BACK TO GODHEAD ORIGINAL SCANS FROM 1944-1977 [Srila Prabhupada – “BTG is my life and soul. Please therefore try to distribute BTG as many as it is possible.“(Letter to Gurudasa — Los Angeles 16 April, 1970)]
Hare Krishna. All glories to His Divine Grace Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and all Vaisnavas.
The following link contains the nectar of all available scans of the Back to Godhead Magazine from 1944-77.
There are a total of 141 scanned files in the drive with 100s of interesting and transcendental articles written by Srila Prabhupada.
Some quotes below emphasize how dear was the BTG Magazine to Srila Prabhupada and how important it is for all of us to study thoroughly again and again. Therefore, all the devotees are requested to receive all the nectarean benefits of all these 141 copies and distribute them to everyone.
BTG is my life and soul. Please therefore try to distribute BTG as many as it is possible. I started this magazine in 1947 in my householder life. I was spending Rs. 300 to 400 at the time ($300 to 400 in your exchange), and I was distributing this magazine without any consideration how much I was getting in return. Practically the whole money was spent without any return. But ten years after, from 1954 to 1959, the struggle was very hard because at that time I had no money and alone I was editing, publishing, and securing money for publication. So it was a great struggle. My ambition was that I would publish BTG in huge quantity so that people may understand transcendental blessings of Lord Caitanya.
[Letter to Gurudasa — Los Angeles 16 April, 1970]
Please accept my blessings. I have not heard anything from you in long time what is the situation with publication of our Back To Godhead. So I am anxious to know when it will be again published, and if it can be regularly printed, even on our mimeograph machine. It is too much important that it must be distributed regularly, as it is the backbone of our mission. So, even it is not printed very expensively and highly, still, it must be distributed even in mimeograph copy. And then in future we can print it very nicely, when there is the money there to do it. So please see to it, and please let me know the position by return of post as soon as possible.
[Letter to Rayarama — Montreal 8 June, 1968]
Please therefore save them from the great falldown. Believe me or not, I have got the clue of going “Back to Godhead” just after leaving my present material body and in order to take along with me all my contemporary men and women of the world, I have started my paper “Back to Godhead” as one of the means to the way.
Please do not think of me as an wonderful or a mad man when I say that I shall go “Back to Godhead” after leaving my present material body! It is quite possible for everyone and all of us.
[Letter to Dr. Rajendra Prasad, President of Indian Union — Delhi 21 November, 1956]
I am very glad to learn that S.F. Temple is doing very nicely in the street Sankirtana with transcendental plays. And your BTG sales are very encouraging to me. I have heard from Gargamuni that you are ordering 20,000 issues of BTG and this is very good news. Selling BTG means that our movement is increasing and our philosophy is being appreciated.
[Letter to Madhudvisa — Los Angeles 14 February, 1970]
You should take BTG as your life and soul. Your work for BTG is first and foremost above all. If you do not find any time for other things, there is no objection, but I want to see that you make BTG a successful magazine like Life magazine or Illustrated Weekly of India. I am very much ambitious of the progress of the paper, and you can use your discretion how to do it.
[Letter to Rayarama — San Francisco, March 23, 1968
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: I think there was one great personality—I forget his name—he was going to live as long as how many millions of years that he had hairs in his head. What is that story?
Brahmānanda: The story of the man who was on the beach…
Prabhupāda: Ah, yes. Romaharṣaṇa. Romaharṣaṇa Muni was standing on beach and was chanting. So Nārada Muni was passing: “Then why don’t you make a cottage here?” He was: “Oh, how long I shall…?” That, his life, was: when one hair will fall, one Brahmā will die. (laughter) And in this way all the hairs, when they will fall—all the Brahmās will die—then he will die. And he was thinking, “How…?” Actually that is a fact.
[note-Romaharsana rekplied to Nartada-why build a cottage or hut to protect me from the hot sun when life is so temporary?]
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Who was that, Romaharṣaṇa Muni?
Prabhupāda: Romaharṣaṇa. [break] …basic principle of Vedic civlization. They did not… Vyāsadeva, such a learned scholar, he was sitting in a cottage. Lord Śiva, such a big powerful, and the whole material energy, Parvati, is his wife—he is sitting under a tree.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Therefore a sannyāsī is always moving around, Śrīla Prabhupāda?
Prabhupāda: Yes. Vairāgya. That is required. That is civilization. Vairāgya and jñāna. Jñāna-vairāgya, knowledge and renunciation, or detachment, this is the goal of human life. Because he is attached to this material world, he has to take birth after birth, birth after birth. So to save this botheration, one has to be detached. This is the basic principle of Vedic civilization, jñāna-vairāgya. And detachment is possible when one is in full knowledge, jñāna. And this bhakti-yoga process is detachment. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yogam [Cc. Madhya 6.254]. So it is a civilization of detachment, not attachment.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That detachment is a form of wealth for the renounced order.
Prabhupāda: Yes, that is the gain of human life. Arthadam. This is meaning. Artha means meaning. Arthadam. Durlābhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma tad apy adhruvam arthadam. This human life, form of life, is very, very rare. So one can say, “You will also die like cats and dog. How it is rare?” No, yes, adhruvam arthadam: “Although it is temporary, it will not stay, but you can have meaning of life.” Adhruvam arthadam. Everything is there.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: The materialistic people say that… When they see someone in the detached position, they say, “He is impoverished.” They are so confused that they conclude the opposite.
Prabhupāda: Impoverished?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: Impoverished means they are poor.
Prabhupāda: Then what is the poor? What you are rich? You are whole day working day and night, and we are not working, getting our prasādam. I am poverty-stricken, or you are poverty-stricken? You rascal, whole day you are working…
Brahmānanda: For a dry biscuit.
Prabhupāda: …like an ass, and we are getting, sitting, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and getting our food. So you are poverty-stricken or I am poverty-stricken?
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: A poverty-stricken man has to work very hard.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Lakṣmī-nārāyaṇa: But they will say, “Well…”
Prabhupāda: They will say… First of all you see. You try to understand that this rascal is working day and night twenty-four hours for getting his food, and we are simply chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa and getting our food. So he is poverty-stricken or I am poverty-stricken?
Brahmānanda: That means we’re the rich men.
Prabhupāda: I am rich man.
Brahmānanda: Rich man doesn’t have to work, and everything comes.
How many “souls” are there in our bodies, what kind of control or dependence do they have, and what happens to these souls we die? SP explains
July 14 1975 Philadelphia
Svarūpa Dāmodara: The question that I wrote to Śrīla Prabhupāda, the answer that Śrīla Prabhupāda gave me was that the cells in the body and the jīvātmā that resides in the heart, they are different living entities. But my understanding was directed to the relationship between the two, the jīvātmā in the cells and the jīvātmā in the heart, how they are related, how they…
Prabhupāda: They are separate identity.
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But it looks like, though, in the material body the one cannot exist without another. They look like interdependent.
Prabhupāda: That may be, but still, they are individuals.
Ravīndra-svarūpa: When the jīva in the heart dies, then all the other cells in the body also have to die.
Prabhupāda: No.
Ravīndra-svarūpa: No, they don’t. But when the body decays, doesn’t everything…
Prabhupāda: No. Dead body so many germs come out.
Ravīndra-svarūpa: Oh.
Prabhupāda: How it comes?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But that is different, though. When a body dies, then there are many germs from outside that…
Prabhupāda: Living entities within the body, they come out, hundreds and thousands. They have not died. Suppose in this jungle there are so many living entities. If I die, what has got to do with them?
Svarūpa Dāmodara: But science tries to understand what is life and in order to do that they just want to understand what is cell. Because science tries to understand what is life, and in order to do that they just want to study what is the cell because cells are the smallest living units of life. That is their understanding. So once they understand what a cell is, then they know what life is. That is their aim. So if the cells and the jīvātmā within the heart, they are different and they are independent, then they cannot conceive of just having a jīvātmā in the heart.
Prabhupāda: That… The particular jīvātmā who has been given this body, he is living in the heart.
Ravīndra-svarūpa: But according to the scientists, our body is made up of little cells just like a brick wall is made up of so many individual bricks. Each… Like in one piece of skin there is…
Prabhupāda: That’s all right. That is body. Just like I live in a house. The house is made of so many bricks. But I am not brick.
Ravīndra-svarūpa: But they say that…
Prabhupāda: “They say!” They are foolish, we always say. Because I am living in a house consisting of so many bricks, it does not mean that I am brick.
Ravīndra-svarūpa: But is each cell an individual living entity?
Prabhupāda: That I do not know. What do you mean by cell? But there are many living entities within this body. That we know.
Prabhupāda: Now they should come to big dictionary. This is Vedic. The Vedic truth is there, but it is not properly explained because the men were fourth-class. Now the people have become advanced. They should take to Vedic literature. Then they will understand how God created. But it was not explained because the people, they were living in the desert and shepherds and all fourth-class, fifth-class men. And now they, these first-class men, all advanced men, they are trying to adjust the tenth-class ideas, and therefore they are becoming rejecting, that “It is all useless.” Now they should come to first-class understanding in the Vedas.
Paramahaṁsa: As a matter of fact there’s a very famous quote from Christ…
Prabhupāda: I think Christ said that there are many things to be spoken but…
Paramahaṁsa: “My father’s house has many rooms, but I cannot tell you of it now.”
Prabhupāda: Because they were fourth-class, fifth-class men. They will not understand. Therefore it is taken, “dogmas.” The modern students, they are advanced in education, and these things are not explained. And besides that, their education is atheistic. Therefore they are trying to reject religion.
