The Author Receives the Orders of Kṛṣṇa and Guru

I offer my respects to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, by whose desire I have become like a dancing dog and suddenly taken to the writing of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, although I am a fool.

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is known as Gaurasundara. I also offer my respectful obeisances unto Nityānanda Prabhu, who is always very joyful.

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Advaita Ācārya, who is very merciful, and also to that great personality Gadādhara Paṇḍita, the learned scholar.

Let me offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrīvāsa Ṭhākura and all the other devotees of the Lord. I fall down to offer them respect. I worship their lotus feet.

By remembering the lotus feet of the Pañca-tattva, a dumb man can become a poet, a lame man can cross mountains, and a blind man can see the stars in the sky.

The education cultivated by so-called learned scholars who do not believe these statements of Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta is like the tumultuous croaking of frogs.

One who does not accept the glories of the Pañca-tattva but still makes a show of devotional service to Kṛṣṇa can never achieve the mercy of Kṛṣṇa or advance to the ultimate goal.

Formerly kings like Jarāsandha [the father-in-law of Kaṁsa] strictly followed the Vedic rituals, thus worshiping Lord Viṣṇu.

One who does not accept Kṛṣṇa as the Supreme Personality of Godhead is certainly a demon. Similarly, anyone who does not accept Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu as Kṛṣṇa, the same Supreme Lord, is also to be considered a demon.

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu thought, “Unless people accept Me they will all be destroyed.” Thus the merciful Lord accepted the sannyāsa order.

“If a person offers obeisances to Me, even due to accepting Me only as an ordinary sannyāsī, his material distresses will diminish, and he will ultimately get liberation.”

One who does not show respect unto this merciful Lord, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, or does not worship Him should be considered a demon, even if he is very much exalted in human society.

Therefore I say again, lifting my arms: O fellow human beings, please worship Śrī Caitanya and Nityānanda without false arguments!

Logicians say, “Unless one gains understanding through logic and argument, how can one decide upon a worshipable Deity?”

If you are indeed interested in logic and argument, kindly apply it to the mercy of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. If you do so, you will find it to be strikingly wonderful.

If one is infested with the ten offenses in the chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, despite his endeavor to chant the holy name for many births, he will not get the love of Godhead that is the ultimate goal of this chanting.

“By cultivating philosophical knowledge one can understand his spiritual position and thus be liberated, and by performing sacrifices and pious activities one can achieve sense gratification in a higher planetary system, but the devotional service of the Lord is so rare that even by executing hundreds and thousands of such sacrifices one cannot obtain it.”

If a devotee wants liberation or material sense gratification from the Lord, Kṛṣṇa immediately delivers it, but pure devotional service He keeps hidden.

[The great sage Śukadeva said:] “My dear Mahārāja Parīkṣit, the Supreme Personality of Godhead Kṛṣṇa is always ready to help you. He is your master, guru, God, and very dear friend, and also the head of your family. Yet sometimes He agrees to act as your servant or order-carrier. You are greatly fortunate because this relationship is possible only by bhakti-yoga. The Lord can give liberation [mukti] very easily, but He does not very easily give one bhakti-yoga, because by that process He is bound to the devotee.”

Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has freely given this love of Kṛṣṇa everywhere and anywhere, even to the most fallen, such as Jagāi and Mādhāi. What then to speak of those who are already pious and elevated?

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead Himself, is fully independent. Therefore, although it is the most confidentially stored benediction, He can distribute love of Godhead to anyone and everyone without consideration.

Whether he is offensive or inoffensive, anyone who even now chants śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu-nityānanda is immediately overwhelmed with ecstasy, and tears fill his eyes.

Simply by talking of Nityānanda Prabhu one awakens his love for Kṛṣṇa. Thus all his bodily limbs are agitated by ecstasy, and tears flow from his eyes like the waters of the Ganges.

There are offenses to be considered while chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra. Therefore simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa one does not become ecstatic.

