Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Prabhu Nityānanda

vande śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya-nityānandau sahoditau
gauḍodaye puṣpavantau citrau śan-dau tamo-nudau​
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and Lord Nityānanda, who are like the sun and moon. They have arisen simultaneously on the horizon of Gauḍa to dissipate the darkness of ignorance and thus wonderfully bestow benediction upon all.
(CC Ādi 1.2)

ājānu-lambita-bhujau kanakāvadātau
saṅkīrtanaika-pitarau kamalāyatākṣau
viśvambharau dvija-varau yuga-dharma-pālau
vande jagat priya-karau karuṇāvatārau
I offer my respectful obeisances unto Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Śrī Nityānanda Prabhu, whose arms extend down to Their knees, who have golden yellow complexions, and who inaugurated the congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord. Their eyes resemble the petals of a lotus flower; They are the maintainers of the living entities, the best of the brāhmaṇas, the protectors of religious principles for this age, the benefactors of the universe, and the most merciful of all incarnations.
(CB Ādi-khaṇḍa 1.1)

Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Lord Nityānanda is standing before you, and He delivered many, many sinful persons to the transcendental position of love of Kṛṣṇa. Śrīla Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura has sung, vrajendra-nandana yei, śacī-suta hoilo sei, balarāma hoilo nitāi. This Balarāma, He became Nitai, and Kṛṣṇa, He became Caitanya Mahāprabhu. These two brothers, the same two brothers, Rāma-Lakṣmaṇa, Kṛṣṇa-Balarāma, again as Caitanya Mahāprabhu and Nityānanda Prabhu. So what was Their business? The pāpī-tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo. This is Their business. All the pāpīs and all the persons suffering from material anxieties, They delivered? "Yes." How? Tāra sākṣī jagāi mādhāi. There were two brothers, Jagāi and Mādhāi. They are very debauchees. That debauchees means what was their fault? The fault was that they took their birth in brāhmaṇa family, but they became woman-hunter and drunkards and cheaters, like that. So Nityānanda Prabhu delivered them to become first-class Vaiṣṇava. Pāpī-tāpī jata chilo, hari-nāme uddhārilo, tāra sākṣī jagāi and mādhāi.
(750420 - Lecture CC Madhya 19.53 - Vrndavana)

Caitanya means living. That personification of all living forces is Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. People mistake Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu because by misfortune they understand Kṛṣṇa Caitanya as a devotee or just like so-called sādhu or yogī, like that. That is mistake. Kṛṣṇa Caitanya means the original living force, Kṛṣṇa. So Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, he understood Him. Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī, he understood Him. Similarly, the followers of Rūpa Gosvāmī—Sārvabhauma Bhaṭṭācārya, and all the Gosvāmīs—they will understand Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. And one who understands or follows the path enunciated by Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu, for them Kṛṣṇa is very easily obtained. This is called Caitanya-caritāmṛta.
(750325 - Lecture CC Adi 01.01 - Mayapur)

Kṛṣṇa was also not so liberal. He simply asked us, "Surrender," but He did not distribute Himself. But in the form of Caitanya Mahāprabhu He distributed Himself, "Take Me, take Me, take Me. Without any price, take Me." This is Caitanya Mahāprabhu, who is Kṛṣṇa, and He has come in the form of Caitanya, Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, to distribute Himself. Therefore He is recognized, namo mahā-vadānyāya, "The most munificent."
(721031 - Lecture SB 01.02.20 - Vrndavana)

adyāpiha caitanya e saba līlā kare
yakhāne yāhāre kare dṛṣṭi-adhikāre
sei dekhe,—āra dekhibāre śakti nāi
nirantara krīḍā kare caitanya gosāñi
Lord Caitanya performs these pastimes even today. Only when the Lord gives one the ability to see these pastimes can one see them. Others have no ability to see Lord Caitanya’s eternal pastimes.
The pastimes of Lord Caitanya are eternal. Whenever one’s good fortune is awakened, he is able to see those pastimes. It is not that the ever-existing pastimes of Śrī Caitanya appear in this material world under the control of time. If one’s heart is filled with devotion and he desires to serve the Lord, then he can always nourish the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya.
These topics are always understood by the servants of Śrī Caitanya Maṭha. The vision of the karmīs and prākṛta-sahajiyās, who are averse to Śrī Caitanya, Śrī Gaurasundara’s teachings, and Śrī Gauḍīya Maṭha, is incapable of perceiving the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya. In the Laghu-bhāgavatāmṛta (Pūrva 391) it is stated:
ced didṛkṣeran utkaṇṭhārtā nija-priyatam
tāṁ līlāṁ tataḥ kṛṣṇo darśayet taṁ kṛpā-nidhiḥ
“Even today if one of His dear devotees intensely desires to see one of His particular pastimes, the merciful Lord immediately exhibits that pastime for him.”
The pure devotees always see Śrī Caitanyadeva’s pastimes of chanting the holy names of Kṛṣṇa. People in this world who are intoxicated with material enjoyment have no power to see the pastimes of Śrī Caitanya.
(Śrī Caitanya-bhāgavata, Madhya-khaṇḍa 10.283-284)