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Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Ādi-līlā, Preface
There is no difference between the teachings of Lord Caitanya presented
here and the teachings of Lord Kṛṣṇa in the Bhagavad-gītā.
The teachings of Lord Caitanya are practical demonstrations
of Lord Kṛṣṇa's teachings.
Lord Kṛṣṇa's ultimate instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā is that everyone
should surrender unto Him, Lord Kṛṣṇa.
Kṛṣṇa promises to take immediate charge of such a surrendered soul.
The Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is already in charge of the maintenance
of this creation by virtue of His plenary expansion, Kṣīrodakaśāyī
Viṣṇu, but this maintenance is not direct.
However, when the Lord says that He takes charge of His
pure devotee, He actually takes direct charge.
A pure devotee is a soul who is forever surrendered to the Lord, just
as a child is surrendered to his parents or an animal to its master.
In the surrendering process, one should: (1) accept things favorable for discharging
devotional service, (2) reject things unfavorable, (3) believe
firmly in the Lord's protection, (4) feel exclusively dependent
on the mercy of the Lord, (5) have no interest separate from the interest
of the Lord, and (6) always feel oneself meek and humble.
The Lord demands that one surrender unto Him by following these six
guidelines, but the unintelligent so-called scholars of the world
misunderstand these demands and urge the general mass of people to reject
them.
At the conclusion of the Ninth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, Lord
Kṛṣṇa directly says, "Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, become My
devotee, offer obeisances to Me, and worship Me.
Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me."
(Bg. 9.34) However, the scholarly demons misguide the masses of people by directing
them to the impersonal, unmanifest, eternal, unborn truth rather than
the Personality of Godhead.
The impersonalist Māyāvādī philosophers do not accept that the ultimate
aspect of the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
If one desires to understand the sun as it is, one
must first face the sunshine and then the sun globe, and after entering
into that globe, one may come face to face with the predominating deity
of the sun.
Due to a poor fund of knowledge, the Māyāvādī philosophers cannot
go beyond the Brahman effulgence, which may be compared to the sunshine.
The Upaniṣads confirm that one has to penetrate the dazzling effulgence
of Brahman before one can see the real face of the Personality of
Godhead.
Lord Caitanya therefore teaches direct worship of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who appeared
as the foster child of the King of Vraja.
He also suggests that the place known as Vṛndāvana is as good as Lord Kṛṣṇa
because there is no difference between the name, quality, form, pastimes,
entourage and paraphernalia of Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself.
That is the absolute nature of the Absolute Truth.
Lord Caitanya also recommended that the highest mode of worship in the
highest perfectional stage is the method practiced by the damsels of
Vraja.
These damsels (gopīs, or cowherd girls) simply loved Kṛṣṇa without
a motive for material or spiritual gain.
Lord Caitanya also recommended Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam as the spotless narration
of transcendental knowledge, and He pointed out that the highest goal in
human life is to develop unalloyed love for Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality
of Godhead.
Lord Caitanya's teachings are identical to those given by Lord Kapila, the
original propounder of sāṅkhya-yoga, the sāṅkhya system of philosophy.
This authorized system of yoga recommends meditation on the transcendental
form of the Lord.
There is no question of meditating on something void or
impersonal.
One can meditate on the transcendental form of Lord Viṣṇu even
without practicing involved sitting postures.
Such meditation is called perfect samādhi.
This perfect samādhi is verified at the end of the Sixth
Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā, where Lord Kṛṣṇa says, "And of all yogis,
the one with great faith who always abides in Me, thinks of Me within
himself, and renders transcendental loving service to Me-he is the most
intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.
That is My opinion."
(Bg. 6.47)
Lord Caitanya instructed the mass of people in the sāṅkhya philosophy of
acintya-bhedābheda-tattva, which maintains that the Supreme Lord is
simultaneously one with and different from His creation.
Lord Caitanya taught this philosophy through the chanting
of the holy name of the Lord.
He taught that the holy name of the Lord is the sound incarnation of the
Lord and that since the Lord is the absolute whole, there is no difference
between His holy name and His transcendental form.
Thus by chanting the holy name of the Lord one can directly associate
with the Supreme Lord by sound vibration.
As one practices this sound vibration, one passes through
three stages of development: the offensive stage, the clearing stage and
the transcendental stage.
In the offensive stage one may desire all kinds
of material happiness, but in the second stage one becomes clear of all
material contamination.
When one is situated on the transcendental stage,
one attains the most coveted position-the stage of loving God.
Lord Caitanya taught that this is the highest stage
of perfection for human beings.
Yoga practice is essentially meant for controlling the senses.
The central controlling factor of all the senses is the
mind; therefore one first has to practice controlling the mind by engaging
it in Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
The gross activities of the mind are expressed through the external
senses, either for the acquiring of knowledge or for the functioning of
the senses in accordance with the will.
The subtle activities of the mind are thinking, feeling and willing.
Depending on one's consciousness, the individual is either polluted or clear.
If one's mind is fixed on Kṛṣṇa (His name, quality, form, pastimes, entourage
and paraphernalia), all one's activities-both subtle and gross-become
favorable.
The Bhagavad-gītā's process of purifying consciousness
is the process of fixing one's mind on Kṛṣṇa by talking of His transcendental
activities, cleansing His temple, going to His temple, seeing the
beautiful transcendental form of the Lord nicely decorated, hearing His
transcendental glories, tasting food offered to Him, associating with His
devotees, smelling the flowers and Tulasī leaves offered Him, engaging in
activities for the Lord's interest, etc.
No one can bring the activities of the mind and senses to a
stop, but one can purify these activities through a change in
consciousness.
This change is indicated in the Bhagavad-gītā when Kṛṣṇa
tells Arjuna of the knowledge of yoga whereby one can work without
fruitive results: "O son of Pṛthā, when you act in such knowledge you can
free yourself from the bondage of works."
(Bg. 2.39) A human being is sometimes restricted in sense gratification
due to certain circumstances, such as disease, but this is not the prescription
for giving up sense gratification.
Without knowing the actual process by which the mind and
senses can be controlled, less intelligent men either try to stop the mind
and senses by force, or they give in to them and are carried away by the
waves of sense gratification.
The regulative principles and rules of yoga-the various sitting postures
and breathing exercises performed in an attempt to withdraw one's senses
from the sense objects-are methods meant for those who are too much
engrossed in the bodily conception of life.
The intelligent man who is situated in Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not try
to forcibly stop his senses from acting.
Rather, he engages his senses in the service of Kṛṣṇa.
No one can stop a child from playing by leaving him
inactive.
A child can be stopped from engaging in nonsense by being
engaged in superior activities.
The forceful restraint of sense activities by the eight principles of yoga
is recommended for inferior men.
Being engaged in the superior activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness, superior men naturally
retire from the inferior activities of material existence.
In this way Lord Caitanya teaches the science of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
That science is absolute.
Dry mental speculators try to restrain themselves from material attachment, but it is generally
found that the mind is too strong to be controlled and that it drags
them down to sensual activities.
A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness does not run this risk.
One has to engage one's mind and senses in Kṛṣṇa conscious activities,
and Lord Caitanya teaches one how to do this in practice.
Before accepting sannyāsa (the renounced order), Lord Caitanya was known
as Viśvambhara.
The word viśvambhara refers to one who maintains the
entire universe and who leads all living entities.
This maintainer and leader appeared as Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa
Caitanya to give humanity these sublime teachings.
Lord Caitanya is the ideal teacher of life's prime necessities.
He is the most munificent bestower of love of Kṛṣṇa.
He is the complete reservoir of all mercies and
good fortune.
As confirmed in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Bhagavad-gītā, the
Mahābhārata, and the Upaniṣads, Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Personality of Godhead
Himself and is worshipable by everyone in this age of disagreement.
Everyone can join in His saṅkīrtana movement.
No previous qualification is necessary.
Just by following His teachings, anyone can become a perfect
human being.
If a person is fortunate enough to be attracted by Lord
Caitanya's features, he is sure to be successful in his life's mission.
In other words, those who are interested in attaining
spiritual existence can easily be released from the clutches of māyā
by the grace of Lord Caitanya.
The teachings presented in this book are nondifferent from the
Lord.
Engrossed in the material body, the conditioned soul increases the pages of
history by all kinds of material activities.
The teachings of Lord Caitanya can help human society stop such
unnecessary and temporary activities.
By these teachings, humanity can be elevated to the topmost
platform of spiritual activity.
These spiritual activities actually begin after liberation from material bondage.
Such liberated activities in Kṛṣṇa consciousness constitute the goal of human
perfection.
The false prestige one acquires by attempting to dominate material
nature is illusory.
Illuminating knowledge can be acquired from the teachings of Lord
Caitanya, and by such knowledge one can advance in spiritual existence.
Everyone has to suffer or enjoy the fruits of his activity; no one can
check the laws of material nature that govern such things.
As long as one is engaged in fruitive activity, one is sure
to be baffled in the attempt to attain the ultimate goal of life.
I sincerely hope that by understanding the teachings of Lord Caitanya,
human society will experience a new light of spiritual life,
which will open the field of activity for the pure soul.
oṁ tat sat A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
March 14, 1968 The Birthday of Lord Caitanya
Śrī Śrī Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa Temple New York, N.Y.