CC Madhya 9.277 (1975)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada
TEXT 277
- sabe, eka guṇa dekhi tomāra sampradāye
- satya-vigraha kari' īśvare karaha niścaye
SYNONYMS
sabe—in all; eka—one; guṇa—quality; dekhi—I see; tomāra—your; sampradāye—in the party; satya-vigraha—the form of the Lord as truth; kari'-accepting; īśvare—the Supreme Personality of Godhead; karaha—you do; niścaye—conviction.
TRANSLATION
"The only qualification that I see in your sampradāya is that you accept the form of the Lord as truth."
PURPORT
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu wanted to point out to the Tattvavādī ācārya, who belonged to the Madhvācārya-sampradāya, that the general behavior of the Tattvavādīs did not favor pure devotional service, which must be devoid of the taints of fruitive activity and speculative knowledge. As far as fruitive activity is concerned, the contamination is the desire for elevation to a higher standard of life, and for speculative knowledge the contamination is the desire to merge into the existence of the Absolute Truth. The Tattvavāda-sampradāya of the Madhvācārya school sticks to the principle of varṇāśrama-dharma, which involves fruitive activity. Their ultimate goal (mukti) is simply a form of material desire. A pure devotee should be free from all kinds of material desire. He simply engages in the service of the Lord. Nonetheless, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was pleased that the Madhvācārya-sampradāya, or the Tattvavāda-sampradāya, accepted the transcendental form of the Lord. This is the great qualification of the Vaiṣṇava sampradāyas.
It is the Māyāvāda-sampradāya that does not accept the transcendental form of the Lord. If a Vaiṣṇava sampradāya is also carried away by that impersonal attitude, that sampradāya has no position at all. It is a fact that there are many so-called Vaiṣṇavas whose ultimate aim is to merge into the existence of the Lord. For example, the sahajiyās' Vaiṣṇava philosophy is to become one with the Supreme. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu points out that Śrī Mādhavendra Purī accepted Madhvācārya only because his sampradāya accepted the transcendental form of the Lord.