Hayagrīva: But isn't he incorrect in say..., in maintaining that if God comes to teach as He is, man would be overawed; therefore He comes as a servant of God in human form.
Prabhupāda: Yes.
Hayagrīva: But Kṛṣṇa came as He was and taught.
Prabhupāda: No. Kṛṣṇa came as He was, but people misunderstood Him, because He was talking just like a human being. But people... And they, when He asked sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66), people thought, "It is too much," so they are misguided. Therefore later on He came as a devotee, Caitanya Mahāprabhu, to teach how to approach God. That is the function of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya understood His activities, and he wrote about one hundred verses appreciating Caitanya Mahāprabhu's activity, and the first one is,
- vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti-yoga-
- śikṣārtham ekaḥ puruṣaḥ purāṇaḥ
- śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-śarīra-dhārī
- kṛpāmbudhir yas tam ahaṁ prapadye
- (CC Madhya 6.254)
The, his, he understood Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, while they were talking on the Vedānta philosophy, that Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu is the same Kṛṣṇa; now He has come to teach the human society bhakti-yoga, which is vairāgya-vidyā. Devotional life means renounced life. Vairāgya-vidyā, vairāgya means renunciation. Anyone who has no more interest in materialistic way of life, that is bhakti-yoga. Vairāgya-vidyā-nija-bhakti... So here is the person, Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, in the form of Lord Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is none but the same original Kṛṣṇa. He has come to teach us the same philosophy as He did while teaching Arjuna Bhagavad-gītā, but this time He has come as a devotee of Kṛṣṇa. Similarly, another authority, Rūpa Gosvāmī, understood Him, that "Here is Kṛṣṇa, and He is the most munificent incarnation, because Kṛṣṇa, in order to give Himself to the devotee, demanded full surrender. And here Caitanya Mahāprabhu, without any demand, He is not only giving Kṛṣṇa but the love of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore He is namo mahā-vadānyāya kṛṣṇa-prema-pradāya." So Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord, is affectionate towards us because we are all sons. We are rotting in this material way of life. So He comes Himself, as He is. He comes as a devotee. He leaves His instruction in the Bhagavad-gītā. Again He advises His devotees to preach the philosophy of Bhagavad-gītā. So He is always anxious to enlighten the human being how to go back to home, back to Godhead.
Hayagrīva: Kierkegaard wrote one book called Works of Love, in which he saw God as the hidden source of, of love. He says man, "A man must love God in unconditional, in unconditional obedience and love Him in adoration. It would be ungodliness if any man dared to love himself in this way or dared to love another man in this way or dared to permit another man to love him in this way. God you must love in unconditional obedience even if that which He demands of you may seem injurious to you, for God's wisdom is incomparable with respect to your own."
Prabhupāda: Yes. That is the instruction of Bhagavad-gītā. God demands that "You give up your own plans or any other's so-called intelligent person's plan or philosopher's plan. Take My plan," sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66), "just surrender unto Me fully, then I shall take care of you so that you will not suffer." That is our position. If we fully depend on Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then He will guide us how to make progress back to home, back to Godhead.