Śaṅkarācārya, from whom we differ in philosophical discussion . . . not very much different—so far the procedure is concerned, the regulative principles are concerned, they are all the same. The only difference is that Śaṅkarācārya's sampradāya, they take the ultimate Absolute Truth as impersonal, and we Vaiṣṇava, we take the Absolute Truth as person. But Śaṅkarācārya, in his later stage, he also admitted in a different way. He said in his last prayer to the Supreme Personality of Godhead:
- bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate
- samprāpte sannihite kāle marane na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ-karaṇe
- (Śaṅkarācārya)
So he said to his disciples, "You foolish, mūḍha-mate . . ." mūḍha-mate means "you rascals and fools"—"you just take to Govinda. You just worship Govinda, personal Govinda." Bhaja govindam, three times. Three times means he is giving stress. Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate: three times. Prāpte sannihite kāle marane: "When your death will be near, at the point of your death," na hi na hi rakṣati ḍukṛñ-karaṇe.
Ḍukṛñ-karaṇe means a grammatical jugglery that, "This word should be interpreted like this. This word should be interpreted like this." So, "This fight of interpretation will not save you. Better from the very beginning you worship Govinda. That will save you." This is his instruction. Bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ bhaja govindaṁ mūḍha-mate.
And so far we are concerned, Vaiṣṇavas, we all accept govinda ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi, Govinda, the Supreme Person, the original Personality Godhead, govindam.
- īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ
- sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ
- anādir ādir govindaḥ
- sarva-kāraṇa-kāraṇam
- (Bs. 5.1)
The summum . . . the cause of all causes, the supreme controller, is Kṛṣṇa. And that Kṛṣṇa consciousness we are presenting all over the world. And this Hanumān Gosvāmī has given me the credit that I am representing Kṛṣṇa.