|| Hare Kṛṣṇa ||
All Glories to Śrī
Guru
& Gaurānga!
All Glories to Śrīla
Prabhupāda!
Nitāi Gaura Premānande,
HARI HARI BOLO!
Patitānām Pāvanebhyo Vaiśṇavebhyo Namo Namaḥ!
Respected devotees,
Please accept our humble
obeisance - dandavat praṇāma,
Sri
Chaitanya Mahaaprabhu is God Himself
We also have attached herewith a presentation which has multiple evidences
from Shaastra about Lord Shri Krishna's appearance as Shri Chaitanya
Mahaaprabhu in Kaliyuga and His mission, His family, His form, His Name, His birth place and much more.
Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu is Sri Krishna Himself, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. He
appeared in the Kali yuga (the present age), 513 years ago in 1486 AD, in the
mood of His own greatest devotee, Srimati Radharani. The fact that Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu is non different from Krishna is substantiated by the scriptures
such as the Srimad Bhagvatam (11.5.32), by the saadhus (saintly persons) such
as Srila Advaita acarya, Nityananda prabhu and the six Goswamis of Vrindavan.
Finally it is substantiated by all the gurus in bona fide disciplic
successions. Since it is independently verified by the scriptures, sadhus and
guru, we should also accept that Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is an incarnation of the
Supreme Personality of Godhead.
Sri Chaitanya Gives the Religion for this Age
Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu appeared in this yuga to demonstrate the means for the people to return
to Godhead. In the present age of Kali, that began about 5000 years ago, people
have short life spans, weak intellect and a propensity to quarrel and cheat.
Out of compassion for the fallen souls in this age, Sri Krishna incarnated, as Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu, to establish the process of Sankirtan Yajna to help people return
back, back to Godhead. Sankirtan is chanting the holy name of the Lord. It is
the religion for this age. It could be done congregationally, as kirtans, or it
could be done softly in solace, as japa. Japa is the process of chanting the
maha-mantra: (Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Raama,
Hare Raama, Raama Raama Hare Hare) on the 108 tulasi beads of the japa-mala. To
enact His mission, He appeared with His associates. Thus Sri Krishna Chaitanya
is often worshipped in His form as pancha-tattva, accompanied by His immediate
expansions, Nityananda prabhu, Advaita acarya, Gadadhar pandit and Srivasa
Thakur.
God´s Name and Himself are not Different
Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu established that the name of Krishna
is non different from Krishna Himself. He established this on the basis of
authorized scriptures and explained to the mass of people the philosophy of (achintya-bhedaabheda-tattva),
which maintains that the Supreme Lord is simultaneously one with and different
from His creation. He demonstrated it by practicing the chanting of the holy
name Himself, and explained that the holy name is the sound incarnation of the
Lord Himself, and since the Lord is absolute, there is no difference between
His holy name and His transcendental body.
His Appearance (Birth)
Krishna
Chaitanya, as He is often also called was born in a brahman family in
Navadvipa, West Bengal as Vishvambhara, His
birth was accompanied by an almost universal chanting of the Holynames, since
it coincided with a total lunar eclipse. As a child, the only way His parents,
Sacidevi and Jagannatha Misra, could get Him to stop crying was by chanting the
holy name. Therefore, from the beginning, He was inducing the people to chant to
names of God. He was also called ‘Gauraanga’ on account of His golden body
complexion and ‘Nimaai’ partly because He was born under a neem tree.
Youth
Though
He had no need for it, He followed the established practice of studying
scriptures under the guidance of a guru in a tol (school). As a young boy, He
acquired a formidable reputation as a logician and Vedaantist. At a very young
age, he defeated Kesava Kashmiri, a digvijaya (unconquerable) brahman from Kashmir .
Krishna (God) Can Only Be Known By Serving Him with Love
But Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu then moved on to immerse Himself completely in the devotional
worship of Krishna. He then conclusively established over and over again to
prominent Vedic scholars of His time, that Krishna can never be approached by the
dint of mental speculation, specially in the present age where people have
limited intellect, but can be only approached in the mood of love and surrender
- the mood of a devotee.
Know God by Chanting His Holy Name
Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu also demonstrated that any one can become a devotee. He glorified
Haridas Thakur, a Moslem by birth, who daily chanted 300,000 names of the Lord.
