Deities of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (right) and Sri Nityananda (left) at Radha-Krishna temple in Radhadesh, Belgium Caitanya Mahaprabhu (also transliterated Chaitanya) (1486 - 1534), was an ascetic Hindu monk and social reformer in 16th century Bengal, India (present-day West Bengal and Bangladesh). A great proponent of loving devotion for God bhakti yoga, Caitanya worshiped the Lord in the form of Krishna. Many Vaishnava followers revere him as an incarnation or avatar of Krishna himself. He was also known as Gaura (the fair one) due to his shining, golden hue, as well as Nimai due to being born under a Neem-tree. There are numerous biographies of Caitanya, the most popular ones being Sri Caitanya Caritamrita of Krishnadas Kaviraja and the earlier Caitanya Bhagavata of Vrindavan Das, both written in the Bengali language.
Caitanya's life
Sri Caitanya was born as Visvambhar Mishra in 1486 as the second son of Jagannath Mishra and Sachi Devi in the town of Navadvipa in Nadiya, West Bengal. In his youth, Caitanya was an erudite scholar, whose learning and skills in argumentation were next to none. Though religious at heart, Caitanya did not display an active interest in the Vaishnava-religion in his younger years. Rather, he was quite the prankster who often teased the local priests.
A significant change in Caitanya's life came about as he traveled to Gaya to perform the sraddha-ceremony in the memory of his departed father. It is there that he met his guru, the ascetic Madhavendra Puri, from whom he received initiation with the Gopala Krishna mantra. Upon his return to Bengal, the local Vaishnavas, headed by Advaita Acharya, were stunned at his sudden change and soon recognized Chaitanya, known as Nimai in his youth, as the eminent leader of the Vaishnavas of the land of Nadiya.
After leaving his homeland in Bengal and becoming an ascetic, Caitanya journeyed throughout the length and breadth of India for several years, chanting the names of Krishna constantly while wandering from place to place. It was he who first sang and made popular the Hindu mantra "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare!"
Caitanya lived the last 24 years of his life based at Puri in Orissa, the great temple city of Jagannath. The king of Orissa, Maharaja Prataparudra, regarded him as Krishna incarnate and was an enthusiastic patron and devotee of the religion of Sri Caitanya. It was during these years that Caitanya sank deep into various meditational trances, savoring the love of Krishna he had come to taste and exemplify in his descent in the shape of a devotee.
Caitanya's tradition
Despite having been initiated in the Madhva-tradition, Sri Caitanya practically founded a tradition of his own, having some marked differences with the practices and the theology of the followers of Madhva. He is not known to have composed anything but a series of verses known as the Siksastaka, his eight verses of instruction. He requested a select few among his followers, who later came to be known as the Six Gosvamins of Vrindavan, to systematically present the theology of bhakti he had taught in their writings. The six saints and theologians were Rupa Gosvamin, Sanatana Gosvamin, Gopala Bhatta Gosvamin, Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvamin, Raghunatha Dasa Gosvamin and Jiva Gosvamin.
Narottama Das Thakur, Srinivasa Acarya and Syamananda Pandit were among the stalwarts of the second generation of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Having studied under Jiva, they were instrumental in propagating the teachings of the Gosvamins throughout Bengal, Orissa and other regions of Eastern India. Many among their associates, such as Ramacandra Kaviraja and Ganga-narayana Cakravartin, were also eminent teachers in their own right.
The famous festival of Kheturi, presided over by Jahnava Thakurani, the wife of Nityananda, was the first time the leaders of the various branches of Caitanya's followers assembled together. Through such festivals, members of the loosely organized tradition became acquainted with other branches along with their respective theological and practical nuances. That notwithstanding, the tradition has maintained its plural nature, having no central authority to preside over its matters.
Around these times, the descendants of Nityananda and Advaita, headed by Virabhadra and Krishna Mishra respectively, started their family-lineages (vamsa) to maintain the tradition. The vamsa descending from Nityananda through Virabhadra forms the most prominent branch of the modern Gaudiya tradition, though descendants of Advaita, along with the descendants of many other associates of Caitanya, maintain their following especially in the rural areas of Bengal.
Gopala Guru Gosvamin, a young associate of Caitanya and a follower of Vakresvara Pandit, founded another branch based in Orissa. The writings of Gopala, along with those of his disciple Dhyanacandra Gosvamin, have had a substantial influence on the methods of internal worship in the tradition.
In the 20th century, the teachings of Sri Caitanya were brought to the West and became established in many cities. In 1965, Prabhupada A.C. Bhaktivedanta, a representative of the Saraswata-branch of Chaitanya's tradition, landed by freighter in Boston harbor and founded the Hare Krishna Movement of ISKCON in the following year in New York. Gurus from several other Hindu sects which revere Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, including devotees from the major Vaishnava holy places in Mathura District, West Bengal and Orissa, also established temples dedicated to Krishna and Sri Chaitanya outside India in the closing decades of the 20th century.
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