Nalinī-kaṇṭha: They say you cannot study Veda because Christ said that there is no other way than himself.
Prabhupāda: Because they are fourth-class, unless he says like that, how they will stick? They were not intelligent men. Just like Lord Buddha also said, “There is no God.” “There is no God,” but he is God himself.
Tamāla Kṛṣṇa: That means the followers of Lord Buddha are less intelligent than the followers of…
Prabhupāda: “Less” not. They are atheist class. So they will not understand what is God. So he said, “There is no God. You just hear me and become nonviolent.” So his idea was, “Let this rascal first of all become nonviolent. Then they will be pure, and then they will understand.”
“There are eightsymptomsofecstaticlove on the platform of transcendental jubilation, and when they are combined and tasted by Kṛṣṇa, the Lord’s mind is completely satisfied.
“Indeed, they are compared to a combination of yogurt, candy, ghee, honey, black pepper, camphor and cardamom, which, when mixed together, are very tasty and sweet.
While Śrī CaitanyaMahāprabhu was dancing in ecstatic love and SvarūpaDāmodara was singing, the Lord said, “Go on singing! Go on singing!” The Lord then extended His own ears.
While dancing absorbed in Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī’s ecstatic love, Śrī CaitanyaMahāprabhu appeared in Her very form. Seeing this from a distant place, NityānandaPrabhu offered prayers.
SP discusses book distribution techniques- and how it is the highest morality
Prabhupāda: Humble, but if you do not follow your spiritual master’s instruction, you follow others,then where is the humbleness? You say that… Your wife says that what Siddha-svarūpa says it is very clear and and others are not so clear. Is it not? What is that clear what is not clear?
Bhūrijana: He says chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: So who says that you don’t chant?
Bhūrijana: Maybe the emphasis wasn’t so much on the chanting even though everyone says harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam [Cc. Ādi 17.21], everyone just chants their sixteen rounds a day, chants a half hour ārati in the evening and half hour ārati in the morning.
Prabhupāda: So what do you want more? What is your program? 24 hours?
Bhūrijana: I like more kīrtana than that.
Prabhupāda: So you don’t like to sell books.
Bhūrijana: No, I think I like very much. I mean I think I would like to.
Prabhupāda: So what is difference?
Bhūrijana: Between selling books and kīrtana?
Prabhupāda: No no. Between others and you. Where is the difference? When you point out that this is the point, we differ. What is that point?
Bhūrijana: Well maybe the point about more kīrtana or less kīrtana.
Prabhupāda: So if you chant more, they’re objecting?
Bhūrijana: No.
Prabhupāda: Then where is the difference? Has anyone objected (if you) chant more?
Bhūrijana: No.
Prabhupāda: Then where is the objection? What is the point of difference?
Bhūrijana: I think there’s no point of difference.
Prabhupāda: Then why do you say we find these instructions more clear?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You say that there’s no point of difference, but then you say that his instruction is more clear. There’s some contradiction.
Bhūrijana: It’s just the emphasis that was given to hari… to chanting. For myself, I know I was off track and I know that in my heart I built up an enmity toward your disciples and thinking that they…, that by their distributing books they were making people angry at Kṛṣṇa and…
Prabhupāda: That is real point. That is real point.
Bhūrijana: That’s what I felt. See, when I was in Hong Kong, people I would meet, they used to yell… They’d yell at me, “What have you done to Kṛṣṇa?” Some Indians used to say that. People we’d meet, they’d tell us they see the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees and they hate Kṛṣṇa. I remember one specific time when I was speaking to one businessman who was helping us and…
Prabhupāda: He said that “We hate Kṛṣṇa”?
Bhūrijana: No no. He said that, “Your members of the Hare Kṛṣṇa, they’re making people in Australia hate Kṛṣṇa. They make people inimical.” Making people inimical to Kṛṣṇa.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: They feel threatened simply that we’re preaching something that will discourage their sinful way of life. Simply they feel threatened. Not they’re hating. Their argument is that because of our strong emphasis on preaching and book distribution, they say therefore that the mass of people they have a bad impression of Kṛṣṇa.
Bhūrijana: And also because…
Prabhupāda: Because we are selling books.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: Because we’re selling books.
Bhūrijana: Not so much the selling books. Maybe because of the emphasis on taking…, how much money can be taken. Like if someone says on the street, “Please give me a donation.” So they give him a donation. “No, you must give more,” and more and more. So the people think that the devotees are only interested in getting money and they get a bad impression that ISKCON is a money making movement.
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: We’re selling one half a million large size books each year.
SP discusses book distribution techniques- and how it is the highest morality
Prabhupāda: Humble, but if you do not follow your spiritual master’s instruction, you follow others,then where is the humbleness? You say that… Your wife says that what Siddha-svarūpa says it is very clear and and others are not so clear. Is it not? What is that clear what is not clear?
