Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
| Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu | |
|---|---|
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
| |
| Religion | Hinduism |
| Founder of | Gaudiya Vaishnavism Achintya Bheda Abheda |
| Philosophy | Bhakti yoga, Achintya Bheda Abheda |
| Personal | |
| Born | Vishvambhar Mishra (Nimai) 18 February 1486 Nabadwip Dham (present-day Nadia, West Bengal, India), known as Yogapith |
| Died | 14 June 1534 (aged 48) Near Swargadwar, Puri (present-day Odisha, India) |
| Guru | Isvara Puri (mantra guru); Kesava Bharati (sanyas guru) |
| Disciple(s) | Rupa Goswami, Sanatana Goswami, Gopala Bhatta Goswami, Raghunatha Bhatta Goswami, Raghunatha dasa Goswami, Jiva Goswami and others |
| Honors | Expounded Gaudiya Vaishnavism; regarded full incarnation of Lord Krishna and even sometimes considered as Lord Krishna and Srimati Radha rani combined in one single body. |
| Birth Anniversary | Gaura Purnima |
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Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ((also transliterated Caitanya Mahāprabhu); 18 February 1486 – 14 June 1534) was a Bengali Hindu spiritual leader who founded Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Chaitanya was the proponent for the Vaishnava school of Bhakti yoga (meaning loving devotion to God), based on Bhagavata Purana and Bhagavad Gita.[1] Of various incarnations of Vishnu, he is revered as Krishna, popularised the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra[2] and composed the Siksastakam (eight devotional prayers) in Sanskrit. His followers, Gaudiya Vaishnavas, revere him as a Krishna with the mood and complexion of his source of inspiration Radha.[3] His birthday is celebrated as Gaura-purnima.[citation needed] [4]
Chaitanya is sometimes referred to by the names Gauranga or Gaura due to his fair complexion,[5] and Nimai due to his being born underneath a Neem tree.[6] He was very mischievous in his young days. His original name was Vishvambhar. He was a brilliant student and Nimai was his nickname. At an early age he became a scholar and opened a school.[citation needed]
Life
Chaitanya means '"living force"; Maha means "Great" and Prabhu means "Lord" or "Master".
Chaitanya was born as the second son of Jagannath Mishra and his wife Sachi Devi. Mishra's family lived in the town of Dhaka Dakhhin, Srihatta, now Sylhet, Bangladesh.[7][8]. According to Chaitanya Charitamruta, Chaitanya was born on the full moon night of 18 February 1486, at the time of a lunar eclipse.[9]
Alternatively, Chaitanya is also believed to born in Mayapur. Mayapur is located on the banks of the Ganges river, at the point of its confluence with the Jalangi, near Nabadwip, West Bengal, India, 130 km north of Kolkata (Calcutta). Mayapur is considered a holy place by a number of other traditions within Hinduism.[citation needed]
A number of stories also exist telling of Chaitanya's apparent attraction to the chanting and singing of Krishna's names from a very young age,[10] but largely this was perceived as being secondary to his interest in acquiring knowledge and studying Sanskrit. When travelling to Gaya to perform the shraddha ceremony for his departed father, Chaitanya met his guru, the ascetic Ishvara Puri, from whom he received initiation with the Gopala Krishna mantra. This meeting was to mark a significant change in Chaitanya's outlook[11] and upon his return to Bengal the local Vaishnavas, headed by Advaita Acharya, were stunned at his external sudden 'change of heart' (from 'scholar' to 'devotee') and soon Chaitanya became the eminent leader of their Vaishnava group within Nadia.[citation needed]
After leaving Bengal and receiving entrance into the sannyasa order by Keshava Bharati,[12] Chaitanya journeyed throughout the length and breadth of India for several years, chanting the divine Names of Krishna constantly. He spent the last 24 years of his life in Puri, Odisha,[13] the great temple city of Jagannath in the Radhakanta Math. The Gajapati king, Prataprudra Dev, regarded Chaitanya as Krishna's avatar and was an enthusiastic patron and devotee of Chaitanya's sankeertan gatherings.[14] It was during these years that Chaitanya is believed by his followers to have sunk deep into various Divine-Love (samādhi) and performed pastimes of divine ecstasy (bhakti).[15]
Vrindavan, the land of Radha Rani, the “City of Temples” has more than 5000 temples to showcase the pastimes of Radha and Krishna, including temples as old as 5500 years. The essence of Vrindavan was lost over time until the 16th century, when it was rediscovered by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In the year 1515, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited Vrindavana, with the purpose of locating the lost holy places associated with Lord Sri Krishna’s transcendent pastimes. He wandered through the different sacred forests of Vrindavana in a spiritual trance of divine love. It was believed that by His divine spiritual power, he was able to locate all the important places of Krishna’s pastimes in and around Vrindavan including the seven main temples or sapta devalay, which are worshiped by Vaishnavas in the Chaitanya tradition to this day.[16]
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Hare Krishna (mantra)
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The Hare Krishna mantra, also referred to reverentially as the Maha Mantra ("Great Mantra"), is a 16-word Vaishnava mantra which is mentioned in the Kali-Santarana Upanishad, and which from the 15th century rose to importance in the Bhakti movement following the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. This Mantra is composed of three Sanskrit names of the Supreme Being; "Hare", "Krishna", and "Rama".[1][2]
According to Gaudiya Vaishnava theology, one's original consciousness and goal of life is pure love of god (Krishna).[3] Since the 1960s, the mantra has been made well known outside India by A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and his International Society for Krishna Consciousness (commonly known as "the Hare Krishnas").[4]
Mantra[
The Hare Krishna mantra is composed of Sanskrit names in the singular vocative case: Hare, Krishna, and Rama (in Anglicized spelling). It is a poetic stanza in anuṣṭubh meter (A quatrain of four lines (pāda) of eight syllables).
Sanskrit is a polysemic language and as such, this mantra has multiple interpretations all of which may be considered as correct. "Hare" can be interpreted as either the vocative form of Hari, another name of Vishnumeaning "he who removes illusion". Another interpretation is as the vocative of Harā,[5] a name of Rādhā,[6] Krishna's eternal consort or His energy (Krishna's Shakti). According to A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Harā refers to "the energy/shakti of Supreme Personality of Godhead" while Krishna and Rama refer to Supreme Godhead Himself, meaning "He who is All-Attractive" and "He who is the Source of All Pleasure".[7][8] In the hymn Vishnu Sahasranama spoken by Bhishma in praise of Krishna after the Kurukshetra War, Krishna is also called Rama.[9]
It is sometimes believed that "Rama" in "Hare Rama" means "Radharamana" or the beloved of Radha (another name for Kṛṣṇa). The more common interpretation is that Rāma refers to Rama of the Ramayana, an earlier avatar of Krishna. "Rama can also be a shortened form of Balarama, Krishna's first expansion."[10] The mantra is repeated, either sung out loud (bhajan), congregationally (kirtan) or to oneself aloud or mentally (japa). A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami describes the process of chanting the Maha Mantra as follows:
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Shikshashtakam
(Redirected from Siksastakam)
The Shikshashtakam (IAST: Śikṣāṣṭakam) is a 16th-century Gaudiya Vaishnava Hindu prayer of eight verses composed in the Sanskrit language. They are believed to be the only verses left personally written by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486 – 1534)[1] with the majority of his philosophy being codified by his primary disciples, known as the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan.[2] The Shikshashtakam is quoted within the Chaitanya Charitamrita,[3] Krishnadasa Kaviraja Goswami's biography of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, written in Bengali. The name of the prayer comes from the Sanskrit words Śikṣā, meaning 'instruction', and aṣṭaka, meaning 'consisting of eight parts', i.e., stanzas. The teachings contained within the eight verses are believed to contain the essence of all teachings on Bhakti yoga within the Gaudiya tradition.
Text
The first eight verses of the following are the complete text of the Shikshashtakam, as written in Sanskrit by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu and as translated by Srila Prabhupada. They are found in Krishnadasa Kaviraja's Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita (Antya-līlā, chapter 20, verses 12, 16, 21, 29, 32, 36, 39 and 47).[4] The final verse is a Bengali quotation from Sri Chaitanya Charitamrita, Antya-līlā 20.65 - it is not part of the actual Shikshashtakam, but is often appended to the end when it is recited, describing the result of reciting the Shikshashtakam faithfully.[5][6]
Contents
[show]Verse 1[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
cetaḥ — of the heart; darpaṇa — the mirror; mārjanam — cleansing; bhava — of material existence; mahā-dāva-agni — the blazing forest fire; nirvāpaṇam — extinguishing; śreyaḥ — of good fortune; kairava — the white lotus; candrikā — the moonshine; vitaraṇam — spreading; vidyā — of all education; vadhū — wife; jīvanam — the life; ānanda — of bliss; ambudhi — the ocean; vardhanam — increasing; prati-padam — at every step; pūrṇa-amṛta — of the full nectar; āsvādanam — giving a taste; sarva — for everyone; ātma-snapanam — bathing of the self; param — transcendental; vijayate — let there be victory; śrī-kṛṣṇa-sańkīrtanam — for the congregational chanting of the holy name of Kṛṣṇa. [7]
Translation[edit]
Glory to the Sri Krishna sankirtana, which cleanses the heart of all the dust accumulated for years and extinguishes the fire of conditional life, of repeated birth and death. This sankirtana movement is the prime benediction for humanity at large because it spreads the rays of the benediction moon. It is the life of all transcendental knowledge. It increases the ocean of transcendental bliss, and it enables us to fully taste the nectar for which we are always anxious. [7]
Verse 2[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
nāmnām — of the holy names of the Lord; akāri — manifested; bahudhā — various kinds; nija-sarva-śaktiḥ — all kinds of personal potencies; tatra — in that; arpitā — bestowed; niyamitaḥ — restricted; smaraṇe — in remembering; na — not; kālaḥ — consideration of time; etādṛśī — so much; tava — Your; kṛpā — mercy; bhagavan — O Lord; mama — My; api — although; durdaivam — misfortune; īdṛśam — such; iha — in this (the holy name); ajani — was born; na — not; anurāgaḥ — attachment. [7]
Translation[edit]
O my Lord, Your holy name alone can render all benediction to living beings, and thus You have hundreds and millions of names like Krishna and Govinda. In these transcendental names You have invested all Your transcendental energies. There are not even hard and fast rules for chanting these names. O my Lord, out of kindness You enable us to easily approach You by chanting Your holy names, but I am so unfortunate that I have no attraction for them.[7]
