Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Śrī Caitanya Caritāmrita Ādi 4.41

ei-mata bhakta-bhāva kari' ańgīkāra

āpani ācari' bhakti karila pracāra

SYNONYMS

ei-mata — like this; bhakta-bhāva — the position of a devotee; kari' — making; ańgīkāra — acceptance; āpani — Himself; ācari' — practicing; bhakti — devotional service; karila — did; pracāra — propagation.

TRANSLATION

In this way, assuming the sentiment of a devotee, He preached devotional service while practicing it Himself.

PURPORT

When Rūpa Gosvāmī met Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu at Prayāga (Allahabad), he offered his respectful obeisances by submitting that Lord Caitanya was more magnanimous than any other avatāra of Krishna because He was distributing love of Krishna. His mission was to enhance love of Godhead. In the human form of life the highest achievement is to attain the platform of love of Godhead. Lord Caitanya did not invent a system of religion, as people sometimes assume. Religious systems are meant to show the existence of God, who is then generally approached as the cosmic order-supplier. But Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's transcendental mission is to distribute love of Godhead to everyone. Anyone who accepts God as the Supreme can take to the process of chanting Hare Krishna and become a lover of God. Therefore Lord Caitanya is the most magnanimous. This munificent broadcasting of devotional service is possible only for Krishna Himself. Therefore Lord Caitanya is Krishna.

In the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna has taught the philosophy of surrender to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. One who has surrendered to the Supreme can make further progress by learning to love Him. Therefore the Krishna consciousness movement propagated by Lord Caitanya is especially meant for those who are cognizant of the presence of the Supreme Godhead, the ultimate controller of everything. His mission is to teach people how to dovetail themselves into engagements of transcendental loving service. He is Krishna teaching His own service from the position of a devotee. The Lord's acceptance of the role of a devotee in the eternal form of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu is another of the Lord's wonderful features. A conditioned soul cannot reach the absolute Personality of Godhead by his imperfect endeavor, and therefore it is wonderful that Lord Śrī Krishna, in the form of Lord Gaurāńga, has made it easy for everyone to approach Him.

Svarūpa Dāmodara Gosvāmī has described Lord Caitanya as Krishna Himself with the attitude of Rādhārānī, or a combination of Rādhā and Krishna. The intention of Lord Caitanya is to taste Krishna's sweetness in transcendental love. He does not care to think of Himself as Krishna, because He wants the position of Rādhārānī. We should remember this. A class of so-called devotees called the nadīyā-nāgarīs or gaura-nāgarīs pretend that they have the sentiment of gopīs toward Lord Caitanya, but they do not realize that He placed Himself not as the enjoyer, Krishna, but as the enjoyed, the devotee of Krishna. The concoctions of unauthorized persons pretending to be bona fide have not been accepted by Lord Caitanya. Presentations such as those of the gaura-nāgarīs are only disturbances to the sincere execution of the mission of Lord Caitanya. Lord Caitanya is undoubtedly Krishna Himself, and He is always nondifferent from Śrīmatī Rādhārānī. But the emotion technically called vipralambha-bhāva, which the Lord adopted for confidential reasons, should not be disturbed in the name of service. A mundaner should not unnecessarily intrude into affairs of transcendence and thereby displease the Lord. One must always be on guard against this sort of devotional anomaly. A devotee is not meant to create disturbances to Krishna. As Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī has explained, devotional service is ānukūlyena, or favorable to Krishna. Acting unfavorably toward Krishna is not devotion. Kamsa was the enemy of Krishna. He always thought of Krishna, but he thought of Him as an enemy. One should always avoid such unfavorable so-called service.

Lord Caitanya has accepted the role of Rādhārānī, and we should support that position, as Svarūpa Dāmodara did in the Gambhīrā (the room where Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu stayed in Purī). He always reminded Lord Caitanya of Rādhā's feelings of separation as they are described in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, and Lord Caitanya appreciated his assistance. But the gaura-nāgarīs, who place Lord Caitanya in the position of enjoyer and themselves as His enjoyed, are not approved by Lord Caitanya or by Lord Caitanya's followers. Instead of being blessed, the foolish imitators are left completely apart. Their concoctions are against the principles of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. The doctrine of transcendental enjoyment by Krishna cannot be mixed up with the doctrine of transcendental feeling of separation from Krishna in the role of Rādhārānī.

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His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, Founder Ācārya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness