Pre-Owned Teachings of Lord Chaitanya: The Golden Avatar (Hardcover) 0912776072 9780912776071

There is no difference between the teachings of Lord Caitanya presented here and the teachings of Lord K???a in the Bhagavad-gita. The teachings of Lord Caitanya are practical demonstrations of Lord K???a's teachings. Lord K???a's ultimate instruction in Bhagavad-gita is that everyone should surrender unto Him, Lord K???a. K???a 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 this creation by virtue of His plenary expansion, K?irodakasayi Vi??u, 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 favorable 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 interest of the Lord, and (6) always feel oneself meek and humble.
The Lord demands that one surrender unto Him by following these six guidelines, but the unintelligent so-called scholars of the world misunderstand these demands and urge the general mass of people to reject them. At the conclusion of the Ninth Chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Lord K???a directly says: "Engage your mind always in thinking of Me, offer obeisances and worship Me. Being completely absorbed in Me, surely you will come to Me." (Bg. 9.34) However, the scholarly demons misguide the masses of people by directing them to the impersonal, unmanifest, eternal, unborn truth rather than the Personality of Godhead. The impersonalist Mayavadi philosophers do not accept that the ultimate aspect of the Absolute Truth is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If one desires to understand the sun as it is, one must first face the sunshine, then the sun globe and, after entering into that globe, come face to face with the predominating deity of the sun. Due to a poor fund of knowledge, the Mayavadi philosophers cannot go beyond the Brahman effulgence, which may be compared to the sunshine. The Upani?ads confirm that one has to penetrate the dazzling effulgence of Brahman before one can see the real face of the Personality of Godhead.
Lord Caitanya therefore teaches direct worship of Lord K???a, who appeared as the foster child of the King of Vraja. He also suggests that the place known as V?ndavana is as good as Lord K???a because there is no difference between the name, quality, form, pastimes, entourage and paraphernalia of Lord K???a and Lord K???a Himself. That is the absolute nature of the Absolute Truth.