BUDDHA ATHEIST?

TEXT 30
brahma ca brähmaëäàç caiva
yad yüyaà parinindatha
setuà vidhäraëaà puàsäm
ataù päñaëòam äçritäù
SYNONYMS
brahma—the Vedas; ca—and; brähmaëän—the brähmaëas; ca—and;
eva—certainly; yat—because; yüyam—you; parinindatha—blaspheme;
setum—Vedic principles; vidhäraëam—holding; puàsäm—of mankind;
ataù—therefore; päñaëòam—atheism; äçritäù—have taken shelter.
TRANSLATION
Bhågu Muni continued: Since you blaspheme the Vedas and the brähmaëas,
who are followers of the Vedic principles, it is understood that you have already
taken shelter of the doctrine of atheism.
PURPORT
Bhågu Muni, in cursing Nandéçvara, said that not only would they be
degraded as atheists because of this curse, but they had already fallen to the
standard of atheism because they had blasphemed the Vedas, which are the
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source of human civilization. Human civilization is based on the qualitative
divisions of social order, namely the intelligent class, the martial class, the
productive class and the laborer class. The Vedas provide the right direction
for advancing in spiritual cultivation and economic development and
regulating the principle of sense gratification, so that ultimately one may be
liberated from material contamination to his real state of spiritual
identification (ahaà brahmäsmi(1)). As long as one is in the contamination of
material existence, one changes bodies from the aquatics up to the position of
Brahmä, but the human form of life is the highest perfectional life in the
material world. The Vedas give directions by which to elevate oneself in the
next life. The Vedas are the mother for such instructions, and the brähmaëas,
or persons who are in knowledge of the Vedas, are the father. Thus if one
blasphemes the Vedas and brähmaëas, naturally one goes down to the status of
atheism. The exact word used in Sanskrit is nästika, which refers to one who
does not believe in the Vedas but manufactures some concocted system of
religion. Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu has said that the followers of the Buddhist
system of religion are nästikas. In order to establish his doctrine of
nonviolence, Lord Buddha flatly refused to believe in the Vedas, and thus,
later on, Çaìkaräcärya stopped this system of religion in India and forced it to
go outside India. Here it is stated, brahma ca brähmaëän. Brahma means the
Vedas. Ahaà brahmäsmi(2) means "I am in full knowledge." The Vedic
assertion is that one should think that he is Brahman, for actually he is
Brahman. If brahma, or the Vedic spiritual science, is condemned, and the
masters of the spiritual science, the brähmaëas, are condemned, then where
does human civilization stand? Bhågu Muni said, "It is not due to my cursing
that you shall become atheists; you are already situated in the principle of
atheism. Therefore you are condemned."