The Avatāra

The avatara for this age, Lord Caitanya, is described in Vedic literature. We cannot accept anyone as an avatara unless he has the symptoms described in the scriptures. We do not whimsically accept Lord Caitanya as an avatara on the basis of votes. Nowadays it has become a fashion that any man can come and say that he is God or an incarnation of God, and some fools and rascals will accept it: "Oh, he is God." We do not accept an avatara like that. We take evidence from the Vedas.

An avatara must conform to descriptions in the Vedas. Then we accept him, otherwise no. For each avatara there is a description in the Vedas: He will appear at such and such a place, in such and such a form, and He will act like this. That is the nature of Vedic evidence.

In the Srimad-Bhagavatam there is a list of the avataras, and there is mention of Lord Buddha's name. This Srimad-Bhagavatam was written 5,000 years ago, and it mentions different names for future times. It says that in the future the Lord will appear as Lord Buddha, His mother's name will be Anjana, and he will appear in Gaya. So Buddha appeared 2,600 years ago, and Srimad-Bhagavatam, which was written 5,000 years ago, mentioned that in the future he would appear. Similarly, there is mention of Lord Caitanya, and similarly the last avatara of this Kali-yuga is also mentioned in the Bhagavatam. It is mentioned that the last incarnation in this age is Kalki. He will appear as the son of a brahmana whose name is Visnu-yasa in a place called Sambhala. There is a place in India with that name, so perhaps it is there that the Lord will appear.

So an avatara must conform to the descriptions in the Upanisads, Srimad-Bhagavatam, Mahabharata and other Vedic literatures. And on the authority of Vedic literature and the commentary of great stalwart gosvamis like Jiva Gosvami, who was the greatest scholar and philosopher in the world, we can accept Lord Caitanya as an incarnation of Krsna.