Chaitanya Maha Prabhu Jayanti

Chaitanya Maha Prabhu Jayanti is celebrated on full moon day of Phalgun . He is considered to be the incarnation of Shri Krishna. He was a great scholar. He became famous as a preacher of Vaishnav religion and a devotee of Shri Krishna. To attain God, he left his family and took up renunciation. He travelled many times for the welfare of the world. During the journey, he propagated the religion and guided many lost people towards Vaishnavism. Let us know what the life character of Chaitanya Maha Prabhu was like.

Childhood of Chaitanya Maha Prabhu ji

Sri Gaura Sundara Chaitanya Maha Prabhu was born in the evening of the full moon day of Phalgun on 18th February1486 AD in Nadia Nagar of Mayapur. There was also a lunar eclipse on that full moon day. According to the prevailing custom, at that auspicious time, the residents of Nadiya were engaged in bathing in the Ganga by saying 'Haribol'. His father Jagannath Mishra and mother, an ideal housewife Sachidevi, were both originally of Brahmin descent from Sylhet. Shri Gaura Sundar Maha Prabhu was a very handsome child, and the women of the city used to bring gifts for his darshan. His maternal grandfather, the famous astrologer Pandit Nilambar Chakraborty, had predicted that this child would be a Yug purusha, hence he was named 'Vishwambhar'. Because of his beautiful Gaurangi complexion, the neighbouring women called him 'Gaurahari', and because of a Neem tree near his birthplace, Mata called him 'Nimai'. People were always happy to see this charming child regularly in his childhood. When he grew up, he became extremely playful. At the age of five, he went to school, and very soon received a Bengali education.

Leela of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Many contemporaries of Sri Gaura Sundara (various biographers) have given accounts of miracles from his childhood. It is said that in his childhood he would often cry in his mother's lap, but when he heard the 'Haribol' sound of the neighbouring women, he would calm down. For this reason, there was always kirtan of 'Haribol' in the house, which was supposed to give advance information about the future of the Yug purusha. It is also popular that once when his mother gave him sweets to eat, he started eating mud instead of sweets. When mother asked the reason for this, he said that sweets have the form of soil, hence soil can also be eaten instead of sweets, it is just a change. Mother was also a knowledgeable housewife and she immediately replied that all things have their use. It is possible to use the clay of a pitcher as a vessel to hold water, but the clay of a brick cannot be used in such a way, similarly, the clay is edible only in the form of sweets, but the clay can be used in other ways but cannot be eaten. The child Shri Gaura Sundar accepted the logic given by his mother and accepted his mistake, after which he took a pledge not to do so in the future.

Another amazing incident was also described. It is said that once a pilgrim Brahmin came to his house as a guest, he prepared food and started meditating on Shri Krishna. Meanwhile, child Shri Gaura Sundar came there and eat rice. His action of eating rice was very amazing; hence the Brahmins were surprised by this action. After this, on the request of Jagannath Mishra, the Brahmin again prepared the kitchen. But as soon as he meditated to offer food to Shri Krishna, the child again eat food. The Brahmin was once again requested to prepare the kitchen. By this time all the family members were asleep. Meanwhile, he showed his Krishna form to the traveling Brahmin and blessed him. In front of his revered Lord, the Brahmin was lost in the love of Shri Krishna.

Another story is mentioned in which once, out of greed for jewellery, two thieves kidnapped child from outside his father's house and gave him sweets on the way. The child Shri Gaura Sundar enchanted the thieves with his magic, who automatically brought him back to his door. Then fearing being caught, they left the boy there and ran away. One day at the age of four, he sat on broken cooking utensils which even his mother considered impure. Then he told the mother that there is no question of purity and impurity in relation to the vessels. These events date back to the age of five years.

Teachings of Chaitanya MahaPrabhu

At the age of eight, Sri Gauranga entered the ashram of Ganga Das Pandit at Ganganagar near Mayapur. In just two years, he gained complete knowledge in Sanskrit grammar and poetic ornamentation. Thereafter, he studied as a self-study at his home, where all the important texts of Pandit father were available. He also studied memory and justice in competition with his friends who received education from the famous Pandit Raghunath Shiromani.

