So chiefly the impersonalist and the void philosophers, they are called Māyāvādī, because they have no other information. They want to simply negate, nullify, but they have no positive information, they are called Māyāvādī. So the Śaṅkarites . . . Śaṅkarites, of course, they give positive information: brahma satya jagan mithyā. They say that this world is false and Brahman is reality.
But because we want reality in variety, therefore impersonal philosophy, although we take it as a matter of sectarian philosophy, it does not appeal to the heart, because by nature we want enjoyment. And whenever there is question of enjoyment, there must be variety. Variety is the mother of enjoyment.
So philosophically or theoretically, we may accept voidness, negation, out of frustration. When we are frustrated in these material varieties we adopt the suicidal policy, "Let me commit suicide, finish." This is called Māyāvāda. Actual spiritual variegatedness, unless one is informed about it and one is situated in spiritual varieties, there is no satisfaction.
So the Māyāvādī philosophers of Benares, after hearing the explanation of Vedānta-sūtra from Caitanya Mahāprabhu, they were very much satisfied. Sei haite sannyāsīra phiri gela mana (CC Adi 7.149). Their mind turned. "Oh, this is the real explanation." 'Kṛṣṇa' 'kṛṣṇa' nāma sadā karaye grahaṇa. Now they also began to chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare / Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
- eimate tāṅ-sabāra kṣami' aparādha
- sabākāre kṛṣṇa-nāma karilā prasāda
- (CC Adi 7.150)
Caitanya Mahāprabhu excused all these offenders. Anyone who is godless, he is offender. So when they chanted "Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa" and accepted the Vedānta philosophy according to the explanation of Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He excused them. That is the significance of Lord Caitanya. He is very merciful. He excuses. Without excuse, how He can deliver the fallen souls of this age?
Their condition is very precarious. Their duration of life is very small, and they are not very intelligent—very slow to understand their importance of spiritual life. And even they are little advanced, they are under the clutches of so many so-called bogus societies. So therefore their condition is very precarious and . . . so there is no other alternative than to excuse them. Caitanya Mahāprabhu excused them.