Mayavadis Don't Achieve the Goal of Life part3
Thu, 04/10/2008 - 19:15 — admin
He goes on to say that once you have realized you are God, there is obviously no person you should pay homage to.12
The point I am making is that from the Mayavadi viewpoint, the ultimate goal is to come to the point where you give up prayer give up worship, give up devotional service, etc. These activities are all seen to have value only in the lower stages of spiritual development, when one is stuck in the illusion that he is different from God. In the higher stages, however, they are impediments, according to impersonalist doctrine, because they keep you immersed in the illusion that you are not God.
Therefore, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has correctly stated that Shankara’s commentary on Vedanta-sutra has misled hundreds and thousands of people and prevented them from achieving the ultimate aim of human life-pure love for God.
MICHAEL: I’m afraid I can’t argue with what you’ve just said. Obviously, a person will worship God and try to develop love for Him only if he sees himself as a distinct personality separate from God. What about your second point, however? It’s not even in the least bit clear to me how the Mayavadi philosophy leads to materialism. I would say just the contrary is true. Even though Shankaracharya’s commentary is full of contradiction, it is nonetheless a spiritual path.
There is more than enough food, water, fuel and so on to satisfy the actual needs of everyone on the planet. But there is not enough to satisfy everyone’s greed. Even if it were physically possible for you to consume all the food, water, and fuel in the world, you still would not be satisfied. “Material food” cannot satisfy spiritual craving. Since the materialist is never satisfied, he never feels that he has had enough.Shankaracharya makes this quite clear. He declares that a person should follow the regulative principles enjoined in the Vedas only so long as he has not achieved knowledge; in other words, only so long as he hasn’t realized he is God.11
Science of Identity Foundation – Siddhaswarupananda
He goes on to say that once you have realized you are God, there is obviously no person you should pay homage to.12
The point I am making is that from the Mayavadi viewpoint, the ultimate goal is to come to the point where you give up prayer give up worship, give up devotional service, etc. These activities are all seen to have value only in the lower stages of spiritual development, when one is stuck in the illusion that he is different from God. In the higher stages, however, they are impediments, according to impersonalist doctrine, because they keep you immersed in the illusion that you are not God.
Therefore, Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada has correctly stated that Shankara’s commentary on Vedanta-sutra has misled hundreds and thousands of people and prevented them from achieving the ultimate aim of human life-pure love for God.
MICHAEL: I’m afraid I can’t argue with what you’ve just said. Obviously, a person will worship God and try to develop love for Him only if he sees himself as a distinct personality separate from God. What about your second point, however? It’s not even in the least bit clear to me how the Mayavadi philosophy leads to materialism. I would say just the contrary is true. Even though Shankaracharya’s commentary is full of contradiction, it is nonetheless a spiritual path.