Krishna Himself

The Lord accepted the two brothers as His own devotees, and cited one verse from the Scriptures which states that a Brahmin who has studied the four Vedas may not be His devotee, but a pure devotee coming from a very low family may be accepted by Him. The Lord then embraced the two brothers, and by His causeless mercy He touched His Lotus Feet on their heads. When they were so blessed both the brothers came to offer their prayers to the Lord in their own words. The prayers said that Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Who is Krishna Himself, has assumed the Form of fair complexion, Gouranga, and is the most munificent Incarnation of Krishna, because He is distributing love of Krishna. Srila Rupa Goswami also quoted one verse which was later on found in the book, Govinda Lilamrita. The verse says as follows: "Let me be surrendered unto the Lotus Feet of Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Who is the greatest, most merciful Personality of Godhead, and Who delivers those merged in ignorance, and offers them the highest gift of love of Krishna, and thus makes them mad after Krishna Consciousness. "    (More...)

The words used in this connection in the Srimad-Bhagavatam [10.29.1] are bhagavan api. This means that although Krsna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He has no desire that needs to be fulfilled because He is always full with six opulences. Yet He wanted to enjoy the company of the gopis. Bhagavan api signifies that this is not like the ordinary dancing of young boys and young girls. The specific word used in the Srimad-Bhagavatam is yogamayam upasritaḥ, which means that this dancing with the gopis is on the platform of yogamaya, not mahamaya. The dancing of young boys and girls within this material world is in the kingdom of mahamaya, or the external energy. The rasa dance of Krsna with the gopis is on the platform of yogamaya. The difference between the platform of yogamaya and mahamaya is compared in the Caitanya-caritamrta to the difference between gold and iron. From the viewpoint of metallurgy, gold and iron are both metals, but the quality is completely different. Similarly, although the rasa dance and Lord Krsna's association with the gopis appear like the ordinary mixing of young boys and girls, the quality is completely different. The difference is appreciated by great Vaisnavas because they can understand the difference between love of Krsna and lust.    (More...)

In all the Vedas the Supreme Personality of Godhead and the living entities are stated to be of the same quality-caitanya, or spiritual. This is also confirmed in the Padma Purana, wherein it is said that there are two kinds of spiritual entities; one is called the jiva, and the other is called the Supreme Lord. Beginning from Lord Brahma down to the ant, all living entities are jivas, whereas the Lord is the Supreme four-handed Visnu or Janaradana. The word atma can be applied only to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, but because the living entities are His parts and parcels, sometimes the word atma is applied to them also. The living entities are therefore called jivatma, and the Supreme Lord is called Paramatma. Both the Paramatma and jivatma are within this material world, and therefore this material has a purpose other than sense gratification. The conception of a life of sense gratification is illusion, but the conception of service by the jivatma to the Paramatma, even in this material world, is not at all illusory. A Krsna conscious person is fully aware of this fact, and thus he does not take this material world to be false, but acts in the reality of transcendental service. The devotee therefore sees everything in this material world as an opportunity to serve the Lord. He does not reject anything as material, but dovetails everything in the service of the Lord. Thus a devotee is always in the transcendental position, and everything that he uses becomes spiritually purified by being used in the service of the Lord.    (More...)

In his preaching, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was especially keen to confront and defeat what is known as Mayavada or impersonalist philosophy. This is the mission of Lord Caitanya, who converted the most powerful Mayavadi impersonalists of His time, such as Prakasananda Sarasvati, who had 60,000 followers, and Sarvabhauma Bhattacarya, who conducted an important school for training Mayavadi teachers. Mayavadis are impersonalists who maintain that God is under the influence of maya (illusion). According to them, His attributes, such as His name, form and activities, are all materially contaminated. On the other hand, the Vaisnavas, the personalist devotees of the Lord, correctly accept the transcendental nature of the Lord and everything connected with Him. Krsna says in Bhagavad-gita that His birth and activities are all transcendental (janma karma ca me divyam). The Mayavadis, however, stress the impersonal aspect of the Lord, ultimately concluding that He is nothing. This, of course, is an atheistic idea. Unlike the Buddhists, who arrive at the same conclusion but do not accept any Vedic authority, the Mayavadis try to argue their point from the Vedic scriptures. Therefore Lord Caitanya has forbidden all devotees to read Vedic commentaries by Mayavadis. Bhagavad-gita says, avajananti mam mūḍhaḥ: those who deride the Lord because of His humanlike form are all fools and rascals. Bhaktisiddhanta met and defeated all such wrangling Mayavadis so ferociously chat he became known as simha-guru, or "the lion guru." Thus, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati is the personification of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's teachings (gauravani-sri-mūrti) because he refused to tolerate any statement that was against the doctrine of devotional service as enunciated by Lord Caitanya's chief disciple, Rūpa Gosvami (rūpanuga-virud-dhapa siddhanta-dhvanta-harine).    (More...)

