Verse 3.2.243

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 3.2.243:

না মানে চৈতন্য-পথ বোলায `বৈষ্ণব’ শিবেরে অমান্য করে ব্যর্থ তার সব ॥ ২৪৩ ॥

ना माने चैतन्य-पथ बोलाय `वैष्णव’ शिवेरे अमान्य करे व्यर्थ तार सब ॥ २४३ ॥

nā māne caitanya-patha bolāya `vaiṣṇava’ śivere amānya kare vyartha tāra saba || 243 ||

na mane caitanya-patha bolaya `vaisnava’ sivere amanya kare vyartha tara saba (243)

English translation:

(243) The endeavors of one who does not follow the path of Lord Caitanya

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

and disrespects Śiva yet claims to be a Vaiṣṇava are all useless. Those who disrespect the guṇa-avatāra Mahādeva do not actually follow Śrī Caitanya. Śrī Rāmānuja preached unalloyed Vaiṣṇava-dharma four

hundred years before the advent of Śrī Caitanya. Those who synthesize

matter and spirit try hard to equate the guṇa-avatāras with Vāsudeva Viṣṇu. As a result, they commit offenses at the feet of the Supreme Lord. To release such people from their offenses, Śrī Lakṣmaṇa-deśika vigorously and single-handedly preached the topics of devotional service to Viṣṇu. Veteran Vaiṣṇavas headed by Śrī Anandatīrtha worshiped the guṇa-avatāras Brahmā and Śiva as devotees of the Supreme Lord. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya visited the temple of Śiva, the incarnation of a devotee, and prayed for devotional service to Kṛṣṇa. But if Mahādeva, the best of the devotees, is disrespected on the basis of the unalloyed principles of Śrī Rāmānuja by those who are subservient to Śrī Caitanya, then because of exhibiting envy of a devotee, pure devotees headed by the author become angry at such envious people. They disrespect Lord Śiva’s position as the supreme Vaisnava, which is substantiated as follows: śiva- viriñci-nutaṃśaraṇyam—“The Supreme Lord is honored by powerful demigods like Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā;”dāsāste hara-nārada- prabhṛtayaḥ—“Personalities like Śiva and Nārada are His servants;” vaiṣṇavānāṃ yathāśambhuḥ—“Śambhu, Lord Śiva, is the greatest of all devotees of Lord Viṣṇu;” Śiva is the best among the twelve Vaiṣṇava authorities; and he is the original spiritual master of the Viṣṇusvāmī- sampradāya. Furthermore, those people think that since the Liṅgayet community or the worshipers of Śiva unnecessarily attack Vaiṣṇavas, when the Vaiṣṇavas go to see Lord Śiva at a Śiva temple where Śaivites are engaged in his worship, they have lost the association of sadhus who are svajātīyāśaya-snigdha, or “pleasing to the same class of people.” The followers of Śrī Caitanya do not think like this.

In the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (4.24.28) Lord Śiva speaks the following words:

yaḥ paraṃ raṃhasaḥ sākṣāt

tri-guṇāj jīva-saṃjñitāt bhagavantaṃ vāsudevaṃ prapannaḥ sa priyo hi me

“Any person who is surrendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, the controller of everything—material nature as well as the living entity—is actually very dear to me.”

And in the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam (4.4.13-14) Satī speaks as follows:

nāścaryam etad yad asatsu sarvadā mahad-vinindā kuṇapātma-vādiṣu serṣyaṃ mahāpūruṣa-pāda-pāṃsubhir nirasta-tejaḥsu tad eva śobhanam

“It is not wonderful for persons who have accepted the transient material body as the self to engage always in deriding great souls. Such envy on the part of materialistic persons is very good because that is the way they fall down. They are diminished by the dust of the feet of great personalities.

yad dvy-akṣaraṃ nāma gireritaṃ nṛṇāṃ sakṛt prasaṅgād agham āśu hanti tat pavitra-kīrtiṃ tam alaṅghya-śāsanaṃ bhavān aho dveṣṭi śivaṃ śivetaraḥ

“My dear father, you are committing the greatest offense by envying Lord Śiva, whose very name, consisting of two syllables, śi and va, purifies one of all sinful activities. His order is never neglected. Lord Śiva is always pure, and no one but you envies him.”