362
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta
[Ādi-lilā, Ch. 17]
eta śuni' tā'-sabhāre ghare pāṭhāila hena-kāle pāṣaṇḍī hindu pāṅca-sāta āila
SYNONYMS
eta śuni' —after hearing all this;  tā'-sabhāre —all of them;  ghare —back home;  pāṭhāila —sent;  hena-kāle —at that time;  pāṣaṇḍī —nonbeliever;  hindu —Hindus;  pāṅca-sāta —five or seven;  āila —came.
TRANSLATION
“After hearing all this, I sent all the mecchas back to their homes. Five or seven nonbeliving Hindus then approached me.
PURPORT
The word  pāṣaṇḍī  refers to nonbelievers engaged in fruitive activities and idolatrous worshipers of many demigods.  Pāṣaṇḍīs  do not believe in one God, the Supreme Personality, Lord Viṣṇu; they think that all the demigods have the same potency as Him. The definition of a  pāṣaṇḍī  is given in the  tantra-śāstra :
yas tu nārāyaṇaṁ devaṁ brahma-rudrādi-daivataiḥ samatvenaiva vīkṣeta sa pāṣaṇḍī bhaved dhruvam
“A  pāṣaṇḍī  is one who considers the great demigods such as Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva equal to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Nārāyaṇa.” ( Hari-bhakti-vilāsa , 1.73)
The Supreme Personality of Godhead is  asamaurdhva ; in other words, no one can be equal to or greater than Him. But  pāṣaṇḍīs  do not believe this. They worship any kind of demigod, thinking it all right to accept whomever they please as the Supreme Lord. The  pāṣaṇḍīs  were against the Hare Kṛṣṇa movement of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and now we see practically that they also do not like our humble attempts to spread Kṛṣṇa consciousness all over the world. On the contrary, these  pāṣaṇḍīs  say that we are spoiling the Hindu religion because people all over the world are accepting Lord Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead according to the version of  Bhagavad-gītā As It Is . The  pāṣaṇḍīs  condemn this movement, and sometimes they accuse Vaiṣṇavas from foreign countries of being not bona fide. Even so-called Vaiṣṇavas or followers of the Vaiṣṇava cult do not agree with our activities in making Vaiṣṇavas in the western countries. Such  pāṣaṇḍīs  existed even during the time of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, and they still continue to exist. Despite all the activities of these  pāṣaṇḍīs , however, the prediction of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu will triumph:  pṛthivite āche yata nagarādi grāma/ sarvatra pracāra haibe mora nāma . “In every town and village, the chanting of My name will be heard.” No one can check the spread of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement because upon this movement is the benediction of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu.