The Story of Sri Krishna Chaitanya

The Golden Avatar of Divine Love

Since ancient times India’s ascetics and holy men have endeavored to realize the absolute truth by the culture of spiritual knowledge. Some of them followed in the footsteps of Buddha, practicing ahimsa, the path of nonviolence, seeking prakriti-nirvana as the highest attainment. Later in history, some preferring to renounce work, followed Shankaracharya, and by the practice of sense control, they fixed their mind in meditation, merging the individual ego into Brahman, the ultimate state of oneness. In the development towards a transcendental theism, others, following Ramanuja and Madhva on the path of devotion, considered realization of the self as an eternal servant of Godhead —one in purpose with the Supreme— as the highest goal. But while Ramanuja and Madhva established theistic schools of thought based on Vedanta (as opposed to Shankara’s ultimate monism), it was not until the advent of Sri Chaitanya that Vedantic theism’s limits were unveiled.

Sri Chaitanya appeared in this world at Mayapura, Navadvipa Dhama, West Bengal on February 18, 1486 in the home of Jagannatha Mishra, a scholarly brahmana priest of the Vaishnava community. At the time of His appearance the moon was eclipsed, and thus all the noble residents of Navadvipa Dhama had gone to take their bath in the Ganges. Everyone was in a happy mood, and according to the customs of their time, everyone chanted Vedic mantras and the names of God as they bathed in the Ganges. Due to the chanting of these mantras the atmosphere became surcharged with spiritual vibrations, and at that auspicious moment, Sri Chaitanya advented.

The life history of Sri Chaitanya has been told by historians, scholars, and devotees alike. But there is an esoteric description of His appearance as well, and it is within this internal analysis that His teaching is based —a teaching that might well be considered the zenith of theism. Within this school of thought the prospect for an intimate relationship with a personal God, beyond the duality of the world of time and space, invites the devoted to participate in a labor of love which culminates in an eternal life of ecstatic rapture.

The Bengali classic Chaitanya-charitamrita, compiled in the sixteenth century by Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami, reveals the inner identity of Sri Chaitanya, which is accepted by all His followers. In this book the author describes Sri Chaitanya as Godhead Himself, who in this incarnation disguises Himself as His own devotee. Krishnadasa emphasizes that Sri Chaitanya is the personal manifestation of the absolute truth in full, and he urges His readers to regard Him in that way in order to enter into an understanding of the confidential nature of His life and precepts.

The Vedas describe four ages (yugas), the last of which in a continuous cycle is Kali-yuga, the iron (industrial-technological) age of quarrel. For each age there is an avatara who teaches the recommended spiritual discipline for that particular age (yuga-dharma). According to Krishnadasa, Sri Chaitanya is the Kali-yuga-avatara described throughout the Vedic literature.

krishna-varnam tvisakrishnam sangopangastra-parshadam
yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi su-medhasah

“In this Age of Kali, people who are endowed with sufficient intelligence will worship the Lord, who is accompanied by His associates, by performance of sankirtana-yajna.” (Shrimad-Bhagavatam 11.5.32)

The idea that Parambrahma (the Absolute) is ultimately personal, making possible eternal devotion, and that Sri Chaitanya is that transcendental person is paramount to Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy.

The appearance of Sri Chaitanya in this phenomenal world is the culmination of a transcendental dialectic which is inherent in the very nature of the Supreme Being. Parabrahma is rasa or concentrated bliss, which assumes a transcendental figure. The figure is that of Sri Krishna. Within rasa there must also be rasika, or the ability to taste transcendental bliss. Thus in Krishna the unity of rasa and rasika bursts and blooms into the duality of Krishna and Radha. In that duality Krishna is rasa, the highest thing to be relished, and Radha is rasika, the greatest enjoyer of rasa. After reaching the highest state of divine love called prema-vilasa-vivarta, in which Radha and Krishna, the potent and the potency, are fully absorbed in one another’s love, the transcendental duality of Krishna and Radha again combines.
This union of love between Radha and Krishna, however, does not imply a monistic union, as does the advaitic conception of formless Brahman or the Neo-Platonic concept of God as an experience, in which the loss of individuality of the devotee or the sadhaka is complete and irrevocable. It is like the union between fire and a piece of iron. A piece of iron, when put for a long time in fire, becomes red-hot like the fire. Every part of it is animated by fire and acquires the characteristics of fire. Still, iron remains iron and fire remains fire. Similarly, both Krishna and Radha retain their identity. They are so absorbed in each other’s love and lost in each other’s thoughts that there is hardly any room in their hearts for the thought of anything else. Sri Chaitanya is the substantial or personalized form of this union. Thus the birth of Sri Chaitanya in this world at Mayapura was not like that of an ordinary child, but rather it was of the nature of divine descent.

After the birth of Sri Chaitanya, all the women of the village loved to see Him every day. His uncle, who was a famous astrologer, foretold that the child would be recognized as a great personality in time, and he named Him Vishvambhara (maintainer of the universe). The child’s mother Sachi-devi, however, preferred to call Him Nimai since there was a neem tree near the place where he was born.

As a child Nimai liked to play with His friends on the banks of the Ganges, and as boys will be boys, Nimai and His friends would often get into mischief. Sometimes the boys would even splash water on the yogis who came to the banks of the river to meditate. However, when the adults came to chastise Nimai for His tricks, they became charmed by His cunning behavior. Everyone came to love Nimai as if He were their own son. In His fifth year Nimai was admitted into the school of Gangadasa Pandit, where He mastered Sanskrit in two short years. After that, Nimai studied at home, and by His tenth year He was already renowned as a great scholar, now known as Nimai Pandit. His scholarship was such that, in His youth, He defeated the greatest scholar of the time, Keshava Bhatta of Kashmir. In doing so He vanquished the pride that accompained the scholarship of the pandit. While Sri Chaitanya Himself was a great scholar, he consistently deprecated the acquisition of knowledge for its own sake. In His view, learning was connected with reality only inasmuch as Godhead was served thereby.

Nimai had an older brother named Vishvarupa who left home to become a sannyasi, a member of the renounced order of life. This came as a tremendous shock to Jagannatha Mishra and Sachi-devi, but Nimai, in His usual way, consoled His parents in their grief and showered them with love. Shortly after the loss of their older son, Jagannatha Mishra himself expired from this world, leaving His wife to widowhood with only Nimai to look after her.

On the request of His mother, Nimai married Lakshmi-priya, a charming girl from a nearby village. But just after His fifteenth birthday, while Nimai was away from His village, Lakshmi-priya died after being bitten by a snake. Although, at the request of His mother He had accepted another wife, Vishnu-priya, this marriage was also not to last for long. Shortly thereafter while visiting Gaya, Sri Chaitanya accepted initiation from His celebrated guru Ishvara Puri. This initiation marked a turning point in His life. When Nimai returned to Mayapura, He was no longer interested in scholastic achievement, His mind turned instead toward spiritual matters. Externally He appeared to have lost interest in conventional duties; from then on Nimai was a man transformed, as if God-inspired.

In the evenings Nimai would gather His intimate followers together in the house of Shrivasa Thakura and perform sankirtana, the congregational chanting of the Names of God. In those chanting sessions Nimai would sometimes exhibit ecstatic symptoms of love of God, and sometimes He would reveal His form to be the same as that of Sri Krishna. For almost eight years Sri Chaitanya continued to live at Mayapura.

In the daytime Sri Chaitanya used to send His followers from door to door to request every man, woman, and child to chant the Names of God. He taught that simply by chanting the Names of God one would easily realize his eternal relationship with God, whose Name is non-different from Himself. In this way He taught the yuga-dharma for the age of Kali, the chanting of the Hare Krishna maha-mantra:

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare

Sri Chaitanya instructed His followers that there are no hard and fast rules for chanting the Names of God. Regardless of one’s position in society, anyone and everyone was eligible to take part in this process. This, however, drew objection, and certain members of the priestly caste who ‘held a monopoly’ on spiritual blessings opposed Him. He had started the movement of chanting the Names of God to uplift all classes of human society, announcing love of God to be the birthright of everyone, yet thinking Him to be only an ordinary human being, foolish, self-motivated persons objected.

Contemplating in this way, Sri Chaitanya devised a plan. Knowing that a sannyasi, a member of the renounced order of life, was respected by everyone —even by the atheists— He decided to accept sannyasa. Thus even the non-believers would benefit by showing Him respect. Once Sri Chaitanya had decided on His course of action, nothing could turn Him back.

Early one morning in January, at the end of His 24th year, Sri Chaitanya bid farewell to hearth and home. Without the notice of anyone except His mother, He swam across the Ganges River and ran to Katwa, a distance of some 25 miles. At Katwa He went to the ashrama of the sannyasi Keshava Bharati and requested him to kindly give Him sannyasa. At that time He was given the name Sri Krishna Chaitanya. Now more than ever before, He was inspired to benedict the world with divine love. Taking a small group of followers with Him, He immediately started for Jagannatha Puri. Along the way, whoever saw Him became absorbed in the mellows of ecstatic love, and He requested everyone He met to chant the holy Names of God. Indeed, He was just like a great ocean that inundated everything and everyone with love of God.

At Jagannatha Puri, Sri Chaitanya converted Sarvabhauma Bhattacharya, who was at the time the greatest logician in all of India, into a follower of His movement of divine love. Sarvabhauma then became one of His principal associates. Sri Chaitanya remained at Jagannatha Puri for some time, and then decided to tour South India. For the next six years He traveled almost continuously and preached His doctrine of love everywhere He went.

On the banks of the river Godavari Sri Chaitanya met Ramananda Raya, the governor of Vidyanagar, and for several days had enlightening discussions with him on the topic of prema-bhakti, devotional service in pure love of God. The followers of Sri Chaitanya maintain that the apex of theistic thought was revealed in those discussions. Ramananda Raya was a great devotee of Sri Krishna, and Sri Chaitanya solicited from him higher and higher truths regarding the nature of spirit at every moment of their conversation. The climax of their dialogue disclosed that the highest transcendental sentiments of love for God were those shown by the gopis (milkmaids) of Vrindavana during the advent of Sri Krishna. In their service to Sri Krishna, the gopis exhibited the topmost platform of surrender and unalloyed love in which even social conventions of mundane morality were transcended, thus showing that although the morally stout serve as a good example of religious life, there is yet a higher plane where adherence to law is overruled by love, and that pure love must ultimately be free from the type of calculation which is ever found in the theistic conclusions of Ramanuja and Madhva.

According to Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy, never before was bhakti described as both the means and the end. Sri Chaitanya’s characterization of love as the supreme goal is the most important landmark in the history of philosophy and religion. According to Sri Chaitanya, the center of reality is love, not Godhead. Love is the center not only for the devotee, but also for God. Love governs both. Though Godhead is the embodiment of love itself, He has an ever-growing desire for love. Love is a gravitational force that works at two ends: it draws the devotee to Godhead and Godhead to the devotee.

Continuing on His journey, Sri Chaitanya then visited all the important places of pilgrimage in south India and eventually returned to Jagannatha Puri. After some time at Puri, He decided to visit Vrindavana, the land of Sri Krishna. Taking one servant named Balabhadra Bhattacharya with Him, He traveled along the banks of the river Yamuna and through the Jarikhanda forest where, according to Balabhadra’s diary, Sri Chaitanya caused wild beasts to chant and embrace, losing their natural enmity towards one another.

When He reached Vrindavana, Sri Chaitanya exhibited His ecstatic mood of dancing and chanting and many thousands of people came to see Him every day. There, through His transcendental vision, He revealed the places of Sri Krishna’s lilas (pastimes) which were otherwise lost for thousands of years. Later, under His direction His principal disciples excavated the whole area of Vrindavana with the help of wealthy patrons, establishing temples at those holy places of Sri Krishna’s lilas. To date these temples are the principal places of worship in that holy land.

After leaving Vrindavana, on His return to Jagannatha Puri, Sri Chaitanya stopped at Allahabad where He instructed Rupa Goswami about the process of devotional service, and after instructing him in the details of spirituality, He sent him to Vrindavana to write books on the science of bhakti and excavate the places of Sri Krishna’s pastimes. From Allahabad He went to Banaras, where He met the brother of Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami. On the banks of the Ganges He instructed Sanatana in confidential spiritual matters, and after one month He sent him to join his brother at Vrindavana. Later, it was these two brothers and their nephew Jiva Goswami who, along with others, established the literary support for Sri Chaitanya’s theology based on the Vedic literature.

Wherever Sri Chaitanya went, monists such as the highly renowned Prakashananda Sarasvati of Banaras raised strong objections against Him for His public dancing and chanting the Names of God. They contended that he was a misguided sentimentalist without any real understanding of the Vedanta-sutra, which was at that time considered the single most important Vedic literature. They maintained that the sole duty of one in the renounced order was to study the Vedanta-sutra commentaries of Shankara. Unaware of the conception of transcendental emotion, they assumed that Sri Chaitanya’s chanting and dancing were mere mundane sentimental outpourings.