Thus, at the age of ten, Sri Chaitanya became a renowned scholar of grammar, poetry, memory, and justice. Meanwhile, his elder brother Vishwaroop had renounced the planet and taken sannyasa. While still in his teenage years, Sri Chaitanya assured his parents that he would serve them for the pleasure of God. After this, his father passed away. Due to this his mother became very sad. Shri Maha Prabhu consoled the widowed mother with his gentle form.

Darshan of Sri Chaitanya as a scholar

At the age of fourteen-fifteen, Shri Gaura Sundar Maha Prabhu married Vallabhacharya's daughter Lakshmidevi. Vallabhacharya ji used to reside in Nadia only. At this time, he was counted among the best scholars of Nadia city, famous for justice and Sanskrit education. Not only the best pandits, even all the experts in judicial philosophy did not dare to argue with him in literary conversations. Due to his family life, he decided to go to East Bengal to earn money from the banks of Padma. There, he earned huge wealth by showcasing his knowledge. From time to time, he also started preaching Vaishnavism. He instructed Shri Tapan Mishra to go to Banaras after teaching Vaishnav principles. During his stay in East Bengal, his wife Lakshmidevi died of snake bite. When he returned home, he found his mother very sad. He consoled his mother by talking about the transience of human life. On the insistence of his mother, he married Vishnupriya Devi, daughter of Rajpandit Shri Sanatan Mishra. On returning from the journey his companions reunited. Now he had become so famous that he was considered the best scholar of Nadia. Keshav Mishra, who called himself the great Digvijay, came to Nadia to study with the scholars of Kashmir . Fearing the famous world-conqueror Pandit, the scholars around Nadia left the city on the pretext of an invitation. Shri Gausundar Mahaprabhu and Keshav Kashmiri met at Barkund Ghat in Mayapur. In a very short conversation, Gausundar defeated Keshav Mishra. As a result, fearing insult, he was forced to go elsewhere. Now Nimai was considered the best scholar of his time.

Devotion to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

At the age of sixteen-seventeen, he travelled to Gaya along with many students. He took Vaishnav initiation from the famous devotee, disciple of Shri Madhavendra Puri, and Vaishnav Sanyasi Shri Ishwar Puri. After coming back to Nadia, Nimai Pandit started the work of propagator of Bhagwat religion. His devotional form manifested so strongly that Advaita Prabhu and Srivasadi, who had accepted Vaishnavism even before his appearance. In the house of Srivasa, amidst his hundreds of devotees, who were mainly great scholars, he shared his spiritual powers and love of the Lord with his devotees and their seekers and guided them towards the realization of the Lord. He organized nightly kirtan of God's name or Bhagwat San kirtan in the shelter home (courtyard of Srivas) with devoted devotees.

There he used to give sermons, sing songs, dance, and express various emotions. Sri Nityananda Prabhu, who was touring India as a Vaishnav preacher, came to meet him. The city of Nadia became a social and spiritual center run by Vaishnava acharyas and providing an opportunity for people to come together to inspire God and improve their spiritual lives. The aim was to make humanity God-fearing.

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Renunciation

Nimai Pandit ordered Prabhu Nityananda and Thakur Haridas that "Friends, you go on the streets of the city, go to the doors of every person and chant Harinam with the outmost purity and inform me about your preaching work every evening. " After receiving the order, the preachers left. One day Shri Gaura Sundar MahaPrabhu met two extremely lowly beings, Jagai and Madhai, who, being engrossed in sins throughout their life, had indulged in bad words and misbehaved. Sri Gaura Sundara Mahaprabhu ordered him to meet with his preachers to reform them through devotion towards the Lord.

But, when these preachers met those sinful creatures, those lowly creatures insulted them, then due to the influence of the teachings and love of their Lord Shri Gaurasundar, those sinful creatures also soon got inclined towards the path of devotion and started loving and worshiping God. The people of Nadia were astonished. He said that Nimai Pandit is not only a great scholar, but he is also a messenger of God who has the utmost love and faith in the Lord. Sri Gaurasundara Mahaprabhu, from his twenty-third year onwards, spread his Vaishnava principles beyond the limits of the Nadia region, as he preached them in the surrounding towns and villages. He performed miracles at the abodes of devotees, taught intimate devotional principles, and performed sankirtan with the devotee community. Nadiya resident devotees started performing Harinam Kirtan under the inspiration of Shri Gaursundar Mahaprabhu. After this, due to the transmission of the story of Nimai Pandit and the spirit of devotion to God, his fame started spreading rapidly. On the other hand, seeing this success, some jealous Brahmins of Kuliya became jealous of Shri Mahaprabhu Gaursundar and formed an opposition group against him. Nimai Pandit understood that factionalism and communalism are two important obstacles which can be two big enemies of progress. He understood that as long as a person belongs to any one family, caste, or sect, he cannot feel completely free, and can become a victim of the growing feeling of communalism in the society.

With this idea he left his ties to his family, caste, and community and resolved to become a world citizen. In the twenty-fourth year, Shri Gaursundar Mahaprabhu took sannyasa from Keshav Bharti in Katwa. His mother and wife were extremely sad at that time and their separation forced them to cry, but the heroic Gaursundar remained firm on his ideals. He left his small family and set out to show the common people the path of spiritual practice to attain the infinite Vaikuntha-world abode of Shri Krishna. After taking Sannyasa, Sri Gaurasundara Mahaprabhu resolved to go to Shantipur, the home of Advaita Prabhu, and Sri Gaurasundara decided to discuss Bhagavad Bhakti and Vaishnava principles with him there. Sri Advaita invited all his friends and devotees and also brought Sachi Mata along to have the darshan of his son.

Seeing the ascetic form of her son, joy and sadness arose simultaneously in the mother's heart. His son Shri Krishna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was wearing only a cowpin and outer clothes, his head was shaved, holding a stick and kamandalu in his hands. He bowed at the feet of his beloved mother and said, “Mother, this body is yours, therefore I humbly request you to follow your orders. Allow me to go to Shri Dham Vrindavan so that I can attain God. Mother asked him to reside in Jagannathpuri so that he could come and meet her from time to time. Following Mother's advice, he soon left Shantipur for Orissa.

Journeys of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

He traveled on the Bhagirathi coast to Chhatrabhog situated in Mathurapur, Diamond Harbour, Twenty-four Parganas. From there, reached Prayag-ghat from Midnapur by boat. After visiting Bhubaneswar temple, he reached Puri while traveling on foot via Balasore Cuttack. On coming to Puri he had darshan of Shri Jagannath. There he met Sarvabhavam and on his request they lived together. Sarvabhavam was a great scholar of that time. He was born in Vidyanagar, Nadia. After this, Shri Mahaprabhu decided to travel south and left Puri along with a Brahmin named Krishnadas.

He first went to Godavari, where he miraculously cured a leprosy patient named Vasudev. After visiting many places in the south till Kanyakumari, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu returned to Puri in two years via Pandharpur situated on the Bhima river. At that place he made Tukaram a devotee. During his travels, he had discussions with Buddhists, Jains and Mayavadis at many places and got them to accept Vaishnav religion. In this way many such miracles happened. Sometimes during the journey, he also met his mother. There was always love for his mother in his life. He behaved equally towards his disciples. He did not believe in discrimination at all.

Another miracle of Chaitanya Maha Prabhu’s travels is also seen which truly shows his amazing powers. After completing many journeys, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu started his journey to Vrindavan Dham in the year 1515 AD. During the journey to Vrindavan, he encountered many dense forests on the way. In these forests, he found various types of extremely dangerous and aggressive animals. The most surprising thing was that even these aggressive wild animals like lion, tiger, leopard, bear etc., instead of harming them, used to bow down to them and dance with love. Completing his journey, he reached Vrindavan on the day of Kartik Purnima. After reaching there, he resided at Akrur Ghat. By staying here, he awakened the dormant feeling of devotion in every house of Vrindavan. He went to every corner of the country and preached the importance of Hari name and spent the last moments of his life living in Jagannath Puri. He left his body in Jagannath Puri in the year 1533 at the age of 46.

Chaitanya Maha Prabhu Jayanti

Chaitanya Maha Prabhu Jayanti

Childhood of Chaitanya Maha Prabhu ji

Leela of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Teachings of Chaitanya MahaPrabhu

Darshan of Sri Chaitanya as a scholar

Devotion to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Renunciation

Journeys of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

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