Indian guest or devotee: "Although the Gosvāmīs were very aristocratic, they became mendicant just to deliver the fallen souls according to the order of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu." (Gaura-Govinda translates)
Prabhupāda: About Gosvāmīs, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, he has written, tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. (child talking) (aside:) Please take out. Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīm. They were ministers. Naturally their associates were very, very big zamindars and rich men, aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīm. Maṇḍala-pati means leaders—social, political. So, gave up their company. Explain. Why? (Gaura-Govinda translates) Tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. Dīna-gaṇeśakau, the poor mass of people. We are thinking that we are advancing, but actually we are becoming poverty-stricken. So this very word is used, dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā.
So this time is always. Unless the social leaders, the leaders of the society, they take care of the mass of people to educate them, dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā, if they do not become compassionate to the poor mass of people, who will deliver them? They are poor because they have no spiritual conception of life. So that situation is always existing; therefore it is the duty of the leaders of the society, especially of the brāhmaṇas and kṣatriyas, to take sannyāsa and preach Kṛṣṇa consciousness to the mass of people. Dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau. Now we have got experience that many big, big leaders in political field—we have seen this noncooperation movement—they also took sannyāsa practically. But they could not live long because they could not tolerate the position of renouncement. But about the Gosvāmīs it is said,
- tyaktvā tūrṇam aśeṣa-maṇḍala-pati-śreṇīṁ sadā tuccha-vat
- bhūtvā dīna-gaṇeśakau karuṇayā kaupīna-kanthāśritau
- gopī-bhāva-rasāmṛtābdhi-laharī-kallola-magnau muhur
- vande rūpa-sanātanau raghu-yugau . . .
There must be engagement, proper engagement. If the engagement is not Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then this so-called sannyāsa will be failure. Practically in Calcutta there was a big barrister, C. R. Das, he renounced everything, but he could not live long. Very shortly he died. (break) . . .was their position.
So sannyāsa means to renounce for the Supreme, sannyāsa. Sat-nyāsa. If one takes to Kṛṣṇa consciousness and if he renounces family life and preaches Kṛṣṇa consciousness, then he will be happy, and the persons amongst whom he will preach, they will be happy. We have seen practically, many, many big, big sannyāsīs, they gave up this world—brahma satya jagan mithyā: "This world is mithyā. Let me take sannyāsa." But unfortunately, they could not stand in that position. After few years they come down again in social work, in political work. That means they could not understand what is Brahman.