In many places devotional service has been compared to a creeper.
One has to sow the seed of the devotional creeper, bhakti-latā, within his heart.
As he regularly hears and chants, the seed will fructify and gradually grow
into a mature plant and then produce the fruit of devotional service,
namely love of Godhead, which the gardener (mālā-kāra)
can then enjoy without impediments. (Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
The Lord brought the desire tree of devotional service to this earth and became
its gardener. He sowed the seed and sprinkled upon it the water of His will.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
Śrī Mādhavendra Purī, also known as Śrī Mādhava Purī, belonged to the disciplic
succession from Madhvācārya and was a greatly celebrated sannyāsī.
Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was the third disciplic descendant from Śrī Mādhavendra Purī.
The process of worship in the disciplic succession of Madhvācārya was full of
ritualistic ceremonies, with hardly a sign of love of Godhead.
Śrī Mādhavendra Purī was the first person in that disciplic succession
to exhibit the symptoms of love of Godhead and the first to write a poem
beginning with the words ayi dīna-dayārdra nātha,
"O supremely merciful Personality of Godhead." In that poem is
the seed of Caitanya Mahāprabhu's cultivation of love of Godhead.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
The seed of devotional service next fructified in the form of Śrī Īśvara Purī,
and then the gardener Himself, Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
became the main trunk of the tree of devotional service.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
By His inconceivable powers, the Lord became the gardener,
the trunk and the branches simultaneously.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
Since Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu was the original trunk,
the taste of the fruits that grew on the branches
and subbranches surpassed the taste of nectar.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
The fruits ripened and became sweet and nectarean.
The gardener, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu,
distributed them without asking any price.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
All the wealth in the three worlds cannot equal
the value of one such nectarean fruit of devotional service.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
As a big fig tree bears fruits all over its body,
each part of the tree of devotional service bore fruit.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
This tree of devotional service is not of this material world.
It grows in the spiritual world, where there is no distinction
between one part of the body and another. It is something like a tree of sugar,
for whichever part of such a tree one tastes, it is always sweet.
The tree of bhakti has varieties of branches, leaves and fruits,
but they are all meant for the service of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
There are nine different processes of devotional service,
but all of them are meant only for the service of the Supreme Lord.
Therefore whether one hears, chants, remembers or worships,
his activities will yield the same result.
Which one of these processes will be the most suitable
for a particular devotee depends upon his taste.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
Since the tree of devotional service is transcendental, every one of its parts
can perform the action of all the others. Although a tree is supposed
to be immovable, this tree nevertheless moves.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
"I am the only gardener. How many places can I go?
How many fruits can I pick and distribute?"
Here Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu indicates that the distribution of the
Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra should be performed by combined force.
All classes of devotees should combine to distribute
the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra without consideration
of the time, place or situation.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu produced so many fruits of devotional service
that they must be distributed all over the world; otherwise, how could
He alone relish and taste each and every fruit? The original reason that
Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa descended as Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu was to understand
Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī's love for Kṛṣṇa and to taste that love. The fruits of the tree
of devotional service were innumerable, and therefore He wanted
to distribute them unrestrictedly to everyone.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
The fruit of love of God is so delicious that wherever a devotee distributes it,
those who relish the fruit, anywhere in the world, immediately become intoxicated.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
As far as we are concerned, we are most confident of the success of the distribution
of the great fruit of love of Godhead through the medium of chanting the mahā-mantra:-
Hare Kṛṣṇa, Hare Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa,Hare Hare
Hare Rāma, Hare Rāma, Rāma Rāma, Hare Hare.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
The fruit of love of Godhead distributed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu is such a great intoxicant
that anyone who eats it, filling his belly, immediately becomes maddened by it,
and automatically he chants, dances, laughs and enjoys.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
When Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the great gardener, sees that people are chanting,
dancing and laughing and that some of them are rolling on the floor
and some are making loud humming sounds, He smiles with great pleasure.
(Sri Caitanya Caritamrta).
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