Sri Caitanya | The Hare Krishna Movement

Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu

15 Feb 2021 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Teachings of Lord Chaitanya Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. Mercy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, prologue from teachings of lord caitanya, Sri Caitanya, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, Teachings of Lord Caitanya

Bhagavad-Gita-Original-Art-Pancha-Tattva1

We all have our favorite pictures of Lord Caitanya, I guess this is mine. We have included the Prologue from the Teachings of Lord Caitanya for some insight into the life and activities of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu.

I offer my respectful obeisances unto the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna Chaitanya, who is more magnanimous than any other incarnation, even Krishna Himself, because He is bestowing freely what no one else has ever given pure love of Kṛṣṇa.

“O most munificent incarnation! You are Kṛṣṇa Himself appearing as Śrī Kṛṣṇa Caitanya Mahāprabhu. You have assumed the golden color of Śrīmatī Rādhārāṇī, and You are widely distributing pure love of Kṛṣṇa. We offer our respectful obeisances unto You.

Teachings of Lord Caitanya
by His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda

Prologue

by Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura

[This account originally appeared in a short work by Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura entitled, “Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu: His Life and Precepts.” (August 20, 1896)]

Caitanya Mahāprabhu was born in Māyāpur in the town of Nadia just after sunset on the evening of the 23rd Phālguna 1407 Śakābda, answering to the 18th of February, 1486, of the Christian Era. The moon was eclipsed at the time of his birth, and the people of Nadia were then engaged, as was usual on such occasions, in bathing in the Bhāgīrathī with loud cheers of Haribol. His father, Jagannātha Miśra, a poorbrāhmaṇa of the Vedic order, and his mother, Śacī-devī, a model good woman, both descended from brāhmaṇa stock originally residing in Sylhet. Mahāprabhu was a beautiful child, and the ladies of the town came to see him with presents. His mother’s father, Paṇḍita Nīlāmbara Cakravartī, a renowned astrologer, foretold that the child would be a great personage in time; and he, therefore, gave him the name Viśvambhara. The ladies of the neighborhood styled him Gaurahari on account of his golden complexion, and his mother called him Nimāi on account of the nimba tree near which he was born. Beautiful as the lad was, everyone heartily loved to see him every day. As he grew up he became a whimsical and frolicsome lad. After his fifth year, he was admitted into a pāṭhaśālā where he picked up Bengali in a very short time.

The Appearance of Lord Caitanya

07 Mar 2012 2 Comments

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Caitanya Mahaprabhu, Chanting Hare Krishna, Festivals Tags: A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Caitanya, chanting Hare Krishna, Gaura Purnima, golden avatara, Hare Krishna Mantra, Krishna, Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu, love of God, Maha Mantra, self realization, Sri Caitanya, Srila Prabhupada

The Appearance of Lord Caitanya

Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu is Krishna Himself, and He is teaching how to develop love of God by a very simple method…chanting the names of the Lord. Only five hundred years ago Lord Caitanya Mahāprabhu, prophesied that the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra would resound throughout every town and village in the world. At a time when Western man was directing his exploratory spirit toward studying the physical universe and circumnavigating the globe, in India Śrī Caitanya was inaugurating and masterminding a revolution directed inward. His movement swept the subcontinent, gained millions of followers, and profoundly influenced the future of religious and philosophical thinking, both in India and the West. In the following talk, presented in November 1969 at London’s Conway Hall, Śrīla Prabhupāda describes the divine appearance of Śrī Caitanya.

Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, the golden avatāra, appeared in India nearly five hundred years ago. It is the custom in India that when a child is born, an astrologer is called for. When Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, appeared five thousand years ago, Gargamuni was called by His father, and he said, “This child formerly incarnated in three complexions, such as red and golden, and now He has appeared in blackish color.” Kṛṣṇa’s color is described in the scriptures as blackish, just like the color of a cloud. Lord Caitanya is understood to be Kṛṣṇa appearing in golden complexion.

There is much evidence in Vedic literature that Caitanya Mahāprabhu is an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, and this is confirmed by scholars and devotees. In the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam it is confirmed that the incarnation of Kṛṣṇa, or God, in this present age, Kali-yuga, will always engage in describing Kṛṣṇa. He is Kṛṣṇa, but as a devotee of Kṛṣṇa He describes Himself. And in this age His bodily complexion will not be blackish. This means that it may be white, it may be red, or it may be yellow, because these four colors—white, red, yellow, and black—are the colors assumed by the incarnations for the different ages. Therefore, since the red, white, and blackish colors were already taken by former incarnations, the remaining color, golden, is assumed by Caitanya Mahāprabhu. His complexion is not blackish, but He is Kṛṣṇa.

