Text 116
“śuniyāchi gauḍa-deśera sannyāsī — ‘bhāvuka’
keśava-bhāratī-śiṣya, loka-pratāraka
śuniyāchi — I have heard; gauḍa-deśera sannyāsī — the sannyāsī from Bengal; bhāvuka — sentimental; keśava-bhāratī-śiṣya — disciple of Keśava Bhāratī; loka-pratāraka — a first-class pretender.
Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī said, “Yes, I have heard about Him. He is a sannyāsī from Bengal, and He is very sentimental. I have also heard that He belongs to the Bhāratī-sampradāya, for He is a disciple of Keśava Bhāratī. However, He is only a pretender.”
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was considered bhāvuka (sentimental) because He was always seen in the bhāva stage. That is, He always exhibited ecstatic love for Kṛṣṇa. However, foolish people considered Him sentimental. In the material world, so-called devotees sometimes exhibit emotional symptoms. Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s ecstatic love cannot be compared to the imitative emotional exhibitions of pretenders. Such exhibitions do not continue for very long. They are temporary. We actually see that some emotional imitators exhibit certain symptoms, but immediately after their exhibition, they are attracted to smoking and other things. In the beginning, when Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī heard of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s activities, he considered them to be those of a pretender. Consequently he called Him a loka-pratāraka, a pretender. Māyāvādīs cannot understand the transcendental symptoms exhibited by a devotee; therefore when such symptoms are manifest, the Māyāvādīs equate them with temporary emotional feelings. However, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī’s statement is offensive, and consequently he should be considered an atheist (pāṣaṇḍī). According to Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, since Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī was not engaged in the Lord’s devotional service, his sannyāsa is to be considered phalgu-vairāgya. This means that since he did not know how to use things for the Lord’s service, his renunciation of the world was artificial.