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 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 Isopanisad, 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 Rupa 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...)

The most astonishing factor is that Lord Chaitanya, although the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, never exhibited Himself as Krishna. Rather, whenever He was detected by intelligent devotees as Lord Krishna, and addressed as Lord Krishna, He denied it, and sometimes He closed His ears, protesting that one should not be addressed as the Supreme Lord. This was His indirect teaching to the Mayavadi philosophers: that one should never pose oneself as the Supreme Lord falsely, and thereby misdirect the followers. The followers also should not be foolish enough to accept anyone and everyone as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, without testing with the Scriptures and by activities. One should not, however, mistake Lord Chaitanya with His five diverse manifestations as ordinary human beings. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna Himself. The beauty of Lord Chaitanya is that, although He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, He Himself as a great devotee is teaching all the conditioned souls how devotional service should be conducted. The conditioned souls who are interested in devotional service should follow, therefore in the exemplary footsteps of Lord Chaitanya, to learn how Krishna can be achieved by devotional service. In other words, the Supreme Lord Himself teaches the conditioned soul how He should be approached by devotional service.    (More...)