According to Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition, Pancha Tattva refers to the Five aspects of God or Absolute Truth. 'Pancha' is sanskrit for 'five', and 'tattva' means 'truth' or 'reality'.

In the late 1400's these five features of God (Krishna) are believed to have incarnated on Earth as five people. Namely Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Acharya, Gadadhara Pandita, and Srivasa Thakura. They famously spread the Hare Krishna mantra, and the practice of devotion to Lord Krishna throughout India.

The Five Features

• Caitanya is said to be Krishna (God) Himself, The Supreme Person.
• Nityananda is Krishna's first personal expansion.
• Advaita Acharya is a combined incarnation of Lord Vishnu & Lord Shiva.
• Gadadhara is an incarnation of Krishna's internal energy.
• Srivasa is Krishna's pure devotee.

"I bow down to Lord Krishna, who appears as a devotee (Lord Chaitanya), as His personal expansion (Sri Nityananda), His incarnation (Sri Advaita), His devotee (Sri Srivasa), and His energy (Sri Gadadhara), and who is the source of strength for the devotees." (Chaitanya Charitamrita )

The idea of this concept is somewhat similar to the idea of Christian trinity - God expands into personalities with identical or different powers.

References

• Rosen, Steven J. Sri Pancha Tattva: The Five Features of God 1994 ISBN 0961976373 Folk Books, New York