Today is birth anniversary of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu which is observed in West Bengal as Dol Jatra
Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born in Navadvip, 125 kilometres north of Calcutta, on the evening of a lunar eclipse over 500 years ago. Chaitanya's appearance as the direct avatara of Lord Krishna Himself was foretold in the Srimad Bhagavatam and also in the Vishnu Purana. His complexion was of molten gold and so he was called Gauranga. He was named Krishna Chaitanya, the one who awakens Krishna in the hearts of men, by spiritual master, Keshav Bharati, when he took sanyasa at 24 years of age. Chaitanya was handsome, graceful and brilliant.
He mastered Sanskrit and Vedic scriptures before he was sixteen. Even as a youth He humbled many an erudite Vedic scholar in debate on the interpretation of the Vedanta Sutras. He converted several staunch advaitins(followers of Adi Shankaracharya's monism) to vaisnavism. Differing from the advaitic interpretation of the Vedanta Sutras, Chaitanya propounded the philosophy of achintya-bhedabhe-da-ttatva - that the Supreme Person is simultaneously one with and different (bhedabheda) from His creation; and that the philosophy is so esoteric that it is inconceivable (achintya) to the unrealised human mind. He maintained that between the Supreme Person(God) and the jivatma(living entity), there was an eternal sameness as well as a distinction which endured even after the jivatma had attained liberation (moksa). This was different from Shankara's assertion that the jivatma merged into and became one with a formless and attributeless God.
Krishna-Truth Absolute, becomes locked up in our heart of hearts as soon as we wish sincerely to recite His Name and follow the path of devotion giving up all ideas of self-deception and of deceiving others and want to live in amity with all creation. The contribution of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Vaishnavism to the world literature in its different branches is immense. The best of devotional thought of the world is to be found in the Gaudiya Vaishnavism of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The best of literature of medieval Bengal, both in Sanskrit and Bengali, is the gift of Vaishnava masters.
Free from any kind of social, racial, or sectarian bias or so called caste prejudices, Sri Chaitanya gave to India the highest type of spiritual unity. Roaming alone from one end of the country to the other on foot, He embraced the Pariah and the leper; the Brahmin and the Shudra with equal felicity. The greatest pandit and the most illiterate peasant received the same treatment from Him. The conservative Brahmin and the elite of the society could not remain aloof. Such universal upsurge of the spirit of the nation has hardly been seen at any other time. People forgot that they were the inhabitants either of the East, West, North or South of India; whether a Bengali, an Oriya, a Dravida or man of Upper India. They forgot even their caste or line of Sadhana, whether a Yogi or a Jnani. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu rescued philosophy from barren intellectualism and religion from empty ritualism. Bhakti was a super-logical experience in which man as well as the object of devotion came nearer to each other in transcendental bodies. That was the only way to reach the Ultimate Reality which remained incomprehensible to the mere intellect. The very sight of Sri Chaitanya inspired many to Bhakti, - devotion to Sri Krishna and Radha. To see Chaitanya was to love Sri Krishna.
Chaitanya was a spiritual healer of suffering humanity. Full of love for devotees, knowing nothing but Krishna loving all equally, self-restrained, bestowing the highest good on humanity, calmness pervading His nature, as He never teaches any Purushartha other than Bhagavat Prem (Love of God), He puts on bangles of Sandal-wood while He dances, steeped in the ecstasy of love for Krishna.
Chaitanya advocated that the best and simplest method of bhakti in Kaliyuga is to praise the Lord, Sri Krishna, sing His glories and chant the mahamantra, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama; Hare Hare. He popularised the sankirtan movement by himself leading congregational dancing and singing the glories of the Lord throughout India. As He had prophesied, Krishna's names are being chanted throughout the world today.
Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born in Navadvip, 125 kilometres north of Calcutta, on the evening of a lunar eclipse over 500 years ago. Chaitanya's appearance as the direct avatara of Lord Krishna Himself was foretold in the Srimad Bhagavatam and also in the Vishnu Purana. His complexion was of molten gold and so he was called Gauranga. He was named Krishna Chaitanya, the one who awakens Krishna in the hearts of men, by spiritual master, Keshav Bharati, when he took sanyasa at 24 years of age. Chaitanya was handsome, graceful and brilliant.
He mastered Sanskrit and Vedic scriptures before he was sixteen. Even as a youth He humbled many an erudite Vedic scholar in debate on the interpretation of the Vedanta Sutras. He converted several staunch advaitins(followers of Adi Shankaracharya's monism) to vaisnavism. Differing from the advaitic interpretation of the Vedanta Sutras, Chaitanya propounded the philosophy of achintya-bhedabhe-da-ttatva - that the Supreme Person is simultaneously one with and different (bhedabheda) from His creation; and that the philosophy is so esoteric that it is inconceivable (achintya) to the unrealised human mind. He maintained that between the Supreme Person(God) and the jivatma(living entity), there was an eternal sameness as well as a distinction which endured even after the jivatma had attained liberation (moksa). This was different from Shankara's assertion that the jivatma merged into and became one with a formless and attributeless God.
Krishna-Truth Absolute, becomes locked up in our heart of hearts as soon as we wish sincerely to recite His Name and follow the path of devotion giving up all ideas of self-deception and of deceiving others and want to live in amity with all creation. The contribution of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Vaishnavism to the world literature in its different branches is immense. The best of devotional thought of the world is to be found in the Gaudiya Vaishnavism of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The best of literature of medieval Bengal, both in Sanskrit and Bengali, is the gift of Vaishnava masters.
Free from any kind of social, racial, or sectarian bias or so called caste prejudices, Sri Chaitanya gave to India the highest type of spiritual unity. Roaming alone from one end of the country to the other on foot, He embraced the Pariah and the leper; the Brahmin and the Shudra with equal felicity. The greatest pandit and the most illiterate peasant received the same treatment from Him. The conservative Brahmin and the elite of the society could not remain aloof. Such universal upsurge of the spirit of the nation has hardly been seen at any other time. People forgot that they were the inhabitants either of the East, West, North or South of India; whether a Bengali, an Oriya, a Dravida or man of Upper India. They forgot even their caste or line of Sadhana, whether a Yogi or a Jnani. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu rescued philosophy from barren intellectualism and religion from empty ritualism. Bhakti was a super-logical experience in which man as well as the object of devotion came nearer to each other in transcendental bodies. That was the only way to reach the Ultimate Reality which remained incomprehensible to the mere intellect. The very sight of Sri Chaitanya inspired many to Bhakti, - devotion to Sri Krishna and Radha. To see Chaitanya was to love Sri Krishna.
Chaitanya was a spiritual healer of suffering humanity. Full of love for devotees, knowing nothing but Krishna loving all equally, self-restrained, bestowing the highest good on humanity, calmness pervading His nature, as He never teaches any Purushartha other than Bhagavat Prem (Love of God), He puts on bangles of Sandal-wood while He dances, steeped in the ecstasy of love for Krishna.
Chaitanya advocated that the best and simplest method of bhakti in Kaliyuga is to praise the Lord, Sri Krishna, sing His glories and chant the mahamantra, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama; Hare Hare. He popularised the sankirtan movement by himself leading congregational dancing and singing the glories of the Lord throughout India. As He had prophesied, Krishna's names are being chanted throughout the world today.
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