The Mayavadi sannyasis met Caitanya Mahaprabhu at Varanasi to criticize the Lord regarding His participation in the sankirtana movement, which they did not like. This demonic nature of opposition to the sankirtana movement perpetually exists. As it existed in the time of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, similarly it existed long before that, even in the time of Prahlada Maharaja. He used to chant in sankirtana although his father did not like it, and that was the reason for the misunderstanding between the father and son. In the Bhagavad-gita (7.15) the Lord says:

"Those miscreants who are grossly foolish, who are lowest among mankind, whose knowledge is stolen by illusion, and who partake of the atheistic nature of demons do not surrender unto Me." The Mayavadi sannyasis are asuram bhavam asritah, which means that they have taken the path of the asuras (demons), who do not believe in the existence of the form of the Lord. The Mayavadis say that the ultimate source of everything is impersonal, and in this way they deny the existence of God. Saying that there is no God is direct denial of God, and saying that God exists but has no head, legs or hands and cannot speak, hear or eat is a negative way of denying His existence. A person who cannot see is called blind, one who cannot walk can be called lame, one who has no hands can be called helpless, one who cannot speak can be called dumb, and one who cannot hear can be called deaf. The Mayavadis' proposition that God has no legs, no eyes, no ears and no hands is an indirect way of insulting Him by defining Him as blind, deaf, dumb, lame, helpless, etc. Therefore although they present themselves as great Vedantists, they are factually mayayapahrta-jnana; in other words, they seem to be very learned scholars, but the essence of their knowledge has been taken away.