190 Teachings of Lord Chaitanya

we accept the rope as the snake it is to be understood that one has previous
experience of the snake. Otherwise, how can one mistake the rope as a snake?
Therefore, the conception of the snake is not untrue or unreal. It is the ques-
tion of application. When, by mistake, we impose our conviction on the rope
as being a snake, that is ignorance. But the very idea of the snake is not itself
ignorance. Similarly, when we accept a mirage of water in the desert, there
is no question of water being a false concept. Water is a fact, but the applica-
tion of water in the desert is a mistake.

Therefore, this cosmic manifestation is not false, as is stated by Sankara.
There is nothing false here. To consider this material manifestation as false
is another ignorance. The Mayavadi theory that this world is false is ignorance.
The conclusion of Vaishnava philosophy is that this cosmic manifestation is
a by-product of the inconceivable energy of the Supreme Lord.

The principal word in the Vedas, Pranava Omkara, is the sound representa-
tion of the Supreme Lord. Therefore Omkara should be taken as the sound
Supreme. Sankara has falsely preached Tatvamasi as the Supreme vibration
in the Vedas, instead of Omkara. Omkara is the reservoir of all the energies
of the Supreme Lord. The accent on the word Tatvamasi by Sankara, as the

Supreme vibration of the Vedas, is wrong, because this word Tatvamasi is a
secondary word only. This word suggests only a partial representation of
the Vedas. In the Bhagavad Gita the Lord has in many places given importance
to Omkara. The importance of Omkara is mentioned in the Eighth Chapter,
13th verse, Ninth Chapter, 17th verse, and Seventeenth Chapter, 23rd verse.
Similarly, the importance of Omkara is stated in the Atharva Veda. Similarly,
we get the importance of Omkara vibration in the Mandukya Upanishad.

Srila Jiva Goswami has given great importance to the word Omkara
in his Bhagavat Sandarbha. He says: “Omkara is the most confidential sound
representation of the Supreme Lord.” The sound representation or Name
of the Supreme Lord is as good as the Supreme Lord. By vibration of such
sound as Omkara, or of Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare
Hare|Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare, one can be delivered
from the contamination of this material world. And, because such vibrations
of transcendental sound can deliver a conditional soul, it is known as Tarak, or
deliverer.

The sound vibration of the Supreme Lord is identical with the Supreme
Lord. In the Narada Pancharatra also it is stated that when sound vibration is
practiced by the conditioned soul, the Supreme Lord is present on the tongue
of such a vibrating person. In the Mandukya Upanishad the same importance
