The following is an excerpt from the Prologue of Shrila Prabhupada's book Teachings of Lord Chaitanya.
There is no difference between the teachings of Lord Chaitanya presented here and the teachings of Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita. The teachings of Lord Chaitanya are practical demonstrations of Lord Krishna's teachings. Lord Krishna's ultimate instruction in the Bhagavad-gita is that everyone should surrender unto Him, Lord Krishna. Krishna promises to take immediate charge of such a surrendered soul. The Lord, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is already in charge of the maintenance of this creation by virtue of His plenary expansion, Ksirodaka-sayi Vishnu, but this maintenance is not direct. However, when the Lord says that He takes charge of His pure devotee, He actually takes direct charge.
A pure devotee is a soul who is forever surrendered to the Lord, just as a child is surrendered to his parents or an animal to its master. In the surrendering process, one should (1) accept things favorable for discharging devotional service, (2) reject things unfavorable, (3) firmly believe that the Lord will always protect His devotee, (4) feel exclusively dependent on the mercy of the Lord, (5) have no interest separate from the interest of the Lord, and (6) always feel meek and humble.
The Lord demands that one surrender unto Him by following these six guidelines, but the unintelligent so-called scholars of the world misunderstand these demands and urge the general mass of people to reject them. At the conclusion of the Ninth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna directly orders, "Always think of Me, become My devotee, worship Me alone, and offer obeisances unto Me alone." By so doing, the Lord says, one is sure to go to Him in His transcendental abode. But the scholarly demons misguide the masses of people by directing them to surrender not to the Personality of Godhead but rather to the impersonal, unmanifested, eternal, unborn truth. The impersonalist Mayavadi philosophers do not accept that the ultimate aspect of the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If one desires to understand the sun as it is, one must first face the sunshine and then the sun globe, and then, if one is able to enter into that globe, one may come face to face with the predominating deity of the sun. Due to a poor fund of knowledge, the Mayavadi philosophers cannot go beyond the Brahman effulgence, which may be compared to the sunshine. The Upanishads confirm that one has to penetrate the dazzling effulgence of Brahman before one can see the real face of the Personality of Godhead.
Lord Chaitanya therefore taught direct worship of Lord Krishna, who appeared as the foster child of the king of Vraja. Lord Chaitanya also taught that the place known as Vrndavana is as good as Lord Krishna because, Lord Krishna being the Absolute Truth, the Personality of Godhead, there is no difference between Him and His name, qualities, form, pastimes, entourage and paraphernalia. Lord Chaitanya also taught that the mode of worshipping the Lord in the highest perfectional stage is the method practiced by the damsels of Vraja. These damsels (gopis, or cowherd girls) simply loved Krishna without any motive for material or spiritual gain. Lord Chaitanya also taught that Shrimad-Bhagavatam is the spotless narration of transcendental knowledge and that the highest goal in human life is to develop unalloyed love for Krishna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Lord Chaitanya's teachings are identical to those given by Lord Kapila, the original propounder of sankhya-yoga, the shankhya system of philosophy. This authorized system of yoga teaches meditation on the transcendental form of the Lord. There is no question of meditating on something void or impersonal. When one can meditate on the transcendental form of Lord Vishnu even without practicing involved sitting postures in a secluded place, such meditation is called perfect samadhi. That this kind of meditation is perfect samadhi is confirmed at the end of the Sixth Chapter of the Bhagavad-gita, where Lord Krishna says that of all yogis, the greatest is the one who constantly thinks of the Lord within the core of his heart with love and devotion.
On the basis of the shankhya philosophy of acintya-bhedabheda-tattva, which maintains that the Supreme Lord is simultaneously one with and different from His creation, Lord Chaitanya taught that the most practical way for the mass of people to practice shankhya-yoga meditation is simply to chant the holy name of the Lord. He taught that the holy name of the Lord is the sound incarnation of the Lord and that since the Lord is the absolute whole, there is no difference between His holy name and His transcendental form. Thus by chanting the holy name of the Lord one can directly associate with the Supreme Lord by sound vibration. As one practices chanting this sound vibration, one passes through three stages of development: the offensive stage, the clearing stage and the transcendental stage. In the offensive stage of chanting one may desire all kinds of material happiness, but in the second stage one becomes clear of all material contamination. When one is situated on the transcendental stage, one attains the most coveted position -- the stage of loving God. Lord Chaitanya taught that this is the highest stage of perfection for human beings.
