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“Let there be all victory for the chanting of the Holy Name of Lord Hari, Lord Krishna, which can cleanse the mirror
of the heart and stop the miseries of the blazing fire of material existence. That chanting is the waxing moon
which spreads the white lotus of good fortune for all living entities. It is the life and soul of all education. The
chanting of the Holy Name of Krishna expands the blissful ocean of transcendental life. It gives a cooling effect to
everyone and enables one to taste full nectar at every step.”
Siksastakam verse 1

As it is been predicted in the various scriptures, Krishna appears in this age of Kali Yuga in a golden form as Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu. In the 11th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, this verse that the Lord Himself wrote is
extolled by the saint Karvajana muni, one of the sons of Maharaj Rshabdev. In it he explains how those who
have intelligence in this age of Kali Yuga, they worship the supreme Lord in the form that is not black, He
appears chanting His own Holy Names and He is accompanied by His associates. And He is worshipped through
the congregational chanting of the Holy Names of Krishna.

In the 10th canto of Srimad Bhagavatam, when Garga Muni appeared at the house of Nanda Maharaj, while
performing the name giving ceremony for Krishna and Balaram, he explained to Nanda Maharaj that this child of
yours, Krishna, He has appeared in various ages. In Satya Yuga, He appeared in a white complexion and He
taught the process of meditation. In Treta Yuga, He appeared in a red complexion and He taught the process of
performance of Sacrifice, yajna. In another age, He appears in a beautiful yellow complexion and in that age, the
scriptures explain, He teaches the congregational chanting of the Holy Name as the means of purification and He
says, now your son has appeared in this blackish complexion.

So taking into consideration, these verses and many others, we can understand how Lord Caitanya is the yuga
avatar. In every Kali Yuga, the Lord appears to propagate the congregational chanting of the Holy Name. In that
yuga avatar, He is an incarnation of ksirodaksayi Vishnu. However, according to the sastra, only once in an entire
day of Brahma, which is several billions of years, does the Lord appear in His original form – Where Krishna who
is longing to experience Srimati Radharani’s love and to see what it is about Himself that so much attracts Srimati
Radharani and to experience the nature and ecstasy of that love, Krishna and Radharani appear in one form.
Krishna, searching to experience the ecstasy of His own pleasure potency Radharani, the Lord appears in this
material world for this purpose and to distribute freely what no other incarnation at any other time gives, and
that is the love of Sri Radharani in Vrndavan to everyone without discrimination.

So when Krishna, the original source of all avatars, appears in this age of Kali Yuga once in a day of Brahma as
Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He comes together with the yuga avatar who is scheduled at that time to propagate
the chanting of the Holy Names. Actually in Lord Caitanya, non-different than Krishna, all avatars are included in
Him.

Just as when Krishna performed His various pastimes, all the various avatars where within Him. The original
Krishna of Vrndavan does not kill demons. When the demons would come to Vrndavan, it was Vasudev, the
expansion of Krishna within Krishna, who would kill those demons.
Krishna is rasa raja. His exclusive transcendental pastime is to enjoy the topmost pleasurable experiences of
love with His unmotivated devotees. Similarly Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu appeared. And here, in this particular
verse, Lord Caitanya is talking to His most intimate devotees, Sri Ramananda Raya and Swarup Damodar
Goswami. These words were spoken at the very end of Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s manifested lila in this
world. At this time, He was practically in seclusion in His room called Gambira, where He was experiencing the
topmost ecstasies of love for Krishna and distributing to the world through His devotees.
Here He is explaining the glories of the chanting of the Holy Names. How through this sankirtan we can achieve
all the topmost perfections of the highest realizations of love of God. There is no need for any other process.
Sankirtan means full chanting of the Holy Name. Sanyat means complete or full. That means everything is
included. And although Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, He spoke so many sublime instructions to His devotees and
through His devotees, He personally only wrote with His own hands, these eight verses called Siksastakam,
which herein He is reciting for the pleasure of His devotees and for the purification of the whole world.
Srila Prabhupada, Srila Bhakti siddhanta Saraswati, and previous acaryas often describe Lord Caitanya’s
sankirtan movement as the seven tongues of the flame of the sacrifice of the sankirtan movement.
What are those seven tongues? They are described in the first verse of the Siksastakam.
There are seven stages of transcendental purification and elevation that takes place when we chant the Holy
Names of Krishna. Those who are sincere to make progress in Krishna consciousness should very carefully
understand this particular verse.

First Purification: ceto darpanam marjanam
Lord Caitanya begins by chanting: Ceto darpanam marjanam. That the congregational chanting of the Holy
Names of the Lord cleanses the mirror of our consciousness. Originally we are all pure Krishna conscious entities.
Mamai vamsa jiva loke, jiva bhuta sanatana. Jiva soul is part and parcel of the supreme soul, Krishna. Nithya
siddha krsna prema sadhya kabhu naya. Pure love of Krishna is within the heart of every living being. Ecstatic
bliss is within the heart of every living being. But somehow the consciousness, which is compared to the mirror,
has been covered with layers and layers of dust.

Why is Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu comparing the consciousness to the mirror? Because the function of the mirror
is to reflect the true identity and the nature of our own self. When we look in the mirror, we do not expect to see
someone else. It is reflecting the real beauty of our self. The soul is unlimitedly beautiful, because it is
qualitatively one with Krishna, Who is the supreme beauty. Krishna explains one spark of His beauty is creating
all the intoxication for pleasure within this entire material existence.

Far greater than the perverted reflection of the spark within this material universe is the soul. Factually the
beauty of one infinitesimal jivatma within any species of life has more qualitative beauty and enchantment than
all the things within this entire cosmic manifestation, all the way up to the Brahma loka. What is the beauty of a
soul that we cannot even imagine? It is part and parcel of Krishna, the all beautiful.

When we look into the mirror, we are supposed to see the reflection of our self. The nature of our consciousness
is to be the mirror of the very nature of our soul. Our soul is meant to love Krishna and to feel the ecstasy of
loving Krishna. But it is covered by layers and layers of dust that has been accumulated birth after birth. And so
we cannot see … we cannot see who we are or what we are meant to be. All we see is that dust.

Lord Caitanya explains what that dust is – it is all of our selfish, egoistic desires to want to enjoy this material
existence. It is the dust of lust. We have so many ambitions, aspirations of how we will enjoy. We are intoxicated
by the illusory phantasmagoria of so called beautiful things of this world, which are compared to mirages. We are
chasing after these mirages birth after birth looking for happiness but finding no real satisfaction.

When that is unfulfilled, we often become very angry and frustrated. Our selfish desires are not satisfied, so we
want to put the blame on someone else … or something. And we make so many offenses. And if somehow or
other we get a little bit pleasure in this material world, we are not satisfied. We want more and more. So we
become greedy which is another species of dust.

Krishna explains, just like fire … What will satisfy a fire? The more fuel you put in, the hungrier it becomes. The
more you have, the more you become greedy for more and more. And if somehow or other someone has
something you want or something more than what you want, then the dust of envy manifests. You become
hateful of that person. You are wishing and praying that this person will loose everything and suffer. You become
envious. Why does he have? Why not me? I deserve.

And through all of this – lust, anger, envy we become very proud of whatever little we have. Even the pauper is
proud of his penny. We think we are very great … and illusion … we become mad by all this illusion. So this false
ego, this desire to enjoy and all the by products that come along with it and the reactions are the types of dust
are that cover the mirror of the soul.