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Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta
[Madhya-līlā, Ch. 15]
spiritual master, appeared in order to eradicate all the sins of his disciples. To this end, Lord Jesus Christ appeared and disappeared. Here, however, we find Śrī Vāsudeva Datta Thākura and Śrīla Haridāsa Thākura to be many millions of times more advanced even when compared to Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ relieved only his followers from all sinful reactions, but Vāsudeva Datta is here prepared to accept the sins of everyone in the universe. A Vaiṣṇava is so liberal that he is prepared to risk everything to rescue conditioned souls from material existence. Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta Thākura is universal love itself, for he was willing to sacrifice everything and fully engage in the service of the Supreme.
Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta knew very well that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was the original Personality of Godhead. He was transcendence itself, above the material conception of illusion and  māyā . Lord Jesus Christ certainly finished the sinful reactions of his followers by his mercy, but that does not mean that he completely delivered them from the pangs of material existence. A person may be relieved from sins once, but it is a practice among Christians to confess sins and yet commit them again. By getting freed from sins and again engaging in them, one cannot attain freedom from the pangs of material existence. A diseased person may go to a physician for relief, but after he leaves the hospital he may again be infected due to his unclean habits. Thus material existence continues. Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta wanted to completely relieve the conditioned souls from material existence so that they would no longer have an opportunity to commit sinful acts. This is the difference between Śrīla Vāsudeva Datta and Lord Jesus Christ. It is a great offense to receive pardon for sins and then commit the same sins again. Such an offense is more dangerous than the sinful activity itself. Vāsudeva Datta was so liberal that he requested Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu to transfer all offensive activity upon him so the conditioned souls might be purified. This prayer was certainly without duplicity.
Vāsudeva Datta's example is unique not only within this world but within the universe. It is beyond the conception of fruitive actors or the speculation of mundane philosophers. Due to being illusioned by the external energy and due to a poor fund of knowledge, people tend to envy one another. Because of this they are entangled in fruitive activity, and they try to escape this fruitive activity by mental speculation. Consequently neither  karmīs  nor  jñānīs  are purified. In the words of Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Thākura, they are  kukarmīs  and  kujñānīs —bad actors and bad speculators. The Māyāvādīs and  karmīs  should therefore turn their attention to the magnanimous Vāsudeva Datta, who wanted to suffer for others in a hellish condition. Nor should one consider Vāsudeva Datta a mundane philanthropist or welfare worker. He was not interested in merging into the Brahman effulgence, nor was he interested in material honor or reputation. He was far above philanthropists, philosophers and fruitive actors. He was a most exalted personality who wanted to show mercy upon conditioned souls. This is not an exaggeration of his transcendental qualities. It is perfectly true. Actually there can-