Excerpt from Introduction, Chaitanya-charitamrita, Adi-lila. The real question is, How can we remain unpolluted by material contamination while in the material world? Srila Rupa Gosvami explains that we can remain uncontaminated while in the world if we simply make it our ambition to serve Krishna. One may then justifiably ask, “How can I serve?” It is not simply a matter of meditation, which is just an activity of the mind, but of performing practical work for Krishna. In such work, we should leave no resource unused. Whatever is there, whatever we have, should be used for Krishna. We can use everything—typewriters, automobiles, airplanes, missiles. If we simply speak to people about Krishna consciousness, we are also rendering service. If our mind, senses, speech, money and energies are thus engaged in the service of Krishna, then we are no longer in material nature. By virtue of spiritual consciousness, or Krishna consciousness, we transcend the platform of material nature. It is a fact that Krishna, His expansions and His devotees—that is, those who work for Him—are not in material nature, although people with a poor fund of knowledge think that they are.

The Chaitanya-charitamrita teaches that the spirit soul is immortal and that our activities in the spiritual world are also immortal. The Mayavadis, who hold the view that the Absolute is impersonal and formless, contend that a realized soul has no need to talk. But the Vaishnavas, devotees of Krishna, contend that when one reaches the stage of realization, he really begins to talk. “Previously we only talked of nonsense,” the Vaishnava says. “Now let us begin our real talks, talks of Krishna.” In support of their view that the self-realized remain silent, the Mayavadis are fond of using the example of the water pot, maintaining that when a pot is not filled with water it makes a sound, but that when it is filled it makes no sound. But are we waterpots? How can we be compared to them? A good analogy utilizes as many similarities between two objects as possible. A waterpot is not an active living force, but we are. Ever-silent meditation may be adequate for a waterpot, but not for us. Indeed, when a devotee realizes how much he has to say about Krishna, twenty-four hours in a day are not sufficient. It is the fool who is celebrated as long as he does not speak, for when he breaks his silence his lack of knowledge is exposed. The Chaitanya-charitamrita shows that there are many wonderful things to discover by glorifying the Supreme.