@Chakra @निताइ dasa
Am sorry but I am listening Chaitanya name only recently and who has the authority to claim he is avatar of god...Don't mistake me as I respect all branches of Vaishnavism
Are there any events describing the same? I respect the Nitai postings and his belief and would like to expand on this......what was his contribution of Vaishnavism?
On the other hand Ramanujacharya was accepted by Maha Vishnu in the form of Venkateswara as his Guru and that is why Ramanujaacharya who glorified Visista-advaita and Vaishnavism in infinite ways is considered greatest acharya who could take us to Krushna/Vishnu to grant Moksha, and Sri Krushna would not reject as he accepted Ramanuja as his acharya..This is recorded in Venkatachala mahatmyam. So if Ramanuja says so, moksham will be
GRANTED by Vaasudeva alone. Only he can grant moksham finally, no one has the right to perform this task.
I respect the opinions and am just curious about the first part and would like Nitai dasa to expand on it more as in any events describing about the greatness of Nitai swamy
Adiyen Ramanuja daasa
Dandavat Pranam. Thankyou for gracing us with Your presence. I will response to your queries as per what I have been taught by my Gurudev. Again please forgive me for any offenses I may commit, it is not my intent.
There are many many proofs from Scripture (Smrti and Sruti which is accepted by all Sampradayas) which substantiate the claim that Lord Chaitanya is Sri Visnu himself. I will post some scripure quotes here (there are quite alot so I will post the important ones):
krsna varnam tvisa krsnam
sangopangastra parsadam
yajnaih sankirtanam-prayair
yajanti hi sumedhasah
"In the age of Kali, Krsna appears in a golden form (tviakrsnam), chanting the two syllables krs-na (Krsnavarnam). He descends along with His weapons, saktis, limbs, and eternal confidential associates(sangopangastra parsadam). Those with intelligence worship Him with the sankirtana yajna. (Srimad Bhagavatam 11.5.3
2)
"channah kalau yad abhavas tri-yugo ’tha sa tvam"
In the Age of Kali, You sometimes appear in a covered incarnation. Therefore You are known as Tri-yuga" (Srimad Bhagavatam. 7.9.38)
kalina dakyamananam
paritranaya tanu-bhrtam
janma prathama sandhyayam
karisyami dvijatisu
aham purno bhavisyami
yuga-sandhyau visesatah
mayapure navadvipe
bhavisyami saci sutah
kaleh prathama sandhyayam
lakshmi- kanto bhavisyati
daru-brahma-samipa-sthah
sannyasi gaura-vigrahah
In the first part of the age of Kali, I will come among the brahmanas to save the fallen souls, who are being burned by the troubles of the age of Kali.
I will take birth as the son of Saci, in Navadvipa-Mayapura.. I will come in my complete spiritual form in the first part of Kali-Yuga.
In the first part of Kali-Yuga, the Supreme Personality of Godhead will come in a gold-like form. First He will become the husband of Laksmi (Srimati Laksmi Devi, Lord Caitanya's first wife). Then He will become a sannyasi, near Lord Jagannatha who will appear in a divine wooden form. (Garuda-Purana)
satye daitya-kuladhi-nasa-samaye
simhordhva-martyakrtis
tretayam dasa-kandharam
paribhavan rameti namakrtih
gopalan paripalayan vraja-pure
bharam haran dvapare
gaurangah priya-kirtanah
kali-yuge caitanya-nama prabhuh
"The Supreme Personality of Godhead who in the Satya-yuga appeared as a half-man, half-lion to cure a terrible disease that had ravaged the daityas, and who in the Treta-yuga appeared as a person named Rama (Lord Ramacandra), a person who defeated the ten- headed Demon Ravana, and who in the Dvapara-yuga removed the earth's burden, and protected the Gopa (cowherd men) people of Vraja-pura, will appear again in the Kali-yuga. His form will be golden, He will delight in chanting the Lord's holy names, and His name will be Caitanya." (Nrsimha Purana)
golokam ca parityajya
lokanam trana-karanat
kalau gauranga-rupena
lila-lavanya-vigrahah
In the Kali-Yuga, I will leave Goloka and, to save the people of the world, I will become the handsome and playful Lord Gauranga. (Markandeya-Purana)
kali-ghora-tamas-channat
sarvan acara varjitan
sacigarbhe ca sambhuya
tarayisyami narada
O Narada Muni, I will take birth in the womb of Saci. I shall save the people, who will give up all proper good conduct, from the terrible darkness of the age of Kali-Yuga. (
Vamana-Purana)
Again is only a portion of the shastric quotes which is given by our Acharayas regarding Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. I don't want to copy and paste spam, but I have but the important ones for your pleasure to read. The rest can be found at:
http://gosai.com/writings/the-divinity-of-sri-caitanya-mahaprabhu-0
Another way we accept the authenticity of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, is because many learned scholars also thought so. This includes Vasudeva Sarvabhauma, Kesava Bhatta, Prakasananda Sarasvati, Prabodhananda Sarasvati, Advaita Acarya, Srivasa Pandita, Six Goswamis, Raya Ramananda, Nilambara Cakravarti, and Gopinatha Acarya who claimed that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was Sri Krsna Himself. It was also the opinion of Rajarsi Prataparudra of Kalinga and his
guru Kasi Misra. Either these persons were mad or they did see something. Even Meera Bai in some her bhajans descibed that Lord Krsna has come again as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
As for Sri Ramanuja, we hold him very highly in our samparadaya as an acaraya who established Vaishnavism very strongly, and it was only due to Him that Sankara's Adwaita-vada was unable to touch South India for a long time. Sri Ramanuja saw no caste or gender distinction for Vaishnavas and up held the tradition that anyone can act as guru who is realised. We consider him to be an Avatar of Lakshmana, or Shesh Naga. I would however disagree with your statement that only Ramanuja's siddhanta can take us to Krishna. Yes you may consider the greatest acharya, as you are in his Sampradaya. However, according to Padma Purana (I can provide verse if you want), in Kali Yuga, there are only 4 sampradayas that are considered authentic, and they are Sri, Brahma, Rudra and Kumara Sampradaya.
Gaudiya Vaisnavism has very uniquely contributed to Vaishnavism as a whole in my opinion. It is only due to Lord Chaitanyas advent that the subtle intricacies of rasa tattva was revealed. The name of Radharani was unheard of in Vaishnav Sangas, and it was only due to Rupa Goswami that Her glory was revealed. In fact our Goswamis wrote hundreds of books which explicitly describe devotional service to the Lord, the process of Bhakti as well the highest goal of Prema. I mean if you read even one of those books, you can't find such depth anywhere else Of course I am biased towards it, so I invite you to read it for yourself and see. It was only due to the Goswamis that Sri Vrindavan Dhama and its many temples and tirtha sthanas were again discovered. It was only due to the Mercy of Srila Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada that the ganga of Hari Bhakti and the sublime teachings of Vaishnavism was able to be distributed to the mleccha countries who were hopeless lost in materialism.