Gaudiya Vaishnavism: Encyclopedia - Gaudiya Vaishnavism

Gaudiya Vaishnavism

Gaudiya Vaishnavism, (Bengal) Vaishnavism, is a sect of Hinduism founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya is the disciplic succession following this particular type of Vaishnavism (and Vaishnava Theology), which worships Krishna as the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

Gaudiya Vaishnavism - Gaudiya and other Vaishnava schools: main theological differences

• Krishna is the original form of God, the source of Vishnu and not His avatar.

This teaching - shared by Nimbarka and Vallabha sampradayas and opposed by Ramanuja and Madhva - is based most prominently on Bhagavata Purana 1.3.28 (krsnas tu bhagavan svayam), the most important Purana for Gaudiya Vaishnavas, and elaborated on by Jiva Gosvami (one of Six Gosvamis of Vrindavan) in his Krishna sandarbha.

• Sri Radha is the adi Shakti of Krishna, the source of all other shaktis including Lakshmi Devi and Durga Devi.
• Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the latest incarnation of Krishna to descend in this yuga (age). (Kalki comes in the yuga sandhya at its end.)

Gaudiya Vaishnava Theology is prominently expounded by Jiva Gosvami in his Sat-sandarbhas, six elaborate treatises on various aspects of God. Other prominent Gaudiya Vaishnava theologians are his uncles, Rupa Gosvami and Sanatana Gosvami, Visvanatha Chakravarti and Baladeva Vidyabhushana, author of Govinda Bhashya, a famous commentary on Vedanta Sutra.

Gaudiya Vaishnavism - Modern times

After the disappearance from this world of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, in the 17th-18th century there was a period of decline. But at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century Gaudiya Vaishnavism underwent a renaissance due to the efforts of Bhaktivinode Thakur, who held a prominent position as a judge, and his son Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura, an eminent scholar and preacher who founded 64 Gaudiya Matha monasteries in India and abroad. The leading disciples of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura established their own temples (Maths) after his dissappearance from this mortal world in 1939. There are now numerous branches of the Saraswata Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. The most well known branches are as follows : ISKCON, founded by Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Math of Srila Bhakti Rakshak Sridhar Maharaj, Sri Chaitanya Gaudiya Math of Srila Bhakti Dayita Madhava Maharaja, Gaudiya Vedanta Samiti of Srila Bhakti Prajnana Kesava Maharaja, Sri Gopinath Gaudiya Math of Srila Bhakti Promode Puri Goswami Maharaja and Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission of Srila Bhakti Vaibhava Puri Goswami Maharaja. At the end of 20th century all these societies had established branches in foreign countries. The present-day Acharyas (Gurus) of these Vaishnava communities such as the ISKCON Acharyas, Srila Bhakti Sundar Govinda Maharaj, Srila Bhakti Bibudha Bodhayan Maharaja, Srila Bhakti Vedanta Narayana Maharaja and Srila Bhakti Vallabha Tirtha Maharaja are now actively preaching the religion of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu all over the world. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura was the guru of A.C. Bhaktivedanta_Swami_Prabhupada, the founder-acharya of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON, Hare Krishna Movement). It is pricipally through the pioneering efforts of Srila A.C. Bhaktivedanta_Swami_Prabhupada that Gaudiya Vaishnavism has now become known throughout the world.

Gaudiya Vaishnavism - Gaudiya Vaishnava organizations

• ISKCON
• Gaudiya Math
• Sri Krishna Chaitanya Mission

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Gaudiya Vaishnavism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki