Anxious to hear of these later pastimes, the devotees in Vṛndāvana requested Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī, whom they respected as a great saint and scholar, to compose a book narrating these episodes in detail. Upon this request, and with the permission and blessings of the Madana-mohana Deity of Vṛndāvana, he began compiling Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, which, due to its literary excellence and philosophical thoroughness, is today universally regarded as the foremost work on the life and profound teachings of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu.
Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Gosvāmī commenced work on the text at a very advanced age and in failing health, as he vividly describes in the text itself: "I have now become too old and disturbed by invalidity. While writing, my hands tremble. I cannot remember anything, nor can I see or hear properly. Still I write, and this is a great wonder." That he completed the greatest literary gem of medieval India under such debilitating conditions is surely one of the wonders of literary history.
As mentioned above, this English translation and commentary is the work of His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, the world's most distinguished teacher of Indian religious and philosophical thought. Śrīla Prabhupāda's commentary is based upon two Bengali commentaries, one by his guru, Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Gosvāmī, the eminent Vedic scholar, teacher, and saint who predicted, "The time will come when the people of the world will learn Bengali to read Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta," and the other by Śrīla Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī’s father, Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, who pioneered the propagation of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu's teachings in the modern era.