Bhūrijana: He says chant Hare Kṛṣṇa.
Prabhupāda: So who says that you don’t chant?
Bhūrijana: Maybe the emphasis wasn’t so much on the chanting even though everyone says harer nāma harer nāma harer nāma eva kevalam [Cc. Ādi 17.21], everyone just chants their sixteen rounds a day, chants a half hour ārati in the evening and half hour ārati in the morning.
Prabhupāda: So what do you want more? What is your program? 24 hours?
Bhūrijana: I like more kīrtana than that.
Prabhupāda: So you don’t like to sell books.
Bhūrijana: No, I think I like very much. I mean I think I would like to.
Prabhupāda: So what is difference?
Bhūrijana: Between selling books and kīrtana?
Prabhupāda: No no. Between others and you. Where is the difference? When you point out that this is the point, we differ. What is that point?
Bhūrijana: Well maybe the point about more kīrtana or less kīrtana.
Prabhupāda: So if you chant more, they’re objecting?
Bhūrijana: No.
Prabhupāda: Then where is the difference? Has anyone objected (if you) chant more?
Bhūrijana: No.
Prabhupāda: Then where is the objection? What is the point of difference?
Bhūrijana: I think there’s no point of difference.
Prabhupāda: Then why do you say we find these instructions more clear?
Puṣṭa Kṛṣṇa: You say that there’s no point of difference, but then you say that his instruction is more clear. There’s some contradiction.
Bhūrijana: It’s just the emphasis that was given to hari… to chanting. For myself, I know I was off track and I know that in my heart I built up an enmity toward your disciples and thinking that they…, that by their distributing books they were making people angry at Kṛṣṇa and…
Prabhupāda: That is real point. That is real point.
Bhūrijana: That’s what I felt. See, when I was in Hong Kong, people I would meet, they used to yell… They’d yell at me, “What have you done to Kṛṣṇa?” Some Indians used to say that. People we’d meet, they’d tell us they see the Hare Kṛṣṇa devotees and they hate Kṛṣṇa. I remember one specific time when I was speaking to one businessman who was helping us and…
Hearing and Chanting Srimad-Bhagavatamand the Mahamantra
By Narasimha das
The tenth offense to the holy name is to “become disinterested” in the holy name of the Lord and to remain attached to material desires. After having so many negative experiences in this mundane world, and after hearing many instructions regarding the value of renunciation and the glories of Krishna’s holy names, intelligent persons begin chanting Hare Krishna with determination. (See: SB.2.1.11, Purport) Often in Vedic prescriptions the most important instruction comes last. Without becoming disinterested in material existence, we may become inattentive or “disinterested” in chanting Hare Krishna.
Material desires make it difficult for us to chant the divine names with faith, humility and attention. This is described by Queen Kuntidevi in her prayers to Lord Krishna.
The First Result of Chanting and Hearing:
Hearing and chanting Krishna’s holy names with careful attention is the only means of attaining perfection in this age. Real devotional service, or bhakti, begins when we are freed from false ego and its associated false ambitions. Inattentive chanting is said to be the mother of offenses in chanting the holy names because it gives rise to the other offenses. Fully attentive and pure chanting is not possible without careful renunciation of material desires. Such renunciation helps lead us to pure chanting of the holy names, and this is also the first step to understanding Srimad-Bhagavatam. “The effect of chanting the holy name of the Lord is perceived by the chanter as liberation from the conception of false egoism.” (SB. 2.1.11, Purport) Material desires are born and breed due to “false egoism”.
Sri Sukadeva Gosvami, a genuine paramahamsa, has indicated that other Vedic proponents and students in the realm of karma, jnana and yoga are barred from understanding the real purpose and essence of Srimad-Bhagavatam. He mentioned that his father, Srila Vyasadeva, rejected His own disciples because they remained attached to these pursuits. Srila Vyasadeva apparently didn’t consider them qualified to receive the transcendental realizations offered by the Bhagavatam. Our first qualification for deep understanding of Srimad-Bhagavatam is our willingness to renounce material ambitions.
Srila Vyasadeva Rejects His Disciples:
It appears that among the disciples of Sri Vyasadeva, not all were pure devotees—not all were free from material desires. Not all were on the same level, and not all were qualified to understand Srimad-Bhagavatam.
Srila Sukadeva Gosvami has explained, “…The incarnation of Godhead Vedavyasa, rejecting his disciples, headed by Paila, instructed Srimad-Bhagavatam to me because I was free from all material desires…”
“O King Pariksit, mainly the topmost transcendentalist, who are above the regulative principles and restrictions, take pleasure in describing the glories of the Lord.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.7)
Srimad-Bhagavatam is especially meant for paramahamsas. It’s real meanings and purposes can’t be understood or appreciated by materialistic persons. Without the special assistance and mercy of the great devotees in the line of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, no one in this age is qualified to understand the Bhagavatam, which is described by Srila Prabhupada as the “post-graduate” study of Vedic literature. Srimad-Bhagavatam is best studied daily according the sadhana Srila Prabhupada established for his temples. In this way, by regular attendance in classes of Srimad-Bhagavatam all that is “inauspicious in the heart” becomes almost completely vanquished.
