Sri Caitanya-caritamrta is the authorized work on the life and teachings of Sri Krsna Caitanya-the philosopher, saint, spiritual preceptor, mystic and divine incarnation who pioneered a great social and religious movement in sixteenth century India. His teachings, which embody the highest philosophical and theological truths, have influenced countless philosophical and religious thinkers up to the present day.
This translation of the original Bengali text, along with commentary, is the work of His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivendanta Swami Prabhupada (pictured above), the world’s most distinguished scholar and teacher of Indian thought and culture and author of the best-selling Bhagavad-gita As It Is. This translation of Sri Caitanya-caritamrta represents a contribution of major importance to the intellectual, cultural and spiritual life of contemporary man.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appeared in this world in 1896 in Calcutta, India. He first met his spiritual master, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, in Calcutta in 1922. Bhakti- siddhanta Sarasvati, a prominent religious scholar and the founder of sixty-four Gaudiya Mathas (Vedic institutes), liked this educated young man and convinced him to dedicate his life to teaching Vedic knowledge. Srila Prabhupada became his student and, in 1933, his formally initiated disciple.
At their first meeting, in 1922, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati requested Srila Prabhupada to broadcast Vedic knowledge in English. In the years that followed, Srila Prabhupada wrote a commentary on the Bhagavad-gita, assisted the Gaudiya Matha in its work and, in 1944, started Back to Godhead, an English fortnightly magazine. Single-handedly, Srila Prabhupada edited it, typed the manuscripts, checked the galley proofs and even distributed the individual copies. The magazine is now being continued by his disciples in the West.
In 1950 Srila Prabhupada retired from married life, adopting the vanaprastha (retired) order to devote more time to his studies and writing. He traveled to the holy city of Vrndavana, where he lived in humble circumstances in the historic temple of Radha-Damodara. There he engaged for several years in deep study and writing. He accepted the renounced order of life (sannyasa) in 1959. At Radha-Damodara, Srila Prabhupada began work on his life's masterpiece: a multivolume commentated translation of the eighteen-thousand-verse Srimad- Bhagavatam (Bhagavata Purana). He also wrote Easy Journey to Other Planets.
After publishing three volumes of the Bhagavatam, Srila Prabhupada came to the United States, in September 1965, to fulfill the mission of his spiritual master. Subsequently, His Divine Grace wrote more than fifty volumes of authoritative commentated translations and summary studies of the philosophical and religious classics of India.
When he first arrived by freighter in New York City, Srila Prabhupada was practically penniless. Only after almost a year of great difficulty did he establish the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, in July of 1966. Before he passed away on November 14, 1977, he had guided the Society and seen it grow to a worldwide confederation of more than one hundred asramas, schools, temples, institutes and farm communities.
In 1972 His Divine Grace introduced the Vedic system of primary and secondary education in the West by founding the gurukula school in Dallas, Texas. Since then his disciples have established similar schools throughout the United States and the rest of the world.
Srila Prabhupada also inspired the construction of several large international cultural centers in India. The center at Sridhama Mayapur is the site for a planned spiritual city, an ambitions project for which construction will extend over many years to come. In Vrndavana are the magnificent Krsna-Balararna Temple and International Guesthouse, gurukula school, and Srila Prabhupada Memorial and Museum. There is also a major cultural and educational center in Bombay. Other centers are planned in a dozen important locations on the Indian subcontinent.
Srila Prabhupada's most significant contribution, however, is his books. Highly respected by scholars for their authority, depth and clarity, they are used as textbooks in numerous college courses. His writings have been translated into over fifty languages. The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, established in 1972 to publish the works of His Divine Grace, has thus become the world's largest publisher of books in the field of Indian religion and philosophy.
In just twelve years, from his arrival in America in 1965 till his passing away in Vrndavana in 1977, despite his advanced age Srila Prabhupada circled the globe fourteen times on lecture tours that took him to six continents. Notwithstanding such a vigorous schedule, Srila Prabhupada continued to write prolifically. His writings constitute a veritable library of Vedic philosophy, religion, literature and culture.
There is no difference between the teachings of Lord Caitanya presented here and the teachings of Lord Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita. The teachings of Lord Caitanya are practical demonstrations of Lord Krsna's teachings. Lord Krsna's ultimate instruction in the Bhagavad-gita is that everyone should surrender unto Him, Lord Krsna. Krsna 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, Ksirodakasayi Visnu, 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) always 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-gita, Lord Krsna directly orders, "Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me alone, and offer obeisances unto Me alone." By so doing, the Lord says, one is sure to go to Him in His transcendental abode. But the scholarly demons misguide the masses of people by directing them to surrender not to the Personality of Godhead but rather to the impersonal, unmanifested, eternal, unborn truth. The impersonalist Mayavadi 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 then, if one is able to enter into that globe, one may come face to face with the predominating deity of the sun. Due to a poor fund of knowledge, the Mayavadi philosophers cannot go beyond the Brahman effulgence, which may be compared to the sunshine. The Upanisads 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 Krsna, who appeared as the foster child of the King of Vraja. He also teaches that the place known as Vrndavana is as good as Lord Krsna because, Lord Krsna being the Absolute Truth, there is no difference between Him and His name, qualities, form, pastimes, entourage and paraphernalia. That is the absolute nature of the Personality of Godhead. Lord Caitanya also teaches that the highest mode of worship in the highest perfectional stage is the method practiced by the damsels of Vraja. These damsels (gopis, or cowherd girls) simple loved Krsna without any motive for material or spiritual gain. Lord Caitanya also teaches that Srimad-Bhagavatam is the spotless narration of transcendenatal knowledge and that the highest goal in human life is to develop unalloyed live for Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Lord Caitanya's teachings are identical to those given by Lord Kapila, the original propounder of sankhya-yoga, the Sankhya system of philosophy. This authorized system of yoga teaches meditation on the transcendental form of the Lord. There is no question of meditating on something void or impersonal. When one can meditate on the transcendental form of Lord Visnu even without practicing involved sitting postures, such meditation is called perfect samadhi. That this kind of meditation is perfect samadhi is confirmed at the end of the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, where Lord Krsna says that of all yogis, the greatest is the one who constantly thinks of the Lord within the core of his heart with love and devotion.
On the basis of the sankhya philosophy of acintya-bhedabheda- tattva, which maintains that the Supreme Lord is simultaneously one with and different from His creation, Lord Caitanya taught that the most practical way for the mass of people to practice sankhya-yoga meditation is simply to chant 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 chanting this sound vibration, one Passes through three stages of development: the offensive stage, the clearing stage and the transcendental stage. In the offensive stage of chanting 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 Krsna consciousness. The gross activities of the mind are expressed through the external senses, either for the acquisition 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, which are carried out according to one's consciousness, either polluted or clear. If one's mind is fixed on Krsna (His name, qualities, form, pastimes, entourage and paraphernalia), all one's activities-both subtle and gross-become favorable. The Bhagavad-gita's process of purifying consciousness is the process of fixing one's mind on Krsna 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 tulasi leaves offered to Him, engaging in activities for the Lord's interest, becoming angry at those who are malicious toward devotees, 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-gita (2.39), where Krsna tells Arjuna of the knowledge of yoga whereby one can work without fruitive results: "O son of Prtha, when you act in such knowledge you can free yourself from the bondage of works." A human being is sometimes restricted in sense gratification due to certain circumstances, such as disease, but such proscriptions are for the less intelligent. Without knowing the actual process by which the mind and senses can be controlled, less intelligent men may try to stop the mind and senses by force, but ultimately they give in to them and are carried away by the waves of sense gratification.
The eight principles of sankhya-yoga-observing the regulative principles, following the rules, practicing the various sitting postures, per- forming the breathing exercises, withdrawing one's senses from the sense objects, etc.-are meant for those who are too much engrossed in the. bodily conception of life. The intelligent man situated in Krsna con- sciousness does not try to forcibly stop his senses from acting. Rather, he engages his senses in the service of Krsna. No one can stop a child from playing by leaving him inactive; rather, the child can be stopped from engaging in nonsense by being engaged in superior activities. Similarly, the forceful restraint of sense activities by the eight principles of yoga is recommended for inferior men; superior men, being engaged in the superior activities of Krsna consciousness, naturally retire from the inferior activities of material existence.
In this way Lord Caitanya teaches the science of Krsna consciousness. That science is absolute. Dry mental speculators try to restrain them- selves 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 Krsna consciousness does not run this risk. One therefore has to engage one's mind and senses in Krsna conscious activities, and Lord Caitanya teaches one how to do this in practice.
Before accepting sannyasa (the renounced order), Lord Caitanya was known as Visvambhara. The word visvambhara refers to one who maintains the entire universe and who leads all living entities. This maintainer and leader appeared as Lord Sri Krsna 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 Krsna. He is the complete reservoir of all mercies and good fortune. As confirmed in srimad-Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad-gita, the Mahabharata and the Upanisads, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna Himself, and He is worshipable by everyone in this age of disagreement. Everyone can join in His sankirtana 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, 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 maya by the grace of Lord Caitanya. The teachings presented in this book are nondifferent from the Lord.
The conditioned soul, engrossed in the material body, increases the pages of history by all kinds of material activities. The teachings of Lord Caitanya can help the members of human society stop such unnecessary and temporary activities and be elevated to the topmost platform of spiritual activities, which begin after liberation from material bondage. Such liberated activities in Krsna 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 by studying 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 presented in this book, Sri Caitanyacaritamrta, human society will experience a new light of spiritual life, which will open the field of activity for the pure soul.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, by Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Cosvami, is the principal work on the life and teachings of Sri Krsna Caitanya Maha- prabhu. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the pioneer of a great social and religious movement that began in India about five hundred years ago and that has directly and indirectly influenced the subsequent course of religious and philosophical thinking not only in India but throughout the world. That Sri Krsna Caitanya's influence has spread so far is due in large part to the efforts of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the present work's translator and commentator and the founder and acarya (spiritual guide) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
Caitanya Mahaprabhu is thus a figure of great historical significance. However, our conventional method of historical analysis-that of seeing a man as a product of his times-fails here, for Sri Krsna Caitanya is a personality who transcends the limited scope of historical settings.
At a time when, in the West, man was directing his explorative spirit toward studying the structure of the physical universe and circum-navigating the world in search of new oceans and continents, Sri Krsna Caitanya, in the East, was inaugurating and masterminding a revolution directed inward, toward a scientific understanding of the highest knowledge of man's spiritual nature.
The chief historical sources for the life of Sri Krsna Caitanya are the kadacas (diaries) kept by Murari Gupta and Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. Murari Gupta, a physician and close associate of Sri Krsna Caitanya's, recorded extensive notes on the first twenty-four years of His life, culminating in His initiation into the renounced order, sannyasa. The events of the rest of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's forty-eight years were recorded in the diary of Svarupa Darnodara Cosvami, another of His intimate associates.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta is divided into three sections, called lilas, a word that literally means "pastimes"-Adi-lila (the early period), Madhya-lila (the middle period) and Antya-lila (the final period). The notes of Murari Gupta form the basis of the Adi-lila, and Svarupa Damodara's diary provides the details for t he Madhya- and Antya-lilas.
The first twelve chapters of the Adi-lila constitute the preface for the entire work. By referring to Vedic scriptural evidence, Krsnadasa Kaviraja establishes that Caitanya Mahaprahhu is the avatara (incarnation) of God for the Age of Kali-the current epoch, which began five thousand years ago and is characterized by materialism, hypocrisy and dissension. The author also proves that Caitanya Mahaprahhu is identical to Lord Krsna and explains that He descends to liberally grant the fallen souls of this degraded age pure love of God by propagating sankirtana-literally, "congregational glorification of God"-especially by organizing massive public chanting of the maha-mantra (Great Chant for Deliverance). In addition, in the twelve-chapter preface Krsnadasa Kaviraja reveals the esoteric purpose of Lord Caitanya's appearance in the world, describes His co-avataras and principal devotees, and summarizes His teachings. In the remaining portion of the Adi-lila, chapters thirteen through seventeen, the author briefly recounts Lord Caitanya's divine birth and His life until He accepted the renounced order. This account includes His childhood miracles, schooling, marriage and early philosophical confrontations, as well as His organization of a widespread sankirtana movement and His civil disobedience against the repression of the Muslim government.
The Madhya-lila, the longest of the three divisions, narrates in detail Lord Caitanya's extensive and eventful travels throughout India as renounced mendicant, teacher, philosopher, spiritual preceptor and mystic. During this period of six years, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu transmits His teachings to His principal disciples. He debates and converts many of the renowned philosophers and theologians of His time, including Sankarites, Buddhists and Muslims, and incorporates their many thousands of followers and disciples into His own burgeoning numbers. The author also includes in this section a dramatic account of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's miraculous activities at the giant Ratha-yatra (Car Festival) in Jagannatha Purl, Orissa.
The Antya-lila concerns the last eighteen years of Sri Caitanya's manifest presence, spent in semiseclusion near the famous Jagannatha temple at Puri. During these final years, Sri Krsna Caitanya drifted deeper and deeper into trances of spiritual ecstasy unparalleled in all of religious and literary history, Eastern or Western. His perpetual and ever-increasing religious beatitude, graphically described in the eyewitness accounts of Svarupa Damodara Cosvami, His constant companion during this period, clearly defy the investigative and descriptive abilities of modem psychologists and phenomenologists of religious experience.
The author of this great classic, Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, born around the beginning of the sixteenth century, was a disciple of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, a confidential follower of Caitanya Maha-prabhu's. Raghunatha dasa, a renowned ascetic saint, heard and memo- rized all the activities of Caitanya Mahaprabhu told to him by Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. After the passing away of Sri Caitanya Maha- prabhu and Svarupa Damodara, Raghunatha dasa, unable to bear the pain of separation from these objects of his complete devotion, traveled to Vrndavana, intending to commit suicide by jumping from Govardhana Hill. In Vrndavana, however, he encountered Srila Rupa Gosvami and Srila Sanatana Gosvami, two of the most confidential disciples of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They convinced him to give up his planned suicide and impelled him to reveal to them the spiritually inspiring events of Lord Caitanya's later life. Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami was also residing in Vrndavana at this time, and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami endowed him with a full comprehension of the transcendental life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
By this time, contemporary and near-contemporary scholars and devotees had already written several biographical works on the life of Sri Krsna Caitanya. These included Sri Caitanya-carita, by Murari Gupta, Caitanya-mangala, by Locana dasa Thakura, and Caitanya- bhagavata. This latter work, by Vrndavana dasa Thakura, who was then considered the principal authority on Sri Caitanya's life, was highly revered. While composing his important work, Vrndavana dasa, fearing that it would become too voluminous, avoided elaborately describing many of the events of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's life, particularly the later ones. Anxious to hear of these later pastimes, the devotees in Vrndavana requested Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, whom they respected as a great saint and scholar, to compose a book narrating these episodes in detail. Upon this request, and with the permission and blessings of the Madana-mohana Deity of Vrndavana, he began compiling Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, which, due to its literary excellence and philosophical thoroughness, is today universally regarded as the foremost work on the life and profound teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami commenced work on the text at a very advanced age and in failing health, as he vividly describes in the text itself: "I have now become too old and disturbed by invalidity. While writing, my hands tremble. I cannot remember anything, nor can I see or hear properly. Still I write, and this is a great wonder." That he completed the greatest literary gem of medieval India under such debilitating conditions is surely one of the wonders of literary history.
As mentioned above, this English translation and commentary is the work of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the world's most distinguished teacher of Indian religious and philosophical thought. Srila Prabhupada's commentary is based upon two Bengali commentaries, one by his guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, the eminent Vedic scholar, teacher and saint who predicted, “The time will come when the people of the world will learn Bengali to read Sri Caitanya-caritamrta," and the other by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's father, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who pioneered the propagation of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings in the modern era.
Srila Prabhupada is himself a disciplic descendant of Sri Caitanya Mahaprahu, and he is the first scholar to execute systematic English translations of the major works of Sri Krsna Caitanya's followers. His consummate Bengali and Sanskrit scholarship and intimate familiarity with the precepts of Sri Krsna Caitanya are a fitting combination that eminently qualifies him to present this important classic to the English- speaking world. The ease and clarity with which he expounds upon difficult philosophical concepts enable even a reader totally unfamiliar with Indian religious tradition to understand and appreciate this pro-found and monumental work.
The entire text, with commentary, presented in nine lavishly illustrated volumes by the Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, represents a contribution of major importance to the intellectual, cultural and spiritual life of contemporary man.
The word caitanya means "living force," carita means "character," and amrta 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 or symptoms 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 amrta, immortal. The words caitanya-caritamrta, then, may be translated as "the character of the living force in immortality."
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 Katha Upanisad that eternality and the living force belong to both ourselves and God. Although this is true in that both God and ourselves are immortal, 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.
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 tendency of the living entity 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 fall down into illusion (maya) any more than the sun is subject to fall beneath the clouds. Impersonalist philosophers (Mayavadis) maintain that both the living entity and God Himself are under the control of maya when they come into this material world. This is the fallacy of their philosophy.
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu should therefore not be considered one of us. He is Krsna Himself, the supreme living entity, and as such He never comes under the cloud of maya. Krsna, His expansions and even His higher devotees never fall into the clutches of illusion. Lord Caitanya came to earth simply to preach krsna-bhakti, love of Krsna. In other words, He is Lord Krsna Himself teaching the living entities the proper way to approach Krsna. 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 Krsna (God) Himself teaching us how to become Krsna conscious, and we must study Him in that light.
In the Bhagavad-gita (18.66) Lord Krsna says, "Give up all your nonsense and surrender to Me. I will protect you."
We say, "Oh, surrender? But I have so many responsibilities."
And maya, 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."
It is a fact that we are constantly being kicked by maya, 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.
Maya has many ways to entrap us, and her strongest shaokle 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 Krsna'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 Mahaprabhu 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 brahmana and was not rich, He took sannyasa, the renounced order of life, and thus extricated Himself from family entanglement.
If we wish to become fully Krsna conscious, we have to give up the shackles of maya. Or, if we remain with maya, 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 Haridasa, an important kirtana leader. for glancing lust-fully 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 Haridasa, 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.
From the Caitanya-caritamrta we learn how Lord Caitanya taught people to break the shackles of maya 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 Bhagavad-gita He is addressed as Acyuta, which means "He who never falls down." This name is appropriate because in the Bhagavad-gita Arjuna falls into illusion but Krsna does not. Krsna Himself reveals His infallibility when he says to Arjuna, "When I appear in this world, I do so by My own internal potency."
Thus we should not think that Krsna is overpowered by the material potency when He is in the material world. Neither Krsna nor His nature. They are totally free. Indeed, in Srimad-Bhagavatam 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?
The real question is, How can we remain unpolluted by material contamination while in the material world? Srila Rupa Gosvami explains that we can remain uncontaminated while in the world if we simply make it our ambition to serve Krsna. 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 Krsna, In such work, we should leave no resource unused. Whatever is there, what- ever we have, should be used for Krsna. We can use everything-type- writers, automobiles, airplanes, missiles. If we simply speak to people about Krsna consciousness, we are also rendering service. If our mind, senses, speech, money and energies are thus engaged in the service of Krsna, then we are no longer in material nature. By virtue of spiritual consciousness, or Krsna consciousness, we transcend the platform of material nature. It is a fact that Krsna, 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.