Verse 3[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
tṛṇāt api — than downtrodden grass; su-nīcena — being lower; taroḥ — than a tree; iva — like; sahiṣṇunā — with tolerance; amāninā — without being puffed up by false pride; māna-dena — giving respect to all; kīrtanīyaḥ — to be chanted; sadā — always; hariḥ — the holy name of the Lord. [7]
Translation[edit]
One should chant the holy name of the Lord in a humble state of mind, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street; one should be more tolerant than a tree, devoid of all sense of false prestige, and ready to offer all respect to others. In such a state of mind one can chant the holy name of the Lord constantly. [7]
Verse 4[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
na — not; dhanam — riches; na — not; janam — followers; na — not; sundarīm — a very beautiful woman; kavitām — fruitive activities described in flowery language; vā — or; jagat-īśa — O Lord of the universe; kāmaye — I desire; mama — My; janmani — in birth; janmani — after birth; īśvare — unto the Supreme Personality of Godhead; bhavatāt — let there be; bhaktiḥ — devotional service; ahaitukī — with no motives; tvayi — unto You. [7]
Translation[edit]
O almighty Lord, I have no desire to accumulate wealth, nor do I desire beautiful women, nor do I want any number of followers. I only want Your causeless devotional service birth after birth. [7]
Verse 5[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
ayi — O My Lord; nanda-tanuja — the son of Nanda Mahārāja, Kṛṣṇa; kińkaram — the servant; patitam — fallen; mām — Me; viṣame — horrible; bhava-ambudhau — in the ocean of nescience; kṛpayā — by causeless mercy; tava — Your; pāda-pańkaja — lotus feet; sthita — situated at; dhūlī-sadṛśam — like a particle of dust; vicintaya — kindly consider. [7]
Translation[edit]
O son of Maharaja Nanda (Krishna), I am Your eternal servitor, yet somehow or other I have fallen into the ocean of birth and death. Please pick me up from this ocean of death and place me as one of the atoms of Your lotus feet. [7]
Verse 6[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
nayanam — the eyes; galat-aśru-dhārayā — by streams of tears running down; vadanam — mouth; gadgada — faltering; ruddhayā — choked up; girā — with words; pulakaiḥ — with erection of the hairs due to transcendental happiness; nicitam — covered; vapuḥ — the body; kadā — when; tava — Your; nāma-grahaṇe — in chanting the name; bhaviṣyati — will be. [7]
Translation[edit]
O my Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with tears of love flowing constantly when I chant Your holy name? When will my voice choke up, and when will the hairs on my body stand on end at the recitation of Your name? [7]
Verse 7[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
yugāyitam — appearing like a great millennium; nimeṣeṇa — by a moment; cakṣuṣā — from the eyes; prāvṛṣāyitam — tears falling like torrents of rain; śūnyāyitam — appearing void; jagat — the world; sarvam — all; govinda — from Lord Govinda, Kṛṣṇa; viraheṇa me — by My separation. [7]
Translation[edit]
O Govinda! Feeling Your separation, I am considering a moment to be like twelve years or more. Tears are flowing from my eyes like torrents of rain, and I am feeling all vacant in the world in Your absence. [7]
Verse 8[edit]
Synonyms[edit]
āśliṣya — embracing with great pleasure; vā — or; pāda-ratām — who have fallen at the lotus feet; pinaṣṭu — let Him trample; mām — Me; adarśanāt — by not being visible; marma-hatām — brokenhearted; karotu — let Him make; vā — or; yathā — as (He likes); tathā — so; vā — or; vidadhātu — let Him do; lampaṭaḥ — a debauchee, who mixes with other women; mat-prāṇa-nāthaḥ — the Lord of My life; tu — but; saḥ — He; eva — only; na aparaḥ — not anyone else. [7]
Translation[edit]
I know no one but Krishna as my Lord, and He shall remain so even if He handles me roughly in His embrace or makes me brokenhearted by not being present before me. He is completely free to do anything and everything, for He is always my worshipful Lord unconditionally. [7]
Extra verse 9[edit]
Translation[edit]
If anyone recites or hears these eight verses of instruction by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, their ecstatic love and devotion for Krsna increases day by day.
Significance[edit]
Within his Shikshashtakam, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu stresses the importance of singing (bhajan) and chanting (japa) the Names of God. This is the primary feature of Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual practice (sadhana). This is particularly evident in the first three verses of the Shikshashtakam.
The starting verse of Shikshashtakam states a number of reasons why sankirtana (congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord, which in Gaudiya Vaishnavism especially refers to Hare Krishna) should be emphasized in spiritual practice.
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