770625 - Letter to Subbaraidu from Tamal Krsna

June 25th, 1977

From: Tamal Krishna

Sri B.V. Subbaraidu,

Stuart Peta

Pitha Puram

Dear Mr. Subbaraidu,

I have been instructed by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to reply your letter dated 19th June, 1977.

Sankaracarya is actually an incarnation of Lord Siva. This fact as well as the purpose for his advent in the Kali-yuga is stated in the Padma Purana:

mayavadam asac-chastram pracchannam bauddham ucyate

mayaiva kalpitam devi kalau brahmana-rupina

brahmanas caparam rupam nirgunam vaksyate maya

sarvasvam jagato ‘py asya mohanartham kalau yuge

vedanto tu maha-sastre mayavadam avaidikam

mayaiva vaksyate devi jagatam nasa-karanat

“The Mayavadi philosophy, Lord Siva informed his wife Parvati, is impious (asac-chastra). It is covered Buddhism.My dear Parvati, in the form of a brahmana in Kali-yuga, I teach this imagined Mayavada philosophy. In order to cheat the atheists, I describe the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be without form and without qualities. Similarly, in explaining Vedanta I describe the same Mayavada philosophy in order to mislead the entire population toward atheism by denying the personal form of the Lord. (Padma Purana)

dvaparadau yuge bhutva kalaya manasadisu

svaganaih kalpitais tvam ca janan mad-vimukhan kuru

“In Kali-yuga, I mislead the people in general by propounding imaginary meanings for the Vedas to bewilder them.” (Siva Purana)

srnu devi pravaksyami tamasani yathakramam

yesam sravana-matrena patityam jnaninam api

apartham sruti-vakyanam darsayal loka-garhitam

karma-svarupa-tyajyatvam atra ca pratipadyate

sarva-karma-paribhramsan naiskarmyam tatra oocyate

paratma-jivayor aikyam mayatra pratipadyate

“My dear wife, hear my explanation of how I have spread ignorance through Mayavada philosophy. Simply by hearing it even an advanced scholar will fall down. In this philosophy which is certainly very inauspicious for people in general, I have misrepresented the real meaning of the Vedas and recommended that one give up all activities in order to achieve freedom from karma. In this Mayavada philosophy I have described the jivatma and Paramatma to be one and the same.” (Lord Siva, Padma-Purana)

Lord Siva is known as the param Vaisnava. He is the topmost personalist, and so is Sankaracarya, except that he covered himself in order to deceive the atheists in this age. This is the conclusion of the authorized sastras.

Yours sincerely,

Tamal Krsna Gosvami

Secretary to His Divine Grace

A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada