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TLC (1968) Introduction

TLC (2011) Introduction

please wait#div class="mw-parser-output"# #i#Delivered as five morning lectures on the #b#Chaitanya Charitamrita;#/b# the authoritative biography of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, written by Krishna Das Kaviraj; before the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, New York City, April 10-14, 1967.#/i# #$p# Chaitanya means the living force. You and I can move, but a table cannot because it has no living force. Not only movement, but resistance is also a sign of living force. Chaitanya means activities, Amrita means immortal, and Charitra means character. There is no activity without living force. The material condition has living force but is not Amrita, immortal. Chaitanya Charitamrita, then, means the Character of the Living Force in Immortality. #$p#But how is this displayed? It is not displayed by you or I—none of us are immortal in these bodies. We have living force and activities, and we are immortal by nature and constitution. But the material condition into which we have been put doesn't allow these qualities to be displayed. It is stated in the Katha Upanishad that eternality and living force are characteristic of both ourselves and God. But God and ourselves, although both immortal, are different. The living entities have many activities, but have a tendency to fall down. God has no such tendency. He is All-powerful. He never comes under the control of material Nature, because material Nature is only a display of His energy. #$p#There is a nice example of this: When I was flying from San Francisco, the plane was above the cloud ocean. Above the cloud was the sun; and though we came down through the cloud and everything in New York was dim, still, above the cloud, the sun was shining. A cloud cannot cover the whole world—it can't even cover the whole United States, which is not more than a speck in the universe. From the sky the skyscrapers are very tiny, just as from God's position all this nonsense becomes insignificant. I, the living entity, am very insignificant, and my tendency is to come down; but God hasn't got this tendency. The Supreme Lord doesn't come down to Maya, and more than the sun comes under the cloud. But we have the tendency to be controlled by Maya. Mayavadis, impersonalist philosophers, say that because we are under the control of Maya in this world, when God comes, He is also put under the control of Maya. This is the fallacy of their philosophy. #$p#Lord Chaitanya therefore is not one of us. He is Krishna Himself, the 'Supreme Living Entity. He doesn't come under the cloud of Maya. Krishna and His expansions, or even His higher devotees, are never in the clutches of Maya. Lord Chaitanya came to preach Krishna Bhakti: Lord Krishna Himself is teaching us how to approach Krishna; just as the teacher, seeing a student not doing well, takes the pencil and says, "Do it like this, write like this: A, B, C." But we must not mistakenly think that the teacher is learning the ABC's. Teaching us how to become Krishna conscious is Lord Chaitanya's position, and we must study Him in that light. #$p#In Bhagavad Gita the Lord says, "Give up all this nonsense and surrender to Me." And we say "Oh—surrender? Give up? But I have so many responsibilities." And Maya says to us, "Don't do it, or you'll be out of my clutches. Stay in my clutches, and I'll kick you." It's true; you are being kicked by Maya. Do you know how Maya kicks? The she-ass kicks the male-ass in the face when he comes for sex. Among the cats, they fight and whine. These are the teachings of Nature. She tricks. It is like the capture of an elephant. He is caught in the forest by the use of a trained she-elephant, who leads him and makes him fall into a pit. Maya has many activities, and her shackle is the female. Of course, male and female means this outer dress—we are all actually Krishna's servants. But we are shackled by iron chains which are beautiful women. Every male is bound up by sex life; and therefore sex life should be controlled. Unrestricted sex life puts you fully in the clutches of Maya. Lord Chaitanya got away from this Maya at the age of twenty-four His wife was sixteen and his mother seventy, and He was the only male of the family; He was a Brahmin, and not rich-but He took Sannyasa, the renounced order, and didn't care for the Maya of wife and mother. #$p#If you want to become fully Krishna conscious, you have to give up the shackles of Maya. Or, if you remain with Maya, you should live in such a way that there is no illusion. Lord Chaitanya had many house-holders among His closest devotees. Yet one renounced devotee of His, Junior Haridas, who was important for being a good Kirtan singer, glanced lustfully at a young woman, and he was at once rejected by Lord Chaitanya: "You are living with Me in the renounced order, and yet looking at a woman with lust." This Junior Haridas later committed suicide in despair over his separation from Chaitanya. Other devotees had approached Chaitanya and asked Him to forgive Junior Haridas, but Chaitanya replied, "You all go live with him and forgive him. I'll stay alone." And when the news of Junior Haridas' suicide reached Him, Lord Chaitanya, Who was aware of everything that was happening, said, "Very good, that is very good." A householder devotee of His pleased Chaitanya, and Chaitanya, on learning of the devotee's wife being pregnant, asked that the baby be given a certain auspicious name. So He approved of householders, having sex in a regulated way; but He was strict—like a thunderbolt—with those of the renounced order who cheated by the method known as "drinking water underwater while taking a bath on a fast day." #$p#From Chaitanya Charitamrita we learn how Chaitanya has taught people to become immortal. Krishna and all reformers also taught this to people; They are mortified that people should prolong their mortal life, instead of arranging it so as to make the next life immortal. #$p#So Chaitanya Charitamrita means the Immortal Character of the Living Force. The Supreme Living Force is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There are innumerable living entities, all individual. This is very easy to understand: We are all different, in thought, in desires—and the Supreme Lord is also an individual Person, like you and me. But He is the Leader. No one can excel Him. Among us, one can excel another in one capacity or another. Similarly, the Lord is individual, but He is Supreme. Achyuta is another name for Krishna—The Infallible. In the Bhagavad Gita, Arjuna had a delusion, but Krishna had none. God is infalliable. In the Gita He states: "I appear in My own internal potency." He is not overpowered by the material potency when He is in the material world; Krishna and the incarnations are not under its control—They are free. In Srimad Bhagwatam this is the definition of godly nature—one is not affected although in material Nature. Even a devotee can attain this freedom. Rupa Goswami explains that, if you want to remain unattached to material contamination, the formula is to make your ambition to serve Krishna. How to serve? It is not done by simply meditating, which is just an activity of the mind, but by practical work. It is achieved by working for Krishna. No resource should be left unused; whatever is there, whatever you have, should be used for Krishna by practical work. We can use everything: airplanes, the atom bomb, anything. If you speak to an audience of Krishna Consciousness, that is also service. If your mind, senses, speech, money, and energy are engaged, then you are not in material Nature. Krishna and His expansions and His devotees are not in material Nature, but foolish persons think that They are. #$p#Chaitanya Charitamrita means that the spirit soul is immortal, and that activities in the Spiritual World are also immortal. The Mayavadis, those who hold to the view that the Absolute is impersonal and formless, say that a realized soul has no more need to talk. The Vaishnava says, "No, talking begins at that stage. Our previous talk was nonsense and had no value; now let us begin real talk: talks of Krishna." #$p#The Mayavadis use the example of the water pot: when the pot is not filled with water, it makes a sound; but when the pot is filled it makes no sound. But am I a water pot? Can I be compared to a water pot? Logically, an analogy points out similarities, and the greatest number of similarities between the two objects makes the best analogy. A water pot is not an active living force. A pot can't move. So ever-silent meditatioJ1 is inadequate. Why? Because we have so much to say about Krishna that we don't have time to finish when there are only twenty-four hours in a day. The fool, however, is celebrated as long as he doesn't speak. When he breaks his silence his lack of knowledge is exposed. Chaitanya Charitamrita shows that there are so many things to discover, simply for glorifying the Supreme. #$p#Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami writes: "I offer my respects to my Spiritual Masters." He uses the plural to express the disciplic succession. Not that my Spiritual Master only is offered obeisances, but the whole Parampara, the chain of disciplic succession. The Guru is addressed in the plural to show the highest respect. After offering respect to the disciplic succession, it is offered to devotees, other Godbrothers, the Spiritual Master, expansions of Godhead, and His first manifestation of energy. Krishna Chaitanya appears in all together: God, Guru, devotee, expansion. As His associate Nityananda, He is a manifestation; as Adwaita, He is an incarnation; as Gadadhar, He is the internal potency; and as Srivas, He is the marginal living entity. Krishna is not thought of alone, but is conceived all at once, as is described by Ramanujacharya: In Suddha Adwaita philosophy energy, expansion, and incarnation are Oneness in diversity. Everything together is God. #$p#Chaitanya Charitamrita is thus the post-graduate study of spiritual knowledge. One advances from the Bhagavad Gita, through Srimad Bhagwatam, to Chaitanya Charitamrita. Although all are on the same Absolute level, yet by comparative study, Chaitanya Charitamrita is on this higher platform, and every verse is perfectly composed. The process of offering obeisances is to directly offer respects to Chaitanya and Nityananda—these two Personalities are compared to the Sun and the Moon, who dissipate darkness. Both the Sun and the Moon have risen together in this case: Chaitanya is so kind that to dissipate the darkness They both appear together. #$p#Who is Krishna Chaitanya? In the Upanishads, the Supreme Absolute Truth is described in an impersonal way, but the Personal view is also given in the Isha Upanishad, at the end, after a description of the All-pervading: "My dear Lord, You are hidden by the Cover of Brahmajyoti. Let me penetrate that Brahmajyoti to approach the Supreme Personality of Godhead." Those who have no such power stop at the effulgence; but. at the end of the Upanishad there is a hymn to the Personality of Godhead. The impersonal Brahman is described there. That Brahman is the glaring effulgence of the body of Chaitanya. The Paramatma is the partial representation of Chaitanya. He is that Supreme Personality of Godhead, full with six opulences: wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge, and renunciation. You should know that He is Krishna, and nothing is equal to, or greater than, Him. There is no superior conception. He is the Supreme Person. #$p#There is a nice verse by Rupa Goswami, who, as a confidential devotee, was taught for more than ten days continuously by Lord Chaitanya. He has written about Lord Chaitanya: "There were many incarnations of Krishna, but He excels all others. He is giving something that was never given by an incarnation before, not even by Krishna Himself." #$p#Chaitanya begins from the surrendering point, and He is completely spiritual. He begins at the end of material existence, when one gives up all material attachment. