to find the Supreme Person, and then one’s
knowledge is perfect. Bhagavad-gita (7.19) also confirms this. Bahunarh janmanam
ante jfianavan mam prapadyate: one’s search for the Absolute Truth by dint of spec-
ulative knowledge is complete when one comes to the point of understanding Krsna
and surrenders unto Him. That is the real point of perfectional knowledge.

Partial realization of the Absolute Truth as impersonal Brahman denies the com-
plete opulences of the Lord. This is a hazardous understanding of the Absolute
Truth. Unless one accepts all the features of the Absolute Truth—namely, impersonal
Brahman, localized Paramatma and ultimately the Supreme Personality of God-
head—his knowledge isimperfect. Sripada Ramanujacarya, in his Vedartha-sahgraha,
says:

jfranena dharmena svarupam api nirupitam,

na tu jhana-matram brahmeti katham idam

avagamyate iti cet?
He thus indicates that the real absolute identity must be understood in terms of
both His knowledge and characteristics. Simply to understand the Absolute Truth
to be full of knowledge is not sufficient. In the Vedic literature we find the state-
ment yah sarva-jhah sarva-vit, which means that the Absolute Truth knows every-
thing perfectly, but we also learn from the Vedic description parasya saktir vivi-
dhaiva sruyate that not only does He know everything, but He also acts accordingly
by utilizing His different energies. Thus to understand that Brahman, the Supreme,
is conscious is not sufficient. One must know how He consciously acts through His
different energies. Mayavada philosophy simply informs us of the consciousness of
the Absolute Truth but does not give us information of how He acts with His con-
sciousness. That is the defect of that philosophy.
