Read more about Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.
Hareh sakteh sarvam cid-acid-akhilam syat parinatir
Vivartam no satyam sruti mata viruddham kali malam
Harer bhedabhedau sruti vihita tattvam suvimalam
Tatah premnah siddhir bhavati nitya visaye
–
In their entirety, the material and spiritual worlds are the transformations of the energies of Sri Krishna, the Supreme Lord. Vivarta-vada, the impersonal theory of illusory transformation of Brahman, is false. It is venomous contamination in this age of Kali and is contradictory to the conclusions of the Vedas. The philosophy of Acintya Bhedabheda tattva (Achintya-Bheda-Abheda), the doctrine of inconceivable oneness and difference simultaneously, is the only true essence of the Vedas. The practice of this philosophy promotes a person to the perfectional stage of developing divine transcendental love for Sri Krishna, the absolute eternal Truth.
(Dasa Mula Tattva)
Dwadash Gopal, or the twelve cowherd boys of Vrindavana, had appeared in Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s pastimes and assisted Him to manifest His Harinama sankirtana movement. They were also intimate associates of Lord Nityananda and helped Doyal Nitai widely preach the glories of Lord Chaitanya and the holy name of Krishna. Kavi Karnapura, the author of Gaura Ganoddesa Dipika, identifies these twelve cowherd boys of Vrindavana as follows –
Ujjwala-varana-gaura-vara-deham
Vilasita-niravadhi-bhava-videham
tri-bhuvana-pavana-kripayah lesham
tam pranamami cha Sri Saci tanayam
–
Unto He, whose divine bodily complexion resembles that of brilliant gold, whose host of pastimes enact the heights of sublime ecstatic bliss, who purifies the three worlds by an iota of His mercy – unto that son of Saci (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu), I offer my obeisances.
In our vocabulary, we come across two concepts – ‘Prema’ and ‘Kama’. The English equivalents for these two words are ‘transcendental love’ (divine love) and ‘mundane lust’ respectively. There is a general tendency to confuse ‘Prema’ with ‘Kama’ and vice-versa. Considering the apparent similarities between their external characteristics, such confusion is inevitable. But a little reflection will reveal the stark distinctions between the two – ‘Prema’ is divine while ‘Kama’ is hellish. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu distinguishes between these two with a beautiful explanation –
atmendriya-priti-vancha – tare bali ‘kama’
krishnendriyo-priti-iccha dhare ‘prema’ nama
(Chaitanya Charitamrita, 4.165)
–
The desire to gratify one’s own senses is lust, but the desire to please the senses of Lord Krishna is love.
So wherever the desire to gratify our senses exists there is lust and wherever the desire to gratify the senses of Krishna (Supreme Lord) exists, there is love. Preachers of Divine Love have appeared at different times on this planet. The comparative study of their teachings of Divine Love reveals the differences between them. This difference is primarily due to the diverse spiritual evolution of different people. A careful comparative study of all these messages of Divine Love will establish the superiority of Lord Chaitanya above all others. Lord Chaitanya’s gift in this regard shall be determined to be the highest.
