“Mad” — the word Mahāprabhu applies to Himself at Caitanya-caritāmṛta Madhya 24.7 and 24.323, framing His sixty-one interpretations of the ātmārāma verse. It works on three levels at once: rhetorical humility, ecstatic absorption, and a perception of scripture transformed by Kṛṣṇa-bhakti. The blunt translation should be kept — softening it into “ecstatic devotee” erases the deliberate shock and humour.
