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Šri Caitanya-caritāmrta
[[Madhya-lilā Ch 17
Vatsa, Baka, Aghāsura and Dhenuka, Kālīya and Pralamba. Some people accept imitators and adversaries of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, such as Pauṇḍraka, Śṛgāla Vāsudeva, the spiritual master of the demons (Śukrācārya), or atheists like Cārvāka, King Vena, Sugata and Arhat. Such people have no faith in Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Rather, they accept godless cheaters who present themselves as incarnations of God and cheat foolish people within the material world by word jugglery. Thus many rascals are accepted as  mahāianas .
In this material world a person may be famous as a  karma-vīra , a successful fruitive worker, or one may be very successful in performing religious duties, or he may be known as a hero in mental speculation ( jñāna-vīra ), or he may be a very famous renunciant. In any case,  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (3.23.56) gives the following opinion in this matter.
neha yat karma dharmāya na virāgāya kalpate na tīrtha-pada-sevāyai jīvann api mrto hi saḥ
“Anyone whose work is not meant to elevate him to religious life, anyone whose religious ritualistic performances do not raise him to renunciation, and anyone situated in renunciation that does not lead him to devotional service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead must be considered dead, although he is breathing.”
The conclusion is that all pious activity, fruitive activity, religious principles and renunciation must ultimately lead to devotional service. There are different types of processes for rendering service. One may serve his country, people, society, the  varṇāśrama-dharma , the sick, the poor, the rich, women, demigods and so on. All this comes under the heading of sense gratification, or enjoyment in the material world. It is most unfortunate that people are more or less attracted by such material activity and that the leaders of these activities are accepted as  mahājanas , great ideal leaders. Actually they are only misleaders, but an ordinary man cannot understand how he is being misled.
Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says:  sādhu-śāstra-guru-vākya, cittete kariyā aikya.  A  sādhu  is a great personality like Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The  śāstras  are the injunctions of revealed scriptures. Those who are devoid of devotional service sometimes mistake those who have mundane motives for  mahājanas . The only motive must be  kṛṣṇa-bhakti , devotional service to the Lord. Sometimes fruitive workers, dry philosophers, nondevotees, mystic  yogīs  and persons attached to material opulence, women and money are considered  mahājanas . However,  Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam  (6.3.25) gives the following statements about such unauthorized  mahājanas :