190
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta
[Ādi-lilā, Ch. 15]
TRANSLATION
“My dear mother and father,” the Lord said, “it is very good that Viśvarūpa has accepted the  sannyāsa  order, for thus He has delivered both His father’s family and His mother’s family.”
PURPORT
It is sometimes said that Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu did not approve of the acceptance of the  sannyāsa  order in this Kali-yuga because in the  śāstra  it is said:
aśvamedhaṁ gavālambhaṁ sannyāsaṁ pala-paitṛkam devareṇa sutotpattiṁ kalau pañca vivarjayet
“In this Kali-yuga the performance of the  aśvamedha-yajña  or  gomedha-yajña , sacrifices in which a horse or cow is offered, should be avoided, as should the acceptance of  sannyāsa , the renounced order of life.” ( Brahma-vaivarta Purāṇa, Kṛṣṇa-janma-khaṇḍa  185.180)
Nevertheless we see that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself accepted  sannyāsa  and approved of the  sannyāsa  of His elder brother, Viśvarūpa. It is clearly said here,  bhāla haila ,— viśvarūpa sannyāsa karila pitṛ-kula, mātṛ-kula ,— dui uddhārila . Therefore, should it be thought that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu made statements that are contradictory? No, actually He did not. It is recommended that one accept  sannyāsa  to dedicate his life for the service of the Lord, and everyone must take that kind of  sannyāsa , for by accepting such  sannyāsa  one renders the best service to both his paternal and maternal families. But one should not accept the  sannyāsa  order of the Māyāvāda school, which has practically no meaning. We find many Māyāvādī  sannyāsīs  simply loitering in the street thinking themselves Brahman or Nārāyaṇa and spending all day and night begging so they can fill their hungry bellies. Māyāvādī  sannyāsīs  have become so degraded that there is a section of them who eat everything, just like hogs and dogs. It is such degraded  sannyāsa  that is prohibited in this age. Actually, Śrīla Śaṅkarācārya’s principles for the acceptance of  sannyāsa  were very strict, but later the so-called Māyāvādī  sannyāsīs  became degraded because of their false philosophy, which propounds that by accepting  sannyāsa  one becomes Nārāyaṇa. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu rejected that kind of  sannyāsa . But the acceptance of  sannyāsa  is one of the items of the  varṇāśrama-dharma . How then can it be rejected?
TEXT 15
আমি তা করিব তোমা’ দু’হার সেকম । শুনিয়া সন্তুষ্ট হৈল পিতা-মাতার মন ॥ ১৫ ॥
āmi ta’ kariba tomā’ duṅhāra sevana śuniyā santuṣṭa haila pitā-mātāra mana