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna began by distinguishing the soul from matter, and ended at the point of the soul surrendered in devotion. But there is no stoppage of talk there, as the Mayavadis would have it. The real talk only begins. As is stated in the Vedanta Sutra, "Now talking begins. Now we can inquire into the Supreme Absolute Truth." Rupa Goswami writes: "Your incarnation is greater than all. What You have given! It is the highest form of devotional service." #$p#One who accepts the existence of God is in devotional service. To acknowledge, "God is great" is something—but not much. Chaitanya preached like an Acharya, a great teacher, up to the point of friendship. In the Gita, Krishna showed Arjuna His Universal Form because he was a dear friend; but Arjuna asked forgiveness for this friendship on seeing Krishna as the Lord of the Universes. Through Lord Chaitanya you can become a friend of Krishna, where there is no limit. You can become a friend, not in adoration, but in complete freedom. You can also be related to God as His father. This is Srimad Bhagwatam philosophy. There is no other literature in the world where God is treated as the devotee's son. Usually He is the Father Who supplies the demands of the son. Chaitanya is the first to treat God as a son. How? By service. The son demands, and the father supplies. You don't take the supply, you give. Krishna's mother, Yasoda, said to the Lord: "Here—eat or You'll die. Eat nicely." Krishna will depend on your mercy. This is such a uniquely high level of friendship. And you can believe that you are His father. #$p#And, above all, you can treat Krishna as your Lover, as if He's so much attached to you that He expresses His inability to reciprocate. "I cannot repay your love. I have no more assets to return." Krishna was thus so obliged to the Gopis, that He felt His inability to return their love. Devotional service is such an excellent platform—and this was given by Chaitanya. It was never given by any previous incarnation or Acharya. #$p#"Devotional service itself is the highest platform—the glorious platform which You have contributed. You are Krishna, yellowish, Sachinandan, son of Sachi. Chaitanya Charitamrita hearers may keep You in their hearts. Then it will be easy to understand Krishna through Chaitanya." Chaitanya came to deliver Krishna. Rupa Goswami writes: "You are the most charitable Personality. You are delivering Krishna Prema, unalloyed love for Krishna. And so I offer You my respects." #$p#We have heard the phrase, "Love of Godhead." How far this love of Godhead can actually be developed we can learn from the Vaishnava philosophy. Simply theoretical knowledge of love of God you can find in many places and many Scriptures; but what that love of Godhead actually is, and how it is developed—that can be found in the Vaishnava literature. It is the unique and the highest development of love of God that is given by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. #$p#Now we have a little sense of love. Why? It is due to love of Godhead. Anything which we find within our experience, even in this conditional life, is situated in the Supreme Lord, Who is the ultimate Source of Everything. In our original relationship with the Supreme Lord there is real love. That love is reflected through material conditions, but reflected pervertedly, and not exactly. Real love means that which is continuous, and without a break, but because that love is reflected pervertedly in this material world, love lacks continuity and is inebriating. If we want real, transcendental love, then we have to transfer our love to the Supreme Lovable Object—Krishna the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the whole basic principle of Krishna Consciousness. #$p#In material consciousness we are trying to love that which is not at all lovable. We are giving our love to dogs, to cats—with the risk that if we love cats and dogs too much, at the time of our death we may be fixed in thinking of them, and therefore take our next birth in a family of cats or dogs. Everything without love of Krishna leads downward. In the Hindu Scripture, the chastity of woman is very much recommended. Why? Because if a woman becomes much addicted in love of her husband, at the time of death she will remember him, and in the next life she is promoted to a man's body. Man's life is better than woman's, because a man has better facility for understanding spiritual science. #$p#But Krishna Consciousness is so nice that it makes no distinction between man and woman. In the Bhagavad Gita you will find: "If somebody, even if he is born in a low family, even a woman or a Sudra or a Vaishya—anyone who takes shelter of Me is sure to achieve My association." That is guaranteed. And Krishna says that if these people can achieve the highest perfection of life, then why not the real Brahmins, devotees, and saintly kings? They are sure to achieve the highest perfection. #$p#Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gave us information: First of all you must know that in every country or every Scripture there is some hint of love of Godhead, but nobody knows what love of Godhead actually is. That is the distinction between other Scriptures and the Vedic Scriptures. The others have some idea of love of God—but regarding how to love Godhead, and what is Godhead, they have no idea. They promote official love of Godhead. But here Chaitanya Mahaprabhu gives a practical demonstration of how to love God in a conjugal relationship. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu takes the part of Radharani and tries to love Krishna as Radharani loved Him. Krishna could not understand, "How does Radharani give Me such pleasure?" So in order to study Radharani, Krishna lived Her role and tried to understand Himself. This is the secret of Lord Chaitanya's incarnation. That is explained in the next verse. #$p#This verse says, "I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Who is absorbed in the modes of Radharani's thought." He is Krishna, but He has taken the mode of Radharani to show how to love Krishna. And what is Radha Krishna? Radha Krishna is the exchange of love. And what is that love? This is not ordinary love. Krishna has immense potencies, of which three are principal: internal, external, and marginal potency. In the internal potency there are three divisions: Sambit, Alahadini and Sandhini. #$p#The Alahadini potency is the pleasure potency. We must always know that we also have this pleasure-seeking potency. We are all trying to have pleasure; this is the nature of the living entity. We are now trying to enjoy our pleasure potency in this material condition, with this body, by bodily contact. But do you think that Krishna, Who is always Spiritual, will also seek pleasure on this material plane? What nonsense this is! Krishna describes this place as non-permanent and full of miseries. Do you think Krishna is going to seek pleasure in this material form? How is it possible? He is the Supersoul, He is the Supreme Spirit; how can He seek pleasure in matter? #$p#Therefore, to learn how Krishna's pleasure can be obtained, you have to study the first Nine Cantos of Srimad Bhagwatam. In the Tenth Canto, Krishna's pleasure potency is displayed as He plays with Radharani, and as He plays with the damsels of Vraja. Unfortunately, people of less intelligence turn at once to the pleasure potency sports of Krishna in the Dasama Skanda, the Tenth Canto. These pictures of Krishna embracing Radharani, or of the Rasa Dance, are unfortunately not understood by ordinary men, because they do not understand Krishna. They will falsely understand that Krishna is like us, and just as we want to embrace a young girl, so He embraces the Gopis. These people write books because they think that this is a kind of religion where we can indulge in sex and become religionists. This is called Prakrita Sahajia—materialistic lust. #$p#One should understand what Radha Krishna is. Radha and Krishna display the pleasure potency of the internal energy of Krishna. That pleasure potency of Krishna's internal energy is a most difficult subject matter, unless one understands what Krishna is. Krishna cannot see any pleasure in this material world. But He has got that pleasure potency. Because we are part and parcel of Krishna, therefore that pleasure potency is within us also. But we are trying to exhibit that pleasure potency in matter, while Krishna does not. The object of His pleasure potency is Radharani. That means Krishna exhibits His potency or His energy as Radharani, and then exchanges loving affairs with Her. Krishna cannot take pleasure in this external energy. This is very difficult to understand—but just try: Krishna exhibits His internal energy, His pleasure potency, as Radharani. That means that Krishna manifests Himself. As He has so many extensions, so many expansions, so many incarnations; so Radharani is the manifestation of His internal pleasure potency. #$p#Radharani is also Krishna. There is no difference between the energy and the energetic. Without energy there is no meaning to energetic, and without the energetic there is no meaning to energy. Similarly, without Radha there is no meaning to Krishna, and without Krishna there is no meaning to Radha. Therefore the Vaishnava philosophy first of all worships the internal pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord. It is always said, "Radha Krishna." Although the author is going to explain the intricacies of this pleasure potency, he first of all utters the name of Radha. Similarly, those who worship the Name of Narayan first of all utter the name of Lakshmi; those who are worshippers of Lord Rama first of all utter the name of Sita. Sita Rama, Radha Krishna,Lakshmi Narayan—the potency always first. #$p#Radha and Krishna are One. When Krishna desires to enjoy pleasure He manifests Himself. The spiritual exchange of love affair is the display of the internal potency or pleasure potency of Krishna. We say "when" Krishna desires, although just when He did desire, we cannot say. But we speak in this way because in conditional life we take it that everything has some beginning. In the Absolute, or spiritual life, there is no beginning; there is no end. But in order to understand that Radha and Krishna are One, and that They become divided, that question "When?" automatically comes to be asked. When Krishna desired to enjoy His pleasure potency, He manifested Himself in the separate Form of Radharani. Again, when Krishna wanted to understand Himself through the agency of Radha, They became united—and that unification is called Lord Chaitanya. #$p#Why has Krishna assumed that Form? That will be explained. "What is the glory of Radha's love?" Krishna asks. "Why is She so much in love with Me? What is the special qualification in Me that Radharani is attracted to, and what is Radharani's process of loving Me?" He is the Supreme—why should He be attracted by anyone's love? He is full in Himself. We search after the love of a woman because we are imperfect. The love of woman, that potency, that pleasure, is absent in me, and therefore I want a woman. But Krishna is surprised: "Why am I attracted by Radharani? And what is the special significance in Me that Radharani is so much attached to? Now, when Radharani feels My love, what is Her feeling?" In order to taste the flavor or the quality, the essence of that loving affair, Krishna appeared as the Moon appears in the sea. Just as the Moon was produced by the churning of the sea, so by churning the spiritual love affairs, the Moon appeared as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, whose complexion was just like the Moon. This is figurative language, but it is the purport of why Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has appeared. The full significance will be explained in later chapters. #$p#The author of Chaitanya Charitamrita is describing the manifestation of the Supreme. After offering His respects to Lord Chaitanya, he next offers them to Nityananda. Who is Nityananda? He now explains. First of all, Nityananda is manifested as Samkarshan. Samkarshan is the origin of Maha Vishnu, a form of God. This first manifestation of Krishna is Valaram, and then Samkarshan; from Samkarshan to Pradyumna: in this way the expansion takes place. It works in the same way as one candle is the origin, and another candle is lit from that original and from that another and another—this is explained in Brahma Samhita: The Supreme Lord Govinda is the Original Candle, and from that Original Candle many thousands of candles, one after another, are expanded, and they are called Vishnu. Just as one candle after another makes a very nice exhibition of light, similarly, Krishna has expanded Himself into so many lights, and we are also lights. We are smaller lights, while Vishnu is the bigger light. But they are all Krishna, all expansions. #$p#That Vishnu, when there is a need of material creation, expands Himself as Maha Vishnu, Who lies down on the Causal Ocean. From His nostrils all the Universes are breathed out. From that Causal Ocean all the Universes have sprung up, and this Universe also is floating in that Causal Ocean. Outside is water. You have seen the picture of Vamanadev when He expanded His leg up to the covering of the sky of this Universe. There was a hole there, and through that hole Karana water leaked in; and a little drop is flowing as the river Ganges. Therefore the Ganges is accepted as the most sacred water of Vishnu, and is worshipped by all Hindus, from the Himalayas down to the Bay of Bengal. The Maha Vishnu, lying on the Causal Ocean, is a plenary expansion of Rama. This Rama, when we say HARE KRISHNA, HARE RAMA—this Rama means the Samkarshan, Nityananda. #$p#The author of Chaitanya Charitamrita describes what is "beyond this material expansion." The cosmic material expansion is called Maya because it has no eternal existence. It is sometimes manifested and sometimes not manifested. Therefore it is called Maya. Krishna Das now says, "beyond this manifestation." In the Bhagavad Gita Eighth Chapter, it is explained that there is another Nature which is eternal, and which is beyond Bakta and Abakta. Bakta means manifested, and Abakta means unmanifested. This material world has a manifested aspect and a potential state, which is called non-manifested. Beyond both the potential non-manifested stage and the manifested stage there is another, spiritual Nature. We can understand this superior Nature as the living force. That is described in the Bhagavad Gita. The living force is manifest in this body: this body is of the inferior Nature, matter. The superior Nature is the spirit that is moving the world. The symptom of that superior Nature is consciousness. Similarly, beyond this material Nature there is another, superior, Nature which is conscious. There everything is conscious. We cannot imagine that. Here the objects are not conscious. But in the Spiritual World the table is conscious, the land is conscious, the tree is conscious—everything is conscious. #$p#Now, you cannot imagine how far this material manifestation is extended. You have no measurement. Everything is calculated by imagination or by some imperfect method. But here we are getting information of what lies beyond this. Those who believe in experimental knowledge may inquire how it is possible: We cannot calculate how far this Universe is extended, and we cannot reach even the nearest planet; so how is it that we can obtain information beyond this material Nature? That which is beyond your conceivable power is called Achintya, inconceivable. What is inconceivable, don't argue about. It is useless. How can you? It is inconceivable. #$p#That which is inconceivable to your limited energy, limited sense perception—how can you reach that plane by argumentative logic? Don't argue. Then, how is it known? Accept it. The Bhagavad Gita says: "It has to be understood by the disciplic succession." Just as Brahma, the original creature, was given lessons by Krishna, Brahma imparted those lessons to his disciple Narada, and Narada imparted that knowledge to his disciple, Vyasdeva. Vyasdeva imparted that knowledge to his disciple, Madhvacharya; Madhvacharya on down to Madhavendra Puri, who imparted the same lesson to Ishwara Puri. And Ishwara Puri imparted the same lesson to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. #$p#People may ask that, if Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself, then why did He need a Spiritual Master? Of course, He did not need any Spiritual Master, but just because He was playing Acharya (teaching how to behave in spiritual life), He accepted a Spiritual Master. Even Krishna accepted a Spiritual Master. That is the system. If you want to know that which is inconceivable, you must accept the disciplic succession. Because the knowledge is coming down from the Supreme, down, down, down—it is perfect. Suppose a hundred generations before, there was something confidential that your forefather told his son, which has finally been passed down to you. Although you are not in touch with the direct personality, yet because it is coming through disciplic succession, the same truth is expressed. #$p#How was Brahma informed of this sort of knowledge? That is also stated in the Srimad Bhagwatam: The original learned scholar is Brahma; and Krishna, the Supreme Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, impressed transcendental knowledge into the heart of Brahma. By the heart. So two processes of knowledge exist: One process depends upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead as the Supersoul seated within you. He informs you. And He also expands Himself as the Spiritual Master. The Guru also informs you. #$p#So in both ways, from within and from without, the information is transmitted. We simply have to receive it. If we receive knowledge in this way, it doesn't matter that it is inconceivable. In the Bhagwatam, you will find much information about the Vaikuntha planetary systems, which are beyond the material Universe. Just as with Chaitanya Charitamrita, the knowledge is there, and you simply have to take it. But you have to receive it by the Parampara system. You cannot approach the Truth, which is inconceivable to your experimental knowledge. It is not possible. We want to know everything by experimental knowledge. That is foolishness. It is not possible. According to the Vedic way, sound is evidence. Sound is very important in Vedic understanding. Sound is evidence, if the sound is pure. In the material world, also, you understand things thousands of miles away simply by sound vibration. As soon as you call by telephone or radio, there is sound. In San Francisco, 3000 miles away, as soon as you receive the sound—"Mr. Such-and-Such speaking"—you understand. The evidence is sound. Where is the informant, is he standing there before you? No—but as soon as you hear the sound you know. Sound is the most authoritative evidence. These things are received by sound vibration. #$p#We have the information that beyond this cosmic manifestation there are the very extensive Vaikunthas. This material manifestation is only one-fourth of the manifestation. There is not only this Universe, but there are innumerable Universes. Just as there are innumerable planets within this Universe, so this is only one Cosmos; there are innumerable Universes, and, all combined together they are one-fourth of the manifestation of the Creation. The other three-fourths of the manifestation is Vaikuntha Loka, the Spiritual World. In that Vaikuntha Loka every Narayan has His four expansions: Samkarshan, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Vasudeva. (That Samkarshan is Nityananda.) These Universes surround the body of the Supreme; and Vishnu is Master of this material Nature. #$p#As the husband and wife combine together to create, so Maya is the wife and the Supreme Maha Vishnu is her Husband. This is also confirmed in the Bhagavad Gita: "This expansive material Nature is My wife, and all the living entities are born of Me." How is Vishnu contacting Maya? That contact is also described in the Bhagavad Gita: Simply by a glance: "He glanced over the material Nature and it became impregnated." This is Spiritual. We must impregnate by a particular part of our body, but the Supreme Lord, Krishna or Vishnu, can impregnate any part by any part. Simply by glancing He can cause conception. The reason why is found in the Brahma Samhita: the spiritual body of the Supreme Lord is so powerful that any part can perform the duty of any other part. We can only touch with the hand, but Krishna can touch you by glancing. We can only see with the eyes, we cannot touch or smell with our eyes; but Krishna can smell and can also eat with His eyes. #$p#When we offer Prasadam, foodstuffs, to Krishna, we don't see that He is eating; but, simply by glancing at the food, He can eat. Simply by seeing. We have the idea, because we have this mouth, that unless we devour the whole thing, we cannot eat. But that everything is spiritual—that we cannot imagine. We see that we are offering to Krishna, and He is not eating. Is it by our imagination that He is accepting Prasadam? No, it is not like that. Actually, He is eating, but His eating is different from our eating. Our eating process will be similar to His when we are completely on the spiritual platform. There, every part of the body can act for the other parts of the body. #$p#You have seen that picture where Brahma is born from the navel of Vishnu, Who is lying down. And Vishnu's energy, Lakshmi, the Goddess of Fortune, is serving Him, sitting by the side of His leg. Vishnu does not require Lakshmi to give birth to Brahma. How then can you expect that there is sex life in the Spiritual World? Sex life here in this material world is required to produce children, but in the Spiritual World you can produce children, as many as you like, without any help from a wife. So there is no sex life there. Vishnu produces Brahma from His navel without the help of His wife. There are many such instances. This is the inconceivable spiritual energy. Because we do not experience spiritual energy, we think these are fictional stories. No. You think that way because you have no conception of spiritual energy: it is so powerful that it can do anything and everything. It has full independence. #$p#From each pore of the body of Maha Vishnu these Universes emanate, seedlike, and then they develop. They are exhaled when He breathes also. Just as when a man is diseased the infection is carried by perspiration, by breathing and by touching: that is a scientific fact. If a man is infected with smallpox bacteria, you can simply touch his perspiration and become infected. This occurs even in this material world. So this is all possible. It is not impossible. It simply requires some intellectual capacity to understand. From Maha Vishnu's Spiritual Body so many Universes emanate. When He exhales they come out, and when He inhales the whole thing is gone. This is the material Universe. Just imagine: the existence of each and every Universe is contained in one breath of Vishnu. That is stated in the Brahma Samhita. We have calculated the age of Brahma, but actually you cannot conceivably calculate even one day of Maha Vishnu. 4,200,000,000 years is only twelve hours of Brahma. And the whole life of Brahma is just within the period of one breath of Maha Vishnu. Just consider what is the breathing power of the Supreme Lord. That Maha Vishnu is the plenary partial representation of Krishna. #$p#Next comes the Garbodakshayee Vishnu, from Whom Brahma is born. Within that lotus stem from this Vishnu's navel there are so many Universes. And just as the mother increases the family members, similarly Brahma was first created by Garbodakshayee Vishnu, and Brahma created the whole human society, animal society—everything. Maha Vishnu's plenary expansion is Garbodakshayee Vishnu, and His plenary expansion is Kshirodakshayee Vishnu. In this way, in each and every Universe, there is one Garbodakshayee Vishnu and one Kshirodakshayee Vishnu. That Kshirodakshayee Vishnu lies on the milk ocean, within this Universe, and He is the Controller and the Maintainer of the Universe. Brahma is the Creator, Vishnu is Maintainer, and when it will be required to annihilate the Universe, then Shiva will come and finish everything. #$p#So far, Krishna Das Kaviraj has discussed Lord Chaitanya and Lord Nityananda, and now he describes Adwaita Acharya. In our morning prayers we sing the Names ofLord Chaitanya and His Associates: #dl##dd#Sri Krishna Chaitanya, Prabhu Nityananda, Sri Adwaita, Gadadhar, Srivas adi Gaur bhaktavrinda.