Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (146-1534) was a prominent Bengali religion and social reformer of the sixteenth century. He was born in Nadia, West Bengal. The Gaudiya Vaisnavas consider him to be the perfection of Lord Krishna. Sri Krishna Chaitanya was a prominent proponent of the Vaishnava devotional doctrine based on the philosophy mentioned in the Bhagavata Purana and the Bhagavad Gita. He especially promoted the worship of God in the form of Radha and Krishna and popularized the Hare Krishna Mahamantra. He also composed the famous hymn in Sanskrit called Shikshastak. According to the Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the last verses of the Bhagavata Purana describe the incarnation of Lord Krishna as the Chaitanya of Radharani's Bhavakanti.
The former ashram of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is called Gauranga or Nimai. He was called Gauranga or Gaur because of his golden complexion. On the other hand, he was named Nimai because he was born under a neem tree. In the sixteenth century, the biographical literature of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ushered in a new era in the Bengali Santjivani genre. In that era, several poets have written poems based on the biography of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Notable among these are Chaitanya Charitamrita of Krishnadas Kabiraj Goswami, Chaitanya Bhagavat of Vrindavan Das Tagore, and Chaitanya Mangal of Lochan Das Tagore. According to the Chaitanya Charitamrita, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born on the new island of Nadia during a lunar eclipse on the night of Dolpurnima on 16 February 146 AD. His parents were Jagannath Mishra and Shachi Devi, residents of Navadwip in Nadia district of West Bengal.
Chaitanyadev's ancestors were the original inhabitants of Jajpur in Orissa. His grandfather Madhukar Mishra came to Bengal from Orissa and settled there. Chaitanyadev's ancestral name was Vishwambhara Mishra. In his early youth, he was a renowned scholar. The reputation of Nimai Pandit of Navadwip in logic was undisputed. The fact that he was attracted to chanting and chanting Krishna's name from his childhood is known from various stories of his life. But his main interest was reading Sanskrit books and acquiring knowledge. After the death of his father, Nimai went to Gaya to pay obeisance and met his guru Ishwarpuri. He was initiated into Gopal Mantra near Ishwarpuri. This incident had a profound effect on Nimai's later life. On his return to Bengal, the local Vaishnava community led by Advaita Acharya was surprised to see his unexpected change of mind from a Pandit to a devotee. Nimai soon became one of the leading leaders of the Vaishnava community in Nadia.
After being baptized as a monk by Keshab Bharati, Nimai took the name of Sri Krishna Chaitanya.
After taking sannyasa, he left his native Bengal and visited various places of pilgrimage in India for a few years. During this time he was constantly chanting Krishna. He spent the last twenty-four years of his life in Jagannathdham Puri. Gajapati Maharaja Prataprudra, the Hindu emperor of the Sun dynasty of Orissa, considered Chaitanya Mahaprabhu to be the incarnation of Krishna. Maharaja Prataprudra became the patron of Chaitanyadev and his Sankirtan group. According to the devotees, in the last phase of his life, Chaitanyadev used to chant Harinam full of devotion and most of the time he was in a trance. : !! ►►
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