196 Teachings of Lord Chaitanya

Without devotional service nobody can become liberated from the material
clutches. Especially in this age, when simply by chanting Hare Krishna, Hare
Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare|/Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama,
Hare Hare, one can achieve the highest liberation.”

In the Srimad Bhagwatam, Tenth Canto, Fourteenth Chapter, it is stated
that, for a person who gives up the path of devotional service and simply
undergoes some labor of life for knowledge, there is no other profit than taking
the trouble to understand what is matter and what is spirit. It is considered
useless labor to try to get grains from the husks which are empty. Similarly,
in the Tenth Canto, Second Chapter, it is also said that a person who gives
up the transcendental loving service of the Supreme Lord and artificially
considers himself liberated, never attains to actual liberation. On the contrary,
with great labor of austerity and penances he may be elevated to the status of
liberation, but for want of shelter unto the Lotus Feet of the Supreme Lord,
he falls down again into the material contamination.

The Supreme Brahman cannot be accepted as impersonal. Otherwise
the six opulences, meaning the Supreme Personality of Godhead, will not be
acceptable in the concept of Brahman. All the Vedas and the Puranas affirm that
the Supreme Personality of Godhead is full of spiritual energies. Foolish per-
sons do not accept the energy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and
therefore His Pastimes and His Activities are derided by them. They misinter-
pret the transcendental Body of Krishna as a creation of the Material Nature,
and this is the greatest offense and sinful act. One should, therefore, accept
the words of Chaitanya just as He explained in this assembly.

The individual Personality of the Supreme Absolute Truth is explained
in the Srimad Bhagwatam, Third Canto, Ninth Chapter: “O my Supreme
Lord, the transcendental Form which I am just seeing is simple transcendental
pleasure without any change and without any contamination of the material
modes. It is full of effulgence and there is no greater manifestation of the
Absolute Truth than this. O Soul of everyone, You are the Creator of this
cosmic manifestation with all the material elements, and I surrender unto You,
Your transcendental Form, O Krishna! O Most Auspicious Universe! You
advent Yourself in Your Original Personal Form for the Purpose of being
worshipped by us. We perceive You either by meditation or by worshipping
directly. Foolish persons, mostly contaminated by the material Nature, do
not give much importance to Your transcendental Form, and therefore they
are understood to be gliding down to hell.”

The same statement is confirmed in the Bhagavad Gita, Ninth Chapter,
