Practicing Yoga in the Age of Quarrel 153
was the purport of Lord Caitanya’s meeting with Prakasdnanda Sarasvati.

When the Vedanta philosophy was thoroughly discussed between Lord
Caitanya and Prakasananda Sarasvati, Prakasananda Sarasvati first of all
asked Caitanya Mahdprabhu, ‘‘I understand that You were a very good
scholar in Your early life. [Lord Caitanya was actually a very great
scholar. His name was Niméai Pandita, and at the age of sixteen He de-
feated a great scholar from Kashmir, KeSava Kasmiri.] 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 brdhmana family, and now
You are a sannyasi. How is it that You are chanting and dancing and not
reading the Vedanta?’’ This was the first question asked by Prakasdnanda
Sarasvati, 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 Vedanta,’ he told Me. ‘You will simply spoil Your time.
Just take to this chanting of Hare Krsna, and You will be successful.’ ”’
That was his reply. Of course, Caitanya Mahaprabhu was not a fool, and
certainly the Vedanta is not for fools. One needs sufficient education, and
one must attain a certain status before he can understand the Vedanta. In
each and every word there are volumes of meanings, and there are many
commentaries by Sankaracdrya and Ramanujacarya, huge volumes in
Sanskrit. But how can we understand Vedanta? 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 Mahaprabhu’s method, chanting Hare Krsna, the
first installment of gain will be ceto-darpana-mdrjanam: 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 un-
derstanding 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-darpana-mar-.-
janam. They are cleansing the dirty things from the heart, simply by
chanting Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare/ Hare Rama,
Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

The next point is bhava-mahddavagni-nirvapanam: 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 davagni, which
means a blazing fire in the forest. In this material existence no one wants
