Text 72] The Lord’s Attempt to Go to Vrndavana 195
temple Deity to be made of stone, wood or gold. All of these are impediments.
The Deity in the temple is not material—He is the Supreme Personality of God-
head Himself. Similarly, considering the spiritual master an ordinary human being
(gurusu nara-matih) is also an impediment. Nor should one consider a Vaisnava a
member of a particular caste or nation. Nor should a Vaisnava be considered ma-
terial. Caranamrta should not be considered ordinary drinking water, and the holy
name of the Lord should not be considered an ordinary sound vibration. Nor
should one look on Lord Krsna as an ordinary human being, for He is the origin of
all visnu-tattvas; nor should one regard the Supreme Lord as a demigod. Intermin-
gling the spiritual with the material causes one to look on transcendence as ma-
terial and the mundane as spiritual. This is all due to a poor fund of knowledge.
One should not consider Lord Visnu and things related to him as being different.
All this is offensive.

In the Bhakti-sandarbha (265), Stila Jiva Gosvami writes: namaikam yasya vaci
smarana-patha-gatam ityadau deha-dravinadi-nimittaka-‘pasanda’-sabdena ca
dasa aparadha laksyante, pasandamayatvat tesam.

The Mayavadis look on Visnu and Vaisnavas imperfectly due to their poor fund
of knowledge, and this is condemned. In Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.2.46), the inter-
mediate Vaisnava is described as follows:

isvare tad-adhinesu
balisesu dvisatsu ca
prema-maitri-krpopeksa
yah karoti sa madhyamah
“The intermediate Vaisnava has to love God, make friends with the devotees, in-
struct the innocent and reject jealous people.” These are the four functions of the
Vaisnava in the intermediate stage. In Caitanya-caritamrta (Madhya 22.64) Sri
Sanatana Gosvami is taught:
sraddhavan jana haya bhakti-adhikari
‘uttama’, ‘madhyama’, ‘kanistha’——sraddha-anusari
“One who is faithful is a proper candidate for devotional service. In terms of one's
degree of faith in devotional service, one is a first-class, second-class or neophyte
Vaisnava.”
sastra-yukti nahi jane drdha, sraddhavan
‘madhyama-adhikdari’ sei maha-bhagyavan
“One who has attained the intermediate stage is not very advanced in Sastric
knowledge, but he has firm faith in the Lord. Such a person is very fortunate to be
situated on the intermediate platform.” (Cc. Madhya 22.67)
