compiled by Damaghsoa dasa and Yasoda nandana dasa
Essays and Articles : EA 18: Divinity of Lord Caitanya :
So Lord Caitanya is non-different from Lord Kṛṣṇa in the context of evidences gathered from the Vedas, Upaniṣads, Purāṇas, etc and His acceptance of the renounced life of a sannyāsī is confirmed both in Mahābhārata and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam
Essays and Articles : EA 18: Divinity of Lord Caitanya : So in pursuance of the prophecy of the authoritative scriptures as above mentioned, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Who is no other than Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself appeared in the midst of humanity as the son of Śrīla Jagannātha Miśra and Śrīmati Śāci Devī of Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, Nadia in West Bengal in the year 1486 on the evening of February 1st when there was a lunar eclipse. He is in fact Śrī Kṛṣṇa in disguise to fulfil some specific purpose of His own as it is stated in the Mahābhārata. The specific significance of this Form of the Personality of Godhead is stated therein that the complexion of His body shall represent the hue of melted gold. A well constituted beautifully built human figure anointed with the pulp of white sandalwood all over the body. And later on the same Personality of Godhead will accept the order of a renounced sannyāsī full of sobriety of a perfect devotee, peaceful, full of equanimity and having unflinching attachment in the spiritual science with special reference to the process of chanting the holy name of God. He is therefore the Personality of Godhead in consonance of the prediction of śāstras and not by the calculation of mundane speculators.
Essays and Articles : EA 18: Divinity of Lord Caitanya :
“Let us offer our sincere most obeisances to the lotus feet of the Lord of Lords who superficially accepted the renounced life of a sannyāsī, in order to give effect to the curse of a brāhmaṇa, upon Him. But in fact in the garb of a sannyāsī He initiated the transcendental ecstacy of spontaneous love of God, as was felt by Śrī Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī in Her amorous desire to meet Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In the quest of such spontaneous love of God, the Lord relinquished the association of His eternal consort Śrī Śrīmati Lakṣmī Viṣṇupriya Devī who was devout to Him and whose mercy is sought after most ardently by all true devotees of God or even by the denizens of heaven. The Lord accepted this order of life in terms of a prediction in the Mahābhārata and in order to bestow His causeless mercy upon us who are addicted to the false enjoyment of vain glories, women and wealth in this material world.”
Everywhere either in Bengal or in Orissa specially, He was held with the honour of the Supreme Lord and at home influential and important persons like Adwita Prabhu etc. were His constant servitors. As such He is described in the Mahabharata as the most respectable Personality. He is so approved by such stalwart educationist as Sarvabhouma Bhattacharya who has rightly seen Him. He estimated the identity of Lord Chaitanya as the Supreme Personality of Godhead and appeared Himself to propagate His own devotional service which became covered in course of time. He surrendered himself unto the lotus feet of the Lord as the bees hum over the lotus flower. Essays and Articles : EA 2: Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 3 [Handwritten]
Essays and Articles : EA 2: Caitanya-caritamrta, Adi-lila, Chapter 3 [Handwritten] :
The author now describes the signs and characteristics of the Lord when does He appear in the Age of Kali. From the evidences of revealed scriptures the author says that in the age of Kali, the principle function of the Lord is to preach the glory of Divine Name. For this transcendental preaching work only there is the advent of Lord Chaitanya’s incarnation. The special feature of the body of the Lord is that the color of the body is that of molten-gold and it is strongly well-built. The voice of His throat is as grave as that of new clouds. A person is said to be an uncommon man, if he is as tall as four cubits equal in measurement of his own hand. Such a person is known as ‘Nagrodha parimandala’ The term ‘Nagrodha parimandala’ is description of a person who is not only as tall as to the length of four cubit measurement but he is so also in the measurement of the circumference of his chest round. He is no other than the Supreme Lord Himself who has encaged the conditioned souls by His own illusory energy. He is certainly the incarnation of Vishnu and nobody else. Lord Chaitanya’s hand was as long as to reach the knees of his body with His eyes compared to the petals of a lotus flower. His stretch of the nose is as pointed as that of oil-seed flower and his face is as beautiful as that of the moon. He is calm and quiet and fully devoted to the loving service of Shri Krishna persistently wellbehaved with special favour for the devotees although He is equal to all living beings. His body is decorated with sandal pulp in hands and body and he is specially so decorated during the time of His dance in congregational chanting. All these special characteristics of the Lord have been duly described by Shri Vaishampayana Muni (of Mahabharata fame) in his composition of Thousand verses of the holy Names of God in which Lord Chaitanya’s name is also included as follows in the Mahabharata. The transcendental activities of Lord Chaitanya can be divided into two parts. The first part is called beginning of the adventure and the last part is known as end of the adventure. In the Mahabharat Dan parba chapter. The characteristics of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is described as follows:—(Danparba 149.92.75)
.