“If one’s heart does not change, tears do not flow from his eyes, his body does not shiver, and his bodily hairs do not stand on end as he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, it should be understood that his heart is as hard as iron. This is due to his offenses at the lotus feet of the Lord’s holy name.”

Simply chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra without offenses vanquishes all sinful activities. Thus pure devotional service, which is the cause of love of Godhead, becomes manifest.

When one’s transcendental loving service to the Lord is actually awakened, it generates transformations in the body such as perspiration, trembling, throbbing of the heart, faltering of the voice and tears in the eyes.

As a result of chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, one makes such great advancement in spiritual life that simultaneously his material existence terminates and he receives love of Godhead. The holy name of Kṛṣṇa is so powerful that by chanting even one name, one very easily achieves these transcendental riches.

If one chants the exalted holy name of the Lord again and again and yet his love for the Supreme Lord does not develop and tears do not appear in his eyes, it is evident that because of his offenses in chanting, the seed of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa does not sprout.

But if one only chants, with some slight faith, the holy names of Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda, very quickly he is cleansed of all offenses. Thus as soon as he chants the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra, he feels the ecstasy of love for God.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the independent Supreme Personality of Godhead, is greatly magnanimous. Unless one worships Him, one can never be liberated.

O fools, just read Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala! By reading this book you can understand all the glories of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

As Vyāsadeva has compiled all the pastimes of Lord Kṛṣṇa in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Ṭhākura Vṛndāvana dāsa has depicted the pastimes of Lord Caitanya.

Ṭhākura Vṛndāvana dāsa has composed Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala. Hearing this book annihilates all misfortune.

By reading Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala one can understand all the glories and truths of Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda and come to the ultimate conclusion of devotional service to Lord Kṛṣṇa.

In Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala [later known as Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata] Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has given the conclusion and essence of devotional service by quoting the authoritative statements of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

If even a great atheist hears Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, he immediately becomes a great devotee.

The subject matter of this book is so sublime that it appears that Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has personally spoken through the writings of Śrī Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura.

I offer millions of obeisances unto the lotus feet of Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura. No one else could write such a wonderful book for the deliverance of all fallen souls.

Nārāyaṇī eternally eats the remnants of the food of Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura was born of her womb.

What a wonderful description he has given of the pastimes of Lord Caitanya! Anyone in the three worlds who hears it is purified.

I fervently appeal to everyone to adopt the method of devotional service given by Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda and thus be freed from the miseries of material existence and ultimately achieve the loving service of the Lord.

Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura has written Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala and therein described in all respects the pastimes of Lord Caitanya.

He first summarized all the pastimes of the Lord and later described them vividly in detail.

The pastimes of Lord Caitanya are unlimited and unfathomable. Therefore, in describing all those pastimes, the book became voluminous.

He saw them to be so extensive that he later felt that some had not been properly described.

He ecstatically described the pastimes of Lord Nityānanda, but the later pastimes of Caitanya Mahāprabhu remained untold.

The devotees of Vṛndāvana were all very anxious to hear those pastimes.

In Vṛndāvana, in a great place of pilgrimage underneath the desire trees, is a golden throne bedecked with jewels.

On that throne sits the son of Nanda Mahārāja, Śrī Govindadeva, the transcendental Cupid.

Varieties of majestic service are rendered to Govinda there. His garments, ornaments and paraphernalia are all transcendental.

In that temple of Govindajī, thousands of servitors always render service to the Lord in devotion. Even with thousands of mouths, one could not describe this service.

In that temple the chief servitor was Śrī Haridāsa Paṇḍita. His qualities and fame are known all over the world.

He was gentle, tolerant, peaceful, magnanimous, grave, sweet in his words and very sober in his endeavors.

He was respectful to everyone and worked for the benefit of all. Diplomacy, envy and jealousy were unknown to his heart.

The fifty qualities of Lord Kṛṣṇa were all present in his body.

