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Divinity of Lord Caitanya

by Abhay Caran De

[This essay has been proofread against the original and spelling and other corrections have been
made to facilitate inclusion in Folio.—Ed]

The humble form of prayer offered to Lord Caitanya is stated in the Bhägavata Puräëa as follows:
“Let us offer our most sincere obeisances to the lotus feet of Lord Caitanya who is the protector of all
surrendered souls. The Supreme Lord is always anxious to bestow upon us the fortune of unalloyed
love of God, untouched by such deviating processes as dry speculative empiric knowledge or
unsatiated desire for fruitive activities to acquire shifting material gains. He is the Supreme leader of
the chain of disciplic succession in the line of Çréla Änanda Tértha and is worshiped by Çré Çrémad
Advaita Prabhu and Çré Çrémad Haridäsa Öhäkuras who are the incarnations of Çiva and Brahmä
respectively. He is the Supreme Deliverer from all ailments of His devotees like the leper brähmaëa
Väsudeva or Särvabhauma and King Prataparudra all of whom were suffering from the pangs of
material enjoyment and renunciations which are all but physical troubles.
“Let us offer our sincere most obeisances to the lotus feet of the Lord of Lords who superficially
accepted the renounced life of a sannyäsé, in order to give effect to the curse of a brähmaëa, upon Him.
But in fact in the garb of a sannyäsé He initiated the transcendental ecstacy of spontaneous love of
God, as was felt by Çré Çrématé Rädhäräëé in Her amorous desire to meet Çré Kåñëa. In the quest of
such spontaneous love of God, the Lord relinquished the association of His eternal consort Çré Çrémati
Lakñmé Viñëupriya Devé 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 Mahäbhärata 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.”
In that holy Bhägavata Puräëa in the course of a religious discourse between King Nimi of Mithilä and
the nine saints known as Nava-yogendras (Canto 11, Chapters 1 to 5), the description of incarnations
of the Personality of Godhead was given by Karabhäjana Muni one of the nine saints; and he
enumerated the different forms of Godhead in the different ages in different complexions. After
describing the eternal incarnations of Godhead in Satya-, Tretä- and Dväpara-yugas, he said that in
Kali-yuga the incarnation of Godhead will be non-dark in complexion and will constantly be chanting
the holy Name of Kåñëa He shall be accompanied by His eternal associates and follower devotees who
will serve as His weapons to establish His authority. This incarnation of Godhead Who would not
declare Himself as the Supreme Godhead will be worshiped by the intelligent class of people in the
mode of glorifying the transcendental Name of God known as saìkértana.
So Lord Caitanya is non-different from Lord Kåñëa in the context of evidences gathered from the
Vedas, Upaniñads, Puräëas, etc and His acceptance of the renounced life of a sannyäsé is confirmed
both in Mahäbhärata and Çrémad-Bhägavatam.
The symptoms of Kali-yuga are vividly described in another chapter of Bhägavatam (Canto 12 Chapter
2) [S.B. 12.2.1]. It is said there that money will be the pivot of all activities in the Kali-yuga. It is
money only which shall always and alone classify the different orders of society without any reference
to the quality of birth or work and it is money only which will decide the propriety of one’s claim in
the matter of justice, freedom and equality. Personal attractiveness will decide the question of conjugal
life between husband and wife and the process of cheating each other will be the crux of business
transactions. Sexuality will be considered as the standard of men’s or women’s superiority and a mere
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piece of thread on the body will mark the sign of one’s belonging in higher three orders of society.
Simply by a change of garb i.e. from a white garment to the red and holding a rod as a mark of
renunciation, will transfer anybody to the renounced order of life. One’s inability to pay sufficiently
will deprive one of receiving justice in the court and anyone who shall have the audacity to be an
egoist, shall be considered as the most learned fellow.
To become stricken with poverty will be considered as one’s being dishonest and pride and vanity will
be the standard of honesty. Marriage will be validated by mere acceptance of an agreement and the
simple act of washing one’s body will serve all purposes of dressing.
Holy places of sacred water situated far off from one’s home, will be considered as the place of
pilgrimage; keeping long hairs on the head will be misunderstood as increasing the lustre of one’s
personal beauty. Self-realization will be identified with the mere filling of one’s belly with foodstuff;
