Lord Caitanya offers fallen souls deliverance through divine names while infinite Vaikunthas eternally glorify Krishna's inexhaustible expansions.Listen — Srila Prabhupada Uvaca
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Madhya-līlā 21.1–10 — January 3, 1967, New York 670103CC-NEW YORK [26:18 Minutes] Prabhupāda: agaty-eka-gatiṁ natvā hīnārthādhika-sādhakam śrī-caitanyaṁ likhāmy asya mādhuryaiśvarya-śīkaram [Cc. Madhya 21.1] [Offering my obeisances unto Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, let me describe a particle of His opulence and sweetness. He is most valuable for a fallen conditioned soul bereft of spiritual knowledge, and He is the only shelter for those who do not know the real goal of life.] Agaty-eka-gatiṁ natvā. So the author of this Caitanya-caritāmṛta is offering his respectful obeisances unto Lord Caitanya.
So he says, agaty-eka-gatiṁ natvā. Agati, persons who have fallen, who have no hope for reaching the supreme destination, for them Lord Caitanya is the only hope. This age, it is stated in authoritative scriptures, in this age the people are unfortunate. Of course, they are very much proud of advancing.
From spiritual point of view, the people of this age, Kali-yuga, they are unfortunate. Their description is given in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Second Chapter, First Canto, that people are short-living—their duration of life is very short—and they are very slow in the matter of spiritual realization. The human form of life is specially meant for spiritual realization, but they have forgotten that aim of life. They are very much serious about maintaining about the necessities of this body, which he is not. And if somebody's interested to have some taste of spiritual realization, they are misdirected. prāyeṇālpāyuṣaḥ [sabhya] kalāv asmin yuge janāḥ mandāḥ sumanda-matayo..., sumanda-matayo manda-bhāgyā... [SB 1.1.10] [O learned one, in this iron Age of Kali men almost always have but short lives. They are quarrelsome, lazy, misguided, unlucky and, above all, always disturbed.] And they are unfortunate; upadrutāḥ, and always disturbed by so many things. So this is the position of the present-day population, and the author of Caitanya-caritāmṛta, he says that Lord Caitanya is the only hope for these people. Why? Because spiritual realization is not an ordinary subject matter.
But He has given us the shortcut. He's so kind to the people of the world that simply He has introduced this Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa, Hare Hare/ Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare. By simple chanting of this transcendental vibration the people of this age will make exact progress in the matter of spiritual realization. Therefore this reference is there, agaty-eka-gatim. Those who are hopeless about their spiritual realization, Lord Caitanya is the only one hope. So hīnārthādhika-sādhakam śrī-caitanyaṁ likhāmy asya.
So "I am just offering my respect to Lord Śrī Caitanya. I am trying to describe about His transcendental activities and instructions and philosophy." Now, jaya jaya śrī-caitanya jaya nityānanda jayādvaita-candra jaya gaura-bhakta-vṛnda [Cc. Madhya 21.2] [All glories to Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu! All glories to Nityānanda Prabhu! All glories to Advaita Ācārya! And all glories to all the devotees of Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu!] This is the process of offering respect to Lord Caitanya. What is that? Lord Caitanya is always presented with five transcendental entourage.
He is Himself present, and His next, I mean to say, expansion, Nityānanda, and His incarnation, Advaita, and His internal potency, Gadādhara, and His external..., er, marginal potency, Śrī Śrīvāsa. So pañca-tattvātmakaṁ kṛṣṇam. He is Kṛṣṇa, but He is present in this age with His five associates. Pañca-tattvātmakaṁ kṛṣṇaṁ bhakta-rūpa-svarūpakam [Maṇgalācaraṇa]. [I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa, who is nondifferent from His features as a devotee, devotional manifestation, devotional incarnation, pure devotee and devotional energy.] But although He is Kṛṣṇa, He presents Himself as a devotee of Kṛṣṇa.
Bhakta-rūpa-svarūpakam. Bhaktāvatāram bhaktākhyam: and incarnation of devotee, Advaita, and bhaktākhyam. These five associates are always with Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. So to offer Kṛṣṇa Caitanya means to offer with His associates.