Page 69 - History of Tirupathi Balaji and comparison of Sri Vaishnava

of Venkata Bhatta, but just to make him happy again, He spoke as follows.

CC Madhya 9.152 — The Lord pacifi ed Venkata Bhatta by saying, “Actually whatever
I have said is by way of jest. Now you can hear from Me the conclusion of the Sastras, in
which every Vaisnava devotee has fi rm faith.

CC Madhya 9.153 — There is no difference between Lord Krsna and Lord Narayana,
for They are of the same form. Similarly, there is no difference between the gopis and the
goddess of fortune, for they also are of the same form.

CC Madhya 9.154 — The goddess of fortune enjoys the association of Krsna through
the gopis. One should not differentiate between the forms of the Lord, for such a conception
is offensive.

CC Madhya 9.155 — There is no difference between the transcendental forms of the
Lord. Different forms are manifested due to different attachments of different devotees.
Actually the Lord is one, but He appears in different forms just to satisfy His devotees.

((In the Brahma-samhita (5.33) it is stated:
advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam / adyam purana-purusam nava-
yauvanam ca

The Lord is advaita, without differentiation. There is no difference between the forms
of Krsna, Rama, Narayana and Visnu. All of Them are one. Sometimes foolish people ask
whether when we chant “Rama” in the Hare Krsna mantra we refer to Lord Ramacandra
or Lord Balarama. If a devotee says that the name Rama in the Hare Krsna maha-mantra
refers to Balarama, a foolish person may become angry because to him the name Rama
refers to Lord Ramacandra. Actually there is no difference between Balarama and Lord
Rama. It does not matter whether one refers to Balarama or to Lord Ramacandra when
chanting Hare Rama, for there is no difference between Them. However, it is offensive to
think that Balarama is superior to Lord Ramacandra or vice versa. Neophyte devotees
do not understand this Sastric conclusion, and consequently they unnecessarily create an
offensive situation. In text 154 Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu clarifi ed this in a very lucid
way: iSvaratve bheda manile haya aparadha. “It is offensive for one to differentiate between
the forms of the Lord.” On the other hand, one should not think that the forms of the Lord
are the same as the forms of the demigods. This is certainly offensive, as confi rmed by the
Vaisnava-tantra:
yas tu narayanam devam brahma-rudradi-daivataih
samatvenaiva vikseta sa pasandi bhaved dhruvam

“A pasandi is one who considers the great demigods such as Lord Brahma and Lord Siva
equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Narayana.” (Hari-bhakti-vilasa 7.117)

The conclusion is that we should neither differentiate between the forms of the Lord nor
equate the forms of the Lord with the forms of demigods or human beings. For instance,
sometimes foolish sannyasis, thinking the body of the Lord to be material, equate daridra-
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