Text 61
Lord Caitanya at the House of Advaita Acarya
२४३
fixed in firm devotion to the Lord, Paramātmā, the Supreme Personality of Godhead”
PURPORT
In connection with this verse, which is a quotation from  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (11.23.58), Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura says that of the sixty-four items required for rendering devotional service, acceptance of the symbolic marks of  sannyāsa  is a regulative principle. If one accepts the  sannyāsa  order, his main business is to devote his life completely to the service of Mukunda, Kṛṣṇa. If one does not completely devote his mind and body to the service of the Lord, he does not actually become a  sannyāsī . It is not simply a matter of changing dress. In  Bhagavad-gītā  (6.1) it is also stated,  anāśritaḥ karma-phalaṁ kāryaṁ karma karoti yaḥ/sa sannyāsī ca yogī ca : one who works devotedly for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa is a  sannyāsī . The dress is not  sannyāsa , but the attitude of service to Kṛṣṇa is.
The word  parātma-niṣṭhā  means being a devotee of Lord Kṛṣṇa.  Parātmā , the Supreme Person, is Kṛṣṇa.  Īśvaraḥ paramaḥ kṛṣṇaḥ sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ . Those who are completely dedicated to the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa in service are actually  sannyāsīs . As a matter of formality, the devotee accepts the  sannyāsa  dress as previous  ācāryas  did. He also accepts the three  daṇḍas . Later Viṣṇusvāmī considered that accepting the dress of a  tri-daṇḍi  was  parātma-niṣṭhā . Therefore sincere devotees add another  daṇḍa , the  jīva-daṇḍa , to the three existing  daṇḍas . The Vaiṣṇava  sannyāsī  is known as a  tridaṇḍi-sannyāsī . The Māyāvādī  sannyāsī  accepts only one  daṇḍa , not understanding the purpose of  tri-daṇḍa . Later, many persons in the community of Śiva Svāmī gave up the  ātma-niṣṭhā  (devotional service) of the Lord and followed the path of Śaṅkarācārya. Instead of accepting 108 names, those in the Śiva Svāmī-sampradāya follow the path of Śaṅkarācārya and accept the ten names of  sannyāsa . Although Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu accepted the then-existing order of  sannyāsa  (namely  eka-daṇḍa ), He still recited a verse from  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  about the  tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa  accepted by the  brāhmaṇa  of Avantīpura. Indirectly He declared that within that  eka-daṇḍa , one  daṇḍa , four  daṇḍas  existed as one. Accepting  ekadaṇḍa-sannyāsa  without  parātma-niṣṭhā  (devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa) is not acceptable to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. In addition, according to the exact regulative principles, one should add the  jīva-daṇḍa  to the  tri-daṇḍa . These four  daṇḍas , bound together as one, are symbolic of unalloyed devotional service to the Lord. Because the  ekadaṇḍi-sannyāsīs  of the Māyāvāda school are not devoted to the service of Kṛṣṇa, they try to merge into the Brahman effulgence, which is a marginal position between material and spiritual existence. They accept