In fact He showed that any living creature, may it be a learned brahman, a
fallen shudra, a criminal or even animals can become spiritually elevated by
chanting or hearing the names of Lord. He thus showed that love of Godhead is
an intrinsic quality of the spirit soul, and can be awakened from its dormant
stage by the process of chanting and kirtan.
Stages of Chanting God´s Names
As one
practices the process of chanting, he passes through three stage: the offensive
stage, wherein one may desire all kinds of material happiness, the clearing
stage, when the material contamination's are cleared and finally the
transcendental stage, one of pure love of Godhead. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu taught
and showed that this is the highest stage of perfection for the human beings.
The Immediate Followers of Sri Chaitanya, the Six Goswamis
The
immediate followers of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, chief amongst them being the six
Goswamis, wrote several authoritative books based on Vedic scriptures. They
wrote this based on the personal instructions given by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to
demonstrate that bhakti or love of Krishna is the ultimate goal of the Vedas.
Official Biographies of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Krsnadas
Kaviraj Goswami and Vrndavan dasa Thakura wrote authoritative biographies of
Sri Krishna Chaitanya known as Chaitanya Charitamrita and Chaitanya Bhaagvata.
His Teachings - The Sikshaastakam
Though
He inspired His followers to prolific writing, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu left behind
the essence of His teaching in only eight verses called the (Sikshaastaka).
Each of this verse is a pearl of spiritual wisdom, which if understood
properly, under the guidance of a qualified teacher, can elevate a person from
the mundane plane of materialism to the highest form of devotion - prema
bhakti. In addition to this, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu lived an exemplary life that
served as a model for people in the Kali yuga to follow and return to Godhead.
He Predicts the Future of the World
Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu predicted that the holy name of the Lord would be spread to every
village and town all over the world. He propagated the chanting of the maha
mantra which He directly took from the scriptures. In the Brhan-naradiya Purana
says: (harer nama harer nama harer namaivia kevalam kalau nasty eva nasty eva
nasty eva gatir anyatha) Chant the Holy name, chant the Holy name, chant the
Holy name. In the Kali yuga, there is no other way, no other way, no other way!
The
Kalisantarana Upanishad says that the 16 word, 32 syllables Hare Krishna maha
mantra is the most effective way of counteracting the contaminating effects of
the Kali yuga. Many of His empowered devotees, like Bhaktivinoda Thakura,
Bhaktisiddhantha Saraswati Thakura have since appeared to further this holy
mission. The latest, prominent personality in this line is His Divine Grace
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder of acarya of ISKCON. In
following the instructions of his spiritual master and the mission of Chaitanya
Mahaprabhu, Prabhupada propagated the chanting of the name of Krishna
well beyond the borders of India ,
in countries all over the world, a mission that is still being carried forward.
Ecstatic Love (Prema Bhakti)
Ecstatic
love or Prema Bhakti is the feeling one experiences when one becomes self
realized, i.e. one realizes that one is a spiritual being, an eternal servant
of God, Lord Krishna.
Ecstatic
love is the highest spiritual experience one can have. It is beyond all material
happiness and it is described in the Vedic scriptures as Aananda or bliss.
Bhagavad
Gita 5.21 says: "the self realized person enjoy unlimited happiness."
Ecstatic
love can be achieved in this age by anyone, thanks to Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
whose life exemplified one who is experiencing ecstatic love and who gave the
means of achieving ecstatic love. By regularly practicing Bhakti Yoga in which
the main activity is chanting the Maha Mantra:
Hare
Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; Hare Raama, Hare Raama, Raama
Raama Hare Hare
With
sincere prayers for your wellbeing and
dandavat praṇāma,
Your humble servants
at,
Śrī
RādhāGovindajī Dhāma
ISKCON -
Ahmedābād - INDIĀ
Land Phone: +91-79-2686-1945 / 1645 / 2350
Web Photo
Albums: http://picasaweb.google.com/iskcon.abad
http://picasaweb.google.com/iskcon.abad2
Always
Chant Mahaa-Mantra...
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare
Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare |
Hare Rāma Hare
Rāma, Rāma Rāma Hare Hare ||...and be Happy
