Chaitanya Maha Prabhu.
The son of a Brahmin, he grew up in an atmosphere of
piety and affection.
He received a thorough education in the Sanskrit
scriptures and, after the death of his father, set up a school of his own.
At the age of 22 he made a pilgrimage to Gaya to
perform his father's shraddha.
While there he underwent a profound religious
experience that completely transformed his outlook and personality.
He returned to Navadvipa a God-intoxicated man,
entirely indifferent to all worldly concerns.
A group of devotees soon gathered around Chaitanya
and joined him in the congregational worship by kirtana, which consists of the
choral singing of hymns and the name of God, often accompanied by dance
movements and culminating in states of trance.
In 1510 he received an initiation as an ascetic and
took the name Shri Krisna Chaitanya.
His intention was to leave for Vrindavana, near Mathura that was the scene of Krishna's
childhood and youth, but at the insistence of his mother he agreed instead to
settle in Puri, where his disciples could more easily keep in touch with him.
Chaitanya neither organized a sect nor wrote any
works on theology, entrusting this work to his disciples.
Nevertheless, his simple life of intense religious
emotion proved at once the source and the impetus of a great religious
movement.
Frequent and prolonged experiences of religious
rapture, however, took their toll on his health; he himself diagnosed some of
his seizures as epileptic. The exact date and circumstances of his death are
unknown, and many legends have sprung up, such as his merger into a temple
image or his accidental drowning while
in a state of religious ecstasy.
No comments:
Post a Comment