318 Sri Caitanya-caritamrta [Madhya-lila, Ch. 9
body to another. If this were not the case, how can so many multifarious bodies
come into existence? If the next birth is a fact, the next bodily form is also a fact.
As soon as we accept a material body, we must accept the fact that that body will
be annihilated and that we will have to accept another body. If all material bodies
are doomed to annihilation, we must obtain a nonmaterial body, or a spiritual
body, if we wish the next birth to be anything but false. How the spiritual body is
attained is explained in Bhagavad-gita:
janma karma ca me divyam
eva yo vetti tattvatah
tyaktva deharm punar janma
naiti mam eti so ‘rjuna
“One who knows the transcendental nature of My appearance and activities does
not, upon leaving the body, take his birth again in this material world, but attains
My eternal abode, O Arjuna.” (Bg. 4.9)

This is the highest perfection by which one can transcend the transmigration of
material bodies and return home, back to Godhead. It is not that existence be-
comes void or zero: Existence continues, but if we positively want to annihilate
the material body, we have to accept a spiritual body; otherwise there can be no
eternality for the soul.

We cannot accept the theory that the Buddhist philosophy is the only way, for
there are so many defects in that philosophy. A perfect philosophy is one that has
no defects, and that is Vedanta philosophy. No one can point out any defects in
Vedanta philosophy, and therefore we can conclude that Vedanta is the supreme
philosophical way of understanding the truth. According to the Buddhist cult, the
Vedas are compiled by ordinary human beings. !f this were the case, they would
not be authoritative. From Vedic literatures we understand that shortly after the
creation, Lord Brahma was instructed in the Vedas. It is not that the Vedas were
created by Brahma, although Brahma is the original person in the universe. If
Brahma did not create the Vedas, but he is acknowledged as the first created
being, wherefrom did Vedic knowledge come to Brahma? Obviously the Vedas
did not come from an ordinary person born in this material world. According to
Srimad-Bhagavatam, tene brahma hrda ya 4di-kavaye: after the creation, the
Supreme Person imparted Vedic knowledge within the heart of Brahma. There
was no person in the beginning of the creation other than Brahma, yet he did not
compile the Vedas; therefore the conclusion is that the Vedas were not compiled
by any created being. Vedic knowledge was given by the Supreme Personality of
Godhead, who created this material world. This is also accepted by Sankaracrya,
although Sankaracdrya is not a Vaisnava.

It is stated that mercy is one of the qualities of a Buddhist, but mercy is a rela-
tive thing. We show our mercy to a subordinate or to one who is suffering more
