LORD CHAITANYA & CONVERSION OF PRAKASHANANDA SARASWATI
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| Lord Chaitanya |
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| Lord Chaitanya in Sankirtana |
At that time (during the year 1515) Vārāṇasī was headed by a great sannyāsī of the Māyāvāda school named Śrīpāda Prakāshananda Sarasvatī. When the Lord was at Vārāṇasī, the people in general became more attracted to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu on account of His mass sańkīrtana movement. Wherever He visited, especially the Vishvanātha temple, thousands of pilgrims would follow Him. Some were attracted by His bodily features, and others were attracted by His melodious songs glorifying the Lord.
The Māyāvādī sannyāsīs designate themselves as Nārāyaṇa or Brahman. Some people who saw the Lord in His sańkīrtana party considered Him to be actually Nārāyaṇa, and this report reached to the great sannyāsī Prakāśānanda. When the news of the Lord reached Prakāśānanda he knew that the Lord was a Vaiṣṇava sannyāsī, and therefore he minimized the value of the Lord before those who brought him the news. He deprecated the activities of the Lord because of His preaching the sańkīrtana movement, which was in his opinion nothing but religious sentiment. Prakāśānanda was a profound student of the Vedānta, and he advised his followers to give attention to the Vedānta and not to indulge in sańkīrtana.
(Vedanta: means "the purpose or goal [end] of the Vedas". The Vedānta-sūtra are known by a variety of names, including (1) Brahma-sūtra, (2) Śārīraka, (3) Vyāsa-sūtra, (4) Bādarāyaṇa-sūtra, (5) Uttara-mīmāṁsā and (6) Vedānta-darśana. There are 555 sutras in Brahma-sutra like अथातो ब्रह्मजिज्ञासा । ब्रसू-१,१.१ । जन्माद्यस्य यतः । ब्रसू-१,१.२ । )
Another commentary is written by Sri Ramanuja. He propounded Vishishtadvaita philosophy which says that the jīvātman is a part of Brahman, and hence is similar, but not identical. The main difference from Advaita is that in Visishtadvaita, the Brahman is asserted to have attributes (Saguna brahman). This school propounds Bhakti or devotion to God visualized as Vishnu to be the path to liberation.
Dvaita Vada was propounded by Madhwāchārya. It is also referred to as tatvavādā. It identifies God with Brahman completely, and in turn with Vishnu or Krishna. It regards Brahman, all individual souls (jīvātmans) and matter as eternal and mutually separate entities. This school also advocates Bhakti as the route to sattvic liberation.)
One devotee brāhmaṇa, who became a devotee of the Lord, did not like the criticism of Prakāśānanda, and he went to the Lord to express his regrets. He told the Lord that when he uttered the Lord's name before the sannyāsī Prakāśānanda, the latter strongly criticized the Lord. After this, a great meeting was arranged by the devotees of the Lord in which all the sannyāsīs were invited, including the Lord and Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī. In this meeting both the scholars (the Lord and Prakāśānanda) had a long discourse on the spiritual values of the sańkīrtana movement, and a summary is given below.
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| Meeting between Chaitanya Mahaprabhu & Prakashananda Saraswati |
The great Māyāvādī sannyāsī Prakāśānanda inquired from the Lord as to the reason for His preferring the sańkīrtana movement than the the study of the Vedānta-sūtra. Prakāśānanda said that it is the duty of a sannyāsī to read the Vedānta-sūtra. What caused the Lord to indulge in sańkīrtana? After this inquiry, the Lord submissively replied: "I have taken to the sańkīrtana movement instead of the study of Vedānta because I am a great fool." The Lord thus represented Himself as one of the numberless fools of this age who are absolutely incapable of studying the Vedānta philosophy. The fools' indulgence in the study of Vedānta has caused so much havoc in society. The Lord thus continued: "And because I am a great fool, My spiritual master forbade Me to play with Vedānta philosophy. He said that it is better that I chant the holy name of the Lord, for that would deliver Me from material bondage.
"In this age of Kali there is no other religion but the glorification of the Lord by utterance of His holy name, and that is the injunction of all the revealed scriptures. And My spiritual master has taught Me one shloka [from the Bṛhan-nāradīya Purāṇa(बृहद -नारदीय पुराण)]:
harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā. [Adi 17.21]
हरेर नाम हरेर नाम हरेर नामैव केवलम
कलौ नास्त्येव नास्त्येव नास्त्येव गतिर अन्यथा
“In this Age of Kali there is no other means, no other means, no other means for self-realization than chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name, chanting the holy name of Lord Hari.’
"So on the order of My spiritual master, I chant the holy name of Hari, and I am now mad after this holy name. Whenever I utter the holy name I forget Myself completely, and sometimes I laugh, cry and dance like a madman and therefore I asked My spiritual master about it. He informed Me that this was the real effect of chanting the holy name, which produces a transcendental emotion that is a rare manifestation. It is the sign of love of God, which is the ultimate goal of life.
On hearing this statement from the Lord, the Māyāvādī sannyāsī asked the Lord what was the harm in studying the Vedānta along with chanting the holy name. Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī knew well that the Lord was formerly known as Nimāi Paṇḍita, a very learned scholar of Navadvīpa, and His posing as a great fool was certainly to some purpose. Hearing this inquiry by the sannyāsī, the Lord smiled and said: "Vedānta-sūtra consists of transcendental words or sounds uttered by the transcendental Personality of Godhead. The message of the Upaniṣads is expressed in the Vedānta-sūtra, and what is said there directly is certainly glorified. Whatever interpretations have been given by Sripad Śańkarācārya have no direct bearing on the sūtra, and therefore such commentation spoils everything.
"The word Brahman indicates the greatest of all, which is full with transcendental opulences, superior to all. Brahman is ultimately the Personality of Godhead, and He is covered by indirect interpretations and established as impersonal (Nirakar निराकार ). Everything that is in the spiritual world is full of transcendental bliss, including the form, body, place and paraphernalia of the Lord. Anyone who accepts the transcendental body of the Personality of Godhead as something mundane certainly commits the greatest blasphemy."
The Lord thus spoke to the sannyāsī almost in the same way that He spoke to the Bhaṭṭācārya of Purī, and by forceful arguments He nullified the Māyāvāda interpretations of the Vedānta-sūtra. All the sannyāsīs there claimed that the Lord was the personified Vedas and the Personality of Godhead. All the sannyāsīs were converted to the cult of bhakti, all of them accepted the holy name of the Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, and they dined together with the Lord in the midst of them. After this conversion of the sannyāsīs, the popularity of the Lord increased at Vārāṇasī, and thousands of people assembled to see the Lord in person. The Lord thus established the primary importance of Śrīmad-Bhāgavata-dharma, and He defeated all other systems of spiritual realization. After that everyone at Vārāṇasī was overwhelmed with the transcendental sańkīrtana movement.
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