Painting of Saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu; Source: Public Domain

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> Go, friends, go through the streets of the town, meet every man at his door and ask him to sing the name of Hari with a holy life, and you then come and report to Me every evening the result of your preaching. - Saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Widely known as the very reincarnation of Lord Krishna, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu even as a toddler showed great affinity to the Sanskrit language and displayed an astonishing thirst for knowledge.
His name ‘Chaitanya’ translates to ‘one in consciousness’. 

Also called ‘Nimai’, attributing to the fact of being born under a neem tree, his ancestral home was in Nabadwip, Bengal Sultanate, where on the 18th of February, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu came into this world on the night of a full moon and a lunar eclipse. Surely it comes with no surprise that the villagers considered him as a divine toddler.

Many were the stories and quite fantastical were they! Stories of him showing his true form as Lord Krishna to fortunate travellers who visited the saint’s home in his childhood and bringing thieves back trembling due to his illusory energy are only some of his early miracles as mentioned in the many books written, documenting his teachings.

When he was growing up, he was sent to the tola of Gangadasa Pandita, where he would grasp all concepts of Sanskrit grammar with ease and soon be known to master them. Moving ahead of his class and reading his father’s collection of books, a Pandit himself, showed the highly intellectual nature of the 15th-century saint.

After his marriage at the young age of 14, Saint Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was already known as one of the best scholars in the land of Nadia. Travelling to East Bengal, he would soon begin teaching Vaishnavism, the worship of Lord Vishnu, which turned out to be a turning point in his life. Saint Chaitanya became extremely famous for his contribution to expounding Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a Vaishnava Hindu movement with Krishnaism woven into it, referring to the Gauda region of Bengal.

Travelling across the entirety of Easter regions of present-day West Bengal and most of Southern India, the Saint would go on to leave his name in the books of Bhakti Yoga, a way of life focussing on the love towards the supreme deity and he also founded the Achintya-Bheda-Abheda, a school of Hindu philosophy that proclaims the enigma of God being one with and at the same time, different from his creation.

So affected by his divinity were the people who met Saint Chaitanya, that innumerable books have been doctored all for the celebrating of his holy teachings and works.

A 15th century saint who shook the world ever since his birth itself, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu turned heads and brought about a new way of worship for all. 