Introduction 3

nounced is the propensity for material enjoyment. Although Lord Caitanya
approved of a householder having regulated sex in marriage, He was very strict with
those in the renounced order, and He even banished Junior Haridasa for glancing
lustfully at a young woman. The point is that one must take up a particular path
andstick to it, obeying all the rules and regulations necessary for success in spiritual
life. It was Lord Caitanya’s mission that He teach the path of Krsna consciousness
to all men and thereby enable them to partake of the immortality of spiritual life.

From Cajitanya-caritamrta we learn how Caitanya taught people to become im-
mortal, and thus the title may be properly translated as ‘‘the immortal character of
the living force.’’ The supreme living force is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
He is also the supreme entity. There are innumerable living entities, and all of them
are individual. This is very easy to understand: We are all individual in thought and
desires, and the Supreme Lord is also an individual person. He is different, though,
in that He is the leader, the one whom no one can excel. Amongst the created living
entities, one being can excel another in one capacity or another. The Lord is an
individual, just as the living entities are individual, but He is different in that He is
the supreme individual. God is also infallible, and in Bhagavad-gita He is addressed
as Acyuta, which means, ‘“‘He who never falls down.” This is indicated because in
Bhagavad-gita Arjuna had fallen into delusion but Krsna had not. We often hear it
said that God is infallible, and in Bhagavad-gita Krsna states:

nanyam gunebhyah kartaram
yada drastanupasyati

gunebhyas ca param vetti
mad-bhavam so 'dhigacchati

“When you see that there is nothing beyond these modes of nature in all activities
and that the Supreme Lord is transcendental to all these modes, then you can
know My spiritual nature.”’ (Bg. 14.19)

Thus we should not think that Krsna is overpowered by the material potency
when He is in the material world. Krsna and His incarnations are not under the
control of material nature. They are totally free. Indeed, in Srimad-Bhagavatam
one who has a godly nature is actually defined as one who is not affected by the
modes of material nature, although in material nature. If even a devotee can attain
this freedom, then what to speak of the Supreme?

The real question is how can we remain unpolluted by material contamination
while in the material world. It was Ripa Gosvami who explained that we can remain
uncontaminated while in the world if we simply make it our ambition to serve
Krsna. One may then justifiably ask, ‘How can I serve?’’ Obviously this is not simply
a matter of meditation, which is just an activity of the mind, but of practical work.
Love of Krgna’s service can only be attained by working for Krsna. In such work,
we should leave no resource unused. Whatever is there, whatever we have, should
be used for Krsna. We can use everything: typewriters, automobiles, airplanes,
missiles—anything. If we simply speak to people about Krsna consciousness, we are
also rendering service. If our minds, senses, speech, money and energies are thus