“Lord Chaitanya during the beginning of His adventure will be observed by the following symptoms namely (1) His bodily color like molten gold. (2) Well and strongly built body (3) Golden hue and (4) Decorated with sandal pulp and garlands of flowers. And at the end of His adventure He is to be observed in the renounced order of life ‘Sannyasam’ grave in transcendental thought with a quality of equilibrium, fixed up in the matter of chanting the holy name of Lord and determined to put down the monistic giant in a peaceful movement of religious renaissance.”
Letters : 1949 Correspondence : Letter to: Juggannath Babu — Calcutta 14 March, 1949 : 49-03-14 :
Yesterday evening when we were talking at your veranda we had some talks over the advent day of Lord Caitanya which falls today the most auspicious Dol-yatra purnima day and as such I myself along with some members of my family today observing fast till the advent moment of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu just in the evening. Guru Maharaj Sastriji advised the members assembled yesterday to observe fast today and this is being done as a matter of course on the occasion of Gaura Jayanti day. I was so glad to hear from you that you know Lord Caitanya as the incarnation of Godhead. Yes he is so and there are ample proofs of His being so in the different Sastras such as Mahabharata, Bhagavata, Upanisads and many other Puranas. So on the occasion of Lord Caitanya’s 463rd advent ceremony, I am taking this opportunity to remember about him which will help my vrata observed to-day. I hope you will not mind for intruding upon your time with this statement.
Adi 2.22–That Govinda personally appears as Caitanya Gosāñi. No other Lord is as merciful in delivering the fallen souls.
PURPORT
Having described Govinda in terms of His Brahman and Paramātmā features, now the author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta advances his argument to prove that Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhuis the identical personality. The same Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, in the garb of a devotee of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, descended to this mortal world to reclaim the fallen human beings who had misunderstood the Personality of Godhead even after the explanation of the Bhagavad-gītā. In the Bhagavad-gītāthe Personality of Godhead Śrī Kṛṣṇa directly instructed that the Supreme is a person. Impersonal Brahman is His glowing effulgence, the Paramātmā is His partial representation, and all men are therefore advised to follow the path of Śrī Kṛṣṇa, leaving aside all mundane “isms.” Offenders misunderstood this instruction, however, because of their poor fund of knowledge. Thus by His causeless, unlimited mercy Śrī Kṛṣṇa came again as Śrī Caitanya Gosāñi.
The author of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta most emphatically stresses that Lord CaitanyaMahāprabhu is Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is not an expansion of the prakāśa or vilāsa forms of ŚrīKṛṣṇa; He is the svayaṁ-rūpa, Govinda. Apart from the relevant scriptural evidence forwarded by Śrīla Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, there are innumerable other scriptural statements regarding Lord Caitanya’s being the Supreme Lord Himself. The following examples may be cited:
(1) From the Caitanya Upaniṣad (5): gauraḥ sarvātmā mahā-puruṣo mahātmā mahā-yogītri-guṇātītaḥ sattva-rūpo bhaktiṁ loke kāśyati. “Lord Gaura, who is the all-pervading Supersoul, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appears as a great saint and powerful mystic who is above the three modes of nature and is the emblem of transcendental activity. He disseminates the cult of devotion throughout the world.”
