Ādi-līlā, Chapter 7
29
tabe nija bhakta kaila yata mleccha ādi sabe eḍāila mātra kāśīra māyāvādī
SYNONYMS
tabe —thereafter;  nija —own;  bhakta —devotee;  kaila —converted;  yata —all;  mleccha —one who does not follow the Vedic principles;  ādi —heading the list;  sabe —all those;  eḍāila —escaped;  mātra —only;  kāśīra —of Vārāṇaśī;  māyāvādī —impersonalists.
TRANSLATION
All were converted into devotees of Lord Caitanya, even the mlecchas and yavanas. Only the impersonalist followers of Śaṅkarācārya evaded Him.
PURPORT
In this verse it is clearly indicated that although Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu converted Mohammedans and other  mlecchas  into devotees, the impersonalist followers of Śaṅkarācārya could not be converted. After accepting the renounced order of life, Caitanya Mahāprabhu converted many  karma-niṣṭhas  who were addicted to fruitive activities, many great logicians like Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya,  nindakas  (blasphemers) like Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī,  pāṣaṇḍīs  (nondevotees) like Jagāi and Mādhāi, and  adhama paḍuyās  (degraded students) like Mukunda and his friends. All of them gradually became devotees of the Lord, even the Pathans or Muslims, but the worst offenders, the impersonalists, were extremely difficult to convert, for they very tactfully escaped the devices of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
In describing the Kāśīra Māyāvādīs, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Thākura has explained that persons who are bewildered by empiric knowledge or direct sensual perception, and who thus consider that even this limited material world can be gauged by their material estimations, conclude that anything that one can discern by direct sense perception is but  māyā  or illusion. They maintain that although the Absolute Truth is beyond the range of sense perception, it includes no spiritual variety or enjoyment. According to the Kāśīra Māyāvādīs, the spiritual world is simply void. They do not believe in the Personality of the Absolute Truth nor in His varieties of activities in the spiritual world. Although they have their own arguments which are not very strong, they have no conception of the variegated activities of the Absolute Truth. These impersonalists, who are followers of Śaṅkarācārya, are generally known as Kāśīra Māyāvādīs.
Near Vārāṇaśī there is another group of impersonalists, who are known as Saranātha Māyāvādīs. Outside the city of Vārāṇaśī is a place known as Saranātha where there is a big Buddhist  stūpa . Many followers of Buddhist philosophy live there, and they are known as Saranātha Māyāvādīs. The impersonalists of Saranātha differ from those of Vārāṇaśī, for the Vārāṇaśī impersonalists propagate the idea that the impersonal Brahman is truth whereas material varieties are false, but the Saranātha impersonalists do not even believe that the Absolute Truth or Brahman can be understood as the opposite of  māyā  or illusion. According to their vision, materialism is the only manifestation of the Absolute Truth.