Page 17 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava

the devotional service alone predominates. Then liberation is made possible. (SB 1.2.15
Purport)
The Mayavadi yogis and philosophers claim they can become one with God
by completely renouncing the material world and meditating on the spiritual
effulgence or Brahman. They attempt to annihilate their individual identity so
that they can merge into the impersonal Brahman thus becoming one with God.
To support their claims, they use an example of a bubble of air underwater that
appears to have an individual existence. But, when it reaches the surface of the
water, it bursts into the totality of air and loses its individual identity. They
maintain that the individuality of the bubble of air underwater is temporary
and illusory because when it reaches the surface it becomes one with the great
expanse of air. Similarly, the Mayavadis deny their own individuality as illusory
and meditate on the impersonal Brahman effulgence so that they can merge
into it. They may achieve this diffi cult goal for a period of time, but they will
certainly fall down to the material world as soon as they experience the slightest
desire. Their mistake is to believe they have achieved the highest pinnacle of
God realization. Whereas the truth is they only experience an aspect of God’s
existence which they mistakenly believe is devoid of any relationship to the
Personality of Godhead.
To clarify this misconception of the Mayavadi philosophers and yogis ,
Lord Brahma explains in the Srimad Bhagavatam, (Someone may say that aside
from devotees, who always seek the shelter at the Lord’s lotus feet there are those who are
not devotees but who have accepted the different processes for attaining salvation. What
happens to them? In answer to this question, Lord Brahma and the other demigods said:)
“O lotus eyed Lord, although non devotees who accept severe austerities and penances to
achieve the highest position (according to their imagination and speculation) may think
themselves liberated, their intelligence is impure. They fall down from their position of
imagined superiority because they have no regard for Your lotus feet.(SB 10.2.32) Without
a personal relationship with Lord Krishna, one cannot sustain themselves
eternally in the eternal Brahman effulgence.
The Mayavadis claim that everything in the material world is false including
the Krishna incarnation, His spiritual body and His pastimes. They go so far as
to say that to achieve liberation in the Brahman one must reject the individuality
of Krishna, Narayana or Rama. They purport that the Brahman effulgence is
the ultimate spiritual realization and destination. This is in direct contradiction
to Lord Krishna’s statement, “And I am the basis of the impersonal Brahman,
which is immortal. Imperishable and eternal and is the constitutional position of
ultimate happiness.” (Bg 14.27) Krishna is the source of the Brahman effulgence.
Above Brahman realization is the Paramatma stage of spiritual understanding
or seeing the presence of Krishna in the heart. And above Paramatma realization
is Bhagavan Lord Krishna and the entire spiritual world full of infi nite variety
including Vaikuntha where Lord Narayana is present, Lord Rama and Goloka
Vrindaban where Lord Krishna is present. In the Brahman effulgence there
is no perception of individuality. Therefore, there is no manifest devotional
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