#/dd##/dl# They are all expansions of the same One. So Adwaita Acharya is an expansion of Maha Vishnu. You have seen the picture of Maha Vishnu lying on the Causal Ocean and breathing out innumerable universes. That Maha Vishnu is incarnated as Adwaita. This Adwaita Acharya is the incarnation of that Maha Vishnu, Who creates this material world through the agency of the material energy. Therefore Adwaita Acharya is also the Lord, or an expansion of the Lord. Why is He called Adwaita? Adwaita means nondual. His name is such because He is non-different from the Supreme Lord. And He is called Acharya, teacher, because He disseminated Krishna Consciousness. In this He is just like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—although He is Sri Krishna Himself, He appeared as a devotee to teach how to love Krishna. So Adwaita Acharya appeared just to distribute the knowledge of Krishna Consciousness. He is also the incarnation of a devotee. #$p#Krishna is manifested in five different expansions, and Himself and all of His other Associates appear as devotees of the Supreme Lord. Some of them are like Adwaita Acharya—He is an incarnation of Maha Vishnu. And one is known as Bhakta Nityananda Prabhu, Who also appeared as a devotee. So Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the Source of energy for all devotees. If we take shelter of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for Krishna Consciousness, it becomes very easy. There is a very nice song: "My dear Lord Chaitanya, please have mercy upon me, because there is no one who is such a merciful Lord as You are. You have descended to deliver all fallen souls, but You will not find a more fallen soul than me; therefore, my claim to be delivered is most urgent. Because Your mission is to deliver the fallen souls, and nobody is more fallen than me, I have my priority." #$p#Now the author begins his obeisances to Krishna. The author, Krishna Das, was an inhabitant of Vrindaban. Some incidents from his life will be described in the Fifth Chapter of the Chaitanya Charitamrita. He was a great devotee. He had been living in Katwa, a small subdivisional city in the district of Bardwan in Bengal, with his family who also worshipped Radha Krishna, when there was some misunderstanding—not on family matters, but about devotional service. In the midst of this misunderstanding, Nityananda Prabhu advised him in a dream to leave his home and go to Vrindaban. Although he was very old, he started out that very night, and came to live at Vrindaban. He met some of the Goswamis there. His tomb remains in the temple where I live in Vrindaban. This is Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami, the author of Chaitanya Charitamrita. This Chaitanya Charitamrita was requested by the devotees of Vrindaban. He began at a very old age, but by the grace of Lord Chaitanya he finished this nice, most authoritative book on Chaitanya's philosophy and life: #i#The Character and Activities of the Eternal Living Force.#/i# #$p#Because he lived in Vrindaban, there are three temples that are very important: One temple is Madanmohan, another is Govinda, and the third is Gopinath. These temples are the ones visited by all pilgrims. About 300 or 400 years after the construction of these temples, with the development of Vrindaban city, many other temples were built, but when Krishna Das Goswami was living, there were not so many. The only principle temples were these three—Madanmohan, Govinda, and Gopinath. Because he was a resident of Vrindaban, he must offer his respects to the deities. And his first offering is respect. He considers himself as a layman and very slow to make progress. He asks God's favor: "My progress in spiritual life is very slow, so I am asking Your help." #$p#He is offering his obeisances first to Vigraha. Vigraha, according to devotional service, is the deity Who can help us in dovetailing ourselves with Krishna Consciousness. Our first business is to know Krishna, and to know our relationship with Krishna. To know Krishna is to know oneself, and to know oneself means to know one's relationship with Krishna. What is our relationship with Krishna? That is learned by worshipping Madanmohan Vigraha. Therefore, Krishna Das Goswami first establishes his relationship with Madanmohan Vigraha. When one is established in relationship with Krishna, then he begins his function. The functional deity is Govinda. #$p#He offers his obeisances to Govinda, Who resides in Vrindaban. Vrindaban is the place where there are desire trees. Actually, in the Spiritual World of Vrindaban, it is explained, that the land is of touchstone and the trees are desire trees. Desire tree means whatever you want you can have. And the Lord is herding spiritual cows, known as Surabhi cows. And He is worshipped by hundreds and thousands of Gopis, who are all Goddesses of Fortune. When Krishna descends, this same Vrindaban descends. Just as when a Governor or a President goes to someplace, all his entourage and paraphernalia, secretary, military—everything goes there with him. Similarly, when Krishna comes, His land also comes. Therefore Vrindaban is considered to be not in the material world. And therefore devotees take shelter in Vrindaban. Vrindaban in India is considered the replica of the original Vrindaban; and so one should accept the trees of Vrindaban as being the same Kalpa briksha, desire trees. Now, one may say of the Vrindaban trees, "Oh, we can ask anything?" But first of all you should become a devotee. You simply cannot go and test them to see whether these trees are desire trees. Actually, when the Goswamis were there, the Kalpa briksha was there. The Goswamis were each under one tree for one night, and all their wants were satisfied. So how could they live that way unless the trees were so nice as desire trees? For the common man it seems very wonderful that the Goswamis could simply live underneath one tree one night, and the next tree another night, and have everything they needed. But it is all possible. As we make progress in our devotional service, we can realize this. #$p#There is another devotee, an Acharya, who describes Vrindaban: "When my mind becomes cleansed of all dirty hankering for material enjoyment, then I shall be able to see Vrindaban!" So Vrindaban is actually experienced by persons who have finished with material enjoyment. Everything is spiritual. This becomes revealed. We cannot challenge it. As you become more Krishna conscious, as you become more advanced, everything is revealed to you. #$p#Actually, Vrindaban is as good as the Spiritual Vrindaban, and therefore Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami says that underneath one of the desire trees of Vrindaban there is a nice throne decorated with valuable jewels on which Radharani and Krishna are seated. And His dear friends and the Gopis are all serving Them: somebody is singing, and somebody is dancing, somebody is offering betel nuts and refreshment, somebody is decorating with flowers. In this way there are 108 Gopis who are the constant companions of Sri Radha and Krishna. That scene is described in Chaitanya Charitamrita. #$p#In India it is still a fashion of recreation to sit on a swinging throne, and, if it is moving, it is very refreshing. In each and every home they have a hanging throne, and when a man comes home from the office, if it is practical, it is moved for some time and he becomes refreshed. So, similarly, the same system prevails, especially in the month of Sravam, July, when there is the function called Julun. During Julun, in all the houses—not only of Vrindaban but all over India—the people hang thrones. In every house and village they place Krishna and Radha and decorate them with flowers and move the throne and offer dancing and Kirtan. If you like you can introduce that system here. Julun goes on for one month, the temples are decorated and thousands of visitors come as spectators. Generally, people go to Vrindaban at that time. Krishna and Radha are seated on the throne, surrounded by His friends. #$p#"I offer my respects to Radha and Krishna," Krishna Das says. This Radha and Krishna deity shows us how to serve Radha and Krishna. Madanmohan is simply to establish that "I am Your eternal servant." Now, in Govinda, there is actually acceptance of service. Therefore it is the functional deity. #$p#The next deity is Gopinath. The author offers blessings here to the audience in the Name of Gopinath, the Master or Proprietor of the Gopis, Who attracted all the Gopis by the sound of His flute, because He wanted to dance with them. In the Tenth Canto of Srimad Bhagwatam this is described: Some of the Gopis are sleeping somewhere with their husbands, some are taking milk, some are caring for their children—they were all busy young girls. But as soon as they heard Krishna's flute, they at once left their places. #$p#All these Gopis were childhood friends. In India the girls are married by the age of twelve years, and the boys are married at not less than eighteen years. Krishna was not married at that time as He was a Boy fifteen or sixteen years old. So, He called these girlfriends from their homes, although they were married, and they used to come and dance together. That is called the Rasa Dance. Hearing the transcendental sound of the flute, as soon as He would sound the vibration, all the Gopis would come and join Him at a particular place, which was called Bonsibat. If you go to Vrindaban you will find that Bonsibat still exists. It is a very sanctified place, and pilgrims go there and offer their respects. Believe it or not, it is said that there are the same trees that were there at the time of Krishna. That is not so astonishing, however, because I saw some redwood trees in Muir Forest in San Francisco which were said to be 7000 years old. So it is not impossible. #$p#Krishna advented 5000 years ago, and if some of the trees are still standing, it is not unprecendented, because here also there are very old trees. The particular tree under which Krishna used to call the Gopis to come and dance the Rasa Dance at night with Him—that tree is still there. That is described in Chaitanya Charitamrita. #$p#"May that Gopinath, the Master of the Gopis, Krishna, bless you. May you become blessed by Gopinath." Gopinath is called for blessing because He used to attract the Gopis. As He attracted the Gopis by the sweet sound of His flute, so the author desires that He may also attract your mind by that transcendental vibration. #/div# please wait#div class="mw-parser-output"# (#i#Originally delivered as five morning lectures on#/i# the Caitanya-caritāmṛta—#i#the authoritative biography of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu by Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī before the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, New York City, April 10–14, 1967#/i#.) #$p# The word #i#caitanya#/i# means “living force,” #i#carita#/i# means “character,” and #i#amṛta#/i# means “immortal.” As living entities we can move, but a table cannot because it does not possess living force. Movement and activity may be considered signs of the living force. Indeed, it may be said that there can be no activity without the living force. Although the living force is present in the material condition, this condition is not #i#amṛta#/i#, immortal. The words #i#caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#, then, may be translated as “the character of the living force in immortality.” #$p#But how is this living force displayed immortally? It is not displayed by man or any other creature in this material universe, for none of us are immortal in these bodies. We possess the living force, we perform activities, and we are immortal by our nature and constitution, but the material condition into which we have been put does not allow our immortality to be displayed. It is stated in the #i#Kaṭha Upaniṣad#/i# that eternality and the living force are characteristics of both ourselves and God. Although this is true in that both God and ourselves are immortal living beings, there is a difference. As living entities, we perform many activities, but we have a tendency to fall down into material nature. God has no such tendency. Being all-powerful, He never comes under the control of material nature. Indeed, material nature is but one display of His inconceivable energies. #$p#An analogy will help us understand the distinction between ourselves and God. From the ground we may see only clouds in the sky, but if we fly above the clouds we can see the sun shining. From the sky, skyscrapers and cities seem very tiny; similarly, from God’s position this entire material creation is insignificant. The living entity is also insignifcant, and his tendency is to come down from the heights, where everything can be seen in perspective. God, however, does not have this tendency. The Supreme Lord is not subject to falling down into illusion (#i#māyā#/i#), any more than the sun is subject to falling beneath the clouds. Impersonalist philosophers (Māyāvādīs) maintain that because we fall under the control of #i#māyā#/i# when we come into this material world, God must also fall under #i#māyā’s#/i# control. This is the fallacy of their philosophy. #$p#Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu should therefore not be considered one of us. He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, the supreme living entity, and as such He never comes under the cloud of #i#māyā#/i#. Kṛṣṇa, His expansions and even His higher devotees never fall into the clutches of illusion. Lord Caitanya came to earth simply to preach #i#kṛṣṇa-bhakti#/i#, love of Kṛṣṇa. In other words, He is Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself teaching the living entities the proper way to approach Kṛṣṇa. He is like a teacher who, seeing a student doing poorly, takes up a pencil and writes, saying, “Do it like this: A, B, C.” From this one should not foolishly think that the teacher is learning his ABC’s. Similarly, although Lord Caitanya appears in the guise of a devotee, we should not foolishly think He is an ordinary human being; we should always remember that Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa (God) Himself teaching us how to become Kṛṣṇa conscious, and we must study Him in that light. #$p#In the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# (18.66) Lord Kṛṣṇa says, “Give up all your nonsense and surrender to Me. I will protect you.” #$p#We say, “Oh, surrender? But I have so many responsibilities.” #$p#And #i#māyā#/i#, illusion, says to us, “Don’t do it, or you’ll be out of my clutches. Just stay in my clutches, and I’ll kick you.” #$p#It is a fact that we are constantly being kicked by #i#māyā#/i#, just as the male ass is kicked in the face by the she-ass when he comes for sex. Similarly, cats and dogs are always fighting and whining when they have sex. Even an elephant in the jungle is caught by the use of a trained she-elephant who leads him into a pit. We should learn by observing these tricks of nature. #$p##i#Māyā#/i# has many ways to entrap us, and her strongest shackle is the female. Of course, in actuality we are neither male nor female, for these designations refer only to the outer dress, the body. We are all actually Kṛṣṇa’s servants. But in conditioned life we are shackled by iron chains in the form of beautiful women. Thus every male is bound by sex, and therefore one who wishes to gain liberation from the material clutches must first learn to control the sex urge. Unrestricted sex puts one fully in the clutches of illusion. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu officially renounced this illusion at the age of twenty-four, although His wife was sixteen and His mother seventy and He was the only male in the family. Although He was a #i#brāhmaṇa#/i# and was not rich, He took #i#sannyāsa#/i#, the renounced order of life, and thus extricated Himself from family entanglement. #$p#If we wish to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, we have to give up the shackles of #i#māyā#/i#. Or, if we remain with #i#māyā#/i#, we should live in such a way that we will not be subject to illusion, as did the many householders among Lord Caitanya’s closest devotees. With His followers in the renounced order, however, Lord Caitanya was very strict. He even banished Junior Haridāsa, an important #i#kīrtana#/i# leader, for glancing lustfully at a woman. The Lord told him, “You are living with Me in the renounced order, and yet you are looking at a woman with lust. Other devotees of the Lord had appealed to Him to forgive Haridāsa, but He replied, “All of you can forgive him and live with him. I shall live alone.” On the other hand, when the Lord learned that the wife of one of His householder devotees was pregnant, He asked that the baby be given a certain auspicious name. So while the Lord approved of householders having regulated sex, He was like a thunderbolt with those in the renounced order who tried to cheat by the method known as “drinking water under water while bathing on a fast day.” In other words, He tolerated no hypocrisy among His followers. #$p#From the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# we learn how Lord Caitanya taught people to break the shackles of #i#māyā#/i# and become immortal. Thus, as mentioned above, the title may be properly translated as “the character of the living force in immortality.” The supreme living force is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is also the supreme entity. There are innumerable living entities, and all of them are individuals. This is very easy to understand: We are all individual in our thoughts and desires, and the Supreme Lord is also an individual person. He is different, though, in that He is the leader, the one whom no one can excel. Among the minute living entities, one being can excel another in one capacity or another. Like each of these living entities, the Lord is an individual, but He is different in that He is the supreme individual. God is also infallible, and thus in the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# He is addressed as Acyuta, which means “He who never falls down.” This name is appropriate because in the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# Arjuna falls into illusion but Kṛṣṇa does not. Kṛṣṇa Himself reveals His infallibility when he says to Arjuna, “When I appear in this world, I do so by My own internal potency.” (Bg. 4.6) #$p#Thus we should not think that Kṛṣṇa is overpowered by the material potency when He is in the material world. Neither Kṛṣṇa nor His incarnations ever come under the control of material nature. They are totally free. Indeed, in #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# one who has a godly nature is actually defined as one who is not affected by the modes of material nature although in material nature. If even a devotee can attain this freedom, then what to speak of the Supreme Lord? #$p#The real question is, How can we remain unpolluted by material contamination while in the material world? Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī explains that we can remain uncontaminated while in the world if we simply make it our ambition to serve Kṛṣṇa. One may then justifiably ask, “How can I serve?” It is not simply a matter of meditation, which is just an activity of the mind, but of performing practical work for Kṛṣṇa. In such work, we should leave no resource unused. Whatever is there, whatever we have, should be used for Kṛṣṇa. We can use everything—typewriters, automobiles, airplanes, missiles. If we simply speak to people about Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we are also rendering service. If our mind, senses, speech, money and energies are thus engaged in the service of Kṛṣṇa, then we are no longer in material nature. By virtue of spiritual consciousness, or Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we transcend the platform of material nature. It is a fact that Kṛṣṇa, His expansions and His devotees—that is, those who work for Him—are not in material nature, although people with a poor fund of knowledge think that they are. #$p#The #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# teaches that the spirit soul is immortal and that our activities in the spiritual world are also immortal. The Māyāvādīs, who hold the view that the Absolute is impersonal and formless, contend that a realized soul has no need to talk. But the Vaiṣṇavas, devotees of Kṛṣṇa, contend that when one reaches the stage of realization, he really begins to talk. “Previously we only talked of nonsense,” the Vaiṣṇava says. “Now let us begin our real talks, talks of Kṛṣṇa.” In support of their view that the self-realized remain silent, the Māyāvādīs are fond of using the example of the waterpot, maintaining that when a pot is not filled with water it makes a sound, but that when it is filled it makes no sound. But are we waterpots? How can we be compared to them? A good analogy utilizes as many similarities between two objects as possible. A waterpot is not an active living force, but we are. Ever-silent meditation may be adequate for a waterpot, but not for us. Indeed, when a devotee realizes how much he has to say about Kṛṣṇa, twenty-four hours in a day are not sufficient. It is the fool who is celebrated as long as he does not speak, for when he breaks his silence his lack of knowledge is exposed. The #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# shows that there are many wonderful things to discover by glorifying the Supreme. #$p#In the beginning of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī writes, “I offer my respects to my spiritual masters.” He uses the plural here to indicate the disciplic succession. He offers obeisances not to his spiritual master alone but to the whole #i#paramparā#/i#, the chain of disciplic succession beginning with Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself. Thus the author addresses the guru in the plural to show the highest respect for all his predecessor spiritual masters. After offering obeisances to the disciplic succession, the author pays obeisances to all other devotees, to the Lord Himself, to His incarnations, to the expansions of Godhead and to the manifestation of Kṛṣṇa’s internal energy. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu (sometimes called Kṛṣṇa Caitanya) is the embodiment of all of these: He is God, guru, devotee, incarnation, internal energy and expansion of God. As His associate Nityānanda, He is the first expansion of God; as Advaita, He is an incarnation; as Gadādhara, He is the internal potency; and as Śrīvāsa, He is the marginal living entity in the role of a devotee. Thus Kṛṣṇa should not be thought of as being alone but should be considered as eternally existing with all His manifestations, as described by Rāmānujācārya. In the Viśiṣṭādvaita philosophy, God’s energies, expansions and incarnations are considered to be oneness in diversity. In other words, God is not separate from all of these: everything together is God. #$p#Actually, the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# is not intended for the novice, for it is the postgraduate study of spiritual knowledge. Ideally, one begins with the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# and advances through #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# to the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#. Although all these great scriptures are on the same absolute level, for the sake of comparative study the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# is considered to be on the highest platform. Every verse in it is perfectly composed. #$p#In the second verse of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#, the author offers his obeisances to Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda. He compares Them to the sun and the moon because They dissipate the darkness of the material world. In this instance the sun and the moon have risen together. #$p#In the Western world, where the glories of Lord Caitanya are relatively unknown, one may inquire, “Who is Kṛṣṇa Caitanya?” The author of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, answers that question in the third verse of his book. Generally, in the #i#Upaniṣads#/i# the Supreme Absolute Truth is described in an impersonal way, but the personal aspect of the Absolute Truth is mentioned in the #i#Īśopaniṣad#/i#, where we find the following verse: #$p##i#hiraṇmayena pātreṇa#/i#   #i#satyasyāpihitaṁ mukham#/i# #$p##i#tat tvaṁ pūṣann apāvṛṇu#/i#   #i#satya-dharmāya dṛṣṭaye#/i# #$p#“O my Lord, sustainer of all that lives, Your real face is covered by Your dazzling effulgence. Kindly remove that covering and exhibit Yourself to Your pure devotee.” (#i#Śrī Īśopaniṣad#/i# 15). #$p#The impersonalists do not have the power to go beyond the effulgence of God and arrive at the Personality of Godhead, from whom this effulgence is emanating. #$p#The #i#Īśopaniṣad#/i# is a hymn to that Personality of Godhead. It is not that the impersonal Brahman is denied; it is also described, but that Brahman is revealed to be the glaring effulgence of the body of Lord Kṛṣṇa. And in the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# we learn that Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa Himself. In other words, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya is the basis of the impersonal Brahman. The Paramātmā, or Supersoul, who is present within the heart of every living entity and within every atom of the universe, is but the partial representation of Lord Caitanya. Therefore Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, being the basis of both Brahman and the all-pervading Paramātmā as well, is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As such, He is full in six opulences: wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. In short, we should know that He is Kṛṣṇa, God, and that nothing is equal to or greater than Him. There is nothing superior to be conceived. He is the Supreme Person. #$p#Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, a confidential devotee taught for more than ten days continually by Lord Caitanya, wrote: #dl##dd##i#namo mahā-vadānyāya#/i#   #i#kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te#/i##/dd# #dd##i#kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-#/i#   #i#nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ#/i##/dd# #dd#(Cc. Madhya 19.53)#/dd##/dl# “I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, who is more magnanimous than any other #i#avatāra#/i#, even Kṛṣṇa Himself, because He is bestowing freely what no one else has ever given—pure love of Kṛṣṇa.” #$p#Lord Caitanya’s teachings begin from the point of surrender to Kṛṣṇa. He does not pursue the paths of #i#karma-yoga#/i# or #i#jñāna-yoga#/i# or #i#haṭha-yoga#/i# but begins at the end of material existence, at the point where one gives up all material attachment. In the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# Kṛṣṇa begins His teachings by distinguishing the soul from matter, and in the Eighteenth Chapter He concludes at the point where the soul surrenders to Him in devotion. The Māyāvādīs would have all talk cease there, but at that point the real discussion only begins. As the #i#Vedānta-sūtra#/i# says at the very beginning, #i#athāto brahma-jijñāsā:#/i# “Now let us begin to inquire about the Supreme Absolute Truth.” Rūpa Gosvāmī thus praises Lord Caitanya as the most munificent incarnation of all, for He gives the greatest gift by teaching the highest form of devotional service. In other words, He answers the most important inquiries that anyone can make. #$p#There are different stages of devotional service and God realization. Strictly speaking, anyone who accepts the existence of God is situated in devotional service. To acknowledge that God is great is something, but not much. Lord Caitanya, preaching as an #i#ācārya#/i#, a great teacher, taught that we can enter into a relationship with God and actually become God’s friend, parent or lover. In the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# Kṛṣṇa showed Arjuna His universal form because Arjuna was His very dear friend. Upon seeing Kṛṣṇa as the Lord of the universes, however, Arjuna asked Kṛṣṇa to forgive the familiarity of his friendship. Lord Caitanya goes beyond this point. Through Lord Caitanya we can become friends with Kṛṣṇa, and there will be no limit to this friendship. We can become friends of Kṛṣṇa not in awe or adoration but in complete freedom. We can even relate to God as His father or mother. This is the philosophy not only of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# but of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# as well. There are no other scriptures in the world in which God is treated as the son of a devotee. Usually God is seen as the almighty father who supplies the demands of His sons. The great devotees, however, sometimes treat God as a son in their execution of devotional service. The son demands, and the father and mother supply, and in supplying Kṛṣṇa the devotee becomes like a father or mother. Instead of taking from God, we give to God. It was in this relationship that Kṛṣṇa’s mother, Yaśodā, told the Lord, “Here, eat this or You’ll die. Eat nicely.” In this way Kṛṣṇa, although the proprietor of everything, depends on the mercy of His devotee. This is a uniquely high level of friendship, in which the devotee actually believes himself to be the father or mother of Kṛṣṇa. #$p#However, Lord Caitanya’s greatest gift was His teaching that Kṛṣṇa can be treated as one’s lover. In this relationship the Lord becomes so much attached to His devotee that He expresses His inability to reciprocate. Kṛṣṇa was so obliged to the #i#gopīs#/i#, the cowherd girls of Vṛndāvana, that He felt unable to return their love. “I cannot repay your love,” He told them. “I have no more assets to give.” Devotional service on this highest, most excellent platform of lover and beloved, which had never been given by any previous incarnation or #i#ācārya#/i#, was given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Therefore Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, quoting Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, writes in the fourth verse of his book, “Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa in a yellow complexion, and He is Śacīnandana, the son of mother Śacī. He is the most charitable personality because He came to deliver #i#kṛṣṇa-prema#/i#, unalloyed love for Kṛṣṇa, to everyone. May you always keep Him in your hearts. It will be easy to understand Kṛṣṇa through Him.” #$p#We have often heard the phrase “love of Godhead.” How far this love of Godhead can actually be developed can be learned from the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Theoretical knowledge of love of God can be found in many places and in many scriptures, but what that love of Godhead actually is and how it is developed can be found in the Vaiṣṇava literatures. It is the unique and highest development of love of God that is given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. #$p#Even in this material world we can have a little sense of love. How is this possible? It is due to the presence of our original love of God. Whatever we find within our experience within this conditioned life is situated in the Supreme Lord, who is the ultimate source of everything. In our original relationship with the Supreme Lord there is real love, and that love is reflected pervertedly through material conditions. Our real love is continuous and unending, but because that love is reflected pervertedly in this material world, it lacks continuity and is inebriating. If we want real, transcendental love, we have to transfer our love to the supreme lovable object—Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is the basic principle of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. #$p#In material consciousness we are trying to love that which is not at all lovable. We give our love to cats and dogs, running the risk that at the time of death we may think of them and consequently take birth in a family of cats or dogs. Our consciousness at the time of death determines our next life. That is one reason why the Vedic scriptures stress the chastity of women: If a woman is very much attached to her husband, at the time of death she will think of him, and in the next life she will be promoted to a man’s body. Generally a man’s life is better than a woman’s because a man usually has better facilities for understanding the spiritual science. #$p#But Kṛṣṇa consciousness is so nice that it makes no distinction between man and woman. In the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# (9.32), Lord Kṛṣṇa says, “Anyone who takes shelter of Me—whether a woman, #i#śūdra#/i#, #i#vaiśya#/i# or someone of low birth—is sure to achieve My association.” This is Kṛṣṇa’s guarantee. #$p#Caitanya Mahāprabhu informs us that in every country and in every scripture there is some hint of love of Godhead. But no one knows what love of Godhead actually is. The Vedic scriptures, however, are different in that they can direct the individual in the proper way to love God. Other scriptures do not give information on how one can love God, nor do they actually define or describe what or who the Godhead actually is. Although they officially promote love of Godhead, they have no idea how to execute it. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu gives a practical demonstration of how to love God in a conjugal relationship. Taking the part of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, Caitanya Mahāprabhu tried to love Kṛṣṇa as Rādhārāṇī loved Him. Kṛṣṇa was always amazed by Rādhārāṇīs love. “How does Rādhārāṇī give Me such pleasure?” He would ask. In order to study Rādhārāṇī, Kṛṣṇa lived in Her role and tried to understand Himself. This is the secret of Lord Caitanya’s incarnation. Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa, but He has taken the mood and role of Rādhārāṇī to show us how to love Kṛṣṇa. Thus the author writes in the fifth verse, “I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, who is absorbed in Rādhārāṇīs thoughts.” #$p#This brings up the question of who Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is and what Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is. Actually Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is the exchange of love—but not ordinary love. Kṛṣṇa has immense potencies, of which three are principal: the internal, the external and the marginal potencies. In the internal potency there are three divisions: #i#samvit#/i#, #i#hlādinī#/i# and #i#sandhinī#/i#. The #i#hlādinī#/i# potency is Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency. All living entities have this pleasure-seeking potency, for all beings are trying to have pleasure. This is the very nature of the living entity. At present we are trying to enjoy our pleasure potency by means of the body in the material condition. By bodily contact we are attempting to derive pleasure from material sense objects. But we should not entertain the nonsensical idea that Kṛṣṇa, who is always spiritual, also tries to seek pleasure on this material plane. In the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# Kṛṣṇa describes the material universe as a nonpermanent place full of miseries. Why, then, would He seek pleasure in matter? He is the Supersoul, the supreme spirit, and His pleasure is beyond the material conception. #$p#To learn how Kṛṣṇa enjoys pleasure, we must study the first nine cantos of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#, and then we should study the Tenth Canto, in which Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency is displayed in His pastimes with Rādhārāṇī and the damsels of Vraja. Unfortunately, unintelligent people turn at once to the sports of Kṛṣṇa in the #i#Daśama-skandha#/i#, the Tenth Canto. Kṛṣṇa’s embracing Rādhārāṇī or His dancing with the cowherd girls in the #i#rāsa#/i# dance are generally not understood by ordinary men, because they consider these pastimes in the light of mundane lust. They foolishly think that Kṛṣṇa is like themselves and that He embraces the #i#gopīs#/i# just as an ordinary man embraces a young girl. Some people thus become interested in Kṛṣṇa because they think that His religion allows indulgence in sex. This is not #i#kṛṣṇa-bhakti#/i#, love of Kṛṣṇa, but #i#prākṛta-sahajiyā#/i#—materialistic lust. #$p#To avoid such errors, we should understand what Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa actually is. Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa display Their pastimes through Kṛṣṇa’s internal energy. The pleasure potency of Kṛṣṇa’s internal energy is a most difficult subject matter, and unless one understands what Kṛṣṇa is, one cannot understand it. Kṛṣṇa does not take any pleasure in this material world, but He has a pleasure potency. Because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa, the pleasure potency is within us also, but we are trying to exhibit that pleasure potency in matter. Kṛṣṇa, however, does not make such a vain attempt. The object of Kṛṣṇa’s pleasure potency is Rādhārāṇī; Kṛṣṇa exhibits His potency as Rādhārāṇī and then engages in loving affairs with Her. In other words, Kṛṣṇa does not take pleasure in this external energy but exhibits His internal energy, His pleasure potency, as Rādhārāṇī and then enjoys with Her. Thus Kṛṣṇa manifests Himself as Rādhārāṇī in order to enjoy His internal pleasure potency. Of the many extensions, expansions and incarnations of the Lord, this pleasure potency is the foremost and chief. #$p#It is not that Rādhārāṇī is separate from Kṛṣṇa. Rādhārāṇī is also Kṛṣṇa, for there is no difference between the energy and the energetic. Without energy, there is no meaning to the energetic, and without the energetic, there is no energy. Similarly, without Rādhā there is no meaning to Kṛṣṇa, and without Kṛṣṇa there is no meaning to Rādhā. Because of this, the Vaiṣṇava philosophy first of all pays obeisances to and worships the internal pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord. Thus the Lord and His potency are always referred to as Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, those who worship Nārāyaṇa first of all utter the name of Lakṣmī, as Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Similarly, those who worship Lord Rāma first of all utter the name of Sītā. In any case—Sītā-Rāma, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa—the potency always comes first. #$p#Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are one, and when Kṛṣṇa desires to enjoy pleasure, He