Lord Buddha

[Guest guest]

In reply to Hare Krsna das prabhu:

 

We can not accept any mundane sholar as our authority. Mundane scholar has four

defects of the conditioned soul: he is sure to cheat, he is illusioned, his

senses are imperfect and he commits mistakes. Therefore his knowledge will be

defective. This is why we approach a Mahajana a realized soul who is free from

these defective propensities.

We follow the teachings of Srila Prabhupada the Mahajana who also followed the

previous mahajana's like Vysadeva and Sukadeva Goswami who taught the same

teachings.

 

 

 

Madhya 17.186 T The Lord Travels to Vrndavana tarko

'pratisthah srutayo vibhinna nasav rsir yasya matam na bhinnam

dharmasya tattvam nihitam guhayam mahajano yena

gatah sa panthah

 

SYNONYMS

 

tarkah--dry argument; apratisthah--not fixed; srutayah--Vedas;

vibhinnah--possessing different departments; na--not; asau--that; rsih--great

sage; yasya--whose; matam--opinion; na--not; bhinnam--separate; dharmasya--of

religious principles; tattvam--truth; nihitam--placed; guhayam--in the heart of

a realized person; maha-janah--self-realized predecessors; yena--by which way;

gatah--acted; sah--that; panthah--the pure unadulterated path.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu continued," 'Dry arguments are inconclusive. A great

personality whose opinion does not differ from others is not considered a great

sage. Simply by studying the Vedas, which are variegated, one cannot come to the

right path by which religious principles are understood. The solid truth of

religious principles is hidden in the heart of an unadulterated self-realized

person. Consequently, as the sastras confirm, one should accept whatever

progressive path the mahajanas advocate.'"

 

PURPORT

This is a verse spoken by Yudhisthira Maharaja in the Mahabharata, Vana-parva

(313.117).

 

SB 3.24.35 P The Renunciation of Kardama Muni It is stated, mahajano yena

gatah sa panthah: one should traverse the path which is followed by great

personalities.

 

SB 4.18.4 P Prthu Maharaja Milks the Earth Planet The Vedic principles

(mahajano yena gatah sa panthah) urge us to follow in the footsteps of great

liberated souls.

 

SB 8.2.6 P The Elephant Gajendra' s Crisis As described in

Srimad-Bhagavatam (2.3.19), sva-vid-varahostra-kharaih samstutah purusah pasuh:

materialistic leaders are praised by dogs, hogs, camels and asses, and they

themselves are also big animals. One should not be satisfied with the knowledge

imparted by a big animal. Rather, one must take knowledge from a perfect person

like Sukadeva Gosvami. Mahajano yena gatah sa panthah: our duty is to follow

the instructions of the mahajanas.

 

SB 1.3.24 T Krsna Is the Source of All Incarnations

tatah kalau sampravrtte sammohaya

sura-dvisam buddho namnanjana-sutah

kikatesu bhavisyati

 

SYNONYMS

 

tatah--thereafter; kalau--the age of Kali; sampravrtte--having ensued;

sammohaya--for the purpose of deluding; sura--the theists; dvisam--those who

are envious; buddhah--Lord Buddha; namna--of the name; anjana-sutah--whose

mother was Anjana; kikatesu--in the province of Gaya (Bihar); bhavisyati--will

take place.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Then, in the beginning of Kali-yuga, the Lord will appear as Lord Buddha, the

son of Anjana, in the province of Gaya, just for the purpose of deluding those

who are envious of the faithful theist.

 

PURPORT

 

Lord Buddha, a powerful incarnation of the Personality of Godhead, appeared in

the province of Gaya (Bihar) as the son of Anjana, and he preached his own

conception of nonviolence and deprecated even the animal sacrifices sanctioned

in the Vedas. At the time when Lord Buddha appeared, the people in general were

atheistic and preferred animal flesh to anything else. On the plea of Vedic

sacrifice, every place was practically turned into a slaughterhouse, and

animal-killing was indulged in unrestrictedly. Lord Buddha preached

nonviolence, taking pity on the poor animals. He preached that he did not

believe in the tenets of the Vedas and stressed the adverse psychological

effects incurred by animal-killing. Less intelligent men of the age of Kali,

who had no faith in God, followed his principle, and for the time being they

were trained in moral discipline and nonviolence, the preliminary steps for

proceeding further on the path of God realization. He deluded the atheists

because such atheists who followed his principles did not believe in God, but

they kept their absolute faith in Lord Buddha, who himself was the incarnation

of God. Thus the faithless people were made to believe in God in the form of

Lord Buddha. That was the mercy of Lord Buddha: he made the faithless faithful

to him.SB 1.3.24 P Krsna Is the Source of All Incarnations Killing of

animals before the advent of Lord Buddha was the most prominent feature of the

society. People claimed that these were Vedic sacrifices. When the Vedas are

not accepted through the authoritative disciplic succession, the casual readers

of the Vedas are misled by the flowery language of that system of knowledge. In

the Bhagavad-gita a comment has been made on such foolish scholars

(avipascitah). The foolish scholars of Vedic literature who do not care to

receive the transcendental message through the transcendental realized sources

of disciplic succession are sure to be bewildered. To them, the ritualistic

ceremonies are considered to be all in all. They have no depth of knowledge.

