In Bhagavad-gītā Lord Kṛṣṇa sets forth the highest religious principle in this way:
- sarva-dharmān parityajya
- mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
- ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
- mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear." (BG 18.66)
This may seem to be a simple instruction to follow, but invariably our reaction is, "Oh, surrender? Give up? But I have so many responsibilities." And māyā, illusion, says to us, "Don't do it, or you'll be out of my clutches. Just stay in my clutches, and I'll kick you." It is a fact that we are constantly being kicked by māyā, just as the male ass is kicked in the face by the she-ass when he comes for sex. Similarly, cats and dogs are always fighting and whining when they have sex. These are the tricks of nature. Even an elephant in the jungle is caught by the use of a trained she-elephant who leads him into a pit. Māyā has many activities, and in the material world her strongest shackle is the female. Of course in actuality we are neither male nor female—for these designations refer only to the outer dress, the body. We are all actually Kṛṣṇa's servants. In conditioned life, however, we are shackled by the iron chains which take the form of beautiful women. Thus every male is bound by sex life, and therefore when one attempts to gain liberation from the material clutches, he must first learn to control the sex urge. Unrestricted sex puts one fully in the clutches of illusion. Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu officially renounced this illusion at the age of twenty-four, although His wife was sixteen and His mother seventy, and He was the only male member of the family. Although He was a brāhmaṇa and was not rich, He took sannyāsa, the renounced order of life, and thus extricated Himself from family entanglement.
If we wish to become fully Kṛṣṇa conscious, we have to give up the shackles of māyā, or, if we remain with māyā, we should live in such a way that we will not be subject to illusion. It is not necessary for one to abandon his family, for there were many householders amongst Lord Caitanya's closest devotees. What must be renounced is the propensity for material enjoyment. Although Lord Caitanya approved of a householder having regulated sex in marriage, He was very strict with those in the renounced order, and He even banished junior Haridāsa for glancing lustfully at a young woman. The point is that one must take up a particular path and stick to it, obeying all the rules and regulations necessary for success in spiritual life. It was Lord Caitanya's mission that He teach the path of Kṛṣṇa consciousness to all men and thereby enable them to partake of the immortality of spiritual life.
From Caitanya-caritāmṛta we learn how Caitanya taught people to become immortal, and thus the title may be properly translated as "the immortal character of the living force." The supreme living force is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He is also the supreme entity. There are innumerable living entities, and all of them are individual. This is very easy to understand: We are all individual in thought and desires, and the Supreme Lord is also an individual person. He is different, though, in that He is the leader, the one whom no one can excel. Amongst the created living entities, one being can excel another in one capacity or another. The Lord is an individual, just as the living entities are individual, but He is different in that He is the supreme individual. God is also infallible, and in Bhagavad-gītā He is addressed as Acyuta, which means, "He who never falls down." This is indicated because in Bhagavad-gītā Arjuna had fallen into delusion but Kṛṣṇa had not.