Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Out of compassion for the suffering conditioned souls in this world, Lord Krishna appeared five hundred years ago in the golden form of Sri Krishna Caitanya Mahaprabhu. He assumed the mentality and complexion of His dearmost devotee, Srimati Radharani, and taught the congregational chanting of the names of God in the form of the Hare Krishna mantra as the means to awaken our dormant love of God. Because He gave the greatest benediction, love of God, freely to all people regardless of creed, race, or status, Lord Chaitanya is praised by the Vaishnava saint Rupa Goswami as the most munificent of all incarnations.

Devotees in the Gaudiya-Vaishnava line accept Lord Chaitanya as non-different from Lord Krishna Himself, and worship Him accordingly. As the most merciful incarnation, devotees first pray to Lord Chaitanya before worshiping Lord Krishna to mitigate their offenses, using the Pancha-tattva Maha-mantra:

jaya sri krishna chaitanya, prabhu nityananda,
jaya advaita, gadadhara, srivasadi gaura bhakta vrinda

Lord Chaitanya was assisted by His intimate associates, the Panca-tattva, which include Lord Nityananda and Advaita Acharya, also incarnations of God, Gadadhara, the incarnation of God's spiritual pleasure potency, and Srivasa Thakura, incarnation of a pure devotee of God.

Lord Chaitanya appeared in Mayapur, West Bengal, India, in the year 1486. He was a scholar in His youth and defeated many pundits. Later, He revolutionized the devotional "Bhakti" movement in India by organizing parties of thousands of devotees playing musical instruments and chanting the names of Krishna in the streets. This congregational chanting of God's names, He taught, is the prime benediction for humanity. It cleanses our hearts of material desires and enables us to fully taste the nectar of love of God. To further His mission, He accepted the renounced order of life, sannyasa, at the age of twenty-four and traveled throughout India and inspired devotion to Krishna in everyone who saw Him. For the last years of His manifest pastimes in this world, He lived in Jagannath Puri with His intimate followers and demonstrated the highest limits of love of God. Lord Chaitanya returned to the spiritual world at the age of forty-eight.

Lord Chaitanya taught that as spirit souls we are part of God and thus we are one with Him in quality, and yet at the same time we are also different from Him in quantity. This is called acintya-bheda-abheda-tattva, inconceivable, simultaneous oneness and difference. Our constitutional position is, therefore, to serve God with love, and our love for Him can be invoked by chanting His names and cultivating the qualities of tolerance and humility. To awaken our love of God, or Krishna-prema, is life's ultimate goal and will please us to our full satisfaction. Lord Chaitanya left eight verses, called the Shikshashtaka, which summarize His teachings. And on His instruction, His leading disciples wrote many books with copious references from the Vedic scriptures, confirming His teachings/