CC Adi 7.61 (1975)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 61
- prabhāve ākarṣila saba sannyāsīra mana
- uṭhila sannyāsī saba chāḍiyā āsana
SYNONYMS
prabhāve—by such illumination; ākarṣila—He attracted; saba—all; sannyāsīra—the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs; mana—mind; uṭhila—stood up; sannyāsī—all the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs; saba—all; chāḍiyā—giving up; āsana—sitting places.
TRANSLATION
When the sannyāsīs saw the brilliant illumination of the body of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, their minds were attracted, and they all immediately gave up their sitting places and stood in respect.
PURPORT
To draw the attention of common men, sometimes saintly persons, ācāryas and teachers exhibit extraordinary opulences. This is necessary to attract the attention of fools, but a saintly person should not misuse such power for personal sense gratification like false saints who declare themselves to be God. Even a magician can exhibit extraordinary feats that are not understandable to common men, but this does not mean that the magician is God. It is a most sinful activity to attract attention by exhibiting mystic powers and then to utilize this opportunity to declare oneself to be God. A real saintly person never declares himself to be God but always places himself in the position of a servant of God. For a servant of God there is no need to exhibit mystic powers, and he does not like to do so, but on behalf of the Supreme Personality of Godhead a humble servant of God performs his activities in such a wonderful way that no common man can dare try to act like him. Yet a saintly person never takes credit for such actions because he knows very well that when wonderful things are done on his behalf by the grace of the Supreme Lord, all credit goes to the master and not to the servant.