Teachings of Lord Caitanya (The Golden Avatar)
Some remarkable extracts
Chapter 9 (The Opulences of Kṛṣṇa)
1975:
Since Lord Caitanya is especially merciful to innocent, unsophisticated persons, His name is also Patitapāvana, the deliverer of the most fallen conditioned souls.
Although a conditioned soul may be fallen to the lowest position, IT IS POSSIBLE FOR HIM TO ADVANCE IN SPIRITUAL SCIENCE IF HE IS INNOCENT.
Chapter 19 (Further Talks with Prakāśānanda)
In transcendental realization there are three divisions of knowledge called prasthāna-traya.
- That department of knowledge which is proved by Vedic instruction (like the Upaniṣads) is called ŚRUTI-prasthāna.
- Authoritative books indicating the ultimate goal and written by liberated souls like Vyāsadeva (for example, Bhagavad-gītā, Mahābhārata and the Purāṇas, especially Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, the Mahā-Purāṇa) are called SMṚTI-prasthāna.
- From Vedic literatures we understand that the Vedas originated from the breathing of Nārāyaṇa. Vyāsadeva, who is an incarnation of the power of Nārāyaṇa, has compiled the Vedānta-sūtra (NYĀYA-prasthāna).
Chapter 20 (The Goal of Vedānta Study)
When the infinitesimal living entities are engaged in their infinitesimal desires for material enjoyment, they are called JĪVA-ŚAKTI,
but when they are dovetailed with the infinite, they are called LIBERATED SOULS.
There is no need to ask, therefore, why God created the infinitesimal portions; they are simply the complementary side of the Supreme.
...The conclusion is that the living entities are considered to be expansions of the ENERGY of the Supreme Lord, and the Supreme Lord, the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is the ENERGETIC.
All material nature ... together comprise the INFERIOR NATURE, or ENERGY, of the Lord. Another name for this inferior nature is MĀYĀ, or ILLUSION.
Beyond these eight inferior elements there is a SUPERIOR ENERGY, which is called PARĀ-PRAKṚTI. That parā-prakṛti is the living entity, who is found in great numbers throughout the material world. He is indicated in Bhagavad-gītā (BG 7.5) as JĪVA-BHŪTĀM. The purport is that the Supreme Lord is the Absolute Truth, the energetic, and as such He has His energies.
When His energy is
- not properly manifested, or
- when it is covered by some shadow,
it is called MĀYĀ-ŚAKTI.
The material cosmic manifestation is a product of that covered māyā-śakti.
When the living entity enters into this material world due to his desire to dominate matter, his original mind, intelligence and body become covered by the material energy. When he is again uncovered from these material or inferior energies, he is called liberated. When he is liberated, he has no false ego, but his real ego again comes into existence.
In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa (6.7.61, CC Madhya 6.154) it is clearly stated:
viṣṇu-śaktiḥ parā prokta
kṣetra-jñākhyā tathā parā
avidyā-karma-samjñānyā
tṛtīyā śaktir iṣyate
"The energy of the Supreme Lord is divided into three: PARĀ, KṢETRAJÑA and AVIDYĀ."
- The PARĀ energy is actually the energy of the Supreme Lord Himself;
- the KṢETRAJÑA energy is the living entity; and
- the AVIDYĀ energy is the material world, or MĀYĀ. It is called avidyā, or ignorance, because under the spell of this material energy one forgets his actual position and his relationship with the Supreme Lord.
Rāmānujācārya has discussed following point very nicely: "If you argue that before the creation of this material world there was only one Absolute Truth, then how is it possible that the living entity emanated from Him? If He were alone, how could He have produced or generated the infinitesimal living entities?" In answer to this question, the Vedas state that
- everything is generated from the Absolute Truth,
- everything is maintained by the Absolute Truth, and,
- after annihilation, everything enters into the Absolute Truth.
From this statement it is clear that the living entities enter into the supreme existence when they are liberated, and they do not change their original constitutional position.
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We must always remember that
- the Supreme Lord has His creative function and (that)
- the infinitesimal living entities have their creative functions also. It is not that their creative function is lost when they are liberated and enter into the Supreme after the dissolution of the material body. On the contrary, THE CREATIVE FUNCTION OF THE LIVING ENTITY IS PROPERLY MANIFESTED IN THE LIBERATED STATE.
For the Supreme Absolute Truth, there is no change. It is simply that a by-product results from His inconceivable powers of action. In other words, a relative truth is produced out of the Supreme Truth.
{on the importance of oṁkāra, being the sound representation of the Supreme Lord}
The principal word in the Vedas, praṇava oṁkāra, is the sound representation of the Supreme Lord. Therefore oṁkāra should be considered the supreme sound... Oṁkāra is the reservoir of all the energies of the Supreme Lord. The sound representation or name of the Supreme Lord is as good as the Supreme Lord Himself. Because (such) vibrations of transcendental sound can deliver a conditioned soul, they are known as tāra, or deliverers.
