Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Sri Caitanya Caritamrita Madhya 18.115

yei mudha kahe, -- jiva isvara haya 'sama'

seita 'pashandi' haya, dande tare yama

SYNONYMS

yei mudha -- any foolish person who; kahe -- says; jiva -- the living entity; isvara -- the supreme controller; haya -- are; sama -- equal; seita -- he; pashandi haya -- is a first-class atheist; dande -- punishes; tare -- him; yama -- the superintendent of death, Yamaraja.

TRANSLATION

"A foolish person who says that the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the same as the living entity is an atheist, and he becomes subject to punishment by the superintendent of death, Yamaraja.

PURPORT

Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura says that the word pasandi refers to one who considers the living entity under the control of the illusory energy to be equal with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is transcendental to all material qualities. Another kind of pashandi is one who does not believe in the spirit soul, the superior potency of the Lord, and therefore does not distinguish between spirit and matter. While describing one of the offenses against chanting the holy names, specifically the offense called sruti-sastra-nindana (blaspheming the Vedic literature), Jiva Gosvami states in his Bhakti-sandarbha, yatha pashanda-margena dattatreyarshabha-devopasakanam pashandinam. "Worshipers of impersonalists like Dattatreya are also pashandis." Concerning the offense of aham-mama-buddhi, or dehatma-buddhi (considering the body to be the self), Jiva Gosvami states, deva-dravinadi-nimittaka- 'pashanda'-sabdena ca dasaparadha eva lakshyante, pashanda-mayatvat tesham: "Those who are overly absorbed in the conception of the body and the bodily necessities are also called pashandis." Elsewhere in the Bhakti-sandarbha it is stated:

uddisya devata eva juhoti ca dadati ca

sa pashanditi vijneyah svatantro vapi karmasu

"A pashandi is one who considers the demigods and the Supreme Personality of Godhead to be one; therefore a pashandi worships any kind of demigod as the Supreme Personality of Godhead." One who disobeys the orders of the spiritual master is also considered a pashandi. The word pashandi has been described in many places in Srimad-Bhagavatam, including 4.2.28, 30 and 32, 5.6.9, and 12.2.13 and 3.43.

On the whole, a pashandi is a nondevotee who does not accept the Vedic conclusions. In the Hari-bhakti-vilasa (1.117) there is a verse quoted from the Padma Purana describing the pashandi. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu quotes this verse as the following text.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness