To understand Kṛṣṇa and to understand the service of Kṛṣṇa is very exalted post. Brahma-bhūtaḥ. One has to become brahma-bhūtaḥ, completely liberated. Then he can understand how to render service to Kṛṣṇa, mad-bhaktiṁ labhate parām. So, so difficult subject matter is given very easily by Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Therefore Rūpa Gosvāmī offered his first prayer to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu:
- namo mahā-vadānyāya
- kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya te
- kṛṣṇāya kṛṣṇa-caitanya-
- nāmne gaura-tviṣe namaḥ
- (CC Madhya 19.53)
Such a difficult subject matter: Kṛṣṇa. "You are not only giving Kṛṣṇa, but You are giving kṛṣṇa-prema, love of Kṛṣṇa." You can meet somebody, some exalted person, you can see, but to become an intimate relationship with such exalted person in love, that is not very easy thing. I can meet the president or some exalted person, but to become in love with him in intimacy, that is not easy job. But Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu distributed this Kṛṣṇa love immediately, anyone. That is Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu's, I mean to say, contribution to the human society. If you simply become under the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, then love of Kṛṣṇa is very easily achieved.
Therefore it is said: tāṅhāra caraṇāśrita, sei baḍa dhanya. He's glorified because he receives . . . to become under the lotus feet of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu means you have got Kṛṣṇa. You have already got. That is the verdict of the śāstra and Caitanya-caritāmṛta. Because Kṛṣṇa, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, does not give anything else. Simply directly gives you Kṛṣṇa and His love. And to award this greatest benediction to the human society, He took sannyāsa at the age of twenty-four years only, in this land of Māyāpur, Navadvīpa. It is very glorified place. It is not ordinary place. Therefore Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura says, gauḍa maṇḍala bhūmi, yeba jane cintāmaṇi tara hoy vrajabhūme vāsa. Anyone who understands gauḍa maṇḍala bhūmi in Bengal—this Navadvīpa, Navadvīpa-candra, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu—if anyone understands the spiritual value of this land, he lives in Vrajabhūmi, in Vṛndāvana. There is no difference between Vṛndāvana and this Gaura-maṇḍala-bhūmi. That is the verdict of the śāstra. Gauḍa-maṇḍala-bhūmi yena jane cintāmaṇi tara hoy vrajabhūme vāsa (Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura).
So read Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's Prārthanā, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura's Prārthanā. They are very, very valuable for advancement of spiritual understanding, especially Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura's Prārthanā. So, by reading them, by understanding them, we can understand Kṛṣṇa very easily. Otherwise, it is very, very difficult to understand Kṛṣṇa. Big, big scholars, big, big sannyāsīs, they cannot understand Kṛṣṇa. They understand Kṛṣṇa that Kṛṣṇa is like us—a very great man, politician, historical person—or sometimes thinks of Kṛṣṇa as a debauch because He was in association with the gopīs or He married sixteen thousand wives.
So we shall be misled to understand Kṛṣṇa if we try to do so by our own knowledge. We have to accept Kṛṣṇa through Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu advises everyone:
- āmāra ājñāya guru hañā tāra' ei deśa
- yāre dekha tāre kaha 'kṛṣṇa'-upadeśa
- (CC Madhya 7.128)
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, He is Kṛṣṇa Himself. Kṛṣṇa-upadeśa. Avajānanti māṁ mūḍhā mānuṣīṁ tanum . . . (BG 9.11). Because He came as a human being, people have misunderstood Him, that He's a human being. He's not human being. He's the master of the human being. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati bhārata, tadātmānaṁ sṛjāmy aham (BG 4.7). Kṛṣṇa comes, very kindly—because we are part and parcel of Kṛṣṇa—when we are in distressed condition on account of violating the laws of religion. Yadā yadā hi dharmasya glānir bhavati. Glāni means deviation from the path of religion. And what is religion? Religion, dharmaṁ tu sākṣād bhagavat-praṇītam (SB 6.3.19). Religion means the laws of God. That is religion. Simple definition. Laws, the words, the rules and regulation given by the Lord, that is called religion. Just like I have several times explained, the laws, the rules and regulations given by the state is called law. You cannot manufacture law. Similarly, you cannot manufacture dharma. Nowadays, in this Kali-yuga, all the rascals, they are manufacturing religion. But who cares for that religion, or what will be the benefit of such religion? There'll be no benefit.