In the Māṇḍūkya Upaniṣad it is said that when oṁkāra is chanted, whatever is seen as material is seen perfectly as spiritual. In the spiritual world or in spiritual vision there is nothing but oṁkāra, or the one alternate, om.
The oṁkāra praṇava is ... considered to be the sound incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. When one understands oṁkāra as such, he becomes immortal. One should thus know oṁkāra as a representation of the Supreme situated in everyone's heart. One who understands oṁkāra and Viṣṇu as being one and the same and all-pervading never laments in the material world, nor does he remain a śūdra.
One should not foolishly interpret an Upaniṣadic description and say that because the Supreme Personality of Godhead "cannot" appear Himself in this material world in His own form, He sends His sound representation(oṁkāra) instead. Due to such a false interpretation, oṁkāra comes to be considered something material, and consequently oṁkāra is misunderstood and praised as being simply an exhibition or symbol of the Lord. Actually oṁkāra is as good as any other incarnation of the Supreme Lord.
The Lord has innumerable incarnations, and oṁkāra is one of them. As Kṛṣṇa states in Bhagavad-gītā: "Amongst vibrations, I am the syllable om." (BG 9.17) This means that oṁkāra is nondifferent from Kṛṣṇa. Impersonalists, however, give more importance to oṁkāra than to the Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. The fact is, however, that any representational incarnation of the Supreme Lord is nondifferent from Him.
The Vaiṣṇavas interpret oṁkāra as follows:
- by the letter O, Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is indicated;
- by the letter U, Kṛṣṇa's eternal consort Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is indicated; and
- by the letter M, the eternal servitor of the Supreme Lord, the living entity, is indicated.
Chapter 21 (The Māyāvādī Philosophers are Converted)
Lord Caitanya explained the word Brahman, indicating that Brahman indicates the greatest, and the greatest is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa. Wherever the word Brahman appears in the Vedas, it should be understood that Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is indicated. An intelligent person at once replaces the word Brahman with the name Kṛṣṇa.
It is stated that when a person
- abandons the path of devotional service and
- simply labors for knowledge,
It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (SB 10.2.32) that a person who
- gives up the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Lord and
- superficially considers himself liberated,
With great labor, austerity and penance, he may be elevated to the liberated platform, but for want of shelter at the lotus feet of the Supreme Lord, he falls down again into material contamination.
The DOCTRINE OF BY-PRODUCTS, PARIṆĀMA-VĀDA, is asserted from the very beginning of Vedānta-sūtra, but ŚAṄKARĀCĀRYA has superficially tried to hide it and establish the DOCTRINE OF TRANSFORMATION, VIVARTA-VĀDA. He also has the audacity to say that Vyāsa is mistaken. The Māyāvādī philosopher, puffed-up and incompetent, falsely believes that spiritual variegatedness is no different from material variegatedness.
In addition to Śaṅkarācārya, other materialistic philosophers have put forward philosophical speculation in various ways:
- the philosopher JAIMINI and his followers, all more or less logicians, have tried to establish the Absolute Truth as subject to the material world. It is their opinion that if there is a God, He will be pleased with man and give man all desired results if man simply performs his material activities nicely.
- the atheist KAPILA tried to establish that there is no God who created the material world. Kapila has even tried to establish that a combination of material elements caused creation.
- GAUTAMA and KAṆĀDA have given stress to this theory that the creation resulted from a fortunate combination of material elements, and they have tried to establish that atomic energy is the origin of creation.
- impersonalists and monists like AṢṬĀVAKRA have tried to establish the impersonal effulgence (brahmajyoti) as the Supreme. And
- PATAÑJALI, one of the greatest authorities on the yoga system, has tried to conceive an imaginary form of the Supreme Lord.
All these materialistic philosophers have tried to avoid the Supreme Personality of Godhead by putting forward their own mentally concocted philosophies.
However, VYĀSADEVA, the great sage and incarnation of Godhead, has thoroughly studied all these philosophical speculations and in answer has compiled the Vedānta-sūtra, which establishes
- the relationship between the living entity and the Supreme Personality of Godhead and
- the importance of devotional service in ultimately achieving love of Godhead.
Chapter 22 (The Śrīmad Bhāgavatam)
One day, when the Lord visited the temple with His associates, Candraśekhara Ācārya, Paramānanda, Tapana Miśra, Sanātana Gosvāmī and others, He was singing:
haraye namaḥ kṛṣṇa yādavāya namaḥ
gopāla govinda rāma śrī-madhusūdana
When (afterwards) Lord Caitanya heard Himself equated with Kṛṣṇa (by Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī), He mildly protested. He wanted to warn people in general not to compare the Supreme Lord with any living entity. Thus He said that it is the greatest offense to compare anyone with the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa. Lord Caitanya always maintained that
- Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is great and
- the living entities, however great they may be, are but infinitesimal.
