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Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Bengali:মহাপ্রভু শ্রীচৈতন্য দেব;Sanskrit:चैतन्य महाप्रभु,romanized: Caitanya Mahāprabhu), bornVishvambhara Mishra (IAST:Viśvambhara Miśra[2]) (18 February 1486 – 14 June 1534[3]), was an IndianHindu saint fromBengal and the founder ofGaudiya Vaishnavism. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's mode of worshippingKrishna withbhajan-kirtan and dance had a profound effect onVaishnavism inBengal.
He is considered the chief proponent of the Vedantic philosophy ofAchintya Bheda Abheda. The concept of inconceivable difference in non-difference, known as achintya-bhedabheda, was explained later by Jiva Gosvami in his book Bhagavat Sandharbha,[4] and in his Sarva-samvadini.[5][6]
Chaitanya is sometimes calledGauranga (IAST:Gaurāṅga) orGaura due to his molten gold–like complexion.[8] His birthday is celebrated asGaura-purnima.[9][10] He is also calledNimai because he was born underneath aNeem tree.[11]
The religious hagiographies of Gauḍīya sampradāya are the only sources available for the reconstruction of Caitanya's life. These texts (inSanskrit andBengali), consider Caitanya to be anavatāra of Kr̥ṣṇa,Svayaṁ Bhagavān,Rādhā-Kr̥ṣṇa (joint and separate),Nārāyaṇa,Viṣṇu, andJagannātha. A canonical narrative was established in early 1600s through theCaitanya Caritāmr̥ta of Kr̥ṣṇadāsa Kavirāja, which is regarded within the tradition as the "final word" on Gauḍīya history and theology.[12]
Chaitanya was born in aBrahmin family as Viśvambhara Miśra aka Nimāi, the second son of Jagannātha Miśra and his wife Śacī Devī, the daughter of Nilambara Chakrabarti, bothBrahmins ofSylhet region.[2] Jagannātha Miśra's family were from the village ofDhakadakshin inSylhet District (now inBangladesh), where the ruins of their ancestral home still survive.[13][14][1] Hagiographies describe his birth as a divine event and state that it predicted his future mission of propagatingharināma saṃkīrtana inKali Yuga.[1]
While still a student, his father died, and he soon married Lakṣmīpriyā. He travelled to east Bengal to become a scholar and support his family, but his wife died in his absence. He then marriedViṣnupriyā, the daughter of paṇḍit Sanātana Miśra. Viśhvambara, also known as Nimāi Paṇḍit, was a promising Sanskrit scholar and is said to have once defeatedKeśava Bhaṭṭa of theNimbārka school in a debate on Sanskrit prosody, an example of his "superhuman erudition".[1]
Around 1508-1509, he left Nabadvip for Gaya to performśrāddha, a ritual homage to his dead father. There, he met an ascetic named Īśvara Purī, who initiated him using a mantra forKr̥ṣṇa worship. Gaudiya texts describe that after this meeting Viśvambhara abandoned all scholarly and domestic pursuits, developing an intense desire to hear and speak about Krishna. Within a year he took a vow ofsaṃnyāsa (renunciation) from his guru, Keśava Bhāratī, and changed his name to Kr̥ṣṇa Caitanya. His mother then asked him to at least live in the city of Puri so that he would not be too far from Bengal.[1]
After hisrenunciation, Caitanya spent his time teaching Kr̥ṣṇa bhakti and engaging in communalsaṁkīrtana. Hagiographies describe debates with followers ofAdvaita Vedānta and other theological opponents in form ofdigvijaya (conquest through debate). He spent two months in Vrindavan in c. 1515, where he instructedSanātana Gosvāmī andRūpa Gosvāmī. He spent the last two decades of his life in Puri, where his ecstatic seizures yearning for Kr̥ṣṇa and his consorts, mainly Rādhā, intensified. He died in c. 1528-1534.[1]
TheŚikṣāṣṭaka is the only work accepted to be composed by Caitanya. The poem expounds upon the subjects ofharināmajapa,saṁkīrtana, the relationship between individual souls and Kr̥ṣṇa, devotional submission to Kr̥ṣṇa, and Caitanya's personalvirahabhakti. Scholars debate the extent to which Caitanya played in the development of the complex Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava theology.[1]
According to Murari Gupta, one of Caitanya's close associates, Caitanya taught thatkirtana (chanting God's name) is the most effective spiritual practice in the Kali Age. He first gathered the community forkirtana in Srivasa's courtyard.[15] Caitanya revealed bhakti as the primary means to approach Krishna, and he appointed the Goswamis, such asSrinivasa Acarya andNarottama Dasa, to gather and compose texts explaining this devotion.[16]
According toDinesh Chandra Sen's analysis, Caitanya's teaching is centered onprema (divine love), described in Vaishnava texts as progressing through different spiritual phases.[17] Sen also states that Caitanya integrated compassionate service and taught that devotion to God is higher than social distinctions, quoting Caitanya's words "The moment that you say you love God, all human beings will be your brethren; there will be no Brahmin, no Sudra".[18]
Krsna-Caitanya-Caritamrta (c. 1513 or 1536–1540; Sanskrit): ByMurari Gupta. Known as akadcha or chronicle. Chaitanya's Navadwipalīla and eachpanca-tattva presented as a form of the Lord. Caitanya went for the first time to Murari's house at Navadwipa. Murari's standing and reputation for learning gave his biographical materials great weight in the Vaishnava community. ThisKadcha (notes) became the guiding lines for other biographers.
Kadcha or chronicle (Sanskrit): BySvarupa Damodara. He was the personal secretary of Chaitanya. Details the life of Caitanya.
Govindadaser Kadcha (Bengali): By Govinda Dāsa who accompanied Chaitanya on his tour of Deccan. This poem describes their experiences on the journey and some imaginary events in the life of Chaitanya as well as his ideas and philosophy. It is another significant biographical work, but it was regarded as controversial because of the authenticity.
Caitanya-caritāmṛta (c. 1557 or 1580 or 1615; Bengali): ByKrishnadasa Kaviraja. Three parts:Adi-lila,Madhya-lila, andAntya-lila. Massive authoritative composition of Chaitanya's biography and teachings. According to Manring, he draws liberally from previous writers (poets, theologians and biographers) as he deems correct, omitting Kavi Karnapura's works perceived as threateningRupa's authority.
Chaitanya-samhita (Bengali): By Bhagirath Bandhu. Work follows the tradition of agama or tantric texts in its presentation as a story told by Shiva to his spouse.
Sriman-mahaprabhor-asta-kaliya-lila-smarana-mangala-stotram (c. late 1600s; Sanskrit): ByVisvanatha Chakravarti. Elevensutras (seed verses) describing the eternal eight-fold daily pastimes of the fair-complexioned Lord.
Caitanya-upanisad: A book that is a part of theAtharvaveda which offers overwhelming evidence of Chaitanya's identity as the Supreme Lord andYuga Avatara.
Sri Caitanya-caranamrta Bhasva (1887): By Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura. Commentary on an original handwritten manuscript of theCaitanya-upanisad from one pandita, Madhusudana Maharaja, of Sambala-Pura.
Śrī Caitanya-caritāmṛta (1974; English): ByA. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami in English with original Bengali and Sanskrit. Commentary on Krishnadasa Kaviraja'sCaitanya-caritāmṛta, based on Bhaktivinoda Thakur'sAmrita-pravaha-bhashya and Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati'sAnubhāsya commentaries.
Chaitanya's influence on the cultural legacy inBengal,Odisha andManipur, has been significant,[citation needed] with many residents performing daily worship to him as an avatar of Krishna. Some attribute to him a Renaissance in Bengal,[citation needed] different from the more well-known 19th-centuryBengal Renaissance. Salimullah Khan (b. 1958), a noted Bangladeshi 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".[citation needed]
^Delmonico 2007, p. 549: "The form of Vaishnavism inspired by the sixteenth-century saint-reformer Shri Krishna Chaitanya (1486–1533 C.E.) rested heavily upon a belief in the purifying and salvific powers of the names of God, whose fullest self-revelation Chaitanya believed to be Krishna".
^Dasa 2007, pp. 377-378: "The Bhagavat Sandarbha [...] describes the concept of Bhagavan alluded to in Bhagavata 1.2.11. Jiva explains [...] [t]he relation between Bhagavan and His potency is one of inconceivable difference in non-difference, known as achintya-bhedabheda. It is in recognition of the nature of this relation that Chaitanya’s philosophy is called Achintya bhedaabheda-vada".
^Gupta 2007, p. 46, footnote 30: "[I]n the Sarva-samvadini, [J]iva Gosvami lists the names of different teachers and their schools of Vedanta, and then concludes by saying, 'sva-mate tu acintya-bhedabhedah,' 'but my view is acintya-bhedabheda'".
^Krsna Dasa, T. 2022, "[Jiva Goswami in his] Sarva-samvadini [commenting] Anuccheda 77 and 78 of the Paramatma Sandarbha [states that:] 'It is well known that Gautama, Kaṇāda, Jaimini, Kapila and Patañjali, as well as śrī-rāmānuja and śrī-madhvācārya’s accept bheda alone. To us, acintya-bheda-abheda alone is acceptable, because the substantive is endowed with acintya śaktis' ".
^Sri Chaitanya MahaprabhuArchived 28 December 2017 at theWayback Machine "He spread theYuga-dharma as the practice for attainment of pure love forRadha-Krishna. That process is Harinam-Sankirtan, or the congregational chanting of the Holy Names of Krishna "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare"
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