Introduction 15
is incarnated as Adwaita. This Adwaita Acharya is the incarnation of that
Maha Vishnu, Who creates this material world through the agency of the
material energy. Therefore Adwaita Acharya is also the Lord, or an expansion
of the Lord. Why is He called Adwaita? Adwaita means nondual. His name is
such because He is non-different from the Supreme Lord. And He is called
Acharya, teacher, because He disseminated Krishna Consciousness. In this
He is just like Chaitanya Mahaprabhu—although He is Sri Krishna Himself,
He appeared as a devotee to teach how to love Krishna. So Adwaita Acharya
appeared just to distribute the knowledge of Krishna Consciousness. He is
also the incarnation of a devotee.

Krishna is manifested in five different expansions, and Himself and all
of His other Associates appear as devotees of the Supreme Lord. Some of them
are like Adwaita Acharya—He is an incarnation of Maha Vishnu. And one is
known as Bhakta Nityananda Prabhu, Who also appeared as a devotee. So
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the Source of energy for all devotees. If we take
shelter of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu for Krishna Consciousness, it becomes very
easy. There is a very nice song: “My dear Lord Chaitanya, please have mercy
upon me, because there is no one who is such a merciful Lord as You are.
You have descended to deliver all fallen souls, but You will not find a more
fallen soul than me; therefore, my claim to be delivered is most urgent.
Because Your mission is to deliver the fallen souls, and nobody is more fallen
than me, I have my priority.”

Now the author begins his obeisances to Krishna. The author, Krishna
Das, was an inhabitant of Vrindaban. Some incidents from his life will be
described in the Fifth Chapter of the Chaitanya Charitamrita. He was a great
devotee. He had been living in Katwa, a small subdivisional city in the
district of Bardwan in Bengal, with his family who also worshipped Radha
Krishna, when there was some misunderstanding—not on family matters,
but about devotional service. In the midst of this misunderstanding, Nityananda
Prabhu advised him in a dream to leave his home and go to Vrindaban.
Although he was very old, he started out that very night, and came to live
at Vrindaban. He met some of the Goswamis there. His tomb remains in the
temple where I live in Vrindaban. This is Krishna Das Kaviraj Goswami,
the author of Chaitanya Charitamrita. This Chaitanya Charitamrita was requested
by the devotees of Vrindaban. He began at a very old age, but by the grace
of Lord Chaitanya he finished this nice, most authoritative book on Chaitanya’s
philosophy and life: The Character and Activities of the Eternal Living Force.

Because he lived in Vrindaban, there are three temples that are very im-
