In the Srimad-Bhagavatam when Karabhajana Muni was elucidating the different incarnations of Godhead in different yugas, he said that "In the Kali-yuga the intelligent persons will worship the incarnation of Sri Krishna, by the transcendental sankirtana method. This incarnation of Sri Krishna will be non-blackish in the color of His body but will constantly chant the name of Krishna along with His many disciples who will act as the soldiers for the deliverance of the fallen souls of the Kali-yuga.''[Srimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.32]
Sri Krishna Caitanya preached as one of the Vaisnava acaryas like Ramanujacarya and others and His mission was to establish the same theory of deliverance as was propounded by Sri Krishna Himself in the Bhagavad-gita. In the Bhagavad-gita the Lord personally described as to the method of approaching Him; His real features, His different Potencies known as the mahamaya and the yogamaya, His virat appearance - His method of creation maintenance and destruction of the material world, information of the transcendental world which does not annihilate even after the annihilation of the material world. [Lord Krishna also describes] the living entities / souls, the process of migration of the souls the description of the mahatmas, their duties and lastly the duty of everybody after elaborate elucidation of the three modes of nature; satya, raja, tama [goodness, passion, ignorance] and the different human races, work, knowledge, devotion, worship activities under the influence of such modes of nature. In the Bhagavad-gita a clear distinction has been made between the asura prakrti [bad energy] and daiva prakrti [good energy] and He has vehemently deprecated the demonic or asuric prakrti and eulogized the daiva prakrti.
The Mahamaya, who is known as Durga, Kali, Candi, Bhadrakali, Mohalaksmi, etc is the embodiment of His external potency as described in the Candi and it is the thankless task of the Mahamaya to punish the asuras with Her all powerful weapons in the ten direction of the material world. She does not only create and maintain this material world, but also she annihilates it according to the direction of the almighty God.
In the Bhagavad-gita this Mahamaya has also been described as Daivi Maya and She is so powerful that the asuras [demons] cannot by-pass Her at any rate. The asura can get remission from the stroke of the trisula of Mohamaya when he the asura surrenders, surrenders himself to Sri Krishna the Personality of Godhead. As Superintendent of the material world, the Mohamaya has been described [as] Durga the protectress of the great durga or fortress of the grand universes. She gives all the necessities for our existence but as soon as we become an asura like the Mohisasuras, Ravanas, Hiranyakasipus, and in later ages like the Mussolinis and such others for the exploitation of the material energy, the Durga Devi at once appears Herself with Her dreadful trident and begins to devastate the whole existence by such tribulations as war, famine, pestilence, or sometimes annihilation of a total existence. The methods of annihilation as are invented by the human brain such as the atomic bombs etc are also Her creations but the deluded asuras, who are caused to act by the modes of prakrti, the material nature, do think themselves as the originator or inventor of such weapons. In that way a constant struggle is going on between the asuras and the prakrti and the asuras are thus being punished in different ways which the asuras cannot overcome by any method except by full surrender unto the almighty God.
In the Bhagavad-gita the last instruction is to surrender fully unto Him the author of the Bhagavad-gita but unfortunate men of demonic mentality misunderstood the teachings of Bhagavad-gita as a method of sophistry and therefore the same Personality of Godhead Sri Krishna in the garb of a transcendental devotee preach the same techniques of Bhagavad-gita i.e. full surrender unto the almighty God or His different potencies in a demonstrative way.
The method of His demonstration was also very suitable. He inaugurated the sankirtana movement accompanied with melodious song which method has been found practically very effective amongst the masses. It is not possible for the masses to study the Vedanta or to undergo the difficult mystic processes especially in the Kali-yuga when the general people [are] indolent, unfortunate, shortlived and always disturbed by physical and mental tribulations. So they the general mass of people are fallen in the estimation of the great saints and as such for them Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is the only hope for deliverance. When Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu visited Varanasi He was invited to a philosophical discourse by the Prakashananda Sarasvati a great giant scholar and sannyasi of the Mayavadi [the school of thought that God is not a person] or Sankara sampradaya and discussion was made on the Vedanta philosophy. Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu was victorious in that discussion and converted the great sannyasi with his 60,000 followers to His cult of devotion and established His easy method of sankirtana movement the most suitable method for the deliverance of the people in general.
(Excerpt from: A Letter written by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada to Juggannath Babu -- Calcutta 14 March, 1949)
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