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Five Things That Would Have To Be False Under Mayavada

By krishnasmercy on April 19, 2025 • ( 0 )

“By Me, in My unmanifested form, this entire universe is pervaded. All beings are in Me, but I am not in them.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 9.4)

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मया ततम् इदं सर्वं
जगद् अव्यक्त-मूर्तिना
मत्-स्थानि सर्व-भूतानि
न चाहं तेष्व् अवस्थितः

mayā tatam idaṁ sarvaṁ
jagad avyakta-mūrtinā
mat-sthāni sarva-bhūtāni
na cāhaṁ teṣv avasthitaḥ

It resembles a crusade. Repeated mention across purports to lengthy works such as Bhagavata Purana. Emphasis on the personal versus the impersonal in public appearances. For classes on Bhagavad-gita, stressing the importance of a person in Shri Krishna, as opposed to an attributeless energy known as Brahman.

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, following in the line of teachers descending from Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, appears on a mission to deconstruct, expose, and denounce the philosophy known as Mayavada. The literal translation to the Sanskrit term is “the conclusion of illusion.” Everything is maya, or that which is not. The conclusion extends to the appearances of the divine, such as when Vishnu descends to this world as an avatara.

अव्यक्तं व्यक्तिम् आपन्नं
मन्यन्ते माम् अबुद्धयः
परं भावम् अजानन्तो
ममाव्ययम् अनुत्तमम्

avyaktaṁ vyaktim āpannaṁ
manyante mām abuddhayaḥ
paraṁ bhāvam ajānanto
mamāvyayam anuttamam

“Unintelligent men, who know Me not, think that I have assumed this form and personality. Due to their small knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is changeless and supreme.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.24)

Conclusions are real and so is illusion. It is therefore not a stretch to suppose that everything in this world is an illusion, or maya. After all, we have changed so much since the time of birth. The change is the one constant, it seems. I am the same person I was during childhood, but so many of the people from that time are no longer around. Sometimes, I wonder if I really went through that period of time, given how long ago it was.

It might be easy to dismiss the entire living experience as maya, but in the following analysis we consider other aspects that the illusion would have to extend to. What we mean to say is that if this life is like a dream, with no real substance, then the same characterization would have to apply to critical components within that life.

1. The teacher

The Mayavada scholar often uses Bhagavad-gita as supporting evidence. This is a conversation between the bow-warrior named Arjuna and the charioteer named Krishna. Of course, it is impossible to limit Krishna to a single title. During His time in the manifest realm, people were always trying to pin Him down, with this label and that. They sometimes openly lamented that they could not figure Him out.

“People are bewildered about My ultimate goal of life; they do not know whether I am a cowherd boy or a prince, whether I am the son of Nanda Maharaja or the son of Vasudeva. Because I have no fixed aim in life, people may call Me a vagabond. Therefore, I am surprised that you could select such a vagabond husband.” (Krishna speaking to Rukmini, Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Vol 2, Ch 5)

In the conversation with Arjuna, Krishna makes several references to the impersonal aspect. This is like seeing God as a collective or an energy, rather than a distinct individual. Vishnu Purana has a similar reference, in comparing the entire universe to a large body which facilitates the expansion of an original fire of spiritual potency.

एक-देश-स्थितस्याग्नेर्
ज्योत्स्ना विस्तारिणी यथा
परस्य ब्रह्मणः शक्तिस्
तथेदम् अखिलं जगत्

eka-deśa-sthitasyāgner
jyotsnā vistāriṇī yathā
parasya brahmaṇaḥ śaktis
tathedam akhilaṁ jagat

“Everything that is manifested within this cosmic world is but the energy of the Supreme Lord. As fire emanating from one place diffuses its illumination and heat all around, so the Lord, although situated in one place in the spiritual world, manifests His different energies everywhere. Indeed, the whole cosmic creation is composed of different manifestations of His energy.” (Vishnu Purana, 1.22.52)

If the theory of everything as maya holds, then the teacher is operating within such parameters. The teacher would have to be maya, as well. A person may argue that Krishna is an elevated being, a Brahman-realized soul, a prophet, or some other figure worthy of consideration, but how would such a transformation take place? Why would Krishna be the exception to the “everything is maya” rule, while others lack that same exception?

2. The books

The written word is nothing more than a time-tested way of recording information. The words can later be decoded by anyone who knows the language. If there is no alteration over the course of time, then the words carry direct information across hundreds and sometimes thousands of years. There is no concern over degradation of tape quality or loss due to repeated generation in copying.

If everything is maya, then so are the books teaching people that everything is maya. The books use material elements, after all. They are written by people suffering from illusion. The rough draft, the manuscript, the publication, and the subsequent distribution are all part of the dream that is the life experience.

3. The relationship

The Sanskrit word is sambandha. This is the initial impetus for spiritual life. We follow religion only because there is a relationship. Once we know that relationship, we can proceed accordingly. But if everything is maya, then so are relationships. We see this in our friendships. Some are now broken, never to be corrected. Due to the dreamlike experience, it is like such relationships never existed.

4. The goal

The Sanskrit word is prayojana. This is the objective, which is based on the relationship. A goal can also be considered a specific destination, be it gross or subtle. If I am working towards a goal, it means that I am not there right now. Reaching the goal means that there is travel, but if everything is maya, then both the current destination and the future desired goal are illusion.

5. The path forward

The Sanskrit word is abhidheya. This is the way to get from the start to the finish. We are suffering right now. We are in ignorance. That is why we turn to a book such as Bhagavad-gita. We want to reach the goal of enlightenment, but if everything is maya, then so is the path we choose to take. That path is like a road within a city of illusion.

…

The reality is that works such as Bhagavad-gita would be worthless under the Mayavada conclusion. There would be no point to instruction or instructors. There would be no point to anything, in fact. Accepting this mentality, it is like we have fallen on a different side of illusion, one that is opposite to pursuing endless enjoyment, bhoga.

“The last illusion, the last snare of maya to trap the living entity, is the proposition that he is God. The living entity thinks that he is no longer a conditioned soul, but God. He is so unintelligent that he does not think that if he were God, then how could he be in doubt? That he does not consider. So that is the last snare of illusion.” (Shrila Prabhupada, Bhagavad-gita, 18.73 Purport)

The conclusion of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is achintya-bhedabheda-tattva. There is simultaneous oneness and difference between the individual and God. The individual is God-like, but not God. When the individual is serving God, there is a kind of oneness based on the relationship. The natural order has been restored.

That is why books exist. That is why there are teachers. The individual can be in illusion. They can make mistakes. They can follow bogus philosophies. They need someone to show them the way. Krishna showed Arjuna, rescuing him from a temporary setback rooted in misplaced compassion. The same Krishna, through His representatives, can place me back on the right path, towards meeting the highest objective of landing in the spiritual world known as Vaikuntha.