truth will be realised by impartinance(?) of behavior; ability will be measured by the process of
maintaining one’s family well, and religiosity will be practised for the sake of reputation.
When the whole atmosphere will be surcharged with the abovementioned symptoms of Kali-yuga—
whoever amongst the brähmaëas, kñatriyas, vaiçyas or çüdras will be powerful, shall capture the reins
of government. Such governmental administrators will naturally be unkind, selfish, covetous and
expert in exploiting poor citizens by plundering their money and women. In such conditions of life the
citizens will fly from one place to another as displaced refugees and being overpowered by constant
visits of famine, epidemic diseases and overburdened by state taxes, will begin to eat grass, roots,
meats, seeds, honey and unknown fruits to the risk of life. Due to scarcity of rains in the field they will
gradually disappear from the surface of the earth.
The population in the Kali-yuga will be overtroubled by communal strife, hunger, thirst, diseases,
winter, summer, rains and unparalleled anxiety for everything. The living bodies will gradually
diminish in stature, the spiritual division of social orders such as four castes or four äçramas will be
overcrowded only by the faithless unbelievers and they will lose all faith in the Vedic way of spiritual
advancement. The infidel ruler will turn to one to become plunderer and the people in general will be
infected unnecessarily with the habit of stealing, dishonesty, violence and similar rabid acts. There will
remain no other caste except the çüdras, the cow being reduced to the stature of goat, the hermitages
and monasteries being coverted into ordinary house, friendship being maintained only in relation with
sexuality, medicinal herbs being impotent in efficacy like grass, big trees being shortened like the
saplings, monsoon being devoid of rains and full of lightning and the general population being forced
to labour like the ass, Çré Kåñëa the Personality of Godhead will appear to reclaim the faithful and
vanquish the faithless.
The life of Kali-yuga is estimated to the extent of four lakhs and thirty-two thousands of years
beginning from the time of King Parékñit i.e. after the battle of Kurukñetra. As such it will take long
long years before the advent of Kalki Avatära at the end of the Kali-yuga. But the symptoms of Kali-
yuga are already in vogue and the state of affairs will gradually deteriorate from bad to worse as it is
stated in the Bhägavata Puräëa in the most unambiguous term. The affairs will degrade to such an
extent that the people in general will look like the Satan of the first magnitude being perturbed by
anxieties in respect of state taxes, want of sufficient fooding, clothing, drinking, sleeping, bathing and
sexuality. Addicted to unrestricted sexual pleasures only and act of filling the belly with foodstuff not
fit for human consumption, low minded debauches will not scruple even to refuse maintaining old
father helpless children and wife married from respectable family. The people of Kali-yuga will not
worship the Almighty Godhead who is worshiped even by Brahmä and Çiva.
Çukadeva Gosvämé the enlightened professor of Bhägavatam said to King Parékñit that in spite of all
the abovementioned deformities of the Kali-yuga, there is one most valuable source of transcendental
realization in this age. The asset is that in the Kali-yuga one can transcend all the above troubles and
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reach to the supreme goal of life simply by chanting process of the transcendental holy name of Kåñëa.
That is a special prerogative chance for this age.
He (Çré Çukadeva Gosvämé) especially stressed on the process of chanting the holy name of God in
this age because the same results obtained through regular meditation of Viñëu in the Satya-yuga, by
worshipping in the Dväpara-yuga and by offering sacrifices in the Tretä-yuga, can be achieved easily
simply by the abovementioned transcendental chanting method.
So in pursuance of the prophecy of the authoritative scriptures as above mentioned, Çré Kåñëa
Caitanya, Who is no other than Çré Kåñëa Himself appeared in the midst of humanity as the son of
Çréla Jagannätha Miçra and Çrémati Çäci Devé of Çrédhäma Mäyäpur, Nadia in West Bengal in the
year 1486 on the evening of February 1st when there was a lunar eclipse. He is in fact Çré Kåñëa in
disguise to fulfil some specific purpose of His own as it is stated in the Mahäbhärata. 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 sannyäsé 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 çästras and not by the calculation of mundane speculators.
Dated: 30/3/53.Abhay Charanarvinda Bhaktivedanta