Actual philosophy is this: the religion means surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Anything else which does not surrender to Kṛṣṇa, that is not religion. That is rejected in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, dharmaḥ projjhita-kaitavo (SB 1.1.2): all cheating religion is rejected.
That is a fact. Religion means to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu appeared to teach this religion, how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga. Nija-bhakti-yoga. He is teaching surrendering to Kṛṣṇa, just like we are teaching. We are . . . what we are teaching? Surrender to Kṛṣṇa. This is our mission; we have no other mission. Kṛṣṇa says: "You surrender unto to Me," and we say: "You surrender unto to Kṛṣṇa." That is religion.
Because we have to say we are servant of Kṛṣṇa; therefore we have to teach everyone to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Not that, "I am God, you surrender to me." But one who teaches this philosophy—surrender to Kṛṣṇa—he is also as good as Kṛṣṇa, because he is Kṛṣṇa’s representative. He is speaking the same thing, without any alteration, without any change. Therefore he is perfect representative of Kṛṣṇa, and perfect representative of Kṛṣṇa should be honored as good as Kṛṣṇa:
- sākṣād-dharitvena samasta-śāstrair
- uktas tathā bhāvyata eva sadbhiḥ
- kintu prabhor yaḥ priya eva tasya
- vande guroḥ śrī-caraṇāravindam
(Śrī Gurv-aṣṭaka 7)
These are the description of the devotee. Guru is respected as good as Kṛṣṇa because he is most confidential servant of Kṛṣṇa. Why? Because he is teaching everyone to surrender to Kṛṣṇa. Others, they are not teaching; they are so-called gurus. They are not teaching; they are bluffing, cheating people: "I am God. You press your nose, you become God. You . . ." So many nonsense things are there. Just see. But the pure guru is he who is teaching simply, "You surrender to Kṛṣṇa." That is it. That is the pure religion.
So our system is very simple, and at the same time very hard also. It is very hard for the unfortunate, but for the fortunate it is very easy. There is no difficulty to accept this philosophy. So Caitanya Mahāprabhu came . . . (indistinct) . . . He is Kṛṣṇa Himself, but He is teaching how to surrender to Kṛṣṇa.