(Originally delivered as five morning lectures on Caitanya-caritamrta-the authoritative biography of Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu by Krsnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami-before the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, New York City, April 10-14, 1967)
The word Caitanya means living force. As living entities, we can move, but a table cannot because it does not possess living force. Movement and activity may be considered to be signs or symptoms of the living force. Indeed, it may be said that there can be no activity without the living force. Although the living force is present in the material condition, it is not amrta, immortal.
The word caitanya-caritamrta then, may be translated as "the character of the living force in immortality."
But how is this living force displayed immortally? It is not displayed by man or any other creature in this material universe, for none of us are immortal in these bodies. We possess the living force, we perform activities, and we are immortal by our nature and constitution, but the material condition into which we have been put does not allow our immortality to be displayed.
It is stated in the Katha Upanisad that eternality and the living force belong both to ourselves and God. Although this is true in that both God and ourselves are immortal, there is a difference. As living entities, we perform many activities, but we have a tendency to fall down into material nature. God has no such tendency. Indeed, material nature is but one display of His inconceivable energies.
On the ground we may see only clouds in the sky, but if we fly above the clouds we can see the sun shining. From the sky, skyscrapers and cities seem very tiny; similarly, from God's position this entire material creation is insignificant. The tendency of the conditioned living entity is to come down from the heights where everything can be seen in perspective.
God, however, does not have this tendency. The Supreme Lord is not subject to fall beneath the clouds. Because, the Supreme Lord is not subject to illusion, we are called conditioned. Impersonalist philosophers(Mayavadis) maintain that both the living entity and God Himself are under the control of maya when they come into this material world.
This may be true of the living entity, but it is not true of God, for in all instances the material energy is working under His direction. Those who consider the Supreme Lord to be subject of material conditioning are called fools by Krsna Himself in Bhagavad-gita:
"avajananti mam mudha
manusim tanum asritam
param bhavam ajananto
mama bhuta-mahersvaram"
"Fools deride Me when I descend in the human form. They do not know My transcendental nature and My supreme dominion over all that be."(Bg.9.11)
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu should not be considered to be one of us. He is Krsna Himself, the supreme living entity, and as such He never comes under the cloud of maya. Krsna, His expansions, and even His higher devotees never fall into the clutches of illusion. Lord Caitanya came to eath simply to preach krsna-bhakti, love of Krsna.
In other words, His is Lord Krsna Himself teaching the living entities the proper way to apprach Krsna. He is like a teacher who, seeing a student doing poorly, takes up a pencil and writes, saying "Do it like this: A, B, C."
By this, one must not foolishly think that the teacher is learning his ABC's. Although He appears in the guise of a devotee, we should always remember that Lord Caitanya is Krsna(God) Himself teaching us how to become Krsna conscious, and we must study Him in that light.
In Bhagavad-gita Lord Krsna sets forth the highest religious principles in this way:
sarva-dharman parityajua
man ekam saranam vraja
aham tvam darba-papebhya
moksyisyami ma sucah
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear."(Bg.18.66)
This may seem to be a simple instruction to follow, but invariably our reaction is, "Oh, surrender? Give up? But I have so many responsibilites." And maya, illusion says to us, "Don't do it, or you'll be out of my clutches. Just stay in my clutches, and I'll kick you."
It is a fact that we are constantly being kicked by maya, just as the male-ass is kicked in the face by the she-ass when he comes for sex. Simiarly, cats and dogs are always fighting and whining when they have sex. These are the tricks of nature. Even an elephant in the jungle is caught by the use of a trained she-elephant who leads him into a pit.
Maya has many activities, and in the material world her strangest shackle is the female. Of course in actuality we are neither male nor female-for these designations refer only to the outer dress, the body.
We are all actually Krsna's servants. In conditioned life, however, we are shackled by the iron chains which take the form of beautiful women. Thus every male is bound ty sex life, and therefore when one attempts to gain liberation from the material clutches of illusion.
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu officially renounced this illusion at the age of twenty-four, although His wife was sixteen and His mother seventy, and He was the only male member of the family. Although He was a brahmana and was not rich, He took sannyasa, the renounced order of life, and thus extricated Himself from family entanglement.
If we wish to become fully Krsna conscious, we have to give up the shackles of maya, or, if we remain with maya, we should live in such a way that we will not be subject to illusion. It is not necessary for one to abandon his family, for there were many householders amongst Lord Caitnaya's closest devotees. What must be renounced is the propensity for material enjoyment.
Although Lord Caitanya approved of a householder having regulated sex in marriage, He was very strict with those in the renounced order, and He even banished Junior Haridasa for glancing lustfully at a young woman. The point is that one must take up a particular path and stick to it, obeying all the rules and regulations necessary for success in spiritual life. It was Lord Caitanya's mission that He teach the path of Krsna consciousness to all men and thereby enable them to partake of the immortality of spiritual life.