According to the Bhagavad-gita (15.15), vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyah: the

whole system of the Vedas is to lead one gradually to the path of the Supreme

Lord. The whole theme of Vedic literature is to know the Supreme Lord, the

individual soul, the cosmic situation and the relation between all these items.

When the relation is known, the relative function begins, and as a result of

such a function the ultimate goal of life or going back to Godhead takes place

in the easiest manner. Unfortunately, unauthorized scholars of the Vedas become

captivated by the purificatory ceremonies only, and natural progress is thereby

checked. To such bewildered persons of atheistic propensity, Lord Buddha is

the emblem of theism. He therefore first of all wanted to check the habit of

animal-killing. The animal-killers are dangerous elements on the path going

back to Godhead. There are two types of animal-killers. The soul is also

sometimes called the "animal" or the living being. Therefore, both the

slaughterer of animals and those who have lost their identity of soul are

animal-killers. Maharaja Pariksit said that only the animal-killer cannot

relish the transcendental message of the Supreme Lord. Therefore if people are

to be educated to the path of Godhead, they must be taught first and foremost

to stop the process of animal-killing as above mentioned. It is nonsensical to

say that animal-killing has nothing to do with spiritual realization. By this

dangerous theory many so-called sannyasis have sprung up by the grace of

Kali-yuga who preach animal-killing under the garb of the Vedas. The subject

matter has already been discussed in the conversation between Lord Caitanya and

Maulana Chand Kazi Shaheb. The animal sacrifice as stated in the Vedas is

different from the unrestricted animal-killing in the slaughterhouse. Because

the asuras or the so-called scholars of Vedic literatures put forward the

evidence of animal-killing in the Vedas, Lord Buddha superficially denied the

authority of the Vedas. This rejection of the Vedas by Lord Buddha was adopted

in order to save people from the vice of animal-killing as well as to save the

poor animals from the slaughtering process of their big brothers who clamor for

universal brotherhood, peace, justice and equity. There is no justice when there

is animal-killing. Lord Buddha wanted to stop it completely, and therefore his

cult of ahimsa was propagated not only in India but also outside the country.

Technically Lord Buddha's philosophy is called atheistic because there is no

acceptance of the Supreme Lord and because that system of philosophy denied the

authority of the Vedas. But that is an act of camouflage by the Lord. Lord

Buddha is the incarnation of Godhead. As such, he is the original propounder of

Vedic knowledge. He therefore cannot reject Vedic philosophy. But he rejected it

outwardly because the sura-dvisa, or the demons who are always envious of the

devotees of Godhead, try to support cow-killing or animal-killing from the

pages of the Vedas, and this is now being done by the modernized sannyasis.

Lord Buddha had to reject the authority of the Vedas altogether. This is simply

technical, and had it not been so he would not have been so accepted as the

incarnation of Godhead. Nor would he have been worshiped in the transcendental

songs of the poet Jayadeva, who is a Vaisnava acarya. Lord Buddha preached the

preliminary principles of the Vedas in a manner suitable for the time being

(and so also did Sankaracarya) to establish the authority of the Vedas.

Therefore both Lord Buddha and Acarya Sankara paved the path of theism, and

Vaisnava acaryas, specifically Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, led the people on

the path towards a realization of going back to Godhead. We are glad that

people are taking interest in the nonviolent movement of Lord Buddha. But will

they take the matter very seriously and close the animal slaughterhouses

altogether? If not, there is no meaning to the ahimsa cult. Srimad-Bhagavatam

was composed just prior to the beginning of the age of Kali (about five thousand

years ago), and Lord Buddha appeared about twenty-six hundred years ago.

Therefore in the Srimad-Bhagavatam Lord Buddha is foretold. Such is the

authority of this clear scripture. There are many such prophecies, and they are

being fulfilled one after another. They will indicate the positive standing of

Srimad-Bhagavatam, which is without trace of mistake, illusion, cheating and

imperfection, which are the four flaws of all conditioned souls. The liberated

souls are above these flaws; therefore they can see and foretell things which

are to take place on distant future dates.

 

680613BG.MON Lectures Generally, according to Buddha

philosophy, there is no soul, no God. But they have to obey Lord Buddha. So

there is also God because Lord Buddha is accepted by the Vedic literature. Just

in the Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a great list of incarnations, and Buddha, Lord

Buddha, is accepted as one of the incarnations who would appear. It is in future

tense. Kikatesu bhavisyati. Buddho namna anjana-sutah kikatesu bhavisyati. Now

bhavisyati means "He will appear in future." Because Srimad-Bhagavatam was

compiled by Vyasadeva five thousand years ago, and Lord Buddha appeared about

two-thousand-six-hundred years ago. Therefore before the appearance of Lord

Buddha the Srimad-Bhagavatam was written. This is called sastra. Because there

is accurate date and accurate calculation. Everything is there. Buddho namna

anjana-sutah kikatesu bhavisyati. The mother's name also given there,

anjana-suta. And kikatesu means Gayapradesh. In India there is a province

called Bihar. In that province there is a district Gaya. In that district Lord

Buddha appeared. Lord appeared in Bihar province.

