7.41
sannyasi ha-iya kare gayana, nacana
na kare vedanta-patha, kare sankirtana
SYNONYMS
sannyasi—a person in the renounced order of life; ha-iya—accepting such a position; kare—does; gayana—singing; nacana—dancing; na kare—does not practice; vedanta-patha—study of the Vedanta philosophy; kare sankirtana—but simply engages in sankirtana "Although a sannyasi, He does not take interest in the study of Vedanta but instead always engages in chanting and dancing in sankirtana.
PURPORT
Fortunately or unfortunately, we also meet such Mayavadis who criticize our method of chanting and accuse us of not being interested in study.
They do not know that we have translated volumes and volumes of books into English and that the students in our temples regularly study them in the morning, afternoon and evening.
We are writing and printing books, and our students study them and distribute them all over the world.
No Mayavadi school can present as many books as we have; nevertheless, they accuse us of not being fond of study.
Such accusations are completely false.
But although we study, we do not study the nonsense of the Mayavadis.
Mayavadi sannyasis neither chant nor dance.
Their technical objection is that this method of chanting and dancing is called tauryatrika, which indicates that a sannyasi should completely avoid such activities and engage his time in the study of Vedanta.
Actually, such men do not understand what is meant by Vedanta.
In the Bhagavad-gita (15.15) Krsna says, vedais ca sarvair aham eva vedyo vedanta-krd veda-vid eva caham: “By all the Vedas I am to be known; indeed I am the compiler of Vedanta, and I am the knower of the Vedas.” Lord Krsna is the actual compiler of Vedanta, and whatever He speaks is Vedanta philosophy.
Although they are lacking the knowledge of Vedanta presented by the Supreme Personality of Godhead in the transcendental form of Srimad-Bhagavatam, the Mayavadis are very proud of their study.
Foreseeing the bad effects of their presenting Vedanta philosophy in a perverted way, Srila Vyasadeva compiled Srimad-Bhagavatam as a commentary on the Vedanta-sutra.
Srimad-Bhagavatam is bhasyo ’yam brahma-sutranam; in other words, all the Vedanta philosophy in the aphorisms of the Brahma-sutra is thoroughly described in the pages of Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Thus the factual propounder of Vedanta philosophy is a Krsna conscious person who always engages in reading and understanding the Bhagavad-gita and Srimad-Bhagavatam and teaching the purport of these books to the entire world.
The Mayavadis are very proud of having monopolized the Vedanta philosophy, but devotees have their own commentaries on Vedanta such as Srimad-Bhagavatam and others written by the acaryas.
The commentary of the Gaudiya Vaisnavas is the Govinda-bhasya.
The Mayavadis’ accusation that devotees do not study Vedanta is false.
They do not know that chanting, dancing and preaching the principles of Srimad-Bhagavatam, called bhagavata-dharma, are the same as studying Vedanta.
Since they think that reading Vedanta philosophy is the only function of a sannyasi and they did not find Caitanya Mahaprabhu engaged in such direct study, they criticized the Lord.
Sripada Sankaracarya has given special stress to the study of Vedanta philosophy: vedanta-vakyesu sada ramantah kaupinavantah khalu bhagyavantah “A sannyasi, accepting the renounced order very strictly and wearing nothing more than a loincloth, should always enjoy the philosophical statements in the Vedanta-sutra.
Such a person in the renounced order is to be considered very fortunate.” The Mayavadis in Varanasi blasphemed Lord Caitanya because His behavior did not follow these principles.
Lord Caitanya, however, bestowed His mercy upon these Mayavadi sannyasis and delivered them by means of His Vedanta discourses with Prakasananda Sarasvati and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya.