Gaudiya Vaishnavism


Gaudiya Vaishnavism, also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism, is a Vaishnava Hindu religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gaura or Gauḍa region of Bengal, with Vaishnavism meaning "the worship of Vishnu". Specifically, it is part of Krishnaism–Krishna-centric Vaishnavite traditions.
Its theological basis is primarily that of the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana, as interpreted by early followers of Chaitanya, such as Sanatana Goswami, Rupa Goswami, Jiva Goswami, Gopala Bhatta Goswami and others.
The focus of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is the devotional worship of Radha and Krishna, and their many divine incarnations as the supreme forms of God, Svayam Bhagavan. Most popularly, this worship takes the form of singing Radha and Krishna's holy names, such as "Hare", "Krishna" and "Rama", most commonly in the form of the Hare Krishna, also known as kirtan and dancing along with it.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Bengal became the center of a Hindu religious awakening and Gaudiya Vaishnavism influenced or served as the basis for some of its new religious movements, such as the Gaudiya Math, from which institutions with international projection were derived, such as the Gaudiya Mission and the well-known International Society for Krishna Consciousness, more often called the "Hare Krishna Movement". Ferdinando Sardella estimates there are about 30 to 50 million adherents of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, concentrated mostly in the regions of Orissa, Manipur, West Bengal and Bangladesh.

Philosophical concepts

Living beings

According to Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy, consciousness is not a product of matter, but is instead a manifestation of the soul. All living beings, including animals and trees, have a soul. That soul is distinct from their current physical body – the nature of the soul being eternal, immutable, and indestructible without any particular birth or death. The soul does not die when the body dies, but it is transmigrated into another new body and takes new birth in a new body. Souls which are captivated by the illusory nature of the world are repeatedly reborn among 8.4 million species of life on this planet and in other worlds in accordance to the laws of karma and individual desire. This is consistent with the concept of samsara found in Hindu, Sikh, Jain, and Buddhist beliefs.
Release from the process of samsara is believed to be achievable through a variety of spiritual practices, and in general, is the ultimate aim in life. However, within Gaudiya Vaishnavism, it is bhakti in its purest state which is given as the ultimate aim, rather than liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition asserts that in the current yuga, which is Kali Yuga, singing and chanting the various sacred names of God are sufficient for spiritual liberation.

Supreme Person (God)

One of the defining aspects of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is that Krishna is worshiped specifically as the source of all avataric incarnations of God. Theologians refer to verse 1.3.28 of the Bhagavata Purana, "krsnastu bhagavan svayam", literally "Krishna is God Himself" to point to Krishna as the Supreme Being. Jiva Gosvami calls this phrase the "paribhasha-sutra" of the theology of the Gaudiya Vaishnava school and a mahavakya.

Inconceivable oneness and difference

A particularly distinct part of the Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy espoused by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the concept of Achintya Bheda Abheda, which translates to "inconceivable oneness and difference" in the context of the soul's relationship with Krishna, and also Krishna's relationship with his other energies.
In quality, the soul is described as being identical to God, but in terms of quantity, individual jivas are said to be infinitesimal in comparison to the unlimited Supreme Being. The exact nature of this relationship is inconceivable to the human mind but can be experienced through the process of Bhakti yoga.
This philosophy serves as a meeting of two opposing schools of Hindu philosophy, pure monism and pure dualism. This philosophy largely recapitulates the concepts of qualified nondualism practiced by the older Vedantic school Vishishtadvaita, but emphasizes the figure of Krishna over Narayana and holy sites in and around Vrindavan and Bengal over sites in Tamil Nadu. In practice, Gaudiya Vaishnava philosophy has much more in common with the dualistic schools especially closely following theological traditions established by Madhvacharya's Dvaita Vedanta.

Sat Sandarbhas

Jiva Goswami wrote Sat Sandarbhas as an analysis of the Bhagvata Purana to elaborate on the philosophy of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. The six treatises are:
  • Tattva: defines the absolute reality, dealing with epistemology and ontology. Establishes the Bhagavata Purana as the supreme pramana
  • Bhagavat: elaborates on the nature of Bhagavan, the complete manifestation amongst the three aspects of absolute reality mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana 1.2.11. Brahman, Paramatma, and Bhagavan are three aspects of the Absolute Reality as perceived by different types of spiritual aspirants.
  • Paramatma: describes Paramatma as a partial manifestation of Bhagavan
  • Krishna: argues that Krishna is supreme
  • Bhakti: describes the process of attaining love for Krishna, bhakti or devotion. Outlines two types of bhakti: mixed and pure.
  • Priti: argues that priti for Bhagavan is the highest goal of life

    Devotional activities

Bhakti Yoga

The practical process of performing devotional acts in ones life is described as bhakti or bhakti-yoga, and is supported by activities of nine different types. The two distinct divisions of sadhana-bhakti are vaidhi-bhakti and raganuga-bhakti. Rupa Goswami defines vaidhi-bhakti as that bhakti which is taken up not by natural liking but by consideration of scriptural injunctions. He describes the two categories of the highest bhakti as bhava-bhakti and prema-bhakti. The two are essentially different intensities of the same participation in devotion via emotional expression. Raganuga-bhakti, on the other hand, follows ragatmika-bhakti, the bhakti present in Krishna's eternal associates, which is driven by raga, a natural absorption in the object of service. Jiva Goswami's conclusion in Bhakti Sandarbha is that raganuga-bhakti is the only abhidheya, viable process, recommended by the Bhagavatam. The goal of raganuga-bhakti is for the jiva to realize its true essential nature.
Within his Siksastaka prayers, Chaitanya compares the process of bhakti-yoga to that of cleansing a dirty place of dust, wherein our consciousness is the object in need of purification. This purification takes place largely through the chanting and singing of Radha and Krishna's names. Specifically, the Hare Krishna is chanted and sung by practitioners on a daily basis, sometimes for many hours each day. Famously within the tradition, one of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's close associates, Haridasa Thakur, is reported to have chanted 300,000 holy names of God each day.

Diet and lifestyle

Gaudiya Vaishnavas follow a vegetarian diet, abstaining from all types of animal flesh, fish and eggs. Onion and garlic are also avoided as they are believed to promote a tamasic and rajasic form of consciousness in the eater. Some Gaudiya Vaishnavas, mainly from ISKCON and Gaudiya Matha, also avoid the intake of caffeine, as they believe it is addictive and an intoxicant.

Attitude toward scriptures

Chaitanya Vaishnava traditions refer to the writings of previous acharyas in their respective lineage or sampradya as authoritative interpretations of scripture. While many schools like Smartism and Advaitism encourage interpretation of scriptures philosophically and metaphorically and not too literally, Chaitanya Vaishnavism stresses the literal meaning as primary and indirect meaning as secondary: - "The instructions of the should be accepted literally, without fanciful or allegorical interpretations."

Sampradaya and parampara

A Guru—shishya tradition denotes a succession of teachers and disciples within some sampradaya. In accordance with the tradition, Gaudiya Vaishnavism as a subschool belongs to the Brahma Sampradaya, one of the four "orthodox" Vaishnavite schools. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is said to be a disciple of Isvara Puri who was a disciple of Madhavendra Puri who was a disciple of Lakshmipati Tirtha who was a disciple of Vyasatirtha of the Madhva Sampradaya. The Gaudiya Vaishnavas call their tradition "Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya Sampradaya", which originates from Brahma and has Madhvacharya as the original acharya and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu as the acharya-successor.
However, this traditional point is at least debatable. Some modern scholars and confessional authors critically assess and pair the Gaudiya Vaishnavism's affiliation with the Madhva tradition. For example, the famous American Indologist and historian of religion Guy L. Beck, with regard to the Chaitanya Sampradaya, notes the following historical events. The first time the Brahma-Madhva affiliation of Gaudiya Vaishnavism was propounded by Baladeva Vidyabhushana was in the 18th century. And to this day, there is no mention of Chaitanya in the annals of the Madhva Sampradaya. For secular scientists this means, originality and non-affiliation of Gaudiya Vaishnavism with other previous branches. At the same time, there is the consensus of scholars, that Chaitanya was initiated by the two gurus of a Vaishnava-oriented group within Adi Shankara's Dashanami order.
The Prameya Ratnawali of the above-mentioned gaudiya-acharya Baladeva Vidyabhushana contains the following canonical list of disciplic succession: Krishna, Brahma, Narada, Vyasa, Madhva, Padmanabha, Nrihari, Madhava, Akshobhya, Jayatirtha, Gyanasindhu, Dayanidhi, Vidyanidhi, Rajendra, Jayadharma, Purushottama, Brahmanya, Vyasatirtha, Lakshmipati Tirtha, Madhavendra Puri, Isvara Puri, and Chaitanya.
One feature of the Gaudiya succession of spiritual masters should be considered. Chaitanya refused to formally initiate anyone as a disciple, only inspiring and guiding his followers. Chaitanya neither founded the community nor named a successor. That is why, from the very beginning, the sampradaya was divided into several lines of succession that were practically not connected with each other and that still exist today. One of them, namely, the Gaudiya-Sarasvata Sampradaya, belongs to the well known International Society for Krishna Consciousness.