bhÄla haila, — viÅ›varÅ«pa sannyÄsa karila
pitá¹›-kula, mÄtá¹›-kula, — dui uddhÄrila
bhÄla haila - it is very good; viÅ›varÅ«pa - ViÅ›varÅ«pa; sannyÄsa - the renounced order of life; karila - has accepted; pitá¹›-kula - father's family; mÄtá¹›-kula - mother's family; dui - both of them; uddhÄrila - delivered.
“My dear mother and father,†the Lord said, “it is very good that ViÅ›varÅ«pa has accepted the sannyÄsa order, for thus He has delivered both His father’s family and His mother’s family.â€
It is sometimes said that Lord Caitanya MahÄprabhu disapproved of the acceptance of the sannyÄsa order in this Kali-yuga because in the Å›Ästra it is said:
aÅ›vamedhaá¹ gavÄlambhaá¹ sannyÄsaá¹ pala-paitá¹›kam
devareṇa sutotpattiṠkalau pañca vivarjayet
“In this Age of Kali, five acts are forbidden: the offering of a horse in sacrifice, the offering of a cow in sacrifice, the acceptance of the order of sannyÄsa, the offering of oblations of flesh to the forefathers, and a man’s begetting children in his brother’s wife.†(Brahma-vaivarta PurÄṇa, Kṛṣṇa-janma-khaṇá¸a 185.180)
Nevertheless, we see that ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu Himself accepted sannyÄsa and approved of the sannyÄsa of His elder brother, ViÅ›varÅ«pa. It is clearly said here, bhÄla haila, — viÅ›varÅ«pa sannyÄsa karila/ pitá¹›-kula, mÄtá¹›-kula, — dui uddhÄrila. Therefore, should it be thought that ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu made statements that are contradictory? No, actually He did not. It is recommended that one accept sannyÄsa to dedicate his life for the service of the Lord, and everyone must take that kind of sannyÄsa, for by accepting such sannyÄsa one renders the best service to both his paternal and maternal families. But one should not accept the sannyÄsa order of the MÄyÄvÄda school, which has practically no meaning. We find many MÄyÄvÄdÄ« sannyÄsÄ«s simply loitering in the street thinking themselves Brahman or NÄrÄyaṇa and spending all day and night begging so they can fill their hungry bellies. MÄyÄvÄdÄ« sannyÄsÄ«s have become so degraded that there is a section of them who eat everything, just like hogs and dogs. It is such degraded sannyÄsa that is prohibited in this age. Actually, ÅšrÄ«la Åšaá¹…karÄcÄrya’s principles for the acceptance of sannyÄsa were very strict, but later the so-called MÄyÄvÄdÄ« sannyÄsÄ«s became degraded because of their false philosophy, which propounds that by accepting sannyÄsa one becomes NÄrÄyaṇa. ÅšrÄ« Caitanya MahÄprabhu rejected that kind of sannyÄsa. But the acceptance of sannyÄsa is one of the items of the varṇÄÅ›rama-dharma. How then can it be rejected?
