Text 49] Lord Caitanya’s Travels to the Holy Places 315
TRANSLATION

Although the Buddhists are unfit for discussion and should not be seen by
Vaisnavas, Caitanya Mahaprabhu spoke to them just to decrease their false
pride.

TEXT 49
SF-Qlu la AAMT AS ATS’ |
SFE afar ay, al rica BPHcw i sd
tarka-pradhana bauddha-sastra ‘nava mate’
tarkei khandila prabhu, na pare sthapite
SYNONYMS

tarka-pradhana—argumentative; bauddha-sastra—scriptures of the Buddhist
cult; nava mate—in nine basic principles; tarkei—by argument; khandila—
refuted; prabhu—Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu; né—not; pare—can; sthapite—
establish.

TRANSLATION

The scriptures of the Buddhist cult are chiefly based on argument and logic,
and they contain nine chief principles. Because Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
defeated them in their argument, they could not establish their cult.

PURPORT

Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura states that according to the Buddhist cult there are
two ways of understanding philosophy. One is called hindyana, and the other is
called mahayana. Along this path, there are nine principles. (1) The creation is
eternal; therefore there is no need to accept a creator. (2) This cosmic manifesta-
tion is false. (3) “I am’ is the truth. (4) There is repetition of birth and death. (5)
Lord Buddha is the only source of understanding the truth. (6) The principle of nir-
vana, or annihilation, is the ultimate goal. (7) The philosophy of Buddha is the only
philosophical path. (8) The Vedas are compiled by human beings. (9) Pious ac-
tivities, showing mercy to others and so on are advised.

No one can attain the Absolute Truth by argument. One may be very expert in
logic, and another person may be even more expert in the art of argument. Be-
cause there is somuch word jugglery in logic, one can never come to the real con-
clusion about the Absolute Truth by argument. The followers of Vedic principles
understand this. However, it is seen here that Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu defeated
the Buddhist philosophy by argument. Those who are preachers in ISKCON will
certainly meet many people who believe in intellectual arguments. Most of these
