Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c6.s2.17

c6.s2.17

Similar sentiments are found also in Murāri-gupta i. 6. 8, 12. But Caitanya's sexual purity, both in youth and manhood, is uncontested, and amorous adventures are naturally barred in his Kṛṣṇa-like exploits. In spite of the emotional and erotic tendencies of his faith, there was something rigidly ascetic in him even before he formally became an ascetic, and his attitude towards women was throughout his life above criticism (सबे परस्त्री प्रति नाहि परिहास। स्त्री देखि दरे प्रभु हयेन एकपाश ॥ C-bh, Ādi xliii). Although one section of his followers, headed by Narahari Sarkār and Locana-dāsa represent Caitanya in the erotic light as the Nāgara-vara, the biography cited above distinctly states that in this Avatāra the Lord eschewed the name of women, and one must not speak of Caitanya as a Nāgara (स्त्री हेन नाम प्रभु एह अवतारे। श्रवणओ न करिला विदित संसारे ॥ अतएव यत महामहिम सकले। गौराङ्ग नागर हेन स्तव नाहि वले ॥ loc. cit.). On one occasion after his Saṃnyāsa he rebuked his disciple Haridāsa for having accepted alms from a woman of the town. As reported by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, Caitanya once said to Rāmānanda: "I am a man and have taken the ascetic vow. In body and mind, in speech, and in all my dealings I must be spotless." He is reported by Govinda Karmakāra to have warned Rāmānanda Rāya that the passionate longing for women is not love, for love can dawn only on the obliteration or transfiguration of the sexual impulse (अबला लागिया कार्ति यदि प्रेम हय। तबे तो ए प्रेमतत्त्व किछुइ ये नय ॥ अभेद पुरुष नारी यखन जानिवे। तखन प्रेमेर तत्त्व उदय हइवे ॥).