In his Gauḍīya-bhāṣya to Caitanya Bhāgavata (2.3.37), Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda makes the following observation: “Prakāśānanda was a teacher of the kevala-advaita-vada (doctrine of pure non-dualisim) and a sannyāsī. During his discourses on the Vedas, he would cut the Lord’s divine and transcendental body into pieces. Some ignorant people say that this Prakāśānanda is the same person as Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa’s younger brother Prabodhānanda, who lived on the banks of the Kaveri. This erroneous belief has found its way into the sahajiyā text Bhakta-māla, and even into the writings of many modern scholars.”

Āśutoṣa Deva states in his Bengali dictionary, Prabodhānanda was a Vaiṣṇava philosopher, whose real name was Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī. Caitanya Deva gave him the name Prabodhānanda.

Furthermore, Haridāsa Dāsa has also written in his Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava Abhidhāna: “Some people hold that Prabodhānanda is the Vaiṣṇava name given to Prakāśānanda. It is quite clear from the last verse of the Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi that Prabodhānanda had at one time been a māyāvādī sannyāsī.”

We would argue that the words to which Haridāsa Dāsa refers—amāyāvādārka-tāpa-santapta (“roasted by the burning sun of impersonalism”)—are not acceptable as proof of Prabodhānanda’s former adherence to the impersonalist philosophy or of his having been a māyāvādī at one time. Mahāprabhu and all of His followers argued against the impersonal doctrines because of its extreme opposition to devotion. The Lord’s deliverance of the māyāvādīs Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya and Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī are even greater feats of mercy than the salvation of Jagāi and Mādhāi. In this spirit, Haridāsa Dāsa is simply glorifying Mahāprabhu’s quality as the deliverer of the most fallen and drawing attention to just how far-reaching His mercy is, with the example of Prabodhānanda.

Some people try to identify Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī with the māyāvādī sannyāsī Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī who lived in Benares. We do not find their arguments at all convincing for the following reasons:

Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī is first mentioned in the third chapter of the Madhya-khaṇḍa in the Caitanya Bhāgavata:

The Lord constantly floated in the joys of devotion along with His followers in Navadvīpa. One day, He heard a verse glorifying the Varaha avatāra. Roaring ecstatically, He went to Murāri Gupta’s house. Murāri Gupta glorified Him with hymns of praise and this satisfied the Lord. But He began to speak in anger against some portions of the Vedas: “The Vedas say that I have no hands, feet, face or eyes. This is the way that they make a mockery of Me. There is even a rascal in Kāśī named Prakāśānanda who teaches people impersonalism, cutting up My body into little pieces. He states that the Vedas do not accept that I have a body. Now his entire body has become infected with leprosy, yet he still does not accept My transcendental form. My body is completely pure, the essence of all sacrifices. Brahmā, Śiva and the other gods all glorify My form and activities. What audacity this rascal has to say that My body is false when one becomes purified and accumulates merit by coming into contact with it. (Caitanya Bhāgavata 2.3.35-40)

This event took place sometime between 1504 and 1509 AD. Mahāprabhu came to Srirangam in 1512, which is the first time that He met Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī and his brothers. The three brothers were Vaiṣṇavas following Rāmānuja in the Sri sampradāya thus accepted the servitude of Lord Nārāyaṇa’s eternality. Meanwhile, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī was a prominent follower of Śaṅkara’s doctrine, a māyāvādī sannyāsī. It is sheer madness for anyone to claim that these two persons are one and the same person.

Again, in the Caitanya Bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa, the following mention is made of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī:

As He spoke, the Lord was suddenly possessed by the spirit of the Divinity. Grinding His teeth, He angrily spoke the following words: That sannyāsī Prakāśānanda is preaching in Kāśī in a way that cuts My body into pieces. The rascal teaches Vedānta but does not accept My transcendental form. I have infected his body with leprosy, but still, he does not understand. How can this rascal say that My body, which is the reservoir of unlimited universes, is false? I tell you truthfully, Murāri, for you are My servant, that anyone who denies My transcendental form is destined for destruction. My pastimes and My activities are all real; My abode is real. Anyone who denies them will be struck down. The glories of the Lord will destroy one’s ignorance if one hears them, but this sinful professor calls it all false. Anyone who has so little affection for My holy fame will never be able to understand My descent.” (Caitanya Bhāgavata 2.10.31-.44)

At this time, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī was the leader of the ekadaṇḍi sannyāsī followers of Śaṅkara, whereas Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī was a tridaṇḍi sannyāsī in the line of Rāmānuja, who had moved to Srirangam from Mysore. Śrī Vaiṣṇavas who renounce family life never take the single staff (ekadaṇḍa), which is the mark of the Śaṅkarites. Their custom is to take the triple staff (tridaṇḍa) and the title Rāmānujīyārya-svāmī. Prakāśānanda was a māyāvādī living in Kāśī, whereas Prabodhānanda was a Vaiṣṇava living in Kamyavan. One was a northerner, the other a southerner. One was an impersonalist and monist, the other a devotee who first followed Rāmānuja’s viśiṣṭādvaita-vāda and then converted to Mahāprabhu’s acintya-bhedābheda-vāda. One was inimical to Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas and only after conversion became a devotee, the other was an eternal associate of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and the guru of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī, ācārya of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava sampradaya. Anyone who calls Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī’s worshipable guru and uncle a māyāvādī and opposed to Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas, a conditioned soul, rather than an eternally perfect devotee of the highest order, is engaging in offensive insults that are sure to lead the one who makes them to a hellish destination.

