Practicing Yoga in the Age of Quarrel
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was the purport of Lord Caitanya's meeting with Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī.
When the Vedānta philosophy was thoroughly discussed between Lord Caitanya and Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī first of all asked Caitanya Mahāprabhu, "I understand that You were a very good scholar in Your early life. [Lord Caitanya was actually a very great scholar. His name was Nimāi Paṇḍita, and at the age of sixteen He defeated a great scholar from Kashmir, Keśava Kāśmīrī.] And I understand that You are a great Sanskrit scholar, and that especially in logic You are a very learned scholar. You were also born in a  brāhmaṇa  family, and now You are a  sannyāsī . How is it that You are chanting and dancing and not reading the  Vedānta ?" This was the first question asked by Prakāśānanda Sarasvatī, and Lord Caitanya replied, "Yes, the reason is that when I was initiated by My spiritual master, he said that I am fool number one. 'You don't discuss the  Vedānta ,' he told Me. 'You will simply spoil Your time. Just take to this chanting of Hare Kṛṣṇa, and You will be successful.'" That was his reply. Of course, Caitanya Mahāprabhu was not a fool, and certainly the  Vedānta  is not for fools. One needs sufficient education, and one must attain a certain status before he can understand the  Vedānta . In each and every word there are volumes of meanings, and there are many commentaries by Śaṅkarācārya and Rāmānujācārya, huge volumes in Sanskrit. But how can we understand  Vedānta ? It is not possible. It  may be  possible for one person or two persons to understand, but for the mass of people it is not possible. Nor is it possible to practice yoga. Therefore, if one takes to Caitanya Mahāprabhu's method, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, the first installment of gain will be  ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam : all the dirty things will be cleansed from the heart simply by chanting. Chant. There is no expenditure, and there is no loss. If one simply chants for one week, he will see how much he will progress in spiritual knowledge.
We are attracting many students simply by chanting, and they are understanding the entire philosophy and becoming purified. This Society's movement started only four years ago, in 1966, and we have so many branches already. The American boys and girls are taking it very seriously, and they are happy. Ask any one of them.  Ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam . They are cleansing the dirty things from the heart, simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
The next point is  bhava-mahādāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam : as soon as the heart is cleansed of all dirty things, then all the problems of material existence are immediately solved. This world has been compared to  dāvāgni , which means a blazing fire in the forest. In this material existence no one wants