Text 168] The Liberation of Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya 291
TEXT 168
cam a aiferal cate aa S aries |
canada aifeas-ate calacs Sifee 1 swe I
veda nad mdaniyd bauddha haya ta’ nastika
vedasraya nastikya-vada bauddhake adhika
SYNONYMS

veda—the Vedic literature; nd—not; maniyé—accepting; bauddha—the Bud-
dhists; haya—are; ta’—indeed; nastika—agnostics; veda-asraya—taking shelter
of Vedic civilization; nastikya-vada—agnosticism; bauddhake—even Buddhists;
adhika—surpassing.

TRANSLATION

“The Buddhists do not recognize the authority of the Vedas; therefore they
are considered agnostics. However, those who have taken shelter of the Vedic
scriptures yet preach agnosticism in accordance with the Mayavada philoso-
phy are certainly more dangerous than the Buddhists.

PURPORT

Although the Buddhists are directly opposed to Vaisnava philosophy, it can
easily be understood that the Sankarites are more dangerous because they accept
the authority of the Vedas yet act contrary to Vedic instruction. Vedasraya
nastikya-vada means “agnosticism under the shelter of Vedic culture” and refers
to the monistic philosophy of the Mayavadis. Lord Buddha abandoned the au-
thority of the Vedic literature and therefore rejected the ritualistic ceremonies and
sacrifices recommended in the Vedas. His nirvana philosophy means stopping all
material activities. Lord Buddha did not recognize the presence of transcendental
forms and spiritual activities beyond the material world. He simply described void-
ism beyond this material existence. The Mayavadi philosophers offer lip service to
Vedic authority but try to escape the Vedic ritualistic ceremonies. They concoct
some idea of a transcendental position and call themselves Narayana, or God.
However, God's position is completely different from their concoction. Such
Mayavadi philosophers consider themselves above the influence of karma-kanda
(fruitive activities and their reactions). For them, the spiritual world is equated
with the Buddhist voidism. There is very little difference between impersonalism
and voidism. Voidism can be directly understood, but the impersonalism enunci-
ated by Mayavadi philosophers is not very easily understandable. Of course,
Mayavadi philosophers accept a spiritual existence, but they do not know about
the spiritual world and spiritual beings. According to Srimad-Bhagavatam
(10.2.32):
