Verse 3.2.208

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 3.2.208:

এত বলি’ বলরাম পরম প্রচণ্ড ফেলিলেন দণ্ড ভাঙ্গি’ করি’ তিন খণ্ড ॥ ২০৮ ॥

एत बलि’ बलराम परम प्रचण्ड फेलिलेन दण्ड भाङ्गि’ करि’ तिन खण्ड ॥ २०८ ॥

eta bali’ balarāma parama pracaṇḍa phelilena daṇḍa bhāṅgi’ kari’ tina khaṇḍa || 208 ||

eta bali’ balarama parama pracanda phelilena danda bhangi’ kari’ tina khanda (208)

English translation:

(208) After speaking in this way, the most powerful Balarāma broke the

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

daṇḍa into three pieces.

The ekadaṇḍī so-called paramahaṃsas who follow the philosophy of impersonalism always neglect the tridaṇḍīs. Since Śrī Gaurasundara exhibited the pastime of pretending to accept ekadaṇḍa sannyāsa, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu broke that daṇḍa into three pieces and turned it into a tridaṇḍa. He then entrusted the service of carrying that daṇḍa to the servants of the Lord. That is why Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhu has quoted in his Upadeśāmṛta the verse from the Haṃsa-gīti section of the ancient

literature Mahābhārata, beginning vāco vegaṃ [vāco vegaṃ manasaḥ krodha-vegaṃjihvā-vegam udaropastha-vegam, etān vegān yo viṣaheta dhīraḥsarvām apīmāṃ pṛthivīṃ sa śiṣyāt, “A sober person who can tolerate the urge to speak, the mind’s demands, the actions of anger and the urges of the tongue, belly and genitals is qualified to make disciples all over the world.”], which provides confirmation and qualification for accepting tridaṇḍa sannyāsa and which declares that every tridaṇḍa sannyāsī is expected to follow in the footsteps of Śrī Rūpa. Apyaya Dīkṣita has presented the covered-Buddhist Māyāvādīs’ strong protest against the acceptance of tridaṇḍa sannyāsa in his commentary known as Parimala. Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu transformed Śrī Gaurasundara’s ekadaṇḍa into tridaṇḍa to display the irrelevance of the Māyāvādī Apyaya Dīkṣita’s future writing against devotional service in his books Nyāya-rakṣā-maṇi and Śivārka-maṇi-dīpikā. Śrī Baladeva Prabhu transformed the ekadaṇḍa of the sannyāsī-dressed Śrī Caitanyadeva into a tridaṇḍa to reveal that the impersonalists’ acceptance of ekadaṇḍa, which is the symbol of Māyāvāda, and the current and former practices of accepting sannyāsa in the śuddha-dvaita (purified dualism) disciplic succession are not approved by the Madhva-Gauḍīya-sampradāya. This is fully approved by the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam, and it is the conviction of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas. Without becoming a tridaṇḍī, no one can control himself. In the principle of tridaṇḍa found in karma-kāṇḍa, the indra- daṇḍa, vajra-daṇḍa, and brahma-daṇḍa are combined with the jīva- daṇḍa. In his explanation on tridaṇḍa, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī Prabhu has revealed to the transcendental tridaṇḍīs the topics of controlling one’s body, mind, and speech. When tridaṇḍa is combined with jīva-daṇḍa, then according to the external conception of tridaṇḍa, ekadaṇḍa becomes the principle of paramahaṃsa-dharma. But since in the principle of ekadaṇḍa, the transcendental state beyond the three modes of nature attributes faults in the process described in the Pañcarātras, ekadaṇḍa in the form of tridaṇḍa has been accepted in the process described in the Pañcarātras. This system is directly and indirectly followed in the

Brahma-sampradāya, in the Brahma-Madhva-sampradāya, and in the Brahma-Madhva-Gauḍīya-sampradāya.

Therefore the teachings of Śrī Gaura-Nityānanda cannot be different from those of the Śrī Brahma-Madhva-Gauḍīya-sampradāya. From this time on, persons under the shelter of Śrī Caitanyadeva have become known as Gauḍīya tridaṇḍi-svāmīs. Śrī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpada’s acceptance of sannyāsa on the path of regulative principles and the Śrī Rūpānuga’s acceptance of sannyāsa on the path of paramahaṃsa did not create any mutual contradiction. Although the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavas accept sannyāsa on the path of regulative principles, they are not opposed to the paramahaṃsa-dharma of the followers of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Sanātana.

Although in paramahaṃsa-dharma the symbols found in the regulative path are considered external, acceptance of external symptoms does not violate the principles of the paramahaṃsas. Although the five other Vrajavāsī Gosvāmīs followed the footsteps of Śrī Sanātana in accepting the dress of paramahaṃsas, Śrī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī Gosvāmī accepted tridaṇḍa sannyāsa on the path of regulative principles and recorded the Gauḍīya doctrine in his book Śrī Caitanya-candrāmṛta. The recent pure devotional endeavors by the followers of Śrī Rūpa to rectify the behavior of the fallen, deviant, so-called paramahaṃsas, to protect the proper code of conduct, and to inaugurate the path of regulative principles for the purpose of counteracting the attack on those who traverse the path of anurāga, or loving attachment, have become the object of ignorant people’s opposition and neglect. Because of transgressing the etiquette of respecting the Lord’s manifestations, there have been many obstacles in the worship of the Absolute Truth in every yuga. Those who do not understand the purport of the path of regulative principles consider the inauspiciousness resulting from transgressing that path as progress on that path. Moreover, by respecting only the path of regulative principles, the more elevated path becomes closed. Śrīla Prabodhānanda Tridaṇḍipāda was not opposed to the six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana. But the shortsighted, so-called followers of the Gosvāmīs

accepted the conception of Śrī Prabodhānanda as conflicting. As a result, the followers of such people ended up spreading communal dispute.