In this connection, He quoted a verse from Padma Purāṇa which is found in the Vaiṣṇava tantra (Hari-bhakti-vilāsa 1.73): "A person who compares the Supreme Lord even with the greatest of demigods like Brahmā and Śiva must be considered a number one atheist."
Lord Caitanya said, "In order to curb commentaries on Vedānta-sūtra by unscrupulous persons, the author himself, Vyāsadeva, has already commentated upon the Vedānta-sūtra by writing Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam."
There is a passage in Īśopaniṣad (ISO 1 - https://vanisource.org/wiki/ISO_1)
similar to a verse found in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (SB 8.1.10 - https://vanisource.org/wiki/SB_8.1.10)
which states that
- whatever one sees in the cosmic manifestation is but the Supreme Lord's energy and is nondifferent from Him.
- Consequently He is the controller, friend and maintainer of all living entities.
- We should live by the mercy of God and take only those things which are allotted to us.
- In this way, by not encroaching on another's property, one can enjoy life.
Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam teaches us three subjects:
- how to REESTABLISH our eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord,
- how to ACT in that relationship, and, lastly,
- how to ACHIEVE the highest benefit from it.
The four Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam verses beginning with aham evāsam evāgre (2.9.33–36) are the gist of the whole Bhāgavatam. These are nicely summarized by Lord Caitanya as follows:
- "I (Kṛṣṇa) am the supreme center for the relationships of all living entities, and knowledge of Me is the supreme knowledge.
- The process by which a living entity can attain Me is called abhidheya.
- By it, one can attain the highest perfection of life, love of Godhead.
- When one attains love of Godhead, his life becomes perfect."
Chapter 23 (Why Study the Vedānta-sūtra?)
Some definitions:- Knowledge is information gathered from the scriptures, and
- science is practical realization of that knowledge.
Knowledge is
- scientific when it is gathered from the scriptures through the bona fide spiritual master, but
- mental concoction when it is interpreted by speculation.
- Unless one scientifically understands the spiritual form of the Personality of Godhead, one becomes an impersonalist.
- Unless there is realization of the transcendental form of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, there is no question of love of God.
- and without love of God there is no perfection in human life.
Chapter 29 (Pure Love for Kṛṣṇa)
Self-realization in the relation as servitor is certainly transcendental, and when a sense of fraternity is added, the relationship develops. As affection increases, this relationship develops into paternity and conjugal love.Rāmānanda Rāya quoted a verse from Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu (2.5.38) stating that
- SPIRITUAL AFFECTION FOR THE SUPREME LORD IS TRANSCENDENTAL IN ALL CASES, but
- THE INDIVIDUAL DEVOTEE HAS A SPECIFIC APTITUDE FOR A PARTICULAR RELATIONSHIP, AND THAT RELATIONSHIP IS MORE RELISHABLE FOR HIM THAN THE OTHERS.
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REMARK
Interesting to notice the nuances in the various editions of same chapter:
- 1968: THAT DOES NOT PREVENT HIM FROM ADVANCING IN SPIRITUAL SCIENCE, PROVIDED HE IS INNOCENT...
- 2001: Such A LOWLY STATE WILL NOT PREVENT HIM FROM ADVANCING IN THE SPIRITUAL SCIENCE, PROVIDED HE IS INNOCENT....
Actually, the editorial differences, over the various editions of the same book ("Teachings of Lord Caitanya"),
really can make your toes curl :/
E.g. in purport of same chapter 9:
- (1) 1968 (OK): It is stated in the Brahma Samhita, Fifth Chapter, 49th verse: all the Vaikuntha planets in the Spiritual Sky are _BELOW_ the planet known as Krishna Loka. The other planets are known as Vishnu Loka. In that Krishna Loka the Lord enjoys His transcendental bliss in multiple forms; and all the opulences of the Vaikunthas are fully displayed in the one Krishna planet.
- (2) 1975 (NOK, but the edition that YOU are reading now): As stated in Brahma-saṁhitā (5.43), all the Vaikuṇṭha planets in the spiritual sky (known as Viṣṇuloka) are situated _IN_ (?!) the planet known as Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana. In that supreme planet the Lord enjoys His transcendental bliss in multiple forms, and all the opulences of the Vaikuṇṭhas are fully displayed in that one planet.
- (3) 2011 (again OK): As stated in the Brahma-saṁhitā (5.43), in the spiritual sky all the Vaikuṇṭha planets (which make up Viṣṇuloka) are _BELOW_ the planet known as Kṛṣṇaloka, Goloka Vṛndāvana. On that supreme planet the Lord enjoys His transcendental bliss in multiple forms, and all the opulences of the Vaikuṇṭhas are fully displayed on that one planet.
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Full overview:
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Other differences between the various editions:
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