Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu (1486–1534) is worshipped throughout Bengal, Odisha, and the wider Vaiṣṇava world as Kṛṣṇa Himself. He appeared in the mood and complexion of His greatest devotee, Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, to taste and distribute pure love of God. Historically, He is the founder of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism. He also made congregational chanting of the holy names, saṅkīrtana, into a widespread spiritual movement. During His lifetime, this movement spread throughout Bengal and Odisha, and through His followers it later reached the whole world.

Birth at Sridhama Mayapur #

He was born on the evening of Phālguna Pūrṇimā, the full-moon night of the Bengali month of Phālguna. It was 23 Phālguna in the year 1407 of the Śakābda era, corresponding to 18 February 1486 in the Western calendar. His birthplace was Śrīdhāma Māyāpur, on the banks of the Ganges in Navadvīpa, Nadia district, Bengal. His birth coincided with a total lunar eclipse. According to long-standing custom, many townspeople were already bathing in the river and chanting the holy names for purification. Thus, without knowing it, the people of Navadvīpa were chanting Kṛṣṇa's name at the very moment the Lord appeared. His maternal grandfather, Nīlāmbara Cakravartī, was an astrologer and scholar. After examining His horoscope, he predicted that the child would become the greatest of spiritual teachers. He gave Him the name Viśvambhara, meaning "one who maintains the entire universe."

Who is the child born that night? Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami answers in the first chapter of Sri Chaitanya-charitamrita:

rādhā kṛṣṇa-praṇaya-vikṛtir hlādinī śaktir asmād
ekātmānāv api bhuvi purā deha-bhedaṁ gatau tau
caitanyākhyaṁ prakaṭam adhunā tad-dvayaṁ caikyam āptaṁ
rādhā-bhāva-dyuti-suvalitaṁ naumi kṛṣṇa-svarūpam

"The loving affairs of Śrī Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are transcendental manifestations of the Lord’s internal pleasure-giving potency. Although Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa are one in Their identity, previously They separated Themselves. Now these two transcendental identities have again united, in the form of Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. I bow down to Him, who has manifested Himself with the sentiment and complexion of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī although He is Kṛṣṇa Himself." (Chaitanya-charitamrita Adi 1.5)

Kavi Karnapura's Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika (verse 11) says the same in a single line:

bhakta-rūpo gauracandro yato’sau nanda-nandanaḥ

"In this Panca-tattva, the bhakta-rupa (form of a devotee) is Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, who formerly appeared as Lord Krsna, the son of Nanda Maharaja." (Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 11)

His Parents and the Name Nimai #

His father, Jagannātha Miśra, was a pious brāhmaṇa from Sylhet in East Bengal who had settled in Navadvīpa. His mother, Śacī Devī, is remembered in Vaiṣṇava literature as an ideal chaste and devoted mother. Viśvambhara was their tenth and last child. Of their earlier children, only His elder brother, Viśvarūpa, survived infancy. Viśvarūpa later accepted sannyāsa while still young. Śacī Devī then gave all her motherly affection to her youngest son. Because a nimba tree stood near the place where He was born, the child was affectionately called Nimāi. His golden complexion later gave Him the names Gaurahari and Gaurāṅga, meaning "the golden one."

Childhood and Student Years in Nabadwip #

Nimāi's schooldays and His early reputation as a brilliant and mischievous child are described in detail on a dedicated page about His childhood pastimes. As an infant, He would often cry and stop only when His neighbours chanted "Haribol." Later, He quickly mastered Sanskrit grammar, logic, and rhetoric under the paṇḍita Gaṅgādāsa in the village of Gaṅgānagara. By His teenage years, He was already known as Navadvīpa's leading young logician. His reputation became even stronger when He met and gently defeated the famous undefeated scholar Keśava Kāśmīrī Paṇḍita in a debate on the banks of the Ganges. That episode is told in full here.

Marriage to Lakshmipriya and Vishnupriya #

Nimai was married young, in the traditional way, to Lakshmipriya, the daughter of Vallabhacharya of Nabadwip. She passed away from a snakebite while He was away teaching in East Bengal, and Sachi Devi grieved deeply for her. At His mother's request, Nimai married a second time, to Vishnupriya, the daughter of the royal pandit Sanatana Mishra. While He was still a married householder, running His own ṭola (school) and already famous for His learning, the great turning point in His life took place.

Initiation at Gaya from Ishvara Puri #

In His early twenties Nimai travelled to Gaya to perform the shraddha (memorial rites) for His departed father. There, at the temple of Vishnupada, He met the wandering Vaishnava sannyasi Ishvara Puri, a disciple of Madhavendra Puri. From Ishvara Puri He received initiation into the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra. The change in Him was immediate and complete. The brilliant but somewhat proud young logician of Nabadwip returned home as an ecstatic devotee. He would sometimes weep, sometimes faint and sometimes dance, and He was always absorbed in the holy names. The people of Nabadwip watched their most famous pandit change. In the eyes of the world, He had become a man transformed by divine emotion.