The Caitanya-caritamrta teaches that the spirit soul is immortal and that our activities in the spiritual world are also immortal. The Maya-vadis, who hold the view that the Absolute is impersonal and formless, contend that a realized soul has no need to talk. But the Vaisnavas devotees of Krsna, contend that when one reaches the stage of realization, he really begins to talk. "Previously we only talked of nonsense," the Vaisnava says. "Now let us begin our real talks, talks of Krsna." In support of their view that the self-realized remain silent, the Mayavadis are fond of using the analogy 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. In- deed, when a devotee realizes how much he has to say about Krsna, 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 Caitanya-caritamrta shows that there are many wonderful things to discover by glorifying the Supreme.
In the beginning of the Caitanya-caritamrta, Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami 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 parampara, the chain of disciplic succession beginning with Lord Krsna 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 Krsna's internal energy. Lord Caitanya Maha-prabhu (sometimes called Krsna Caitanya) is the embodiment of all of these: He is God, guru, devotee, incarnation, internal energy and expansion of God. As His associate Nityananda, He is the first expansion of God; as Advaita, He is an incarnation; as Gadadhara, He is the internal potency; and as Srivasa, He is the marginal living entity in the role of a devotee. Thus Krsna should not be thought of as being alone but should be considered as eternally existing with all His manifestations, as described by Ramanujacarya. In the Visistadvaita 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: every- thing together is God.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, by Srila Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, is the principal work on the life and teachings of Sri Krshna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the pioneer of a great social and religious movement that began in India about five hundred years ago and that has directly and indirectly influenced the subsequent course of religious and philosophical thinking not only in India but throughout the world. That Sri Krsna Caitanya's influence has spread so far is due in large part to the efforts of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the present work's translator and commentator and the founder and acarya (spiritual guide) of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
At a time when, in the West, man was directing his explorative spirit toward studying the structure of the physical universe and circum- navigating the world in search of new oceans and continents, Sri Krsna Caitanya, in the East, was inaugurating and masterminding a revolution directed inward, toward a scientific understanding of the highest knowledge of man's spiritual nature.
The chief historical sources for the life of Sri Krsna Caitanya are the kadacas ( diaries) kept by Murari Gupta and Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. Murari Gupta, a physician and close associate of Sri Krsna Caitanya's, recorded extensive notes on the first twenty-four years of His life, culminating in His initiation into the renounced order, sannyasa. The events of the rest of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's forty-eight years were recorded in the diary of Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, another of His intimate associates.
Sri Caitanya-caritamrta is divided into three sections, called lilas, a word that literally means "pastimes" -Adi-Ilia (the early period), Madhya-Ilia (the middle period) and Antya-Iila (the final period). The notes of Murari Gupta form the basis of the Adi-lila, and Svarupa Damodara's diary provides the details for the Madhya- and Antya-lilas.
The first twelve chapters of the Adi-lila constitute the preface for the entire work. By referring to Vedic scriptural evidence, Krsnadasa Kaviraja establishes that Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the avatara (incarnation) of God for the Age of Kali-the current epoch, which began five thousand years ago and is characterized by materialism, hypocrisy and dissension. The author also proves that Caitanya Mahaprabhu is identical to Lord Krsna and explains that He descends to liberally grant the fallen souls of this degraded age pure love of God by propagating sankirtana-literally, "congregational glorification of God" --especially by organizing massive public chanting of the maha-mantra (Great Chant for Deliverance). In addition, in the twelve-chapter preface Krsnadasa Kaviraja reveals the esoteric purpose of Lord Caitanya's appearance in the world, describes His co-avatras and principal devotees, and summarizes His teachings. In the remaining portion of the Adi-lila, chapters thirteen through seventeen, the author briefly recounts Lord Caitanya's divine birth and His life until He accepted the renounced order. This account includes His childhood miracles, schooling, marriage and early philosophical confrontations, as well as His organization of a widespread sankirtana movement and His civil disobedience against the repression of the Muslim government.
