Original Teachings of Lord Caitanya (text)

The Teachings of Lord Caitanya is one of Srila Prabhupada’s most important books. It is a summary study of the Sri Caitanya-caritamrta and contains the life and teachings of Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu who appeared in West Bengal around five hundred years ago and who is Lord Krishna Himself appearing in the mood of a pure devotee of Krishna.

To download Teachings of Lord Caitanya please click on the book cover image on the left.

In the Kali Yuga the Supreme Lord comes as One Who always chants the Holy Name of Sri Krishna, Who is Sri Krishna Himself, Whose complexion is yellow.—Srimad Bhagwatam (XI:5:32)

These words of the massive Srimad Bhagwatam, recorded by the author of the famous Bhagavad-Gita, Vyasadev, foretell the advent of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Lord Chaitanya, like Christ, was a spiritual revolutionary Who taught that conceptions of being Hindu, Christian, Muslim, black, white, male and female are “bodily designations that are finished when the body is finished.” His Peace Formula is this: all living entities, including trees, bacteria, ants, cows and humans are eternal spiritual sparks of the Supreme Lord and all are brothers who have the same One Father. In Teachings of Lord Chaitanya, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami presents to the West the sublime life and teachings of this great transcendental Personality of the 15th century Whose Sankirtan Movement swept first India, and now the West.

Many philosophers recognise God to be a force that is beyond name or form, but Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught that God is a Person Who has Form, Qualities, Name and Pastimes–but Who is nevertheless Absolute and Transcendental and beyond anything we have experienced in this material world.

Lord Chaitanya journeyed up and down the subcontinent of India to deliver the easiest, most glorious method of self-realisation: chanting of the Hare Krishna Mantra. His explanations of the esoteric Vedanta Sutra converted many impersonalists, turning them “from dried sticks into blooming flowers.” He led thousands in massive Kirtan parades of ecstasy, and even caused tigers in the jungles to swoon.

Teachings of Lord Chaitanya is a remarkable book which answers definitively the unanswered questions burning within man’s heart. The Swamiji’s chapter entitled “The Beauty of Krishna” is a description of the stunning beauty of God which stands by itself as one of the most sublime lyrical achievements in all mystic literature. His vast scholarship qualifies him as the most erudite Vedic scholar now writing in English. As Acharya (meaning one who teaches by example) of the Sankirtan Movement today, the Swami lectures at numerous temples and writes out of his daily experiences with the authority of a master, so that his books are both learned and practical, instructive as well as deeply moving. To read A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami’s books is to understand that here is one who knows the Absolute Truth, one who can teach it perfectly.