Text 71
prabhu kahe — śuna, śrīpāda, ihāra kāraṇa
guru more mūrkha dekhi’ karila śāsana
prabhu kahe — the Lord replied; śuna — kindly hear; śrīpāda — Your Holiness; ihāra — of this; kāraṇa — reason; guru — My spiritual master; more — Me; mūrkha — fool; dekhi’ — understanding; karila — he did; śāsana — chastisement.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu replied to Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, “My dear sir, kindly hear the reason. My spiritual master considered Me a fool, and therefore he chastised Me.
When Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī inquired from Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu why He neither studied Vedānta nor performed meditation, Lord Caitanya presented Himself as a number one fool in order to indicate that the present age, Kali-yuga, is an age of fools and rascals in which it is not possible to obtain perfection simply by reading Vedānta philosophy and meditating. The śāstras strongly recommend:
harer nāma harer nāma harer nāmaiva kevalam
kalau nāsty eva nāsty eva nāsty eva gatir anyathā
“In this age of quarrel and hypocrisy the only means of deliverance is the chanting of the holy names of the Lord. There is no other way. There is no other way. There is no other way.” People in general in Kali-yuga are so fallen that it is not possible for them to obtain perfection simply by studying the Vedānta-sūtra. One should therefore seriously take to the constant chanting of the holy name of the Lord.