The Madhya-lila, the longest of the three divisions, narrates in detail Lord Caitanya's extensive and eventful travels throughout India as a renounced mendicant, teacher, philosopher, spiritual preceptor and mystic. During this period of six years, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu transmits His teachings to His principal disciples. He debates and converts many of the renowned philosophers and theologians of His time, including Sankarites, Buddhists and Muslims, and incorporates their many thousands of followers and disciples into His own burgeoning numbers. The author also includes in this section a dramatic account of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's miraculous activities at the giant Ratha-yatra (Car Festival) in Jagannatha Purl, Orissa.
The Antya-lila concerns the last eighteen years of Sri Caitanya's manifest presence, spent in semiseclusion near the famous Jagannatha temple at Puri. During these final years, Sri Krsna Caitanya drifted deeper and deeper into trances of spiritual ecstasy unparalleled in all of religious and literary history, Eastern or Western. His perpetual and ever-increasing religious beatitude, graphically described in the eye- witness accounts of Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, His constant companion during this period, clearly defy the investigative and descriptive abilities of modern psychologists and phenomenologists of religious experience.
The author of this great classic, Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, born around the beginning of the sixteenth century, was a disciple of Raghunatha dasa Gosvami, a confidential follower of Caitanya Maha- prabhu's. Raghunatha dasa, a renowned ascetic saint, heard and memorized all the activities of Caitanya Mahaprabhu told to him by Svarupa Damodara Gosvami. After the passing away of Sri Caitanya Maha- prabhu and Svarupa Damodara, Raghunatha dasa, unable to bear the pain of separation from these objects of his complete devotion, traveled to Vrndavana, intending to commit suicide by jumping from Govardhana Hill. In Vrndavana, however, he encountered Srila Rupa Gosavami and Srila Sanatana Gosvami, two of the most confidential disciples of Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They convinced him to give up his planned suicide and impelled him to reveal to them the spiritually inspiring events of Lord Caitanya's later life. Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami was also residing in Vrndavana at this time, and Raghunatha dasa Gosvami endowed him with a full comprehension of the transcendental life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
By this time, contemporary and near-contemporary scholars and devotees had already written several biographical works on the life of Sri Krsna Caitanya. These included Sri Caitanya-carita, by Murari Gupta, Caitanya-mangala, by Locana dasa Thakura, and Caitanya- bhagavata. This latter work, by Vrndavana dasa Thakura, who was then considered the principal authority on Sri Caitanya's life, was highly revered. While composing his important work, Vrndavana dasa, fearing that it would become too voluminous, avoided elaborately describing many of the events of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's life, particularly the later ones. Anxious to hear of these later pastimes, the devotees in Vrndavana requested Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami, whom they respected as a great saint and scholar, to compose a book narrating these episodes in de-tail. Upon this request, and with the permission and blessings of the Madana-mohana Deity of Vrndavana, he began compiling Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, which, due to its literary excellence and philosophical thoroughness, is today universally regarded as the foremost work on the life and profound teachings of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
As mentioned above, this English translation and commentary is the work of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the world's most distinguished teacher of Indian religious and philosophical thought. Srila Prabhupada's commentary is based upon two Bengali commentaries, one by his guru, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, the eminent Vedic scholar, teacher and saint who predicted, "The time will come when the people of the world will learn Bengali to read Sri Caitanya-caritamrta." and the other by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati's father, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, who pioneered the propagation of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings in the modern era.
Srila Prabhupada is himself a disciplic descendant of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and he is the first scholar to execute systematic English translations of the major works of Sri Krsna Caitanya's followers. His consummate Bengali and Sanskrit scholarship and intimate familiarity with the precepts of Sri Krsna Caitanya are a fitting combination that eminently qualifies him to present this important classic to the English- speaking world. The ease and clarity with which he expounds upon difficult philosophical concepts enable even a reader totally unfamiliar with Indian religious tradition to understand and appreciate this pro-found and monumental work.
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