Summary of Caitanya Caritamrta-from Introduction- 1974 Version
September 5, 2020 in Articles by Damaghosa dasa
Caitanya Caritamrta Introduction-original version 1974
pg 3…From the Caitanya-caritāmṛta we learn how Lord Caitanya taught people to become immortal, and thus the title may be properly translated as “the immortal character of the living force.”
pg 3..The real question is, How can we remain unpolluted by material contamination while in the material world? It was Rūpa Gosvāmī who explained that we can remain uncontaminated while in the world if we simply make it our ambition to serve Kṛṣṇa. One may then justifiably ask, “How can I serve?” Obviously this is not simply a matter of meditation, which is just an activity of the mind, but of practical work. Love of Kṛṣṇa’s service can be attained only by working for Kṛṣṇa. In such work, we should leave no resource unused. Whatever is there, whatever we have, should be used for Kṛṣṇa. We can use everything: typewriters, automobiles, airplanes, missiles-anything
pg 4…Actually, the Caitanya-caritāmṛta is not intended for the novice, for it is the postgraduate study of spiritual knowledge. Ideally, one begins with the Bhagavad-gītā and advances through Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam to the Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Although all these great scriptures are on the same absolute level, for the sake of comparative study the Caitanya-caritāmṛta is considered to be on the highest platform. Every verse in it is perfectly composed.
pg 4-5...It is not that Lord Caitanya teaches a long and elaborate path to God realization. He is completely spiritual, and He begins from the point of surrender to Kṛṣṇa. He does not pursue the paths of karma-yoga or jñāna-yoga or haṭha-yoga but begins at the end of material existence, at the point where one gives up all material attachment. In the Bhagavad-gītā Kṛṣṇa begins His teachings by distinguishing the soul from matter, and in the Eighteenth Chapter He concludes at the point where the soul surrenders to Him in devotion.
Pg 6…However, Lord Caitanya’s greatest gift was His teaching that Kṛṣṇa can be actually treated as one’s lover. In this relationship the Lord is so much attached that He expresses His inability to reciprocate. Kṛṣṇa was so obliged to the gopīs, the cowherd girls of Vṛndāvana, 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 Kṛṣṇa as lover and beloved was given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī wrote of Lord Caitanya: “Devotional service in the relationship of lover and beloved is the highest platform, the glorious platform Lord Caitanya has contributed, and it was never given by any previous incarnation or ācārya. Lord Caitanya is Kṛṣṇa in a yellow complexion, and He is Śacīnandana, the son of mother Śacī. May you always keep Him in your hearts. It will be easy to understand Kṛṣṇa through Him.” Thus Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to deliver Kṛṣṇa. His method of deliverance was not meditation, fruitive activities or scriptural study, but love.We have often heard the phrase “love of Godhead.” How far this love of Godhead can actually be developed can be learned from the Vaiṣṇava philosophy. Theoretical knowledge of love of God can be found in many places and in many scriptures, but what that love of Godhead actually is and how it is developed can be found in Vaiṣṇava literature. It is the unique and highest development of love of God that is given by Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Pg 6..This brings up the question of who Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī is and what Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is. Actually Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa is the exchange of love. This is not ordinary love; Kṛṣṇa has immense potencies, of which three are principal: the internal, the external and the marginal potencies. In the internal potency there are three divisions: saṁvit, hlādinī and sandhinī. The hlādinī potency is the pleasure potency. All living entities have this pleasure-seeking potency, for all beings are trying to have pleasure. This is the very nature of the living entity. At present we are trying to enjoy our pleasure potency by means of the body in this material condition. By bodily contact we are attempting to derive pleasure from material sense objects.
Pg 8...It is not that Rādhārāṇī is separate from Kṛṣṇa. Rādhārāṇī is also Kṛṣṇa, for there is no difference between the energy and the energetic. Without energy, there is no meaning to the energetic, and without the energetic, there is no energy. Similarly, without Rādhā there is no meaning to Kṛṣṇa, and without Kṛṣṇa there is no meaning to Rādhā. Because of this, the Vaiṣṇava philosophy first of all pays obeisances to and worships the internal pleasure potency of the Supreme Lord. Thus the Lord and His potency are always referred to as Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, those who worship the name of Nārāyaṇa first of all utter the name of Lakṣmī, as Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa. Similarly, those who worship Lord Rāma first of all utter the name of Sītā. In any case-Sītā-Rāma, Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa, Lakṣmī-Nārāyaṇa-the potency always comes first.
Pg 9…We search after the love of a woman or a man because we are imperfect and lack something. The love of a woman, that potency and pleasure, is absent in man, and therefore a man wants a woman, but this is not the case with Kṛṣṇa, who is full in Himself. Thus Kṛṣṇa expressed surprise: “Why am I attracted by Rādhārāṇī? And when Rādhārāṇī feels My love, what is She actually feeling?” In order to taste the essence of that loving affair, Kṛṣṇa appeared just as the moon appears on the horizon of the sea. Just as the moon was produced by the churning of the sea, by the churning of spiritual love affairs the moon of Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared.the below picture is of two very entwined creepers or living entities similar to that of man and woman. This affair is what Srila Prabhupada is talking about in the last entry above this photo of how a man wants or desires the potency of a woman which is absent in himself and same with the woman seeking that potency of a man. Unfortunately because we seek this unsatisfactory union life after life we become totally entangled in Maya, the illusory energy of God. Better to continue to chant Radha Krsna or Hare Krsna Maha mantra for the re instatement of our original relationship with the Supreme Lord and His Divine Energies.
puṁsaḥ striyā mithunī-bhāvam etaṁtayor mitho hṛdaya-granthim āhuḥato gṛha-kṣetra-sutāpta-vittairjanasya moho ’yam ahaṁ mameti
SB 5.5.8–TRANSLATION–The attraction between male and female is the basic principle of material existence. On the basis of this misconception, which ties together the hearts of the male and female, one becomes attracted to his body, home, property, children, relatives and wealth. In this way one increases life’s illusions and thinks in terms of “I and mine.”