Krishna in gold

The lord appears within the material world throughout history in order to deliver all from material existence, as Krishna himself mentions in the Gita: "In every age I myself appear to deliver the pious, destroy the wicked and reestablish the dharma" (Bhagavad-Gita 4.8). In each and every age the lord appears himself for the benefit of all. In many forms he may appear and in many colors.
5000 years ago he appeared in Vrindavan and Krishna was his name. Krishna means "all attractive", but it also means "black". That was the color he appeared in. That time was the end of the age of Dvapra and the beginning of the age of Kali. Now we are in the age of Kali, which began about 5000 years ago and should end in a few tens of thousands of years. This age is described in the Bhagavat-Purana as the aged of quarrel, where virtues quality in men is gradually decreasing, and making spiritual advancement very difficult. The Kali-Santarna Upanishad mentions that this age may be crossed over to enlightenment by uttering the name of the lord. It mentions: "The name of God, the name of God, the name of God alone, in the age of kali there is nothing else, nothing else, nothing else that will redeem you". So it is written in the Upanishad. And also, a mantra is mentioned of sixteen names (the Hare-Krishna Maha-Mantra) upon which meditation shell destroy all impurity. The scriptures also mention how Krishna appears in this age. And that image of Krishna in this age is Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
As mentioned, the lord appears in different ages in different colors. In the Bhagavad Purana is is mentioned that in the four ages he apperes in red, white, gold and black and that Krishna is the black one. Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu appeared in the color of gold. The Bhagvatam, in its 11th canda, specifically mentions the Kali-age incarnation as "Krishna varnam svisakrishnam" - Krishna who is "a-krishna" - not black. It is also say that he shell spread the process of sankirtan-yagya. That is Shri Chaitanya. The reason for the appearance of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is twofold. The obvious reason is to teach the world sankirtan, uttering God's name for redemption. Indeed the lord moved from village to village and with his devotees spread the lord's name by singing it for all to hear. That is the process of sankirtan. As mentioned, by meditation on the names of the lord one achieves spiritual stability and destroys the many lusts which are enhanced in this age. So that is the obvious reason for the lord's appearance. But there is another.
The other reason for the lord's appearance as Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is to himself taste the mode of his own devotee. And so, the lord appeared as a devotee and showed symptoms of one. The devotees of Lord Krishna try to develop the mood of devotion (bhakti) from the gopi girls of vrindavan. The main of all gopies is Shrimati Radharani who is always by Krisha's side. Krishna appears in black (of dark blue) and she appears in gold. So in her color and mode Mahaprabhu appeared.
Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu chanted the names of God showing symptoms of ecstasy such as crying and falling down on the ground. When Krishna was about to appear in this age he told the gopies how he is about to chant the holly names and roll around on the ground. Radharani told him: "I won't allow you're body to roll around on the ground! I shell cover you!" And so Radharani, whose color is gold, covers Krishna in his appearance as Shri Chaitnya Mahaprabhu. The topmost spiritual platform is the complete selfless devotion of Radha and the gopies to Krishna. And this mood is reveled in Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who is the combined incarnation of Krishna and Radharani.

Read more about this:
The Golden Volcano of Divine Love -by Srila Bhakti Raksaka Sridhara Maharaja

A warning

"If one, even once, blaspheme the name of my devotee, then my name shell destroy him rather then fulfill his desires." (Chaitanya Bhagavatam Madya-Lila 19.209)

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yadi vaisnava-aparadha uthe hati mata

upade va chinde, tara sukhi’ yaya pata
"If the devotee commits an offense at the feet of a vaisnava while cultivating the creeper of devotional service in the material world, his offense is compared to a mad elephant that uproots the creeper and breaks it. In this way the leaves of the creeper are dried up." (Śrī Caitanya Caritāmṛta Madhya 19.156)

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"One offence is to blaspheme the devotees who have dedicated their lives to preaching the glories of the holy name. This is a very important offence. If we criticize devotees who have actually dedicated their lives to spreading Krishna consciousness all over the world we cannot make any spiritual advancement." (Srila Prabhupada)

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We should be always ready to offer respect to all, not only devotees, but everyone, everyone, because every living entity is originally a devotee of Krishna. Circumstantially, being covered by the coat of maya, he's playing like demon, but his original nature is a devotee of Krishna. Jivera svarupa haya nitya krsnera dasa. Everyone is eternally a servant of Krishna but, being influenced by maya, when he gets this body, given by maya -- Prakrteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani sarvasah -- when he's conducted by the three gunas of maya, he thinks himself otherwise. He thinks himself independent of Krishna but, actually, nobody is independent of Krishna. (lecture, NOD October 23, 1972)

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We advise everyone to address one another as Prabhu. Prabhu means master, so how the master should be disobeyed? Others, they are also pure devotees. All of my disciples are pure devotees. Anyone sincerely serving the spiritual master is a pure devotee. Do not try to make a faction; amongst ourselves one should respect others as Prabhu, master, one another. As soon as we distinguish, "Here is a pure devotee, here is a non-pure devotee", that means I am a nonsense. (letter to Tusta Krishna, December 14, 1972)

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Yes, to call one another prabhu is all right, but not to become prabhu. To accept others as prabhu, and remain as servant is the idea. But, because somebody is calling you prabhu, one should not become a prabhu, and treat others as servants. In other words, everyone should feel himself as servant, and not think himself prabhu because he is being called prabhu. This will make the relationship congenial. (Letter to Himavati Devi Dasi, June 14, 1968)

(Find more on the subject here)

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Devotee 2: Devotees sometimes think, “This devotee is not really a vaisnava, he is only a neophyte, therefore if I think something bad of him it is all right.”

Gour Govinda Swami: Don’t hear such a thing.

Devotee 1: It is very difficult to not hear such talk.

Gour Govinda Swami: Do you think it is easy to get Krishna? It is very difficult and it is very easy. You think, “I will do all nonsense and I will get Krishna.” What is this? Day-dreaming! It is not so easy!

Devotee 2: So anyone could be a vaisnava.

Gour Govinda Swami: The jiva is vaisnava! jivera ‘svarupa’ haya krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’, the svarupa of the jiva is vaisnava. But we have no such vision. We cannot see, because we are such rascals, degraded fellows. We are blind. We have no proper vision. So how can we see the svarupa? We only see the outward, nasty things, the outer body. We have no vision to see. But every jiva is a servant of Krishna — jivera ‘svarupa’ haya krsnera ‘nitya-dasa’. That is what Mahaprabhu has said. But we cannot see it. A real sadhu, paramahamsa, pays respect to one and all. amani manada — Don’t demand respect for yourself, rather, pay respect to one and all. A sadhu doesn’t even disrespect an ant. He sees him as a jiva. You should know that before you offer respect to a sadhu, the sadhu has already paid respect to you in his mind. For practical dealings we have this consciousness of superior and inferior. But a sadhu offers respect to one and all. Seeing the jiva soul within, he doesn’t disrespect even an ant. (From "The Mad Elephant Offense" by Gopal-Ji pub)

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Krishna Swallows the Forest Fire