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THE PATH OF PERFECTION
causeless mercy, has given us the elevator by which we can come immediately to the platform of  bhakti-yoga . That direct means is the chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, and that is the special gift of Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī offers respects to Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu,  namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te : "Oh, You are the most munificent incarnation because You are directly giving love of Kṛṣṇa. To attain pure love of Kṛṣṇa, one has to pass through so many stages of  yoga , but You are giving this love directly. Therefore You are the most munificent."
As stated in the Eighteenth Chapter of  Bhagavad-gītā  (18.55),
bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ tato mām tattvato jñātvā viśate tad-anantaram
"One can understand the Supreme Personality as He is only by devotional service. And when one is in full consciousness of the Supreme Lord by such devotion, he can enter into the kingdom of God." In the other  yoga  systems, there must be a mixture of  bhakti , but  bhakti-yoga  is unadulterated devotion. It is service without a motive. Generally people pray with some motive in mind, but we should pray only for further engagement in devotional service. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu has taught us that when we pray we should not pray for anything material. In the beginning, we cited Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu's perfect prayer:
na dhanaṁ na janaṁ na sundarīṁ kavitāṁ vā jagad-īśa kāmaye mama janmani janmanīśvare bhavatād bhaktir ahaitukī tvayi
"O Almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor to enjoy beautiful women. Nor do I want any number of followers. What I want only is the causeless mercy of Your devotional service in my life, birth after birth." ( Śikṣāṣṭaka 4 ) In this verse, Caitanya
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Mahāprabhu addresses the Supreme Lord as Jagadīśa.  Jagat  means "universe," and  īśa  means "controller." The Supreme Lord is the controller of the universe, and this can be understood by anyone; therefore Caitanya Mahāprabhu addresses the Supreme Lord as Jagadīśa instead of Kṛṣṇa or Rāma. In the material world we find many controllers, so it is logical that there is a controller of the entire universe. Caitanya Mahāprabhu does not pray for wealth, followers, or beautiful women, because these are material requests. Usually, people want to be very great leaders within this material world. Someone tries to become a very rich man like Ford or Rockefeller, or someone else tries to become president or some great leader that many thousands of people will follow. These are all material demands: "Give me money. Give me followers. Give me a nice wife." Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu refuses to make such materialistic requests. He frankly says, "I don't want any of these things." He even says,  mama janmani janmanīśvare . That is, He's not even asking for liberation. Just as the materialists have their demands, the  yogīs  demand liberation. But Caitanya Mahāprabhu does not want anything of this nature. Then why is He a devotee? Why is He worshiping Kṛṣṇa? "I simply want to engage in Your service birth after birth." He does not even pray for an end to birth, old age, disease, and death. There are no demands whatsoever, for this is the highest platform, the stage of  bhakti-yoga .
Chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa is also asking the Lord, "Please engage me in Your service." This is the  mantra  taught by Caitanya Mahāprabhu Himself.  Hare  refers to the energy of the Lord, and  Kṛṣṇa  and  Rāma  are names for the Lord Himself. When we chant Hare Kṛṣṇa, we are asking Kṛṣṇa to please engage us in His service. This is because our entire material disease is due to our having forgotten to serve God. In illusion, we are thinking, "I am God. What is the other God that I have to serve? I myself am God." Ultimately, that is the only disease, the last snare of illusion. First of all, a person tries to be prime minister, president, Rockefeller, Ford, this and that, and when one fails or attains such a post and is still unhappy, he wants to become God. That is like becoming an even higher president. When I understand that the presidency