Yoga practice is essentially meant for controlling the senses. The central controlling factor of all the senses is the mind; therefore one first has to practice controlling the mind by engaging it in Krishna consciousness. The gross activities of the mind are expressed through the external senses, either for the acquisition of knowledge or for the functioning of the senses in accordance with the will. The subtle activities of the mind are thinking, feeling and willing, which are carried out according to one's consciousness, either polluted or clear. If one's mind is fixed on Krishna (His name, qualities, form, pastimes, entourage and paraphernalia), all one's activities -- both subtle and gross -- become favorable. The Bhagavad-gitas process of purifying consciousness is the process of fixing one's mind on Krishna by talking of His transcendental activities, cleansing His temple, going to His temple, seeing the beautiful transcendental form of the Lord nicely decorated, hearing His transcendental glories, tasting food offered to Him, associating with His devotees, smelling the flowers and tulasi leaves offered to Him, engaging in activities for the Lord's interest, becoming angry at those who are malicious toward devotees, etc. No one can bring the activities of the mind and senses to a stop, but one can purify these activities through a change in consciousness. This change is indicated in the Bhagavad-gita (2.39), where Krishna tells Arjuna of the knowledge of yoga whereby one can work without fruitive results: "O son of Pirtha, when you act in such knowledge you can free yourself from the bondage of works." A human being is sometimes restricted in sense gratification due to certain circumstances, such as disease, but such proscriptions are for the less intelligent. Without knowing the actual process by which the mind and senses can be controlled, less intelligent men may try to stop the mind and senses by force, but ultimately they give in to them and are carried away by the waves of sense gratification.
The eight principles of shankhya-yoga -- observing the regulative principles, following the rules, practicing the various sitting postures, performing the breathing exercises, withdrawing one's senses from the sense objects, etc. -- are meant for those who are too much engrossed in the bodily conception of life. The intelligent man situated in Krishna consciousness does not try to forcibly stop his senses from acting. Rather, he engages his senses in the service of Krishna. No one can stop a child from playing by leaving him inactive; rather, one can stop the child from engaging in nonsense by engagimg him in superior activities. Similarly, the forceful restraint of sense activities by the eight principles of yoga is recommended for inferior men; superior men, being engaged in the superior activities of Krishna consciousness, naturally retire from the inferior activities of material existence.
In this way Lord Chaitanya teaches the science of Krishna consciousness. That science is absolute. Dry mental speculators try to restrain themselves from material attachment, but it is generally found that the mind is too strong to be controlled and that it drags them down to sensual activities. A person in Krishna consciousness does not run this risk. One therefore has to engage one's mind and senses in Krishna conscious activities, and Lord Chaitanya teaches one how to do this in practice.
Before accepting sannyasa (the renounced order), Lord Chaitanya was known as Vishvambhara. The word visvambhara refers to one who maintains the entire universe and who leads all living entities. This very same maintainer and leader appeared as Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya to give humanity these sublime teachings. Lord Chaitanya is the ideal teacher of life's prime necessities. He is the most munificent bestower of love of Krishna. He is the complete reservoir of all mercies and good fortune. As confirmed in Shrimad-Bhagavatam, the Bhagavad-gita, the Mahabharata and the Upanisads, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna Himself, and He is worshipable by everyone in this age of disagreement. Everyone can join in His sankirtana movement. No previous qualification is necessary. Just by following His teachings, anyone can become a perfect human being. Anyone who is fortunate enough to be attracted by Lord Chaitanya is sure to be successful in his life's mission. In other words, those who are interested in attaining spiritual existence can easily be released from the clutches of maya by Lord Chaitanya's grace, now presented in book form as Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, which is nondifferent from the Lord.
The conditioned soul, engrossed in the material body, increases the pages of history by all kinds of material activities. Teachings of Lord Chaitanya can help the members of human society stop such unnecessary and temporary activities and be elevated to the topmost platform of spiritual activities, which begin after liberation from material bondage. Such liberated activities in Krishna consciousness constitute the goal of human perfection. The false prestige one acquires by attempting to dominate material nature is illusory. Illuminating knowledge can be acquired from Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, and by such knowledge one can advance in spiritual existence.
Everyone has to suffer or enjoy the fruits of his activity; no one can check the laws of material nature that govern such things. As long as one is engaged in fruitive activity, one is sure to be baffled in the attempt to attain the ultimate goal of life. I sincerely hope that by understanding Teachings of Lord Chaitanya human society will experience a new light of spiritual life, which will open the field of activity for the pure soul.
om tat sat
A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami
14 March 1968
(The Birthday of Lord Chaitanya)
Shri Shri Radha-Krsna Temple
New York, N.Y.
TLC Prologue
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