Sri Caitanya Caritamrta Adi-lila Chapter 17 Verse 169

Ādi-līlā | Chapter 17: The Pastimes of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu in His Youth

Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Ādi 17.169

tumi ye kahile, paṇḍita, sei satya haya

ādhunika āmāra śāstra, vicāra-saha naya

SYNONYMS

tumi — You; ye — whatever; kahile — have said; paṇḍita — O Nimāi Paṇḍita; sei — that; satya — truth; haya — is certainly; ādhunika — of modern days; āmāra — our; śāstra — scripture; vicāra — logic; saha — with; naya — they are not.

TRANSLATION

"My dear Nimāi Paṇḍita, what You have said is all true. Our scriptures have developed only recently, and they are certainly not logical and philosophical.

PURPORT

The śāstras of the yavanas, or meat-eaters, are not eternal scriptures. They have been fashioned recently, and sometimes they contradict one another. The scriptures of the yavanas are three: the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran. Their compilation has a history; they are not eternal like the Vedic knowledge. Therefore although they have their arguments and reasonings, they are not very sound and transcendental. As such, modern people advanced in science and philosophy deem these scriptures unacceptable.

Sometimes Christian priests come to us inquiring, "Why are our followers neglecting our scriptures and accepting yours?" But when we ask them, "Your Bible says, 'Do not kill.' Why then are you killing so many animals daily?" they cannot answer. Some of them imperfectly answer that the animals have no souls. But then we ask them, "How do you know that animals have no souls? Animals and children are of the same nature. Does this mean that the children of human society also have no souls?" According to the Vedic scriptures, within the body is the owner of the body, the soul. In the Bhagavad-gītā (2.13) it is said:

dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraḿ yauvanaḿ jarā

tathā dehāntara-prāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati

"As the embodied soul continuously passes, in this body, from boyhood to youth to old age, the soul similarly passes into another body at death. The self-realized soul is not bewildered by such a change."

Because the soul is within the body, the body changes through so many forms. There is a soul within the body of every living creature, whether animal, tree, bird or human being, and the soul is transmigrating from one type of body to another. When the scriptures of the yavanas — namely the Old Testament, New Testament and Koran — cannot properly answer inquisitive followers, naturally those advanced in scientific knowledge and philosophy lose faith in such scriptures. The Kazi admitted this while talking with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The Kazi was a very intelligent person. He had full knowledge of his position, as stated in the following verse.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness