Verse 2.26.162

Bengali text, Devanagari and Unicode transliteration of verse 2.26.162:

গারিহস্ত আমি ছাডিবাঙ সুনিশ্চিত শিখা-সূত্র ছাডিযা চলিব যে-তে-ভিত” ॥ ১৬২ ॥

गारिहस्त आमि छाडिबाङ सुनिश्चित शिखा-सूत्र छाडिया चलिब ये-ते-भित” ॥ १६२ ॥

gārihasta āmi chāḍibāṅa suniścita śikhā-sūtra chāḍiyā caliba ye-te-bhita” || 162 ||

garihasta ami chadibana suniscita sikha-sutra chadiya caliba ye-te-bhita” (162)

English translation:

(162) “I will leave household life. I will give up My śikhā and brāhmaṇa

Commentary: Gauḍīya-bhāṣya by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura:

thread and go where I please.”

The karmi and jñānī sannyāsīs abandon material enjoyment and give up their śikhā and brāhmaṇa thread for the sake of renunciation. Śrī Caitanyadeva’s renunciation of His śikhā was meant to prove a point to the Māyāvādījñānīs. The tridaṇḍi-sannyāsīs engage their śikhā and brāhmaṇa threads in the service of the Supreme Lord. That is why they keep their śikhā and brāhmaṇa threads while accepting “tridaṇḍa- sannyāsa” according to the Madhva-Gauḍīya line. Following in the footsteps of the Madhva-Gauḍīya line, Tridaṇḍi Bhikṣu Śrī Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī, who belonged to the Śrī-sampradāya, also kept his śikhā and brāhmaṇa thread. Vallabhācārya, who belonged to the Śrī Gadādhara branch, preserved his śikhā and brāhmaṇa thread at the time of accepting tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa. Śrī Viṣṇusvāmī, Śrī Rāmānuja, and Śrī Nimbāditya were all sannyāsīs with śikhās and brāhmaṇa threads. In the Madhva-sampradāya, only the Tīrthas have even today the provision to give up their śikhās and brāhmaṇa threads. In the Madhva-Gauḍīya line, the Vrajavāsī six Gosvāmīs accepted tridaṇḍa-sannyāsa based on Śrī Upadeśāmṛta, and according to the principles of paramahaṃsas some of them did not even wear saffron cloth. Therefore it is to be understood that they were paramahaṃsas. This does not mean that tridaṇḍa-sannyāsīs aspiring to progress should give up saffron cloth. Their spiritual masters, however, may not need to wear saffron cloth. Retaining saffron cloth does not disturb the principles of a paramahaṃsa. Those paramahaṃsas with śikhās and brāhmaṇa threads who traverse the paramahaṃsa path under the shelter of Śrī Gauracandra do not give up their śikhās and brāhmaṇa

threads—this is known as “Śrī Caitanyadeva’s śikṣā.” [Even today it is the practice in Bengal to call the śikhā, or tuft of hair on the head of devotees, “Śrī Caitanya’s śikhā,” and śikhā is a corrupted form of the word śikṣā, which means “teaching”]