Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (also transliterated Caitanya, IAST caitanya mahaprabhu) (Bangla চৈতন্য মহাপ্রভূ) (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, Chaitanya worshiped the Lord in the form of Radha-Krishna. Gaudiya Vaishnava followers revere him as Krishna Himself descended in the mood of Radharani. He was also known as Gaura (Sanskrit for "the fair / golden one") due to his skin complexion, as well as Nimai due to being born under a Neem tree. There are numerous biographies of Chaitanya, the most popular ones being Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita of Krishnadasa Kaviraja Gosvami and the earlier Chaitanya Bhagavata of Vrindavana Dasa Thakura, both written in the Bengali language.

Chaitanya's life

The story of Chaitanya's life is at times biographic and sometimes mistaken as myth, often associating him with stories of Krishna.

According to Chaitanya Charitamrita, 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, India. In his youth, Chaitanya was an erudite scholar, whose learning and skills in argumentation were next to none. Though religious at heart, Chaitanya did not display an active interest in the Vaishnava religion in his younger years.

A significant change in Chaitanya's life came about as he traveled to Gaya to perform the shraddha ceremony for his departed father. There he met his guru, the ascetic Ishvara 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

After leaving his homeland in Bengal and becoming an ascetic, Chaitanya journeyed throughout the length and breadth of India for several years, chanting the names of Krishna constantly.

He spent the last 24 years of his life in Puri, 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 Chaitanya. It was during these years that Chaitanya sank deep into various meditational trances and performed pastimes of divine ecstasy.

Chaitanya's tradition

Despite having been initiated in the Shri Madhvacharya tradition, Sri Chaitanya founded a tradition of his own, having some marked differences with the practices and the theology of the followers of Madhvacharya. He is not known to have composed anything but a series of verses known as the Sri Siksastaka, "eight verses of instruction".

He requested a select few among his followers, who later came to be known as the Six Gosvamis of Vrindavan, to systematically present the theology of bhakti he had taught in their writings. The six saints and theologians were Rupa Gosvami, Sanatana Gosvami, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami and Jiva Gosvami, a nephew of brothers Rupa and Sanatana. These individuals were responsible for systematizing Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology.

Narottama_Dasa 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 Gosvamis throughout Bengal, Orissa and other regions of Eastern India. Many among their associates, such as Ramacandra Kaviraja and Ganga-narayana Cakravarti, were also eminent teachers in their own right.

The famous festival of Kheturi, presided over by Jahnava Thakurani, the wife of Nityananda Prabhu, was the first time the leaders of the various branches of Chaitanya's followers assembled together. Through such festivals, members of the loosely organized tradition became acquainted with

Around these times, the disciples and 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 his son Virabhadra forms the most prominent branch of the modern Gaudiya tradition, though descendants of Advaita, along with the descendants of many other associates of Chaitanya, maintain their following especially in the rural areas of Bengal.

Gopala Guru Gosvami, a young associate of Chaitanya and a follower of Vakresvara Pandit, founded another branch based in Orissa. The writings of Gopala, along with those of his disciple Dhyanacandra Gosvami, have had a substantial influence on the methods of internal worship in the tradition.

In the 20th century the teachings of Sri Chaitanya were brought to the West by Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, a representative of the Saraswata (i.e. disciples of Sri Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura) branch of Chaitanya's tradition. Also, in the 21st century this representation of Vaishnava bhakti has been studied through the academic medium of Krishnology.

Saraswata gurus and acharyas, members of the Goswami lineages and 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 Sri Krishna and Sri Chaitanya outside India in the closing decades of the 20th century.

Cultural legacy

In addition to his deep influences on Hinduism (some contend that Hinduism in Bengal might have been eradicated but for him), his cultural legacy in Bengal remains deep. Some attribute to him a Rennaissance in Bengal, different from the more well know 19th century Bengal Renaissance. Salimullah Khan, a noted linguist, maintains, "Sixteenth century is the time of Chaitanya Dev, and it is the beginning of Modernism in Bengal. The concept of 'humanity' that came into fruition is contemporaneous with that of Europe". This modernism can be seen in Chaitanya's rejection of the caste system, for example:

Chandal chandal nohe jodi Krishna bole
Brahmon brahmon nohe jodi oshot pothe chole

Can be translated as:

A chandal (one of the lowest castes) is not a chandal if he places his faith in Krishna
A dishonest brahmin is no brahmin at all.

Chaitanya also (atleast indirectly) influenced the Baul movement of Bengal. The son of Nityananda, Chaitanya's most famous disciple and friend, is often attributed with the establishment of the Baul movement.

Chaitanya Shri Chaitanya Ćajtanja Mahaprabhu Chaitanya