When the Lord sang in this way, chanting and dancing, thousands of people gathered around Him, and when the Lord chanted, they roared. The vibration was so tumultuous that Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, who was sitting nearby, immediately joined the crowd with his disciples. As soon as he saw the beautiful body of Lord Caitanya and saw how He was dancing with His associates, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī joined and began to sing: "Hari! Hari!" All the inhabitants of Benares were struck with wonder upon seeing the ecstatic dancing of Lord Caitanya. But Lord Caitanya checked His continuous ecstasy and stopped dancing when He saw the Māyāvādī sannyāsīs. As soon as the Lord stopped chanting and dancing, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī fell at His feet. Trying to stop him, Lord Caitanya said, "Oh, you are the spiritual master of the whole world, jagad-guru, and I am not even equal to your disciples. You should therefore not worship an inferior like Me, for actually I am not even equal to the disciple of your disciple. You are exactly like the Supreme Brahman, and if I allow you to fall down at My feet, I will commit a very great offense. Although you have no vision of duality, for the sake of teaching the people in general you should not do this."
"Previously I spoke ill of You many times," Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī replied. "Now in order to free myself from the results of my offense, I fall down at Your feet." He then quoted a verse from the Vedic literature which states that even a liberated soul will again become a victim of material contamination if he commits an offense against the Supreme Lord. Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī then quoted a verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.34.9) regarding Nanda Mahārāja's being attacked by a serpent who had previously been a worshipable Vidyādhara. When the serpent was touched by the lotus feet of Kṛṣṇa, he regained his previous body and was freed from the reactions of his sinful activities.