Prabhupāda: . . . herein the explanation of Vedānta-sūtra from Caitanya Mahāprabhu (to) the Māyāvādī sannyāsī of Benares. There are two kinds of Māyāvādī. The word Māyāvādī is very significant. I saw yesterday in your iṣṭagoṣṭhī you have tried to understand what is this Māyāvāda. Māyāvādī means materialist.
Māyā: this matter, the external energy, the inferior energy; and those who want to stick to this inferior energy, never mind what class of philosopher, what section of philosopher they belong, if their idea is only within the boundary of this material energy, they are called Māyāvādī. They have no information of the spiritual energy. They are called Māyāvādī.
So chiefly the impersonalist and the void philosophers, they are called Māyāvādī, because they have no other information. They want to simply negate, nullify, but they have no positive information, they are called Māyāvādī. So the Śaṅkarites . . . Śaṅkarites, of course, they give positive information: brahma satya jagan mithyā. They say that this world is false and Brahman is reality.
But because we want reality in variety, therefore impersonal philosophy, although we take it as a matter of sectarian philosophy, it does not appeal to the heart, because by nature we want enjoyment. And whenever there is question of enjoyment, there must be variety. Variety is the mother of enjoyment.
So philosophically or theoretically, we may accept voidness, negation, out of frustration. When we are frustrated in these material varieties we adopt the suicidal policy, "Let me commit suicide, finish." This is called Māyāvāda. Actual spiritual variegatedness, unless one is informed about it and one is situated in spiritual varieties, there is no satisfaction.
So the Māyāvādī philosophers of Benares, after hearing the explanation of Vedānta-sūtra from Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they were very much satisfied. Sei haite sannyāsīra phiri gela mana (CC Adi 7.149). Their mind turned. "Oh, this is the real explanation." Kṛṣṇa—kṛṣṇa nāma sadā karaye grahaṇa. Now they also began to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
- eimate tāṅ-sabāra kṣami' aparādha
- sabākāre kṛṣṇa-nāma karilā prasāda
- (CC Adi 7.150)
Caitanya Mahāprabhu excused all these offenders. Anyone who is godless, he is offender. So when they chanted "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa" and accepted the Vedānta philosophy according to the explanation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He excused them. That is the significance of Lord Caitanya. He is very merciful. He excuses. Without excuse, how He can deliver the fallen souls of this age?
Their condition is very precarious. Their duration of life is very small, and they are not very intelligent—very slow to understand their importance of spiritual life. And even they are little advanced, they are under the clutches of so many so-called bogus societies. So therefore their condition is very precarious and . . . so there is no other alternative than to excuse them. Caitanya Mahāprabhu excused them.
- tabe saba sannyāsī mahāprabhuke laiyā
- bhikṣā karilena sabhe, madhye vasāiyā
- (CC Adi 7.151)
Then all the sannyāsins, placing Caitanya Mahāprabhu in the middle . . . according to Indian system of dining—you are accustomed—they sit in a line. And Caitanya Mahāprabhu was requested to sit in the middle, and thus they took prasādam.
- tabe saba sannyāsī mahāprabhuke laiyā
- bhikṣā karilena sabhe, madhye vasāiyā
- (CC Adi 7.151)
- bhikṣā kari' mahāprabhu āilā vāsāghara
- hena citra-līlā kare gaurāṅga-sundara
- (CC Adi 7.152)
So after taking prasādam, He came back to His place. And for Him it was a great victory that He conquered the mind of the Māyāvādī sannyāsin by explanation of Vedānta-sūtra. So His . . . I mean to say, friend, Candraśekhara . . . Candraśekhara and Tapana Miśra and Sanātana Gosvāmī, they were very much pleased.
Caitanya Mahāprabhu had only three or four followers at Benares. Of course, when He was on the street, hundreds and thousands of people gathered round Him. But actually, in His residence there were three, four followers only: Tapana Miśra, Candraśekhara Ācārya, Sanātana Gosvāmī and one Maharastrian brahmin. They were very much pleased, naturally. Their Lord was victorious in that great assembly of sannyāsī, and naturally, they were very much pleased.