“In one who has unflinching devotional faith in Kṛṣṇa, all the good qualities of Kṛṣṇa and the demigods are consistently manifested. However, one who has no devotion to the Supreme Personality of Godhead has no good qualifications because he is engaged by mental concoction in material existence, which is the external feature of the Lord.”

Ananta Ācārya was a disciple of Gadādhara Paṇḍita. His body was always absorbed in love of Godhead. He was magnanimous and advanced in all respects.

Ananta Ācārya was a reservoir of all good qualities. No one can estimate how great he was. Paṇḍita Haridāsa was his beloved disciple.

Paṇḍita Haridāsa had great faith in Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda. Therefore he took great satisfaction in knowing about Their pastimes and qualities.

He always accepted the good qualities of Vaiṣṇavas and never found fault in them. He engaged his heart and soul only to satisfy the Vaiṣṇavas.

He always heard the reading of Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, and all the other Vaiṣṇavas used to hear it by his grace.

Like the full moon, he illuminated the entire assembly of Vaiṣṇavas by speaking Śrī Caitanya-maṅgala, and by the nectar of his qualities he increased their transcendental bliss.

By his causeless mercy he ordered me to write about the last pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.

Govinda Gosāñi, the priest engaged in the service of Lord Govinda in Vṛndāvana, was a disciple of Kāśīśvara Gosāñi. There was no servant more dear to the Govinda Deity.

Śrī Yādavācārya Gosāñi, a constant associate of Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, was also very enthusiastic in hearing and chanting about Lord Caitanya’s pastimes.

Bhūgarbha Gosāñi, a disciple of Paṇḍita Gosāñi, was always engaged in topics regarding Lord Caitanya, knowing nothing else.

Among his disciples were Caitanya dāsa, who was a priest of the Govinda Deity, as well as Mukundānanda Cakravartī and the great devotee Kṛṣṇadāsa.

Among the disciples of Ananta Ācārya was Śivānanda Cakravartī, in whose heart Lord Caitanya and Nityānanda constantly dwelled.

In Vṛndāvana there were also many other great devotees, all of whom desired to hear the last pastimes of Lord Caitanya.

By their mercy, all these devotees ordered me to write of the last pastimes of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Because of their order only, although I am shameless, I have attempted to write this Caitanya-caritāmṛta.

Having received the order of the Vaiṣṇavas but being anxious within my heart, I went to the temple of Madana-mohana in Vṛndāvana to ask His permission also.

When I visited the temple of Madana-mohana, the priest Gosāñi dāsa was serving the feet of the Lord, and I also prayed at the Lord’s lotus feet.

When I prayed to the Lord for permission, a garland from His neck immediately slipped down.

As soon as this happened, the Vaiṣṇavas standing there all loudly chanted, “Haribol!” and the priest, Gosāñi dāsa, brought me the garland and put it around my neck.

I was greatly pleased to have the garland signifying the order of the Lord, and then and there I commenced to write this book.

Actually Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta is not my writing but the dictation of Śrī Madana-mohana. My writing is like the repetition of a parrot.

As a wooden doll is made to dance by a magician, I write as Madana-gopāla orders me to do so.

I accept as my family Deity Madana-mohana, whose worshipers are Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī, Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī and Sanātana Gosvāmī.

I took permission from Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura by praying at his lotus feet, and upon receiving his order I have attempted to write this auspicious literature.

Śrīla Vṛndāvana dāsa Ṭhākura is the authorized writer on the pastimes of Lord Caitanya. Without his mercy, therefore, one cannot describe these pastimes.

I am foolish, lowborn and insignificant, and I always desire material enjoyment; yet by the order of the Vaiṣṇavas I am greatly enthusiastic to write this transcendental literature.

The lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa Gosvāmī and Raghunātha dāsa Gosvāmī are my source of strength. Remembering their lotus feet can fulfill all one’s desires.

Praying at the lotus feet of Śrī Rūpa and Śrī Raghunātha, always desiring their mercy, I, Kṛṣṇadāsa, narrate Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, following in their footsteps.