The impersonalists do not have the power to go beyond the effulgence of God and arrive at the personality from whom this effulgence is emanating. At the end of Īsopanisad, however, there is a hymn to the Personality of Godhead. It is not that the impersonal Brahman is denied; it is also described, but that Brahman is considered to be the glaring effulgence of the body of Caitanya. In other words, Krsna Caitanya is the basis of the impersonal Brahman. It is also stated by Krsna in Bhagavad-gita that the impersonal Brahman rests on Him (brahmano hi pratisthaham, Bg. 14.27). The Paramatma, or Supersoul, which is present within the heart of every living entity and within every atom of the universe, is but the partial representation of Caitanya. Krsna Caitanya is therefore the basis of Brahman and the Supreme Personality of Godhead as well. As the Supreme He is full in six opulences: wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge and renunciation. In short, we should know that He is Krsna, God, and nothing is equal to or greater than Him. There is no superior to be conceived. He is the Supreme Person.    (More...)

However, Lord Caitanya's greatest gift was His teaching that Krsna can be actually treated as one's lover. In this relationship the Lord is so much attached that He expresses His inability to reciprocate. Krsna was so obliged to the gopis, the cowherd girls of Vrndavana, that He felt unable to return their love. "I cannot repay your love," He told them. "I have no more assets to return." Thus devotional service is performed on this excellent platform, and knowledge of the devotee's relationship to Krsna as lover and beloved was given by Caitanya Mahaprabhu. It was never given by any previous incarnation or acarya. Thus Rūpa Gosvami wrote of Caitanya: "Devotional service itself is the highest platform, the glorious platform which You have contributed. You are Krsna in a yellow complexion, and You are Sacinandana, the son of mother Saci. Those who hear Caitanya-caritamrta will keep You in their hearts. It will be easy to understand Krsna through You." Thus Caitanya Mahaprabhu came to deliver Krsna. His method of deliverance was not meditation, fruitive activities or scriptural study, but love.    (More...)

Thus Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami discusses Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu as Sri Krsna Himself, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and Lord Nityananda as Balarama, the first expansion of Krsna. Advaitacarya, another principal disciple of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu's, is accepted as an expansion of the Maha-Visnu. Thus Advaitacarya is also the Lord, or, more precisely, an expansion of the Lord. The word advaita means nondual, and his name is such because he is nondifferent from the Supreme Lord. He is also called acarya, teacher, because he disseminated Krsna consciousness. In this way he is just like Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Although Caitanya is Sri Krsna Himself, He appears as a devotee to teach people in general how to love Krsna. Similarly, Advaitacarya appeared just to distribute the knowledge of Krsna consciousness. Thus he is also the Lord incarnated as a devotee. Krsna is manifested in five different expansions, and He and all of His associates appear as devotees of the Supreme Lord in the form of Sri Krsna Caitanya, Nityananda, Advaitacarya, Gadadhara, Srivasa and others. In all cases, Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the source of energy for all His devotees. Since this is the case, if we take shelter of Caitanya Mahaprabhu for the successful execution of Krsna consciousness, we are sure to make progress. One devotional song by Narottama dasa Thakura states: "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 fallen souls, and no one is more fallen than I. I beg priority."    (More...)

In his Anubhasya, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura states that a materialist mistakenly accepts the body and mind as the source of material enjoyment. In other words, a materialist accepts the bodily conception of life. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu did not regard the son of Maharaja Prataparudra with the idea that he was a materialist, being the son of a materialist. Nor did He consider Himself the enjoyer. Mayavadi philosophers make a great mistake by assuming that the sac-cid-ananda-vigraha, the transcendental form of the Lord, is like a material body. However, there is no material contamination in transcendence, nor is there any possibility of imagining a spirituality in matter. One cannot accept matter as spirit. As indicated by the technical words bhauma ijya-dhiḥ (Bhag. 10.84.13), materialistic Mayavadis imagine the form of God in matter, although according to their imagination, God is unlimitedly formless. This is simply mental speculation. Even though Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, He placed Himself in the position of a gopi. He also accepted the King's son directly as the son of Maharaja Nanda, Vrajendra-nandana Hari. This is perfect vision according to the direction of the Vedic culture, as confirmed in Srimad Bhagavad-gita (panḍitaḥ sama-darsinaḥ). Such acceptance of the Absolute Truth according to Vaisnava philosophy is explained in both the Munḍaka Upanisad (3.2.3) and the Katha Upanisad (1.2.23) in the following words:    (More...)