Caitanya Mahāprabhu was not a fool, but Vedānta is not for fool. It requires sufficient education, sufficient status. Then one can understand Vedānta. In each and each code, each word, there are volumes of meaning, and there are many commentation, commentary by Lord Śaṅkarācārya, commentary by Rāmānujācārya, commentary by . . . big, big volumes in Sanskrit language. So how one will understand Vedānta? It is not possible. It may be possible for one person or two persons to understand what is Vedānta, but for the mass of people it is not possible; neither it is possible to practice yoga.
Therefore this Caitanya Mahāprabhu's method, chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa . . . He says the first installment of gain will be ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12, Śikṣāṣṭaka 1) All the dirty things from your heart will be cleansed simply by chanting. You chant. There is no expenditure; there is no loss. But as we are chanting, if you kindly chant . . . you just do it for one week, and you see how much you progress in spiritual knowledge.
We are getting many students. Simply by chanting, they are understanding the whole philosophy. They are giving up their bad habits, they are becoming purified, so many things. They are practical. This Society, movement, is started practically not more than two years, 1966, and we have got so many branches. The American boys and girls, they are taking it very seriously and do it very nicely. They are following all rules and regulation, and they are happy. Ask any one of them.
So this is practical, ceto-darpaṇa-mārjanam (CC Antya 20.12, Śikṣāṣṭaka 1), cleansing the dirty things from the heart simply by chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. Yes. And the next thing is that bhava-mahā-dāvāgni-nirvāpaṇam. As soon as your heart is cleansed of all dirty things, then the all the problems of material existence immediately solved. Bhava-mahā-dāvāgni. It has been compared with dāvāgni. Dāvāgni means the blazing fire in the forest.
In this material existence, nobody wants unhappiness, but it comes, forced, by force. That is the law of material nature. Nobody wants that there may be fire, but especially in this country, wherever in a city we go, the fire brigade is always active. You see? Nobody wants fire, but the fire brigade is active. Yes. There is fire. Similarly, nobody wants so many things. Nobody wants death; there is death. Nobody wants disease; there is disease. Nobody wants old age; oh, there is old age—against my . . . against my desire.
We should have to think that what is the status of this material existence. This human form of life is meant for understanding. The human form of life is not meant for wasting the valuable life like cats and dogs in the matter of eating, sleeping, mating and defending. That is not advancement of civilization. The Bhāgavata says that, "This body is not meant for working very hard simply for sense gratification." No.