The Sankirtana Movement in Nabadwip #

After this change, Nimai began the sankirtana movement. It was congregational chanting at night and it began quietly at the house of Srivasa Pandit. Soon Nityananda Prabhu, Advaita Acharya, Gadadhara Pandit and a growing circle of devotees joined it, and the chanting filled the streets of Nabadwip. The full story is told here, and the famous confrontation with the local magistrate Chand Kazi has its own page. In this same period, Jagai and Madhai, two notorious drunkards and criminals of the town, became saints. They were changed by Nityananda Prabhu's mercy and the Lord's own compassion. Gaudiya Vaishnavas cite this episode to this day as proof that no soul, however fallen, is beyond the reach of the holy name. Read the full account here.

Accepting Sannyasa at Katwa #

Nimai saw that narrow pride in caste and family was becoming an obstacle to His mission. That mission was to give love of God freely to everyone, whatever their birth. So at the age of twenty-four He left home and accepted the renounced order of sannyasa at Katwa from Keshava Bharati. He took the name by which He is now known throughout the world: Sri Krishna Chaitanya. The full story of that departure, and of the household He left in tears behind Him, is told here.

The South India Tour and Ramananda Raya #

As a sannyasi, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu first travelled toward Vrindavana, but He was drawn instead to Jagannatha Puri in Odisha. He settled there and stayed, on and off, for the rest of His manifest life. From Puri He made a long preaching tour through South India, walking as far as Rameshvaram and Kanyakumari. Through the chanting of the holy names He converted Mayavadi sannyasis, Buddhists and ordinary villagers alike. On the banks of the Godavari He met the great devotee-statesman Ramananda Raya. With him He held the profound theological conversation recorded in the Chaitanya-charitamrita. On this journey He also delivered the priest Venkata Bhatta and his young son. That son later became Gopala Bhatta Goswami, one of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavana.

Training Rupa and Sanatana Goswami #

Later He travelled north through Bengal. He met Rupa Goswami and his brother Sanatana Goswami, two former ministers in the Muslim government of Bengal, and trained them personally. He taught them the philosophy and practice of pure devotional service. He taught Rupa for ten days at Prayag, and afterwards taught Sanatana at Varanasi. He gave them the twin mission. They were to uncover the lost pilgrimage sites of Krishna's Vrindavana pastimes. They were also to write the theological books that would give Gaudiya Vaishnavism its philosophical foundation. In Varanasi He also debated the Mayavadi sannyasi Prakashananda Sarasvati and the impersonalist monks who followed him. He converted the whole assembly to Krishna bhakti.

The Last Eighteen Years at Jagannatha Puri #

For the last eighteen years of His life Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lived at Jagannatha Puri in the house of Kashi Mishra. Close associates surrounded Him there, such as Svarupa Damodara Goswami, the poet-king Prataparudra, Paramananda Puri and Ramananda Raya. Svarupa Damodara Goswami served as His confidential secretary. From Puri He guided the mission from a distance. He appointed Nityananda Prabhu to preach throughout Bengal. He sent Rupa, Sanatana and Raghunatha Bhatta to live and write in Vrindavana. In time the other three of the Six Goswamis, Gopala Bhatta, Raghunatha Dasa and Jiva, also came to live there. He also personally trained disciples such as Raghunatha Dasa Goswami in the deepest moods of devotional life.

Disappearance at Tota Gopinatha #

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu disappeared from this world on 14 June 1534, at the age of forty-eight, during kirtana at the Tota Gopinatha temple in Puri. The Vaishnava histories deliberately say very little about exactly how He disappeared. The way He left this world is still one of the most discussed mysteries in the tradition.

His Teachings and Legacy #

His theological legacy is set out in two teachings. The first is the philosophy of achintya-bheda-abheda-tattva, the "inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and difference" of the living being and the Supreme. The second is the practical teaching that in the present age of Kali, the congregational chanting of Krishna's holy names is the most direct path to love of God. This path is open to every human being, whatever their caste, creed or qualification. His only written legacy is eight verses known as the Siksastaka. These verses still give that teaching in short form. Everything else we know of His words and pastimes comes to us through the biographies and theological works of His followers. The chief ones are Vrindavana Dasa Thakura's Chaitanya-bhagavata and Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami's Chaitanya-charitamrita. It has also come down through the unbroken line of acharyas. This line runs from the Six Goswamis of Vrindavana down to Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, who carried His sankirtana movement to the rest of the world.

How These Pages Are Arranged #

Each stage of His life summarised above has its own detailed page. The pages follow the order of His life, from His advent at Mayapur to His disappearance at Puri. The relevant verses of the Chaitanya-charitamrita and Srimad-Bhagavatam are given in full on each page. The complete sequence is listed above.

Songs in the Vaishnava Song Book #

The Vaishnava Song Book carries 2 songs attributed to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. See the full author page here.