Srila Prabhupada is a Friend to All

03 Jan 2012 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Srila Prabhupada, The Hare Krishna Movement Tags: Bhagavad=gita, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Krishna, Sri Caitanya, Srila Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam, The Hare Krishna Movement

…Krishna says in the Bhagavad-gita, “one who teaches this most confidential knowledge to others is very dear to Me.” Through his translations of Vedic texts such as the Bhagavad-gita, Srimad Bhagavatam, and the Sri Chaitanya-caritamrita, Srila Prabhupada taught others the instructions of Lord Krishna in a way that was understandable to all…

Srila Prabhupada is a Friend to All
Author unknown

His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami, more affectionately known as Srila Prabhupada, is the Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness, ISKCON, or more popularly known as The Hare Krishna Movement. The movement was inaugurated in India by Lord Caitanya almost five hundred years ago. The age that we currently live in is full of quarrel and dissent and the only means of self-realization is through the constant chanting of the holy name of God.

The Hare Krishna mantra, “Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare”, is found in the ancient scriptures of India, and is the most powerful of mantras in this age since it directly addresses God and His energy in a loving way. Lord Chaitanya freely distributed this mantra to all of India through congregational chanting. Srila Prabhupada, a spiritual master in the disciplic succession descending from Lord Chaitanya, preached this same movement in the mid 1960s beginning in America and eventually spreading throughout the world.

Disappearance Day of Narottama das Thakur

15 Oct 2011 Leave a comment

by The Hare Krishna Movement in Narottama das Thakur, Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas Tags: His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Narottama das Thakur, Songs of the Vaisnava Acaryas, Sri Caitanya, sri-krsna-caitanya-prabhu daya kora more

Srila Narottama das Thakura

Today we honor the disappearance day of Narottama Das Thakur, who is well know as the composer of many Vaisnava Songs. So we post one of his well known songs along with a purport by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

Sri Krsna Caitanya Prabhu Doya Koro More

śrī-kṛṣṇa-caitanya prabhu doyā koro more
tomā binā ke doyālu jagat-saḿsāre

My dear Lord Caitanya, please be merciful to me, because who can be more merciful than Your Lordship within these three worlds?

patita-pāvana-hetu tava avatāra
mo sama patita prabhu nā pāibe āra

Your incarnation is just to reclaim the conditioned, fallen souls, but I assure You that You will not find a greater fallen soul than me. Therefore, my claim is first.

hā hā prabhu nityānanda, premānanda sukhī
kṛpābalokana koro āmi boro duḥkhī

My dear Lord Nityananda, You are always joyful in spiritual bliss. Since You always appear very happy, I have come to You because I am most unhappy. If You kindly put Your glance over me, then I may also become happy.

doyā koro sītā-pati adwaita gosāi
tava kṛpā-bale pāi caitanya-nitāi

O Svarupa Damodara, personal secretary of Lord Caitanya, O six Gosvamis O Sri Rupa Gosvami, Sri Sanatana Gosvami, Sri Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami, and Sri Raghunatha dasa Gosvami! O Lokanatha Gosvami, my beloved spiritual master! Narottama dasa also prays for your mercy.

doyā koro śrī-ācārya prabhu śrīnivāsa
rāmacandra-sańga māge narottama-dāsa

O Srinivasa Acarya, successor to the six Gosvamis! Please be merciful to me. Narottama dasa always desires the company of Ramacandra Cakravarti.

Purport
By His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada

This is a song composed by Narottama Dasa Thakura. He prays to Lord Caitanya “My dear Lord, please be merciful to me, because who can be more merciful than Your Lordship within these three worlds?” Actually, this is a fact. Not only Narottama Dasa Thakura but Rupa Gosvami also prayed to Lord Caitanya in this way. At the time of the first meeting of Lord Caitanya and Rupa Gosvami at Prayaga (Allahabad), Srila Rupa Gosvami said, “My dear Lord, You are the most munificent of all incarnations, because You are distributing love of Krsna, Krsna consciousness.” When Krsna was personally present He simply asked us to surrender, but He did not distribute Himself so easily. He made conditions–“First of all you surrender.” But this incarnation, Lord Caitanya, although Krsna Himself, makes no such condition. He simply distributes: “Take love of Krsna.” Therefore Lord Caitanya is approved as the most munificent incarnation. Narottama Dasa Thakura says, “Please be merciful to me. You are so magnanimous, because You have seen the fallen souls of this age, and You are very much compassionate to them, but You should know also that I am the most fallen. No one is more greatly fallen than me.” Patita-pavana-hetu tava avatara. “Your incarnation is just to reclaim the conditioned, fallen souls, but I assure You that You will not find a greater fallen soul than me. Therefore, my claim is first.”