Śrī Caitanya Śikṣāmṛta

Śacīnandana Śrī Śrī Caitanya Deva descended in Śrīdhāma Navadvīpa at Śrī Māyāpura and, by imparting His own pure and sweet teachings, instructed all the jīvas of the universe. The name of that teaching is Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta. That śikṣāmṛta (nectar of instruction) is the supreme eternal treasure of all jīvas. We humbly submit that readers will attain true fulfillment by studying this book with special care and earnest attention.

If one examines it properly, one will see that Śrī Caitanya-śikṣāmṛta is indeed the essence of all śāstras. Whatever profound truths have been discovered in the Ṛg, Sāma, Yajur, and Atharva Vedas, and in the Vedānta Śāstra, their essential substance will be found in this Śikṣāmṛta. Whatever beneficial teachings are contained in the eighteen Purāṇas, the twenty Dharma Śāstras, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata, the six systems of philosophy, and the Tantras – all of them are found here in their essential philosophical form.

Whatever genuine truths are present in foreign religious teachings and in the religious systems current in our own land will also be found in this book. And whatever may not be found in either indigenous or foreign scriptures may likewise be obtained in this most valuable work.

The dharma taught in this Śikṣāmṛta is at once exceedingly simple and profoundly deep. It is simple because dharma that is easy even for the foolish, unintelligent, and illiterate person is found herein. It is profound because it teaches that supreme dharma which benefits even those scholars who are expert in logic, philosophical analysis, and śāstrika knowledge.

That supreme dharma in the form of the highest jaiva-dharma, suitable for all classes of jīvas, cannot be found anywhere apart from this Śikṣāmṛta. Learned scholars, if they can simply become impartial, may attain eligibility for this dharma. Gentlemen devoted to following varṇāśrama, as well as those outside the boundaries of varṇa, are all qualified to receive this teaching.

Narrow-minded and ignorant men attached merely to karma may obtain a taste for it and, with faith, cross over the ocean of material existence. Likewise, broad-minded philosophical scholars, through impartial deliberation, become attracted to this teaching and easily attain the supreme state. Persons bound by sectarian doctrines, through the power of this teaching, may abandon their own constricted beliefs and acquire a broad and generous disposition. For this very reason we say that the śikṣāmṛta of Śrī Caitanyadeva is the supreme nectarean treasure of the jīva.

Persons devoid of faith in transcendental subjects do not develop a taste for accepting these teachings. Concerning them, our only statement is this – through the influence of time, and through some accumulated pious merit (sukṛti), they too, in some future birth, may become qualified for this śikṣāmṛta.

In many places, wicked persons, due to the reactions of their own deeds, propagate corrupt doctrines such as heterodox religion (vidharma), deceptive religion (chala-dharma), and similar false views as though they were the teachings of Śrī Caitanyadeva. Many persons, lacking discriminating intelligence and absorbed in worldly concerns, accept those corrupt doctrines as being Mahāprabhu’s genuine teachings, and thus remain deprived of true instruction.

Seeing their suffering, we sigh deeply in sorrow. May Mahāprabhu, out of His mercy, deliver them from such undiscriminating misconceptions and false ordinances.

In conclusion, it should be mentioned that, in preparing the alphabetical index of this book, the venerable Śrīyukta Śaśicandra Deva Kaviratna Jyotir-viśārada Mahāśaya rendered me special assistance. For this I offer him my thanks

Śrī Śrī Caitanyabda 420 (1906)

A resident of Śrī Navadvīpa Godruma,
The humble and destitute vānaprasthī –

Śrī Kedāranātha Bhaktivinoda