An extensive description of Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī’s conversion is given in two places in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta—Adi-Khaṇḍa, Chapter 7, and Madhya-khaṇḍa, Chapter 25. It is impossible to understand how someone who had been a māyāvādī from 1504 to 1509 could have become a qualified Śrī Vaiṣṇava in South India in 1512, and then again become the leader of Kāśī’s māyāvādīs in 1514. Therefore, any attempt to identify Prakāśānanda with Prabodhānanda is evidence of extreme ignorance. It is no small cause of distress to see the tradition being distorted in this way.

Out of his humility, Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī asked through Gopāla Bhaṭṭa that his own activities not be described in the Caitanya Caritāmṛta. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī was not able to disobey this order and so today we have this difference of opinion. If Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī had known that as a result of this silence people would later fall into confusion and identify him with someone who preached against Viṣṇu and the Vaiṣṇavas he would surely not have instructed Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī through Gopāla Bhaṭṭa in this way. Anyone who reads the Bhakti-ratnākara will understand. The author of that book writes:

Gauracandra was the wealth of Tirumalaya, Veṅkaṭa and Prabodhānanda’s lives. The three of them were worshipers of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa whose preferences changed to Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa as a result of the Lord’s mercy. The three of them wondered how they could continue living in the Lord’s absence; they wondered who would joke with them and who would accompany them to the Kaveri to bathe in the morning. After four months, when the Lord left, the three brothers began to cry. Mahāprabhu embraced the three brothers and tried to console them. Some people glorified Prabodhānanda’s virtues and thus he was given the title Sarasvatī by which he was known everywhere. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya is the Supreme Lord and Supreme Absolute Truth. Prabodhānanda held him so dear that he knew nothing but the Lord, even in his dreams. (Bhakti-ratnākara 1.83-4, 128-9, 133, 135, 149, 150)

Some people claim upon reading the Caitanya-candrāmṛta that Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī had been a worshiper of Brahman, but if we accept this without any supplementary evidence we fall into difficulty.

The founder of world-wide Sree Chaitanya Math and Sree Gaudiya Math, the transcendental personality, the eternal associate of Gaurāṅga Mahāprabhu, dearmost servant of the servants of Śrīmatī Rādhikā, Śrīla Bhakti Siddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī Ṭhākura Prabhupāda has given an excellent account of Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī’s life in his introduction to the edition of Caitanya-candrāmṛta. We reproduce it here in full for the benefit of the reader:

In 1512 AD, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya went to South India, ostensibly on pilgrimage. In fact, His real purpose was to show His mercy to His devotees. Starting from Purī in Odisha, He travelled southward to the Godāvarī River and then continued onward through various other holy places in the current Madras area. Mahāprabhu reached Srirangam on the ekādaśī of the waxing fortnight of the month of Āṣāḍha. The sannyasis of the daśanāmi order, to which He belonged, normally follow the cāturmāsya vows, and so the Lord decided to spend this four-month period in the town of Srirangam.

Srirangam is the residence of many Vaiṣṇavas of the Śrī sampradāya. The Vaiṣṇavas of this school are strict in their practice, and as a result, the smārta brāhmaṇas throughout southern India find it difficult to live in villages where they have a strong presence. At the time Mahāprabhu visited Srirangam, it was a holy place inhabited exclusively by Vaiṣṇavas of the Śrī sampradāya. He thus considered it to be a most favourable environment for the execution of His four-month vow and so He spent the period in visiting the temple of Raṅganātha and preaching about Kṛṣṇa.

Three brothers, Tirumalaya, Veṅkaṭa and Prabodhānanda had recently come from Mysore to live in Srirangam. They were not Tamils but either from Andhra or Uttar Pradesh. The Lord was particularly merciful to this brāhmaṇa family and spent the four months of the rainy season in their house. The Vaiṣṇavas of the Śrī sampradāya are devoted to the worship of Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. By Mahāprabhu’s blessings, the Bhaṭṭa family developed a taste for Kṛṣṇa’s sweet mellows.