Sri Chaitanya maintained that there was no need of any commentary on Vedanta-sutra since Vyasadeva, its author, had already written His own commentary in the form of Shrimad-Bhagavatam. He taught that the Vedanta-sutra propounded achintya-bhedabheda-tattva —that the Absolute Truth in the ultimate issue is simultaneously and inconceivably one and variegated— the soul is part and parcel of God, but neither one nor any number of finite souls combined is equal to Godhead in full. Sri Chaitanya advocated that proper study of the Bhagavatam would culminate in God-realization and a state of transcendental emotion, as opposed to the dry, emotionless advaitic monism.

Sri Chaitanya taught that the ananda-brahman of the monists is the formless expansive glow [aura] of Godhead, just as moonlight is the formless expansive glow of the moon. In ananda-brahman, rasa is dormant, still and motionless. It is not rasa in the real sense. Rasa-brahman [on the other hand] is dynamic, restless, effulgent, ever-flowing, and ever-growing. It is astonishingly new and relishable —passing every moment beyond itself to new levels of rasa consciousness.

After traveling and canvassing for several years, Sri Chaitanya finally returned to Jagannatha Puri. There He stayed for the remaining 18 years of His life until His disappearance from the sight of mortal men during His 48th year. Sri Chaitanya’s biographers have commented that during those last 18 years, He was surrounded by numerous followers, all of whom were on the highest level of devotion, distinguished from the common people by their character and learning, firm religious principles, and spiritual love for Radha and Krishna.

Historically, Sri Chaitanya has been regarded differently by different individuals. His immediate followers have accepted Him as the Supreme Deity, Sri Krishna. Others have regarded Him as a bhakta-avatara, a divine incarnation to distribute love of God. But that He was a noble and holy teacher is accepted by all who have come in contact with His life and teachings with an unbiased spirit. Sri Chaitanya did not appear in this world to deliver a certain section of human beings in India, but rather His purpose was to uplift all souls in all countries of the world to the pure and sublime platform of ecstatic love of God, the eternal religion of all souls.

It is the authors’ conclusion, after having gone through the teachings of the spiritual masters of India chosen in this series to demonstrate a theistic development over thousands of years, that among Buddha, Shankara, Ramanuja, Madhva, and Sri Chaitanya, there is no contradiction, each represents a particular stage of enlightenment on the path of the ultimate truth. They all agree that our present egoistic preoccupation must be transcended, if we are at all to know any peace. There is visible in these masters a continuity of theistic evolution from one to the next, starting with the Buddha and culminating in Sri Chaitanya.

Buddha’s ‘Four Noble Truths’ —there is suffering, suffering has a cause, suffering can be surpassed, and there is a method by which one can attain freedom from suffering— have laid the foundation for the premise that there is a higher attainment, a higher goal in life than that which is generally accepted as reality. Buddha was then followed by Shankara who, improving on the premise of Buddha, established that eternal spirit (atma), and not simply negation of material existence, is an abstract positive reality. Ramanuja then developed the theistic conception found in Shankara from abstract monism to concrete monism, describing a Brahman with transcendental attributes. He founded a movement of bhakti, or devotion, based on the inherent nature of the living spirit. Madhva then continued the development from Ramanuja, emphasizing the eternal existence of both the soul (atma) and the Oversoul (Paramatma) as necessary for the dynamics of bhakti. Finally Sri Chaitanya presented a love not of self-sacrifice, but one of self-forgetfulness, in which love itself, personified as Sri Radha, becomes the center for both Godhead and His devotee.

Bhaktivinoda Thakura, a biographer and proponent of Sri Chaitanya’s school of divine love, has given a valuable word of advice to all sincere souls who are hankering to know the absolute truth,

“Party spirit—that great enemy of truth—will always baffle the attempt of the inquirer who tries to gather truth from the religious works of his nation, and will make him believe that absolute truth is nowhere except in his old religious book.”

Therefore, the adherent of the path of self-realization should always have a comprehensive, gentle, generous, honest, sympathetic, and above all, an impartial approach, in order to acquire the greatest hope of attaining success on that path.