Amala Harinam - 5.21.21

6/11/23 - Day After Ratha 2023 - Amala Harinam

Indradyumna Swami Bhajans - Jaya Radha  Madhava - 2003-05-16 Ukraine

“Who is Krishna Chaitanya, and what is His significance?”

If we turn to academic sources for an answer, we will find considerable historical data. A New History of India, by Stanley Wolpert, states, “In Bengal the most popular of all bhakti Hindu preachers was the teacher Chaitanya.” In A History of Indian Philosophy, the respected Surendranath Dasgupta writes, “The religious life of Chaitanya unfolds unique psychological symptoms of devotion which are perhaps unparalleled in … history… .” And the Encyclopaedia Brittannica refers to Lord Chaitanya’s “profound and continuing effect on the religious sentiments of his Bengali countrymen.” The Brittanica also states that Lord Chaitanya propagated “the community celebration [sankirtana] of Krishna as the most powerful means of bringing about the proper bhakti attitude.”

From the historical records about Lord Chaitanya, we certainly see a picture of a God-conscious saint who appeared in India during the sixteenth century. But we have to seek further—into the devotional Vedic literature—to understand the full, spiritual significance of Lord Chaitanya and the bhakti movement that He inaugurated.

We should consult the biographies of Lord Chaitanya, especially the Chaitanya-bhagavata, by Vrindavana dasa Thakura, and the Chaitanya-charitamrita, by Krishnadasa Kaviraja. Both of these works were compiled in the sixteenth century and are filled with first-hand accounts of Lord Chaitanya’s acts and teachings. They also give us an accurate picture of the social and religious setting in which Lord Chaitanya lived. The Chaitanya-charitamrita is especially valuable, because the author quotes extensively from the Sanskrit Vedic scriptures to authoritatively and logically establish the divinity of Lord Chaitanya.

One of the opening verses of Chaitanya-charitamrita boldly asserts that Lord Chaitanya is none other than the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Krishna Himself:

What the Upanishads describe as the impersonal Brahman is but the effulgence of His body, and the Lord known as the Supersoul (Paramatma) is but His localized plenary portion. He is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna Himself, full with six opulences [wealth, fame, strength, beauty, knowledge, and renunciation]. He is the Absolute Truth, and no other truth is greater than or equal to Him.

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