manifests Himself as Rādhārāṇī. The spiritual exchange of love between Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa is the actual display of Kṛṣṇa’s internal pleasure potency. Although we speak of “when” Kṛṣṇa desires, just when He did desire we cannot say. We only speak in this way because in conditioned life we take it that everything has a beginning; however, in spiritual life everything is absolute, and so there is neither beginning nor end. Yet in order to understand that Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are one and that They also become divided, the question “When?” automatically comes to mind. When Kṛṣṇa desired to enjoy His pleasure potency, He manifested Himself in the separate form of Rādhārāṇī, and when He wanted to understand Himself through the agency of Rādhā, He united with Rādhārāṇī, and that unification is called Lord Caitanya. This is all explained by Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja in the fifth verse of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#. #$p#In the next verse the author further explains why Kṛṣṇa assumed the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Kṛṣṇa desired to know the glory of Rādhās love. “Why is She so much in love with Me?” Kṛṣṇa asked. “What is My special qualification that attracts Her so? And what is the actual way in which She loves Me?” It seems strange that Kṛṣṇa, as the Supreme, should be attracted by anyone’s love. A man searches after the love of a woman because he is imperfect—he lacks something. The love of a woman, that potency and pleasure, is absent in man, and therefore a man wants a woman. But this is not the case with Kṛṣṇa, who is full in Himself. Thus Kṛṣṇa expressed surprise: “Why am I attracted by Rādhārāṇī? And when Rādhārāṇī feels My love, what is She actually feeling?” To taste the essence of that loving exchange, Kṛṣṇa made His appearance in the same way that the moon appears on the horizon of the sea. Just as the moon was produced by the churning of the sea, by the churning of spiritual loving affairs the moon of Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared. Indeed, Lord Caitanya’s complexion was golden, just like the luster of the moon. Although this is figurative language, it conveys the meaning behind the appearance of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The full significance of His appearance will be explained in later chapters. #$p#After offering respects to Lord Caitanya, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja begins offering them to Lord Nityānanda in the seventh verse of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#. The author explains that Lord Nityānanda is Balarāma, who is the origin of Mahā-viṣṇu. Kṛṣṇa’s first expansion is Balarāma, a portion of whom is manifested as Saṅkarṣaṇa, who then expands as Pradyumna. In this way so many expansions take place. Although there are many expansions, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the origin, as confirmed in the #i#Brahma-saṁhitā#/i#. He is like the original candle, from which many thousands and millions of candles are lit. Although any number of candles can be lit, the original candle still retains its identity as the origin. In this way Kṛṣṇa expands Himself into so many forms, and all these expansions are called #i#viṣṇu-tattva#/i#. Viṣṇu is a large light, and we are small lights, but all are expansions of Kṛṣṇa. #$p#When it is necessary to create the material universes, Viṣṇu expands Himself as Mahā-viṣṇu. Mahā-viṣṇu lies down in the Causal Ocean and breathes all the universes from His nostrils. Thus from Mahā-viṣṇu and the Causal Ocean spring all the universes, and all these universes, including ours, float in the Causal Ocean. In this regard there is the story of Vāmana, who, when He took three steps, stuck His foot through the covering of this universe. Water from the Causal Ocean flowed through the hole that His foot made, and it is said that that water became the river Ganges. Therefore the Ganges is accepted as the most sacred water of Viṣṇu and is worshiped by all Hindus, from the Himalayas down to the Bay of Bengal. #$p#Mahā-viṣṇu is actually an expansion of Balarāma, who is Kṛṣṇa’s first expansion and, in the Vṛndāvana pastimes, His brother. In the #i#mahā-mantra#/i#—Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare—the word “Rāma” refers to Balarāma. Since Lord Nityānanda is Balarāma, “Rāma” also refers to Lord Nityānanda. Thus Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Rāma addresses not only Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma but Lord Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda as well. #$p#The subject matter of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# deals primarily with what is beyond this material creation. The cosmic material expansion is called #i#māyā#/i#, illusion, because it has no eternal existence. Because it is sometimes manifested and sometimes not, it is regarded as illusory. But beyond this temporary manifestation is a higher nature, as indicated in the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# (8.20): #dl##dd##i#paras tasmāt tu bhāvo ’nyo#/i#   #i#’vyakto ’vyaktāt sanātanaḥ#/i##/dd# #dd##i#yaḥ sa sarveṣu bhūteṣu#/i#   #i#naśyatsu na vinaśyati#/i##/dd##/dl# “Yet there is another unmanifested nature, which is eternal and is transcendental to this manifested and unmanifested matter. It is supreme and is never annihilated. When all in this world is annihilated, that part remains as it is.” #$p#The material world has a manifested state (#i#vyakta#/i#) and a potential, unmanifested state (#i#avyakta#/i#). The supreme nature is beyond both the manifested and the unmanifested material nature. This superior nature can be understood as the living force, which is present in the bodies of all living creatures. The body itself is composed of inferior nature, matter, but it is the superior nature that is moving the body. The symptom of that superior nature is consciousness. Thus in the spiritual world, where everything is composed of the superior nature, everything is conscious. In the material world there are inanimate objects that are not conscious, but in the spiritual world nothing is inanimate. There a table is conscious, the land is conscious, the trees are conscious—everything is conscious. #$p#It is not possible to imagine how far this material manifestation extends. In the material world everything is calculated by imagination or by some imperfect method, but the Vedic literatures give real information of what lies beyond the material universe. Since it is not possible to obtain information of anything beyond this material nature by experimental means, those who believe only in experimental knowledge may doubt the Vedic conclusions, for such people cannot even calculate how far this universe extends, nor can they reach far into the universe itself. That which is beyond our power of conception is called #i#acintya#/i#, inconceivable. It is useless to argue or speculate about the inconceivable. If something is truly inconceivable, it is not subject to speculation or experimentation. Our energy is limited, and our sense perception is limited; therefore we must rely on the Vedic conclusions regarding that subject matter which is inconceivable. Knowledge of the superior nature must simply be accepted without argument. How is it possible to argue about something to which we have no access? The method for understanding transcendental subject matter is given by Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself in the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i#, where Kṛṣṇa tells Arjuna at the beginning of the Fourth Chapter: #dl##dd##i#imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ#/i#   #i#proktavān aham avyayam#/i##/dd# #dd##i#vivasvān manave prāha#/i#   #i#manur ikṣvākave ’bravīt#/i##/dd##/dl# “I instructed this imperishable science of yoga to the sun-god, Vivasvān, and Vivasvān instructed it to Manu, the father of mankind, and Manu in turn instructed it to Ikṣvāku.” (Bg. 4.1) #$p#This is the method of #i#paramparā#/i#, or disciplic succession. Similarly, #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# explains that Kṛṣṇa imparted knowledge into the heart of Brahmā, the first created being within the universe. Brahmā imparted those lessons to his disciple Nārada, and Nārada imparted that knowledge to his disciple Vyāsadeva. Vyāsadeva imparted it to Madhvācārya, and from Madhvācārya the knowledge came down to Mādhavendra Purī and then to Īśvara Purī, and from him to Caitanya Mahāprabhu. #$p#One may ask that if Caitanya Mahāprabhu is Kṛṣṇa Himself, then why did He need a spiritual master? Of course, He did not need a spiritual master, but because He was playing the role of #i#ācārya#/i# (one who teaches by example), He accepted a spiritual master. Even Kṛṣṇa Himself accepted a spiritual master, for that is the system. In this way the Lord sets the example for men. We should not think, however, that the Lord takes a spiritual master because He is in want of knowledge. He is simply stressing the importance of accepting the disciplic succession. The knowledge of that disciplic succession actually comes from the Lord Himself, and if the knowledge descends unbroken, it is perfect. Although we may not be in touch with the original personality who first imparted the knowledge, we may receive the same knowledge through this process of transmission. In #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# it is stated that Kṛṣṇa, the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, transmitted transcendental knowledge into the heart of Brahmā. This, then, is one way knowledge is received—through the heart. Thus there are two processes by which one may receive knowledge: One depends directly upon the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who is situated as the Supersoul within the heart of all living entities, and the other depends upon the guru, or spiritual master, who is an expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Thus Kṛṣṇa transmits information both from within and from without. We simply have to receive it. If knowledge is received in this way, it doesn’t matter whether it is inconceivable or not. #$p#In #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i# there is a great deal of information given about the Vaikuṇṭha planetary systems, which are beyond the material universe. Similarly, a great deal of inconceivable information is given in the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#. Any attempt to arrive at this information through experimental knowledge will fail. The knowledge simply has to be accepted. According to the Vedic method, #i#śabda#/i#, or transcendental sound, is regarded as evidence. Sound is very important in Vedic understanding, for if it is pure it is accepted as authoritative. Even in the material world we accept a great deal of information sent thousands of miles by telephone or radio. In this way we also accept sound as evidence in our daily lives. Although we cannot see the informant, we accept his information as valid on the basis of sound. Sound vibration, then, is very important in the transmission of Vedic knowledge. #$p#The #i#Vedas#/i# inform us that beyond this cosmic manifestation there are extensive planets in the spiritual sky. This material manifestation is regarded as only a small portion of the total creation. The material manifestation includes not only this universe but innumerable others as well, but all the material universes combined constitute only one fourth of the total creation. The remaining three fourths is situated in the spiritual sky. In that sky innumerable planets float, and these are called Vaikuṇṭhalokas. In every Vaikuṇṭhaloka, Nārāyaṇa presides with His four expansions: Saṅkarṣaṇa, Pradyumna, Aniruddha and Vāsudeva. This Saṅkarṣaṇa, states Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja in the eighth verse of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#, is Lord Nityānanda. #$p#As stated before, it is in His form as Mahā-viṣṇu that the Lord manifests the material universes. Just as a husband and wife combine to beget offspring, Mahā-viṣṇu combines with His wife māyā, or material nature. This is confirmed in the #i#Bhagavad-gītā#/i# (14.4), where Kṛṣṇa states: #dl##dd##i#sarva-yoniṣu kaunteya#/i#   #i#mūrtayaḥ sambhavanti yāḥ#/i##/dd# #dd##i#tāsāṁ brahma mahad yonir#/i#   #i#ahaṁ bīja-pradaḥ pitā#/i##/dd# #dd#(Bg. 14.4)#/dd##/dl# “It should be understood that all species of life, O son of Kuntī, are made possible by birth in this material nature, and that I