 

 

SB 2.7.37 T Scheduled Incarnations with Specific Functions

deva-dvisam nigama-vartmani nisthitanam purbhir mayena

vihitabhir adrsya-turbhih lokan ghnatam mati-vimoham atipralobham

vesam vidhaya bahu bhasyata aupadharmyam

 

SYNONYMS

 

deva-dvisam--of those who were envious of the devotees of the Lord;

nigama--the Vedas; vartmani--on the path of; nisthitanam--of the well situated;

purbhih--by rockets; mayena--made by the great scientist Maya; vihitabhih--made

by; adrsya-turbhih--unseen in the sky; lokan--the different planets;

ghnatam--of the killers; mati-vimoham--bewilderment of the mind;

atipralobham--very attractive; vesam--dress; vidhaya--having done so; bahu

bhasyate--will talk very much; aupadharmyam--subreligious principles.

 

TRANSLATION

 

When the atheists, after being well versed in the Vedic scientific knowledge,

annihilate inhabitants of different planets, flying unseen in the sky on

well-built rockets prepared by the great scientist Maya, the Lord will bewilder

their minds by dressing Himself attractively as Buddha and will preach on

subreligious principles.

 

PURPORT

 

This incarnation of Lord Buddha is not the same Buddha incarnation we have in

the present history of mankind. According to Srila Jiva Gosvami, the Buddha

incarnation mentioned in this verse appeared in a different Kali age. In the

duration of life of one Manu there are more than seventy-two Kali-yugas, and in

one of them the particular type of Buddha mentioned here would appear. Lord

Buddha incarnates at a time when the people are most materialistic and preaches

common-sense religious principles. Such ahimsa is not a religious principle

itself, but it is an important quality for persons who are actually religious.

It is a common-sense religion because one is advised to do no harm to any other

animal or living being because such harmful actions are equally harmful to he

who does the harm. But before learning these principles of nonviolence one has

to learn two other principles, namely to be humble and to be prideless. Unless

one is humble and prideless, one cannot be harmless and nonviolent. And after

being nonviolent one has to learn tolerance and simplicity of living. One must

offer respects to the great religious preachers and spiritual leaders and also

train the senses for controlled action, learning to be unattached to family and

home, and enacting devotional service to the Lord, etc. At the ultimate stage

one has to accept the Lord and become His devotee; otherwise there is no

religion. In religious principles there must be God in the center; otherwise

simple moral instructions are merely subreligious principles, generally known

as upadharma, or nearness to religious principles.

 

SB 4.19.37 P King Prthu' s One Hundred Horse Sacrifices In two hands Lord

Visnu always carries a club and a cakra to kill demons, and in His other two

hands He holds a conchshell and a lotus to give protection to His devotees.

When His incarnation is present on this planet or in this universe, the Lord

kills the demons and protects His devotees simultaneously. Sometimes Lord Visnu

appears in His person as Lord Krsna or Lord Rama. All of these appearances are

mentioned in the sastras. Sometimes He appears as a saktyavesa-avatara like

Lord Buddha. As explained before, these saktyavesa-avataras are incarnations of

Visnu's power invested in a living entity. Living entities are also part and

parcel of Lord Visnu, but they are not as powerful; therefore when a living

entity descends as an incarnation of Visnu, he is especially empowered by the

Lord.

 

68-01-21. Letter: Janardana The marginal position of voidness between

Brahmajyoti and the material world manifestation is the destination of the

Buddhist philosophers. Therefore the voidness philosophy is worse than

Impersonalist philosophy. This voidness philosophy is simply nirvana, or

absence of material manifestation, but actually it is a material stand whereas

Impersonalist monism is transcendental to material manifestation and voidness.

Therefore the conception of Brahmajyoti is advanced realization than conception

of nirvana. Nobody can be satisfied in void or Impersonalist philosophy; they

are against the nature of the spirit soul. We understand from Vedanta

philosophy that the spirit soul is by nature joyful. There is no joy in

voidness or Impersonalism and because such imperfect philosophers do not know

of the association of Krishna which is full of bliss and knowledge, they will

fall down repeatedly into voidness and Impersonalism with the result that they

cannot stay there and they fall down to the material atmosphere. In

Bhagavad-gita it is said by the Lord that these people, void and Impersonalist

philosophers, are in great trouble. If they are fortunate enough to meet a pure

devotee of Krishna and if they are sincere in their search for the absolute

truth, they will find Krishna Consciousness as the last resort of their

philosophical researches. Try to help these bewildered philosophers by

presentation of your nice Krishna Consciousness thesis which you have prepared,

and I am sure Krishna will help you in all respects. Simply your sincerity of

service is required and He will dictate from within you how to make your

thesis. It will be a great service to the humanity, especially to the Western

world.

 

ys mahesh