Chapter 3

Krsnadasa Kaviraja has herein presented much authentic evidence from Srimad-Bhagavatam and other scriptures to substantiate the identity of Lord Caitanya with Sri Krsna Himself. He has described bodily symptoms in Lord Caitanya that are visible only in the person of the Supreme Lord, and he has proved that Lord Caitanya appeared with His personal associates--Sri Nityananda, Advaita, Gadadhara, Srivasa and other devotees--to preach the special significance of chanting Hare Krsna. The appearance of Lord Caitanya is both significant and confidential. He can be appreciated only by pure devotees and only through the process of devotional service. The Lord tried to conceal His identity as the Supreme Personality of Godhead by representing Himself as a devotee, but His pure devotees can recognize Him by His special features. The Vedas and Puranas foretell the appearance of Lord Caitanya, but still He is sometimes called, significantly, the concealed descent of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Advaita Acarya was a contemporary of Lord Caitanya's father. He felt sorry for the condition of the world because even after Lord Krsna's appearance, no one had interest in devotional service to Krsna. This forgetfulness was so overwhelming that Advaita Prabhu was convinced that no one but Lord Krsna Himself could enlighten people about devotional service to the Supreme Lord. Therefore Advaita requested Lord Krsna to appear as Lord Caitanya. Offering tulasi leaves and Ganges water, He cried for the Lord's appearance. The Lord, being satisfied by His pure devotees, descends to satisfy them. As such, being pleased by Advaita Acarya, Lord Caitanya appeared.

From the beginning of Brahma's day of 4,320,000,000 years, six Manus appear and disappear before Lord Krsna appears. Thus 1,975,320,000 years of the day of Brahma elapse before the appearance of Lord Krsna. This is an astronomical calculation according to solar years.

Some so-called Vaisnavas say that the renounced order of life is not accepted in the Vaisnava sampradaya, or disciplic succession, from Lord Caitanya. This is not a very intelligent proposition. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu took the sannyasa order from Sripada Kesava Bharati, who belonged to the Sankara sect, which approves of only ten names for sannyasis. Long before the advent of Sripada Sankaracarya, however, the sannyasa order existed in the Vaisnava line of Visnusvami. In the Visnusvami Vaisnava sampradaya, there are ten different kinds of sannyasa names and 108 different names for sannyasis who accept the tri-danda, the triple staff of sannyasa. This is approved by the Vedic rules. Therefore Vaisnava sannyasa was existent even before the appearance of Sankaracarya, although those who know nothing about Vaisnava sannyasa unnecessarily declare that there is no sannyasa in the Vaisnava sampradaya.

During the time of Lord Caitanya, the influence of Sankaracarya in society was very strong. People thought that one could accept sannyasa only in the disciplic succession of Sankaracarya. Lord Caitanya could have performed His missionary activities as a householder, but He found householder life an obstruction to His mission. Therefore He decided to accept the renounced order, sannyasa. Since His acceptance of sannyasa was also designed to attract public attention, Lord Caitanya, not wishing to disturb the social convention, took the renounced order of life from a sannyasi in the disciplic succession of Sankaracarya, although sannyasa was also sanctioned in the Vaisnava sampradaya.

In the Sankara-sampradaya there are ten different names awarded to sannyasis: (1) Tirtha, (2) Asrama, (3) Vana, (4) Aranya, (5) Giri, (6) Parvata, (7) Sagara, (8) Sarasvati, (9) Bharati and (10) Puri. Before one enters sannyasa, he has one of the various names for a brahmacari, the assistant to a sannyasi. Sannyasis with the titles Tirtha and Asrama generally stay at Dvaraka, and their brahmacari name is Svarupa. Those known by the names Vana and Aranya stay at Purusottama, or Jagannatha Puri, and their brahmacari name is Prakasa. Those with the names Giri, Parvata and Sagara generally stay at Badarikasrama, and their brahmacari name is Ananda. Those with the titles Sarasvati, Bharati and Puri usually live at Srngeri in South India, and their brahmacari name is Caitanya.

Sripada Sankaracarya established four monasteries in India, in the four directions north, south, east and west, and he entrusted them to four sannyasis who were his disciples. Now there are hundreds of branch monasteries under these four principal monasteries, and although there is an official symmetry among them, there are many differences in their dealings. The four different sects of these monasteries are known as Anandavara, Bhogavara, Kitavara and Bhumivara, and in course of time they have developed different ideas and different slogans.

According to the regulation of the disciplic succession, one who wishes to enter the renounced order in Sankara's sect must first be trained as a brahmacari under a bona fide sannyasi, The brahmacari's name is ascertained according to the group to which the sannyasi belongs. Lord Caitanya accepted sannyasa from Kesava Bharati. When He first approached Kesava Bharati, He was accepted as a brahmacari with the name Sri Krsna Caitanya Brahmacari. After He took sannyasa, He preferred to keep the name Krsna Caitanya.

The great authorities in the disciplic succession had not offered to explain why Lord Caitanya refused to take the name Bharati after He took sannyasa from a Bharati, until Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami Maharaja volunteered the explanation that because a sannyasi in the Sankara-sampradaya thinks that he has become the Supreme, Lord Caitanya, wanting to avoid such a misconception, kept the name Sri Krsna Caitanya, placing Himself as an eternal servitor. A brahmacari is supposed to serve the spiritual master; therefore He did not negate that relationship of servitude to His spiritual master. Accepting such a position is favorable for the relationship between the disciple and the spiritual master.

The authentic biographies also mention that Lord Caitanya accepted the danda (rod) and begging pot, symbolic of the sannyasa order, at the time He took sannyasa.

Lord Caitanya accepted sannyasa, leaving aside His householder life, to preach His mission. He has equanimity in different senses. First, He describes the confidential truth of the Personality of Godhead, and second, He satisfies everyone by knowledge and attachment to Krsna. He is peaceful because He renounces all topics not related to the service of Krsna. Srila Baladeva Vidyabhusana has explained that the word nistha indicates His being rigidly fixed in chanting the holy name of Sri Krsna. Lord Caitanya subdued all disturbing opponents of devotional service, especially the monists, who are actually averse to the personal feature of the Supreme Lord.

Srila Jiva Gosvami explains that krsna-varnam means Sri Krsna Caitanya. Krsna-varna and Krsna Caitanya are equivalent. The name Krsna appears with both Lord Krsna and Lord Caitanya Krsna. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but He always engages in describing Krsna and thus enjoys transcendental bliss by chanting and remembering His name and form. Lord Krsna Himself appears as Lord Caitanya to preach the highest gospel.

Lord Caitanya always chants the holy name of Krsna and describes it also, and because He is Krsna Himself, whoever meets Him will automatically chant the holy name of Krsna and later describe it to others. He injects one with transcendental Krsna consciousness, which merges the chanter in transcendental bliss. In all respects, therefore, He appears before everyone as Krsna, either by personality or by sound. Simply by seeing Lord Caitanya one at once remembers Lord Krsna. One may therefore accept Him as visnu-tattva. In other words, Lord Caitanya is Lord Krsna Himself.

Sangopangastra-parsadam further indicates that Lord Caitanya is Lord Krsna. His body is always decorated with ornaments of sandalwood and with sandalwood paste. By His superexcellent beauty He subdues all the people of the age. In other descents the Lord sometimes used weapons to defeat the demoniac, but in this age the Lord subdues them with His all-attractive figure as Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Srila Jiva Gosvami explains that His beauty is His astra, or weapon, to subdue the demons. Because He is all-attractive, it is to be understood that all the demigods lived with Him as His companions. His acts were uncommon and His associates wonderful. When He propagated the sankirtana movement, He attracted many great scholars and acaryas, especially in Bengal and Orissa. Lord Caitanya is always accompanied by His best associates like Lord Nityananda, Advaita, Gadadhara and Srivasa.

Srila Jiva Gosvami cites a verse from the Vedic literature which says that there is no necessity of performing sacrificial demonstrations or ceremonial functions. He comments that instead of engaging in such external, pompous exhibitions, all people, regardless of caste, color or creed, can assemble together and chant Hare Krsna to worship Lord Caitanya. Krsna-varnam tvisakrsnam indicates that prominence should be given to the name of Krsna. Lord Caitanya taught Krsna consciousness and chanted the name of Krsna. Therefore, to worship Lord Caitanya, everyone should together chant the maha-mantra--Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare. Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare. To propagate worship in churches, temples or mosques is not possible, because people have lost interest in that. But anywhere and everywhere, people can chant Hare Krsna. Thus worshiping Lord Caitanya, they can perform the highest activity and fulfill the highest religious purpose of satisfying the Supreme Lord.

Srila Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, a famous disciple of Lord Caitanya, said, "The principle of transcendental devotional service having been lost, Sri Krsna Caitanya has appeared to deliver again the process of devotion. He is so kind that He is distributing love of Krsna. Everyone should be attracted more and more to His lotus feet, as humming bees are attracted to a lotus flower."

In the realm of the Absolute, one plus one equals one, and one minus one equals one. Therefore one should not conceive of a fragment of the Supreme Lord in the material sense. In the spiritual world there is no influence of the material energy or material calculations of fragments. In the Fifteenth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, the Lord says that the living entities are His parts and parcels. There are innumerable living entities throughout the material and spiritual universes, but still Lord Krsna is full in Himself. To think that God has lost His personality because His many parts and parcels are distributed all over the universe is an illusion. That is a material calculation. Such calculations are possible only under the influence of the material energy, maya. In the spiritual world the material energy is conspicuous only by its absence.

In the category of visnu-tattva there is no loss of power from one expansion to the next, any more than there is a loss of illumination as one candle kindles another. Thousands may be kindled by an original candle, and all will have the same candle power. In this way it is to be understood that although all the visnu-tattvas, from Krsna and Lord Caitanya to Rama, Nrsimha, Varaha and so on, appear with different features in different ages, all are equally invested with supreme potency.

Demigods such as Lord Brahma and Lord Siva come in contact with the material energy, and their power and potency are therefore of different gradations. All the incarnations of Visnu, however, are equal in potency, for the influence of maya cannot even approach Them.

Pasandas, or atheists, cannot understand the pastimes of the Supreme Lord or transcendental loving service to the Lord. They think that devotional service is no better than ordinary fruitive activities (karma). As the Bhagavad-gita (4.8) confirms, however, the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees, saving the righteous and chastising the miscreants (paritranaya sadhunam vinasaya ca duskrtam), always curb these nonsensical atheists. Miscreants always want to deny the Supreme Personality of Godhead and put stumbling blocks in the path of devotional service. The Lord sends His bona fide representatives and appears Himself to curb this nonsense.

The Vedic scriptures say:

Antah krsna refers to one who is always thinking of Krsna. This attitude is a predominant feature of Srimati Radharani. Even though many devotees always think of Krsna, none can surpass the gopis, among whom Radharani is the leader in thinking of Krsna. Radharani's Krsna consciousness surpasses that of all other devotees. Lord Caitanya accepted the position of Srimati Radharani to understand Krsna; therefore He was always thinking of Krsna in the same way as Radharani. By thinking of Lord Krsna, He always overlapped Krsna.

Sri Krsna Caitanya, who was outwardly very fair, with a complexion like molten gold, simultaneously manifested His eternal associates, opulences, expansions and incarnations. He preached the process of chanting Hare Krsna, and those who are under His lotus feet are glorious.

Even according to historical references, Krsna's activities are most uncommon. Krsna has affirmed, "I am God," and He has acted accordingly. Mayavadis think that everyone can claim to be God, but that is their illusion, for no one else can perform such extraordinary activities as Krsna. When He was a child on the lap of His mother, He killed the demon Putana. Then He killed the demons Trnavarta, Vatsasura and Baka. When He was a little more grown up, He killed the demons Aghasura and Rsabhasura. Therefore God is God from the very beginning. The idea that someone can become God by meditation is ridiculous. By hard endeavor one may realize his godly nature, but he will never become God. The asuras, or demons, who think that anyone can become God, are condemned.

The authentic scriptures are compiled by personalities like Vyasadeva, Narada, Asita and Parasara, who are not ordinary men. All the followers of the Vedic way of life have accepted these famous personalities, whose authentic scriptures conform to the Vedic literature. Nevertheless, the demoniac do not believe their statements, and they purposely oppose the Supreme Personality of Godhead and His devotees. Today it is fashionable for common men to write whimsical words as so-called incarnations of God and be accepted as authentic by other common men. This demoniac mentality is condemned in the Seventh Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, wherein it is said that those who are miscreants and the lowest of mankind, who are fools and asses, cannot accept the Supreme Personality of Godhead because of their demoniac nature. They are compared to ulukas, or owls, who cannot open their eyes in the sunlight. Because they cannot bear sunlight, they hide themselves from it and never see it. They cannot believe that there is such illumination.

The sun may appear covered by a cloud, but actually it is the eyes of the tiny people below the cloud that are covered, not the sun. If those tiny people rose above the cloud in an airplane, they could then see the sunshine and the sun without impediment. Similarly, although the covering of maya is very strong, Lord Krsna says in the Bhagavad-gita (7.14):

The Krsna consciousness movement is meant for devas, or devotees. Demons cannot take part in Krsna conscious activities, nor can devotees in Krsna consciousness take part in demoniac activities or work like cats and dogs simply for sense gratification. Such activity does not appeal to those in Krsna consciousness. Devotees accept only the bare necessities of life to keep themselves fit to act in Krsna consciousness. The balance of their energy is used for developing Krsna consciousness, through which one can be transferred to the abode of Krsna by always thinking of Him, even at the point of death.

In the grim clutches of maya, the first-class prisoners of this material world wrongly think themselves happy because they are rich, powerful, resourceful and so on. These foolish creatures do not know that they are nothing but play dolls in the hands of material nature and that at any moment material nature's pitiless intrigues can crush to dust all their plans for godless activities. Such foolish prisoners cannot see that however they improve their position by artificial means, the calamities of repeated birth, death, disease and old age are always beyond the jurisdiction of their control. Foolish as they are, they neglect these major problems of life and busy themselves with false things that cannot help them solve their real problems. They know that they do not want to suffer death or the pangs of disease and old age, but under the influence of the illusory energy, they are grossly negligent and therefore do nothing to solve the problems. This is called maya. People held in the grip of maya are thrown into oblivion after death, and as a result of their karma, in the next life they become dogs or gods, although most of them become dogs. To become gods in the next life, they must engage in the devotional service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead; otherwise, they are sure to become dogs or hogs in terms of the laws of nature.

The third-class prisoners, being less materially opulent than the first-class prisoners, endeavor to imitate them, for they also have no information of the real nature of their imprisonment. Thus they also are misled by the illusory material nature. The function of the acarya, however, is to change the activities of both the first-class and third-class prisoners for their real benefit. This endeavor makes him a very dear devotee of the Lord, who says clearly in the Bhagavad-gita that no one in human society is dearer to Him than a devotee who constantly engages in His service by finding ways to preach the message of Godhead for the real benefit of the world. The so-called acaryas of the Age of Kali are more concerned with exploiting the resources of their followers than mitigating their miseries; but Sri Advaita Prabhu, as an ideal acarya, was concerned with improving the condition of the world situation.

Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu preached the philosophy of inconceivable, simultaneous oneness with the Lord and difference from Him. Conceivable dualism and monism are conceptions of the imperfect senses, which are unable to reach the Transcendence because the Transcendence is beyond the conception of limited potency. The actions of Sri Advaita Prabhu, however, give tangible proof of inconceivable nondualism. One who therefore surrenders unto Sri Advaita Prabhu can easily follow the philosophy of inconceivable, simultaneous dualism and monism.

The word sruta in sruteksita-pathah refers to the Vedas, and iksita indicates that the way to understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead is by proper study of the Vedic scriptures. One cannot imagine something about God or His form. Such imagination is not accepted by those who are serious about enlightenment. Here Brahma says that one can know Krsna through the path of properly understanding the Vedic texts. If by studying the form, name, qualities, pastimes and paraphernalia of the Supreme Godhead one is attracted to the Lord, he can execute devotional service, and the form of the Lord will be impressed in his heart and remain transcendentally situated there. Unless a devotee actually develops transcendental love for the Lord, it is not possible for him to think always of the Lord within his heart. Such constant thought of the Lord is the sublime perfection of the yogic process, as the Bhagavad-gita confirms in the Sixth Chapter (47), stating that anyone absorbed in such thought is the best of all yogis. Such transcendental absorption is known as samadhi. A pure devotee who is always thinking of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the person qualified to see the Lord.

One cannot speak of Urugaya (the Lord, who is glorified by sublime prayers) unless one is transcendentally elevated. The Lord has innumerable forms, as the Brahma-samhita confirms (advaitam acyutam anadim ananta-rupam). The Lord expands Himself in innumerable svamsa forms. When a devotee, hearing about these innumerable forms, becomes attached to one and always thinks of Him, the Lord appears to him in that form. Lord Krsna is especially pleasing to devotees in whose heart He is always present because of their highly elevated transcendental love.

Thus end the Bhaktivedanta purports to Sri Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Third Chapter, describing the causes for the descent of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.