(2) From the Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad:
tam īśvarāṇāṁ paramaṁ maheśvaraṁ
taṁ devatānāṁ paramaṁ ca daivatam
patiṁ patīnāṁ paramaṁ parastād
vidāma devaṁ bhuvaneśam īḍyam
“O Supreme Lord, You are the Supreme Maheśvara, the worshipable Deity of all the demigods and the Supreme Lord of all lords. You are the controller of all controllers, the Personality of Godhead, the Lord of everything worshipable.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 6.7)
mahān prabhur vai puruṣaḥ
sattvasyaiṣa pravartakaḥ
su-nirmalām imāṁ prāptim
īśāno jyotir avyayaḥ
“The Supreme Personality of Godhead is Mahāprabhu, who disseminates transcendental enlightenment. Just to be in touch with Him is to be in contact with the indestructiblebrahmajyoti.” (Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad 3.12)
(3) From the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (3.1.3):
yadā paśyaḥ paśyate rukma-varṇaṁ
kartāram īśaṁ puruṣaṁ brahma-yonim
“One who sees that golden-colored Personality of Godhead, the Supreme Lord, the supreme actor, who is the source of the Supreme Brahman, is liberated.”
(4) From Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:
dhyeyaṁ sadā paribhava-ghnam abhīṣṭa-dohaṁ
tīrthāspadaṁ śiva-viriñci-nutaṁ śaraṇyam
bhṛtyārti-haṁ praṇata-pāla bhavābdhi-potaṁ
vande mahā-puruṣa te caraṇāravindam
“We offer our respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of Him, the Lord, upon whom one should always meditate. He destroys insults to His devotees. He removes the distresses of His devotees and satisfies their desires. He, the abode of all holy places and the shelter of all sages, is worshipable by Lord Śiva and Lord Brahmā. He is the boat of the demigods for crossing the ocean of birth and death.” (Bhāg. 11.5.33)
tyaktvā sudustyaja-surepsita-rājya-lakṣmīṁ
dharmiṣṭha ārya-vacasā yad agād araṇyam
māyā-mṛgaṁ dayitayepsitam anvadhāvad
vande mahā-puruṣa te caraṇāravindam
“We offer our respectful obeisances unto the lotus feet of the Lord, upon whom one should always meditate. He left His householder life, leaving aside His eternal consort, whom even the denizens of heaven adore. He went into the forest to deliver the fallen souls, who are put into illusion by material energy.” (Bhāg. 11.5.34)
Prahlāda said:
itthaṁ nṛ-tiryag-ṛṣi-deva-jhaṣāvatārair
lokān vibhāvayasi haṁsi jagat-pratīpān
dharmaṁ mahā-puruṣa pāsi yugānuvṛttaṁ
channaḥ kalau yad abhavas tri-yugo ‘tha sa tvam
“My Lord, You kill all the enemies of the world in Your multifarious incarnations in the families of men, animals, demigods, ṛṣis, aquatics and so on. Thus You illuminate the worlds with transcendental knowledge. In the Age of Kali, O Mahāpuruṣa, You sometimes appear in a covered incarnation. Therefore You are known as Tri-yuga [one who appears in only three yugas].” (Bhāg.7.9.38)
(5) From the Kṛṣṇa-yāmala-tantra: puṇya-kṣetre navadvīpe bhaviṣyāmi śacī-sutaḥ. “I shallappear in the holy land of Navadvīpa as the son of Śacīdevī.”
(6) From the Vāyu Purāṇa: kalau saṅkīrtanārambhe bhaviṣyāmi śacī-sutaḥ. “In the Age ofKali when the saṅkīrtana movement is inaugurated, I shall descend as the son of Śacīdevī.”
(7) From the Brahma-yāmala-tantra:
atha vāhaṁ dharādhāme
bhūtvā mad-bhakta-rūpa-dhṛk
māyāyāṁ ca bhaviṣyāmi
kalau saṅkīrtanāgame
“Sometimes I personally appear on the surface of the world in the garb of a devotee. Specifically, I appear as the son of Śacī in Kali-yuga to start the saṅkīrtana movement.”
(8), From the Ananta-saṁhitā:
ya eva bhagavān kṛṣṇo
rādhikā-prāṇa-vallabhaḥ
sṛṣṭy ādau sa jagan-nātho
gaura āsīn maheśvari
“The Supreme Person, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Himself, who is the life of Śrī Rādhārāṇī and is the Lord of the universe in creation, maintenance and annihilation, appears as Gaura, O Maheśvarī.”
Adi-3.52-In the Age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the name of Kṛṣṇa. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.”This text is from Śrīmad Bhagavatam(11.5.32).