Volume 7 - Prabhupada

IntroductionSri Caitanya-caritamrta is the principal work on the life and teachings of SrTKrr:Ja Caitanya. SrT Caitanya is the pioneer of a great social and religious movementwhich began in India a little less than five hundred years ago and which hasdirectly and indirectly influenced the subsequent course of religious and philosophicalthinking not only in India but in the recent West as well.Caitanya Mahaprabhu is regarded as a figure of great historical significance.However, our conventional method of historical analysis-that of seeing a man asa product of his times-fails here. SrT Caitanya is a personality who transcends thelimited scope of historical settings.At a time when, in the West, man was directing his explorative spirit towardstudying the structure of the physical universe and circumnavigating the world insearch of new oceans and continents, Sri Krr:Ja Caitanya, in the East, was inauguratingand masterminding a revolution directed inward, toward a scientificunderstanding of the highest knowledge of man's spiritual nature.The chief historical sources for the life of Sri Krr:Ja Caitanya are the kadacas (diaries)kept by Murari Gupta and Svaropa Damodara GosvamT. Murari Gupta, aphysician and close associate of Sri Caitanya's, recorded extensive notes on thefirst twenty-four years of Sri Caitanya's life, culminating in his initiation into therenounced order, sannyasa. The events of the rest of Caitanya Mahaprabhu's forty-eightyears are recorded in the diary of SvarOpa Damodora Gosvami, another ofCaitanya Mahaprabhu's intimate associates.Sri Caitanya-caritamrta is divided into three sections called lilas, which literallymeans "pastimes"-Adi-/i/J (the early period), Madhya-lila (the middle period)and Antya-/ila (the final period). The notes of Murari Gupta form the basis of theAdi-li/a, and SvarOpa Damodara's diary provides the details for the Madhya- andAntya-/ilas.The first twelve of the seventeen chapters of Adi-lila constitute the preface forthe entire work. By referring to Vedic scriptural evidence, this preface establishesSri Caitanya as the avatara (incarnation) of Krr:Ja (God) for the age of Kali-thecurrent epoch, beginning five thousand years ago and characterized by materialism,hypocrisy and dissension. In these descriptions, Caitanya Mahaprabhu, whois identical with Lord Krr:Ja, descends to liberally grant pure love of God to thefallen souls of this degraded age by propagating sankirtana-literally,"congregational glorification of God" -especially by organizing massive publicchanting of the maha-mantra (Great Chant for Deliverance). The esoteric purposeof Lord Caitanya's appearance in the world is revealed, his co-avataras and principaldevotees are described and his teachings are summarized. The remainingportion of Adi-lila, chapters thirteen through seventeen, briefly recounts hisdivine birth and his life until he accepted the renounced order. This includes hischildhood miracles, schooling, marriage and early philosophical confrontations, aswell as his organization of a widespread sankirtana movement and his civil disobedienceagainst the repression of the Mohammedan government.vi