UNC – 500TH ANNIVERSARY OF SHRI KRISHNA CHAITANYA MAHAPRABHU’S COMING TO VRINDAVAN

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was one of the great saints of Krishna Bhakti Cult and played the most outstanding role in the progress of Bhakti movement. He was born and schooled at Nabadwip, Nadia, West Bengal which was the centre of Vedantic rationalism. Afterwards he entrusted to a well-known Pandit, Ganga Das for higher studies. He was an exceptionally brilliant student and is said to have mastered the Sanskrit language, literature, gram and logic, at the early age of fifteen. Chaitanya’s tenor of life was changed when he visited Gaya at the age of 22 and received diksha (initiation) from a saintly man IshwarPuri. He was a great exponent of Krishnite form of Vaishnavism. ShriChaitanyaMahaprabhu propagated the worship of Shri Krishna and popularized the chanting of “Hare Krishna Mantra” to all without any discrimination. Chaitanya is said to have travelled all over India including Vrindavan, when he revived the Krishna Cult. In the year 1515, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu visited Vrindavan with the objective of locating the lost holy places associated with Lord Krishna’s, transcendent pastimes. It is believed that through his intuitive powers, Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was able to locate all the placed associated with Lord Krishna and restore the pristine purity of the religious practices of the yore. Chaitanya settled permanently at puri where he died in 1533.