From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gaudiya Vaishnavism (also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism[1]) is a Vaishnava religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486-1534) inIndia in the 16th century. "Gaudiya" refers to Gauḍadeśa (present day Bengal/Bangladesh) with Vaishnavism meaning the worship of Vishnu. Its philosophical basis is primarily that of the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana, as well as other Puranic scriptures and Upanishads such as the Isha Upanishad, Gopala Tapani Upanishad, and Kali Santarana Upanishad.
The focus of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is the devotional worship (bhakti) 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 mantra) which is known as kirtan. The movement is sometimes referred to as the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiyasampradaya referring to its traditional origins in the disciplic succession of spiritual masters (gurus) believed to originate from Brahma. It classifies itself as amonotheistic tradition, seeing the many forms of Vishnu as expansions or incarnations of the one Supreme God, adipurusha.