am the seed-giving father.” Viṣṇu impregnates #i#māyā#/i#, the material nature, simply by glancing at her. This is the spiritual method. Materially we are limited to impregnating by only one particular part of our body, but the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa or Mahā-viṣṇu, can impregnate by any part. Simply by glancing, the Lord can conceive countless living entities in the womb of material nature. The #i#Brahma-saṁhitā#/i# confirms that the spiritual body of the Supreme Lord is so powerful that any part of His body can perform the functions of any other part. We can touch only with our hands or skin, but Kṛṣṇa can touch just by glancing. We can see only with our eyes; we cannot touch or smell with them. Kṛṣṇa, however, can smell and also eat with His eyes. When food is offered to Kṛṣṇa, we do not see Him eating, but He eats simply by glancing at the food. We cannot imagine how things work in the spiritual world, where everything is spiritual. It is not that Kṛṣṇa does not eat or that we imagine that He eats; He actually eats, but His eating is different from ours. Our eating process will be similar to His when we are completely on the spiritual platform. On that platform every part of the body can act on behalf of any other part. #$p#Viṣṇu does not require anything in order to create. He does not require the goddess Lakṣmī in order to give birth to Brahmā, for Brahmā is born from a lotus flower that grows from the navel of Viṣṇu. The goddess Lakṣmī sits at the feet of Viṣṇu and serves Him. In this material world sex is required to produce children, but in the spiritual world a man can produce as many children as he likes without having to take help from his wife. So there is no sex there. Because we have no experience with spiritual energy, we think that Brahmās birth from the navel of Viṣṇu is simply a fictional story. We are not aware that spiritual energy is so powerful that it can do anything and everything. Material energy is dependent on certain laws, but spiritual energy is fully independent. #$p#Countless universes reside like seeds within the skin pores of Mahā-viṣṇu, and when He exhales, they are all manifested. In the material world we have no experience of such a thing, but we do experience a perverted reflection in the phenomenon of perspiration. We cannot imagine, however, the duration of one breath of Mahā-viṣṇu, for within one breath all the universes are created and annihilated. This is stated in the #i#Brahma-saṁhitā#/i#. Lord Brahmā lives only for the duration of one breath, and according to our time scale 4,320,000,000 years constitute only twelve hours for Brahmā, and Brahmā lives one hundred of his years. Yet the whole life of Brahmā is contained within one breath of Mahā-viṣṇu. Thus it is not possible for us to imagine the breathing power of Mahā-viṣṇu, who is but a partial manifestation of Lord Nityānanda. This the author of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# explains in the ninth verse. #$p#In the tenth and eleventh verses Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja describes Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, successive plenary expansions of Mahā-viṣṇu. Brahmā appears upon a lotus growing from the navel of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu, and within the stem of that lotus are so many planetary systems. Then Brahmā creates the whole of human society, animal society—everything. Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu lies on the milk ocean within the universe, of which He is the controller and maintainer. Thus Brahmā is the creator, Viṣṇu is the maintainer, and when the time for annihilation arrives, Śiva will finish everything. #$p#In the first eleven verses of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī thus discusses Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Lord Nityānanda as Balarāma, the first expansion of Kṛṣṇa. Then in the twelfth and thirteenth verses he describes Advaitācārya, who is another principal associate of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s and an incarnation of Mahā-viṣṇu. Thus Advaitācārya is also the Lord, or, more precisely, an expansion of the Lord. The word #i#advaita#/i# means “nondual,” and His name is such because He is nondifferent from the Supreme Lord. He is also called #i#ācārya#/i#, teacher, because He disseminated Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In this way He is just like Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Although Lord Caitanya is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, He appeared as a devotee to teach people in general how to love Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, although Advaitācārya is the Lord, He appeared just to distribute the knowledge of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Thus He is also the Lord incarnated as a devotee. #$p#In the pastimes of Lord Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa is manifested in five different features, known as the pañca-tattva, to whom Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja offers his obeisances in the fourteenth verse of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#. Kṛṣṇa and His associates appear as devotees of the Supreme Lord in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, Śrī Advaitācārya, Śrī Gadādhara Prabhu and Śrīvāsa Prabhu. In all cases, Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the source of energy for all His devotees. Since this is the case, if we take shelter of Caitanya Mahāprabhu for the successful execution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, we are sure to make progress. In a devotional song, Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura sings, “My dear Lord Caitanya, please have mercy upon me. There is no one who is as merciful as You. My plea is most urgent because Your mission is to deliver all fallen souls, and no one is more fallen than I. Therefore I beg priority.” #$p#With verse 15, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī begins offering his obeisances directly to Kṛṣṇa Himself. Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja was an inhabitant of Vṛndāvana and a great devotee. He had been living with his family in Katwa, a small town in the district of Burdwan, in Bengal. He worshiped Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa with his family, and once when there was some misunderstanding among his family members about devotional service, he was advised by Nityānanda Prabhu in a dream to leave home and go to Vṛndāvana. Although he was very old, he started out that very night and went to live in Vṛndāvana. While he was there, he met some of the Six Gosvāmīs, the principal disciples of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He was requested to write the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# by the devotees of Vṛndāvana. Although he began this work at a very old age, by the grace of Lord Caitanya he finished it. Today it remains the most authoritative book on Caitanya Mahāprabhu’s philosophy and life. #$p#When Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī was living in Vṛndāvana, there were not very many temples. At that time the three principal temples were those of Madana-mohana, Govindajī and Gopīnātha. As a resident of Vṛndāvana, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja offers his respects to the Deities in these temples and requests God’s favor: “My progress in spiritual life is very slow, so I’m asking Your help.” In the fifteenth verse of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i#, Kṛṣṇadāsa offers his obeisances to the Madana-mohana #i#vigraha#/i#, the Deity who can help us progress in Kṛṣṇa consciousness. In the execution of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, our first business is to know Kṛṣṇa and our relationship with Him. To know Kṛṣṇa is to know one’s self, and to know one’s self is to know one’s relationship with Kṛṣṇa. Since this relationship can be learned by worshiping the Madana-mohana #i#vigraha#/i#, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī first establishes his relationship with Him. #$p#When this is established, in the sixteenth verse Kṛṣṇadāsa offers his obeisances to the functional Deity, Govinda. The Govinda Deity is called the functional Deity because He shows us how to serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. The Madana-mohana Deity simply establishes that “I am Your eternal servant.” With Govinda, however, there is actual acceptance of service. Govinda resides eternally in Vṛndāvana. In the spiritual world of Vṛndāvana the buildings are made of touchstone, the cows are known as #i#surabhi#/i# cows, givers of abundant milk, and the trees are known as wish-fulfilling trees, for they yield whatever one desires. In Vṛndāvana Kṛṣṇa herds the #i#surabhi#/i# cows, and He is worshiped by hundreds and thousands of #i#gopīs#/i#, cowherd girls, who are all goddesses of fortune. When Kṛṣṇa descends to the material world, this same Vṛndāvana descends with Him, just as an entourage accompanies an important personage. Because when Kṛṣṇa comes His land also comes, Vṛndāvana is considered to exist beyond the material world. Therefore devotees take shelter of the Vṛndāvana in India, for it is considered to be a replica of the original Vṛndāvana. Although one may complain that no #i#kalpa-vṛkṣa#/i#, wish-fulfilling trees, exist there, when the Six Gosvāmīs were there, #i#kalpa-vṛkṣa#/i# were present. It is not that one can simply go to such a tree and make demands; one must first become a devotee. The Gosvāmīs would live under a tree for one night only, and the trees would satisfy all their desires. For the common man this may all seem very wonderful, but as one makes progress in devotional service, all this can be realized. #$p#Vṛndāvana is actually experienced as it is by persons who have stopped trying to derive pleasure from material enjoyment. “When will my mind become cleansed of all hankering for material enjoyment so I will be able to see Vṛndāvana?” one great devotee asks. The more Kṛṣṇa conscious we become and the more we advance, the more everything is revealed as spiritual. Thus Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī considered the Vṛndāvana in India to be as good as the Vṛndāvana in the spiritual sky, and in the sixteenth verse of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# he describes Rādhārāṇī and Kṛṣṇa as seated beneath a wish-fulfilling tree in Vṛndāvana, on a throne decorated with valuable jewels. There Kṛṣṇa’s dear #i#gopī#/i# friends serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa by singing, dancing, offering betel nuts and refreshments, and decorating Their Lordships with flowers. Even today in India people decorate swinging thrones and re-create this scene during the month of July–August. Generally at that time people go to Vṛndāvana to offer their respects to the Deities there. #$p#Finally Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī offers his blessings to his readers in the name of the Gopīnātha Deity, who is Kṛṣṇa as master and proprietor of the #i#gopīs#/i#. When Kṛṣṇa played upon His flute, all the #i#gopīs#/i#, or cowherd girls, were attracted by the sound and left their household duties, and when they came to Him, He danced with them. These activities are all described in the Tenth Canto of #i#Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam#/i#. These #i#gopīs#/i# were childhood friends of Kṛṣṇa, and many were married, for in India the girls are generally married by the age of twelve. The boys, however, are not married before eighteen, so Kṛṣṇa, who was fifteen or sixteen at the time, was not married. Nonetheless, He called these girls from their homes and invited them to dance with Him. That dance is called the #i#rāsa-līlā#/i# dance, and it is the most elevated of all the Vṛndāvana pastimes. Kṛṣṇa is therefore called Gopīnātha because He is the beloved master of the #i#gopīs#/i#. #$p#Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī petitions the blessings of Lord Gopīnātha: “May that Gopīnātha, the master of the #i#gopīs#/i#, Kṛṣṇa, bless you. May you become blessed by Gopīnātha.” The author of the #i#Caitanya-caritāmṛta#/i# prays that just as Kṛṣṇa attracted the #i#gopīs#/i# by the sweet sound of His flute, He will also attract the reader’s mind by that transcendental vibration. #/div#
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hare kṛṣṇa hare kṛṣṇa - kṛṣṇa kṛṣṇa hare hare - hare rāma hare rāma - rāma rāma hare hare

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