The middle brother Veṅkaṭa had a son in his boyhood, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa, who later became famous as one of the Six Gosvāmīs. The Lord’s conversation with Veṅkaṭa Bhaṭṭa is described in Caitanya Caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā, Chapter 9. Although we know nothing more about Tirumalaya, we can surmise that he, like his brothers, was totally devoted to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

The third brother, Prabodhānanda, was unequalled in his attachment to Śrī Caitanya. It was through his pure teachings that Veṅkaṭa’s son Gopāla Bhaṭṭa later became a great ācārya of the Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava school. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī himself has a particularly elevated position amongst the followers of Śrī Caitanya. Kavi Karṇapura identified him as Tuṅgavidyā in his Gaura-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā. In the Hari-bhakti-vilāsa, Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī mentioned him as his guru and as extremely dear to Lord Caitanya. In the Bhakti-ratnākara, the following passages about him are found:

Everyone glorified Prabodhānanda’s virtues and thus he was given the title Sarasvatī by which he was known everywhere. Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya is the Supreme Lord and the complete divinity. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī held Him so dear that he knew nothing but the Lord, even in his dreams. Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī was greatly renounced; he was affection incarnate and handsome, as well as being a great poet and expert in singing, playing musical instruments and dancing. Everyone’s joy increased on hearing him speak. These are some of the unlimited glories of Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. (Bhakti-ratnākara 1.149-153)

A few years after Mahāprabhu had returned to Purī, Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī entered deep into the mode of worship that is dear to Mahāprabhu. He left Srirangam and went to live in Kamyavan in the Mathura region without much delay. Gopāla Bhaṭṭa also gradually developed an intense desire to come and live in Vraja and so he followed the path taken by his uncle and guru.

Many people ask the question, “If Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī was so dear to Caitanya Mahāprabhu, why is his name not mentioned anywhere in Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī’s Caitanya Caritāmṛta? Would Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī not have included the pastimes of such a great personality for the pleasure of the Vaiṣṇavas?” We can find an adequate response to this question in the Bhakti-ratnākara. Narahari Cakravartī Ṭhākura writes:

Some people have described the activities of Gopāla Bhaṭṭa, while others have not. Those who cannot understand the reason for this engage in useless argument, with the result that they allow an offensive attitude to take root in them. Previously, great rasika devotee poets who were quite capable of describing these things did not do so in order that others would be able to do so in the future. Gopāla Bhaṭṭa enthusiastically gave his approval to the writing of the Caitanya Caritāmṛta but would not allow Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī to write anything about him. Who can understand why he did this? He always considered himself very lowly. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī was not able to ignore his command. (Bhakti-ratnākara 1.209-223)

Some Rūpānuga Vaiṣṇavas say that Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī’s writing shows a tendency to the svakīya doctrine. They thus do not show a great enthusiasm for studying his books in the conviction that Rūpa Gosvāmī’s pārakīya-vāda is superior. We hold that anyone who is devoted to Caitanya Mahāprabhu is blessed and so we simply follow Narahari Cakravartī, a neutral commentator, and avoid a useless argument. And by doing so, relish the pure surrender mood of Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī towards Mahāprabhu, and the sweetness of servitude of Śrīmatī Rādhikā to Śrī Kṛṣṇa in the pārakīya mood.

Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī’s writings are rich with transcendental emotions and the language contains solemnity and the sweetness of divine love in equal measure. Mahāprabhu’s devotees take great pleasure in reading Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī’s Vṛndāvana-śataka. His Navadvīpa-śataka resembles this work, glorifying Navadvīpa in the same spirit. His Rādhā-rasa-sudhā-nidhi is truly unequalled in the entire world. Those who have appreciation only from a purely literary point of view may not regard this work highly; nevertheless, it is extremely dear to the devotees who are simple, free from hypocrisy and are attached to the mellows of devotion to Lord Hari. One experiences a work as being superior or inferior according to one’s taste, thus the transcendental moods of vraja-bhakti can only have an effect on readers who have accumulated pious activities in their previous lives.

In his notices of manuscripts, Professor Aufret attributes another book, Viveka-śataka, to Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. This manuscript was in the possession of the late Rāma Dāsa Sena of Berhampore. Aufrecht also lists Saṇgīta-mādhava as one of Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī’s works. We managed to trace this work and published it in Sajjana-tosani, Vol. 18, 5-12.

The Caitanya-candrāmṛta was widely distributed in Bengal. Even those inimical to Caitanya Mahāprabhu become purified upon reading it and experience a change of heart. It thus goes without saying that those who are His devotees will be immersed in an ocean of indescribable ecstasy when they read it. Indeed, it is not surprising. If the Lord of Goloka comes and stays in someone’s house and accepts his service for four whole months, would He not bestow the rarest forms of love of Godhead upon his entire household? The blessed members of such a household naturally possess an abundance of priceless love from which we insignificant living entities, to our great benefit, may hope to gain some leftover crumbs.