198 Teachings of Lord Chaitanya

as follows: “Acharya Sankara wanted to establish the doctrine of monism, and
therefore he had no other alternative than to interpret the Vedanta Sutra in
a different way. If he accepts the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then the
doctrine of monism cannot be established. Therefore, by his illusory scholar-
ship, he has tried to cover the actual meaning of the Vedanta Sutra. Not only
Sankara, but any author who wants to give his own views must curtail and
misinterpret the Vedanta Sutra.”

The Lord therefore gave the direct meaning of the Vedanta Sutra. No
Vedic Scripture can be used for indirect speculation; not only Sankara, but
other materialistic philosophers like Kapila, Gautama, Astavakra, Patanjali
—every one of them has tried to put forward philosophical speculations in
a different way. The philosopher Jaimina and his other followers, who are
all more or less logicians, have given up the real meaning of the Vedas, devo-
tional service, and have tried to establish the Absolute Truth as subject to the
material world. It is their opinion that if we do our material activities nicely,
then if there is any God He will be pleased and give us the desired result.
Similarly, the atheist Kapila has tried to establish that there is no God Who
is the Creator of this material world. But he (Kapila) has analyzed the material
world’s elements and their combination as the cause of creation. He has tried
to establish this. Similarly, Gautama and Kanad have given stress to the material
elements, and have tried to establish that atomic energy is the origin of crea-
tion. Similarly, the impersonalists and monists like Astavakra have tried
to establish the impersonal effulgence of the Brahmajyoti as the Supreme.
Similarly, Patanjali, one of the greatest authorities on the Yoga system, has
tried to conceive an imaginary Form of the Supreme Lord.

To summarize their philosophy, it is understood that all these materi-
alistic philosophers have tried to avoid the Supreme Personality of Godhead,
as they wanted to put forward their own mentally concocted philosophies.
But Vyasadeva, the learned sage and incarnation of Godhead, has thoroughly
studied all these philosophical speculations of different sages; and to answer
all of them he has compiled the Vedanta Sutra, which simply indicates the
relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, execution of devotional
service, and ultimate achievement of love of Godhead. In the very beginning
of the Vedanta Sutra, the verse Janmadyasa yata appears and is explained in his
Srimad Bhagwatam in which Vyasa establishes at the very beginning that the
Supreme Source of everything is a cognizant, Transcendental Person.

The impersonalist tries to explain that the impersonal effulgence of the
Supreme Lord, or Brahmajyoti, is beyond these material modes of Nature, but