The best way for hearing Srimad-Bhagavatam is in association with non-duplicitous devotees, following the format Srila Prabhupada prescribed. A similar format was shown by great devotees when Srila Sukadeva Gosvami first spoke it to Maharaja Pariksit on the banks of the Ganges, and again when Sri Suta Goswami spoke it to the assembly of great sages in the sacred forest of Naimisaranya. (We should always hear and chant Srila Prabhupada’s translations and purports found in his original, authorized editions.)
Chanting Hare Krishna is the Only Way:
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu has said that there are “no hard and fast rules” for chanting the Hare Krishna mahamantra. Chanting the holy names can be effectively done anywhere and everywhere by all persons in all times and all places. In a series of classes on Nectar of Devotion in Vrindaban (Nov. 12 and 13, 1972), Srila Prabhupada mentions that anyone can attain perfection— “even if he doesn’t read any scripture”—simply by chanting the Hare Krishna Mahamantra.
“O King, constant chanting of the holy names of the Lord after the ways of the great authorities is the doubtless and fearless way of success for all, including those who are free from all material desires, and also those who are desirous of all material enjoyment, as well as those who are self-satisfied by dint of transcendental knowledge.” (Srimad-Bhagavatam 2.1.11)
It mentions above that even those “who desire all material enjoyment” should chant Hare Krishna for success. Such materialists may achieve their desired objectives by chanting, but they can never attain liberation or prema-bhakti. Gradually, however, by chanting Hare Krishna for a long time and associating with devotees, materialists may learn to detest material desires. The problem for materialists, however, is that it is hard for them to associate with devotees or chant regularly and attentively.
What is the solution for offensive chanting? Chanting Hare Krishna is the way to become freed from the reactions of all kinds of offenses, but what is the solution for one who chants offensively? According to great authorities, there is no remedy for offenses to the holy name—other than constant chanting. We can save time and suffering by chanting Hare Krishna and avoiding the 10 offenses in chanting. In this we can quickly arise to the level of pure chanting with full attention, by the mercy of Sri Sri Gaura-Nitai and Srila Prabhupada. At this stage, pure devotional service really begins and becomes truly effective. Srimad-Bhagavatam assures us that this the “doubtless and fearless way of success for all”.
Subject: Srila Prabhupada glorifies Sri Gaura Purnima- Divine Appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu
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Srila Prabhupada re: the rarity of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s avatara on this planet. Devotee (8): Śrīla Prabhupāda, does Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu also appear every day of Brahma. Srila Prabhupāda: Yes, following Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa comes in the Dvāpara-yuga. There are four periods of each yuga: Sattva, Tretā, Dvāpara, Kali. So Kṛṣṇa comes at the end of Dvāpara-yuga, and Caitanya Mahāprabhu comes in the Kali-yuga. So almost about the same year, same circulation. Just like the sun appears after so many hours. It is like that. And the sun does not disappear. Sun is already there in the sky. It may not be in Australia’s vision, but it may be in other country’s vision. The sun is not dead. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa appears by rotation in this universe after so many years, eight billion and billion years. So next He goes to another universe. Just like the sun, after disappearance from Australia, it goes to another country. Similarly, Kṛṣṇa, after finishing His business in this universe, He goes to another universe. In this way the rotation takes eight million, nine billion years. Just imagine how many universes are there. He stays in one universe for 125 years. Everything is there, calculation, in the śāstra. Now we can imagine how many universes are there. That is, altogether, material world… Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 6: Lectures : SB 6.1: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 6.1.3 — Melbourne, May 22, 1975 …. Srila Prabhupada explains the real nature of the form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is none other than the combined form of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. He is the life of those devotees who strictly follow in the footsteps of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī are the two principal followers of Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, who acted as the most confidential servitor of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, known as Viśvambhara in His early life. A direct disciple of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, stands as the direct disciple of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī.Adi lila.Sri Kavi Karnapura glorifies the divine appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.
Sri Kavi Karnapura explains the esoteric reason for the appearance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.Sri Vrindavana bhuvi pura sac cid ananda sandrogaurangibhih sadrsa rucibhih syama dhama nanartatasam sasvad drdhatara parirambha sambhedatah kimgaurangah san jayati sa navadvipam alambamanah The dark complexioned Sri Krsna, whose form is eternal, blissful and full of knowledge (sac-cid-ananda), formerly danced with the golden-compexioned Gopis in the land of Vrindavana. By intently embracing them, He attained a golden complexion like theirs. In this golden form He has now appeared in the town of Navadvipa. Sri Kavi Karnapura in Sri Gaura-Ganoddesa-Dipika Text 1 (Translation by Sriman Kusakratha dasa)
Sri Prabhodhanda Sarasvati explains why Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in this world.stumas tam caitanyakrtim ati-vimaryada-paramadbhutaudaryam varyam vraja-pati-kumaram rasayitumvisuddha-sva-premonmada-madhura piyusa-laharimpradatum canebhyah para-pada-nabadvipa-prakatam ” Let us glorify the boundless merciful Suipreme Personality of Godhead, the prince of Vraja. To taste the intoxicating sweet waves of the nectar of transcendental love for Krsna as well as to give that nectar to others, He has now appeared in the transcendental abode of Navadvipa as Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu.” Sri Caitanya-Candramrta, Chapter One, Text One (Translation by Sriman Kusakratha dasa)
Citing Sri Prabhodhananda Saravati, Srila Prabhupada explains the power of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s mercy upon His devotees.kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūr ākāśa-puṣpāyate durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate viśvaṁ pūrṇa-sukhāyate vidhi-mahendrādiś ca kīṭāyate yat-kāruṇya-kaṭākṣa-vaibhavavatāṁ taṁ gauram eva stumah Lectures : Bhagavad-gita Lectures : Bg 4: Lectures : Bhagavad-gita 4.26 — Bombay, April 15, 1974 : 740415BG.BOM : There is another verse written by Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī. He said, kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tridaśa-pūr ākāśa-puṣpāyate durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Just like dentist, when there some pain in the teeth, they extract. That is called protkhāta, extracted. So the indriyas have been compared with kāla-sarpa, kāla-sarpa, means a venomous snake. As soon as the kāla-sarpa or snake touches in any part of your body, because the venomous teeth is there, death is there immediately. Therefore they’re called kāla-sarpa. Kāla means death. Kāla-sarpa. Therefore we are so much afraid of a snake. So but if the kāla-sarpa’s poison teeth is taken away, then it is no more, I mean, fearful. It is no more dangerous. Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that “By the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, our indriyas, the senses, which are compared with the kāla-sarpa, may be kāla-sarpa, but the poison teeth is extracted.” Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate Lectures : Bhagavad-gita Lectures : Bg 4: Lectures : Bhagavad-gita 4.26 — Bombay, April 15, 1974 : 740415BG. Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 1: Lectures : SB 1.8: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.18-19 — Bombay, April 9, 1971 : 710409SB.BOM : So yoga-siddhi, jugglery, yoga-siddhi magic, captivates foolish persons. So they want yoga-siddhi. If some foolish persons gather, then he gets sense enjoyment. That is another type of sense enjoyment. So therefore in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali aśānta. They are not paramahaṁsas. Paramahaṁsa… Here it is stated that bhakti-yoga-vidhānārtham. Tathā paramahaṁsānāṁ munīnām amalātmanām [SB 1.8.20]. Amalātmanām means when there is no more dirty things. The karmīs, they have got dirty things, sense enjoyment. The jñānīs, they have got also dirty things. One may say that “Mukti is dirty thing?” Yes. According to Vaiṣṇava calculation it is dirty thing, because Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he said, kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. Kaivalyam means to become one with the Supreme, mukti. He said, “It is exactly like hell.” Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate. “And these heavenly planets,” the domain or the objective of the karmīs, “that is like flower in the sky.” And durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. The yogis, their first business is… They get so much yoga-siddhi because first business is indriya-saṁyama. Yoga-siddhi is not obtained easily. One has to practice it. And the first practice is controlling the senses. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyateSrila Prabhupada elaborates and describes the benefit of surrendering to the lotus feet of Sri Caitanya MahaprabhuSakalam eva vihāya dūrād caitanya-candra-caraṇe kurutānurāgam. You just try to submit yourself on the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya. By His mercy you’ll find that, kaivalyaṁ narakāyate, you’ll find that to become one with the Supreme, it will appear to you just like hell. To merge into the Supreme, that is the highest ambition of the impersonalists. But if you submit yourself to the lotus feet of Caitanyacandra, then you’ll find that this conception is just like hell. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. Naraka means hell. You’ll find kaivalyam, to become one. And tridaśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate. Tri-daśa-pūra means the planets, higher planets where demigods live. Thirty-three million demigods, there are at least thirty-three million planets. Tri-daśa-pūrākāśa-puspayateLectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 1: Lectures : SB 1.5: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.8-9 — New Vrindaban, May 24, 1969
Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 1: Lectures : SB 1.5: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.8-9 — New Vrindaban, May 24, 1969 : 690524SB.NVdentist, when there some pain in the teeth, they extract. That is called protkhāta, extracted. So the indriyas have been compared with kāla-sarpa, kāla-sarpa, means a venomous snake. As soon as the kāla-sarpa or snake touches in any part of your body, because the venomous teeth is there, death is there immediately. Therefore they’re called kāla-sarpa. Kāla means death. Kāla-sarpa. Therefore we are so much afraid of a snake. So but if the kāla-sarpa’s poison teeth is taken away, then it is no more, I mean, fearful. It is no more dangerous. Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī says that “By the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, our indriyas, the senses, which are compared with the kāla-sarpa, may be kāla-sarpa, but the poison teeth is extracted.” Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate Lectures : Bhagavad-gita Lectures : Bg 4: Lectures : Bhagavad-gita 4.26 — Bombay, April 15, 1974 : 740415BG. Lectures : Sri Isopanisad Lectures : Sri Isopanisad, Mantra 13-15 — Los Angeles, May 18, 1970 : 700518IP.LA : The idea is that Kṛṣṇa planet or the Vaikuṇṭha planets, they are beyond this Brahman effulgence, and those who are devotees, they are permitted to enter into these spiritual planets. Those who are not devotees, simply jñānīs or demons… The jñānīs and demons, they are offered the same place. The jñānīs… Āruhya kṛcchreṇa paraṁ padaṁ tataḥ [SB 10.2.32]. They practice severe austerities, penances, to enter into the Brahman effulgence. But the demons, simply by becoming enemy of Kṛṣṇa, they immediately get that place. The demons who are killed by Kṛṣṇa, they are immediately transferred to this Brahman effulgence. So just imagine, the place which is given to the enemies of Kṛṣṇa, is that very covetable thing? Suppose if somebody comes who is my enemy, I give him some place, and somebody, my intimate friend, I give him some other place. Similarly, this Brahman effulgence is not at all covetable. Therefore Prabodhānanda Sarasvatīpāda, he has composed a verse, that Brahman… Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. Kaivalya means the Brahman effulgence, simply spiritual light. So kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. He says that this Brahman effulgence is just like hell. For a devotee, this Brahman… The jñānīs who are trying to merge into the Brahman effulgence, for devotee it is stated as hell. Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. Tri-daśa-pūr ākāśa-puṣpāyate (Caitanya-candrāmṛta 5). And tri-daśa-pūr means the planets of the demigods within this material world. People are very much anxious to go into the heavenly planet. That is called tri-daśa-pūr or tri-daśa-pūr, the residential quarters of the demigods. And for a devotee it is understood as will-o’-the-wisp, ākāśa-puṣpāyate. And durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. And the yogis, they are trying to control the senses, which are considered as venomous serpents, the senses. That’s a fact. So the bhakta says that “We are not afraid of the senses.” Why? Protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Because we have extracted the poison teeth. The senses has got a poison teeth. As soon as you indulge in sense gratification, immediately you become degraded. Immediately. So it is just like a venomous serpent. As soon as touches you, little biting, finished your life. So it is like that. Durdānta-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī, indriya. But these venomous snakes, if their poison teeth is taken away, then it may be fearful for the boys and children. But if an elderly person knows that his poison teeth has been taken away, nobody’s afraid of it. So this Kṛṣṇa consciousness means that we take away the poison teeth of the senses. So that even Kṛṣṇa conscious persons are allowed for sense gratification, the poison teeth is broken. So therefore they are not gliding down to the hellish condition of life. So in this way, either the karmīs or the jñānīs or the yogis, they are always… They are, every one of them, trying to elevate. And above them is the devotees Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 1: Lectures : SB 1.8: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.18-19 — Bombay, April 9, 1971 : 710409SB.BOM : So yoga-siddhi, jugglery, yoga-siddhi magic, captivates foolish persons. So they want yoga-siddhi. If some foolish persons gather, then he gets sense enjoyment. That is another type of sense enjoyment. So therefore in the Caitanya-caritāmṛta it is said that bhukti-mukti-siddhi-kāmī sakali aśānta. They are not paramahaṁsas. Paramahaṁsa… Here it is stated that bhakti-yoga-vidhānārtham. Tathā paramahaṁsānāṁ munīnām amalātmanām [SB 1.8.20]. Amalātmanām means when there is no more dirty things. The karmīs, they have got dirty things, sense enjoyment. The jñānīs, they have got also dirty things. One may say that “Mukti is dirty thing?” Yes. According to Vaiṣṇava calculation it is dirty thing, because Prabodhānanda Sarasvatī Ṭhākura, he said, kaivalyaṁ narakāyate. Kaivalyam means to become one with the Supreme, mukti. He said, “It is exactly like hell.” Kaivalyaṁ narakāyate tri-daśa-pūrākāśa-puṣpāyate. “And these heavenly planets,” the domain or the objective of the karmīs, “that is like flower in the sky.” And durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyate. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī. The yogis, their first business is… They get so much yoga-siddhi because first business is indriya-saṁyama. Yoga-siddhi is not obtained easily. One has to practice it. And the first practice is controlling the senses. Durdāntendriya-kāla-sarpa-paṭalī protkhāta-daṁṣṭrāyateSrila Prabhupada cites Sri Prabhodhananda Sarasvati explaining the glorious appearance and golden form of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.ananda lilamaya vigrahayahemabha-divya-cchavi-sundarayatasmai maha-prema-rasa-pradayaIn the year 1407 of the Śaka Era (A.D. 1486), Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared, and in the year 1455 (A.D. 1534) He disappeared from this worldcaitanyacandraya namo namaste O Lord Caitanyacandra, O Lord whose form is full of blissful pastimes, O Lord whose complexion is as splendid gold, O Lord who gives incharity the nectar of pure love for Krsna, I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. I offer my respectful obeisances unto You. Sri Caitanya-Candramrta 2.11. (translation by Sriman Kusakratha dasa) Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures : Canto 1: Lectures : SB 1.8: Lectures : Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.8.21 — New York, April 13, 1973 : 730413SB.NY : So ānanda-līlāmaya-vigraha. Ānanda-līlā, Kṛṣṇa’s līlā, pastimes are all jubilant. Ānanda-līlāmaya. Ānandamayo ‘bhyāsāt (Vedānta-sūtra 1.1.12). He is by nature ānandamaya. Kṛṣṇa, you’ll never find Kṛṣṇa is very unhappy. Kṛṣṇa is never unhappy. Kṛṣṇa is always happy. Therefore nanda-gopa-kumārāya govindāya [SB 1.8.21]. He is happy, and whoever, whoever associates with Him, he’s also happy. Govindāya. We are after sense gratification. Go means senses. So if you associate with Kṛṣṇa, you enjoy your senses affluently. Just like the gopīs are dancing with Kṛṣṇa. So there is no scarcity of sense gratification also. But that is not this sense gra…, gross sense gratification. That is spiritual sense. That is spiritual sense. Ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya [Bs. 5.32]. We chant every day. That sense, you get, sense gratification is ānanda-cinmaya, cinmaya, in the spiritual world. Not this third-class ānanda with these bodily senses. This is not ānanda. This is an illusion. This is illusion. We are thinking that “I’m enjoying,” but that is not ānanda. This ānanda is not fact, because we cannot enjoy this material sense pleasure for long. Everyone has got experience. It is finished. It is finished. But spiritual enjoyment does not finish. It increases. That is the difference. Ānanda-cinmaya-sad-ujjvala-vigrahasya govindam ādi-puruṣam [Bs. 5.32
Srila Prabhupada cites Krsna dasa Kaviraja Goswami in His Caitanya-Caritamrta description of the details of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s avirbhava (appearance)
śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya navadvīpe avatariāṭa-calliśa vatsara prakaṭa vihariLord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, adventing Himself in Navadvīpa, was visible for forty-eight years, enjoying His pastimes. CC adi Lila 13.8,9,10,In the year 1407 of the Śaka Era (A.D. 1486), Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared, and in the year 1455 (A.D. 1534) He disappeared from this world.CCai-Lila 13In the year 1407 of the Śaka Era (A.D. 1486), Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared, and in the year 1455 (A.D. 1534) He disappeared from this world.9I offer my respectful obeisances unto the full-moon evening in the month of Phālguna, an auspicious time full of auspicious symptoms, when Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advented Himself with the chanting of the holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa.I offer my respectful obeisances unto the full-moon evening in the month of Phālguna, an auspicious time full of auspicious symptoms, when Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advented Himself with the chanting of the holy name, Hare Kṛṣṇa CC Adi-Lila 13.19On the full-moon evening of the month of Phālguna when the Lord took birth, coincidentally there was also a lunar eclipseCC Adi-Lila 13.20In jubilation everyone was chanting the holy name of the Lord-“Hari! Hari!”-and Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu then appeared, after first causing the appearance of the holy nameCC Adi-Lila 13.21
“…Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is none other than the combined form of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa. He is the life of those devotees who strictly follow in the footsteps of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī are the two principal followers of Śrīla Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī, who acted as the most confidential servitor of Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, known as Viśvambhara in His early life. A direct disciple of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī was Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī. The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, stands as the direct disciple of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī and Śrīla Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī.Adi lila. So we are spreading the mission of Sri caitanya mahaprabhu, this mission. Radha-Krishna mission it is practically. Sri Krsna Caitanya radha krsna nahe anya. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is combination of Radha -Krsna. Radha-Krsna pranya-vikrtitir hladini saktir asmad. Krsna and Radharani, the same absolute truth. Radharani is the pleasure potency of Krsna.and when Krsna wants to enjoy, He expands His pleasure potency in the form of Radharani. And when He wants to spread he lovig affairs of Radha and Krsna, He takes the form of Caitanya Mahaprabhu, and very kindlyHe gives the love of Krsna. Srila Prabhupada talk at Radha Govinda-Mandita, Calcutta, West Bengal, India. March 24, 1976
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