Śrī Chaitanya's life and teachings: the golden avatāra of divine love

259 Pages·2017·2.43 MB·English

by  Chaitanya;Rosen, Steven

i
Śrī Chaitanya’s Life
and Teachings
Explorations in Indic Traditions:
Theological, Ethical, and Philosophical
Series Editor: Jeffery D. Long, Elizabethtown College
Advisory Board
Purushottama Bilimoria, Christopher Key Chapple, Jonathan Gold, Pankaj Jain,
Nathan Katz, Kusumita Pedersen, and Rita D. Sherma
The region historically known as the Indian subcontinent (and more recently as South Asia)
is rich with ancient and sophisticated traditions of intellectual and contemplative investiga-
tion. This includes both indigenous traditions (Hindu, Buddhist, Jain, and Sikh) and tradi-
tions that have found a home in this region (Islamic, Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian).
This series is devoted to studies rooted in critical and constructive methodologies (such as
ethics, philosophy, and theology) that show how these traditions can illuminate universal
human questions: questions about the meaning of life, the nature of knowledge, good and
evil, and the broader metaphysical context of human existence. A particular focus of this
series is the relevance of these traditions to urgent issues that face humanity today—such as
the ecological crisis, gender relations, poverty and social inequality, and religiously moti-
vated violence—on the assumption that these traditions, far from being of merely histori-
cal interest, have the potential to enrich contemporary conversations and advance human
understanding.
Conversations with Gurumaa: 21st Century Innovation in a
Woman-Led Spiritual Community, by Angela Rudert
Śrī Chaitanya’s Life and Teachings: The Golden Avatāra of Divine Love,
by Steven J. Rosen
Śrī Chaitanya’s Life
and Teachings
The Golden Avatāra
of Divine Love
Steven J. Rosen
LEXINGTON BOOKS
Lanham • Boulder • New York • London
Frontispiece courtesy of Drdha Vrata Gorrick www.divyakala.com.
Published by Lexington Books
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Copyright © 2017 by Lexington Books
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems,
without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote
passages in a review.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available
ISBN 978-1-4985-5833-4 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4985-5834-1 (electronic)
∞ ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library
Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Printed in the United States of America
For Vrin and Prati
kānu vinā gīta nāī
“If there is no Krishna, there is no song.”
sumekhala he parirambhan gauraṁ
māṁ veṣṭaya hi na kadācin muñca
“O charming belt that embraces Gaura!
Hug me tightly and never let me go.”

Contents
Foreword xi
Jeffery D. Long
Acknowledgments xv
Introduction xvii
1 The Gauḍīya Tradition: From Veda to Rādhā 1
2 Śrī Krishna: Enter the Dark Lord 19
3 Śrī Gaura Tattva: From Black to Gold 39
4 The World of Bhakti 71
5 The Nectar of the Holy Name 87
6 Śikṣāṣṭakam: Eight Beautiful Prayers 105
7 Gauḍīya Vedānta: Inconceivable Unity in Diversity 123
8 Śrī Chaitanya and Other Traditions 135
9 Rāmānanda Rāya: The Viceroy of Devotion 159
10 Rāgānuga-bhakti: Śrī Chaitanya’s Special Gift 173
Afterword: Mahāprabhu Comes West 193
Bibliography 209
Index 227
About the Author 231
ix