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| Chaitanya Dev |
Chaitanya Dev or Nitai Gourangya is believed to be an incarnation of Lord Vishnu and was born nearly five hundred years ago in a Brahmin family. An ordinary human came to be regarded as a divine being. He was born in Navadweep in the district of Nadiya of the state of west Bengal. Chaitanya's father was Jagannath Misra and his mother was Suchi or Sochi. Their first son was known as Viswambhara. The founder of this sect to which Chaitanya belonged was another Brahmin named Adaitya who lived in Santipore in the state of Bengal. There was another leader named Nityananda who was born at Nadiya a few years before Chaitanya was born. The mother Sochi was quite old when Lord Chaitanya was born and the child too seemed to be very weak. It is said that the child was hung in a basket from a tree and left to die. Adaitya who was passing by their house at that time had an imagination that the child could be an incarnation of the deity regarding which he had earlier left a note on the soft earth with the help of his foot. The mother coming to know about this lifted the child from the tree gave him food who took it kindly which he so long neglected and showed signs of vigour. Lord Chaitanya made immense progress gradually in learning. He was married to Vishnupriya at the age of sixteen and lived with her till he was fortyfour years of age when he was persuaded by Adaitya and others to give up his brahminical thread and rather join them. This was to make him loose his high position as a Brahman. Chaitanya moved to Varanasi or Benares but people there initially misjudged him and thought him guilty of commiting some may be henious crime or else what made him forsake his home. elderly parents and wife who were largely dependent on him for support. But unperturbed he started teaching the doctrines of his sect and was soon was successful to have many disciples. He preferred to call them as ' Vaisnavites ' or the worshipper of Lord Vishnu. Those who were worshippers of Shiva and other gods adopted his ideas and Lord Krisna eventually became supreme. The main points in his teachings were (1) To renounce secular life and stop wasting time by visiting shrines. (2) Not to make any distinction between castes and eat freely with everybody with those who have joined or willing to join the sect. (3) They should honour Lord Vishnu and have vakti or trust or faith in him for salvation. (4) Widows were allowed to remarry and he prohibited his followers from taking nonvegetarian food or worshipping the deities where animal sacrifices are offered and also further asked his disciples to stay away from those who offered such sacrifices. In a strange coincidence and during the same time Luther was preaching for salvation in Europe and Chaitanaya was preaching in India that salvation can be attained through ' vakti ' or faith in Krisna. From Varanasi he moved on to Puri the famous place where the temple of Lord Jagannath is. While at Puri it is said he obtained four additional arms. The descendants of Chaitanaya are greatly respected by the members of this sect and it is believed that about one-fifth of Hindus of Bengal are followers of this teacher. The women who are immoral generally profess to be his disciples and by doing so they wanted to come out of the clutches of the orthodox Hindu society since outcasts cannot secure proper performance of their funeral rites. The members or followers of this casteless sect are not refused of their rites. He is worshipped in Nadiya in Bengal.
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