Lord Caitanya the most Merciful Incarnation of Krsna

There is no difference between the teachings of Lord Caitanya and the teachings of Lord Krsna in the Bhagavad-gita.The teaching of Lord Caitanya are practical demonstions of Lord Krsna's teachings.Lord Krsna's ultimate instruction in Bhagavad-gita is that everyone should surrender unto Him,Lord Krsna.Krsna 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 tis creation by virtue of HIs plenary expansion,Ksirodakasayi Visnu,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 faverable for discharging devotional service,(2)reject things unfavorable,(3)believe firmly in the Lord's protection,(4)feel exclusively dependent on the mercy of the Lord,(5)have no interest separate from the Lord's interest,and(6)always feel oneself meek and humble.The Lord demands that one surrender unto him by following these six guidelines,but the unintelligent scholars of the world misunderstand these demands and urge the general mass of people to reject them.At the end of the Ninth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita,Krsna directly says,"Engage your mind always in thinking of ME,become My devotee,offer obeisances to Me,amd worship Me.Being completly absorbed in Me,surely you will come to Me"[Bg9.34]. But the scholarly demons misguide the masses of people by directing them to the impersonal,unmanifest,eternal,unborn truth rather then the Supreme Personality of Godhead.The impersonalistic,Mayavada philosophers don't accept that the ultimate aspect of the Absolute Truth is the Personality of Godhead.If one desires to understand the sun as it is,one must first face the sunshine,then enter the sun globe,and,after entering into that globe,come face to face with the sun's predominating deity.Due to a poor fund of knowledge,the Mayavada philosophers cannot go beyond the Brahman effulgence,which may be compared to the sunshine.The Upanisads confirm that one has to penetrate the dazzling effulgence of Brahman before one can see the real face of the supreme Personality of Godhead.Lord Caitanya therefore teaches direct worship of Lord Krsna,who appeared as the foster child of the king of Vraja.Lord Caitanya also suggests that the place known as Vrndavana is as good as Lord Krsna, becauase there is no difference between Lord Krsna's name,quality,form, pastimes, entourage,and paraphernalia, and Lord Krsna Himself.That is the absolute nature of the Absolute Truth.Lord Caintanya also recommended that the highest mode of worship in the highest perfectional stage is the meathod practiced by the damsels of Vraja.these damses (gopis,or cowherd girls)simply loced Krsna without motive for material or spiritual gain.Lord Caitanya also recommended the Srimad-Bhagavatam as the spoteless narration of transcendental knowledge,and he said that the higest goal in life is to develop unalloyed love for krsna,the Supreme Personality of Godhead.Lord Caitanya's teachings are identical to those given by Lord Kapila,the original propounder of Sankhya-yoga,the sankhya system of philosophy.This authorized system of yoga recommends meditation on the transcendental form of Lord Visnu even without practicing involved sitting postures.Such meditation is called perfect samadhi.This perfect samadhi is verified in Bhagavad-gita where Lord Krsna say,"and of all yogis,the one with great faith who always abides in Me,thinks of Me within himself,and renders transcendal loving service to Me-he is the most intimately united with Me in yoga and is the highest of all.That is My opinion"{Bg.6.47}.Lord Caitanya instructed the mass of people in the sanhya plilosophyof(acintya bhedabheda-tattva),which maintains that the Supreme Lord is simultaneously one, and different from his creation. Lord Caitanya taught this philosophy through the chanting of the holy name of the Lord.he taught that the holy name of the Lord is sound incarnation of 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 this sound vibration,he passes through three stages of development:the offensive stage,the clearing stage,and the transcendental stage.In the offensive stage one may desire all kinds of material happiness,but in the secound stage one becomes clear of all material contamination.When one is situated on the transcendal stage,he attains the most coveted position--the stage of loving God.Lord Caitanya taught that this is the highest perfection of human life.Yoga practice is essentially meant for controlling the senses,The central controlling factorof all the senses is the mind;therefore one first has to practice controlling the mind by engaging it in Krsna consciousness.The gross activities of the mind are expressed through the external senses either for the aquistion of knowledge or the functioning of the senses in accordane with the will.The subtle activites of the mind are thinking,feeling,and willing.IN accordance with one's consciousness,the individual is either polluted or clear.If one's mind is fixed on Krsna(His name,quality,form,pastimes,entourage,and paraphernalia),all one's activities--both subtle and gross--become favorable. The Bhagavad-gita's process of purifying consciousness is the process of fixing the mind on Krsna by talking of His transcendetal activities,cleansing His temple,seeing the beautiful forms of the Lord nicely decorated,hearing His transcendental glories,tasting food offered to Him,engaging in activities for the Lords interest,and so on.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 when Krsna tells Arjuna of the knowledge of yoga whereby one can work without frutive results."O son of Prtha,when you act by such intelligence,you can free yourself from the bonage to works"{BG2.39}A human being is sometimes restricted in sense gratification due to certain circumstances such as disease,but this kind of renunciation will not help.Without knowing the actual process by which the mind and senses can be controlled,less intelligent men either try to stop the mind and senses by force,or they give in to them and are carried away by the waves of sense gratification. The regulative principles and the rule. of yoga, the various sitting postures, an( breathing exercises performed in an attempt to withdraw one's senses from thc sense objects, are methods meant for those who are too engrossed in the bodily con ception of life. The intelligent man who is situated in Krsna consciousness does not try to forcibly stop his senses from acting. Rather, he engages his senses in the service of Krsna. No one can stop a child from playing by leaving him inactive. A child can be stopped from engaging in nonsense by being engaged in superior activities. The forceful restraint of sense activities by the eight principles of yoga is recommended for inferior men. Being engaged in the superior activities of Krsna consciousness, superior men naturally retire from the inferior activities of material existence. In this way Lord Caitanya teaches the science of Kisna consciousness. That science is absolute. Dry mental speculators try to restrain themselves from material-attachment,. but they generally find that the mind is too strong to be controlled and that it drags them down to sensual activities. A person in Krsna consciousness does not run this risk. One has to engage his mind and senses in Krsna conscious activities, and Lord Caitanya teaches one how to do this in practice. Before taking sannyasa (the renounced order), Lord Caitanya was known as Vis vambhara. The word visvambhara refers to one who maintains the entire universe and who leads all living entities. This maintainer and leader appeared as Lord Krsna Caitanya to give humanity these sublime teachings. Lord Caitanya is the ideal teacher of life's prime necessities. He is the most munificent bestower of love of Krsna. He is the complete reservoir of all mercies and good fortune. As confirmed in Sriman-bhagavtam, Bhagavad-gita ,Mahabharata, and the Upanisads, He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna Himself, and He is worshipable by everyone in this age of disagreement. Everyone can join in His sankirtana movement. No prior qualification is necessary. Just by following His teachings, anyone can become a perfect human being. If one is fortunate enough to be attracted by His features, one is sure to be successful in one's mission in life. In other words, those who are interested in attaintimg spiritual existence can be easily reileased from the clutches of maya by the grace of Lord Caitanya. The Lord's teachings are nondifferent from Him. Being engrossed in the material body, -the conditioned soul increases the pages of history by all kinds of material activities. The teachings of Lord Caitanya can help human society stop such unnecessary and temporary activities. By these teachings, humanity can be elevated to the topmost platform of spiritual activity. These spiri tual activities actually begin after liberation from material bondage. Such liberated activities in Krsna 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 the teachings of Lord Caitanya, and by such knowledge one can advance in spiritual existence. Everyone has to suffer or enjoy the fuits of his activity; no one can check the laws of material nature, which govern such things. As long as one is engaged in fruitive activity, he is sure to be baffled in his attempt to attain the ultimate goal of life. I sincerely hope that by understanding the teachings of Lord Caitanya, human society will experience a new light of spiritual life that will open the field of activity for the pure soul.