The Achintya Bhedabheda Philosophy of Sri Chaitanya
(The Hare Krishna Movement)

Introduction
Sri Chaitanya or Lord Gauranga may be regarded as the greatest
Vaishnava teacher of the North. He gave a new form to the Vaishnava
faith. He was born in 1486 AD in Bengal.

Chaitanya had a very large heart. He accepted converts from Islam
freely. His disciple Haridas was a Moslem fakir. Nityananda spread
far and wide the Chaitanya movement. Rupa and Sanatana who descended
from a prince of Karnataka and settled in Bengal, and their nephew
Jiva Goswami, were great Sanskrit scholars and were really the
fathers of the Chaitanya movement (Today's Hare-Krishna movement).

Jiva Goswami and Baladeva furnished the philosophical basis for the
school. The philosophical classics of the school are Jiva's Sat-
sandarbha, and his own commentary on it. Sarva Samvadini, and
Baladeva's Govindabhashya on the Brahma Sutras. Baladeva's
Prameyaratnavali is also another popular book. Jiva and Baladeva were
greatly influenced by the views of Ramanuja and Madhava. They admit
God, souls, Maya or Prakriti, Suddha Sattva and Kala or time.

The world and souls depend on God, though they are separate and
distinct from Him. They are neither one with God nor different from
Him. There is an incomprehensible difference- non-difference
(Achintya Bhedabheda).

Chaitanya insisted on the unity of the Godhead which underlies the
multitude of idols of popular worship.

The Ultimate Reality

The Ultimate Reality is Vishnu. He is the God of love and grace. He
is one without a second. He is Sat-Chit-Ananda. He is Nirguna in the
sense that He is free from the qualities of Maya. He is Saguna (with
attributes) as He is endowed with the attributes of omnipotence and
omniscience. He is the material and the efficient cause of the world.
He is the source, support and end of this universe. He is the
efficient cause through His higher energy (Para-Sakti). He is the
material cause through His other energies (Apara-Sakti and Adya-
Sakti).

Mysterious and Incomprehensible Sakti of the Lord

Just as the sun has its light and the fire its heat, so the Supreme
God, Krishna, has naturally His energies or Saktis which are
mysterious and incomprehensible. These Saktis have no independent
existence. They depend upon God. God and His powers are either
identical or different.

These energies are of three kinds, viz., Chit-Sakti, Jiva-Sakti and
Maya-Sakti. They are also called Antaranga, Tatastha and Bahiranga
respectively. Jiva-Sakti is called Tatastha because it occupies an
intermediate place between Chit-Sakti and Maya-Sakti.


The Process of Creation

Chit-Sakti created Vaikuntha. There is only pure Sattva in Vaikuntha.
Maya has no access here. Kala (time) cannot execute its destructive
power.

The souls are created by the Tatastha Sakti or Jiva-Sakti of the
Lord. The Lord's Svarupa-Sakti supports His Jiva-Sakti.

The Lord creates the universe from the great principle of Mahat. He
manifests the Vedas and communicates them to Brahma. The work of
creating other stages of creation is given to Brahma. The souls and
matter are the manifestations of God's energy according to Jiva
Goswami and Baladeva. Maya is set in vibration by the mere gazing of
the Lord.

The Lord Who Appears in Different Forms

The Supreme Lord Krishna manifests Himself as Brahman to Jnanins; as
Paramatman to Yogins; and as Bhagavan full of all glories, all
beauties, all sweetness and all attributes, to Bhaktas. Lord Krishna
is the soul of all souls and the Lord of all that is. A Bhakta
(devotee) only has full knowledge of the Supreme Personal God with
all His divine attributes. Krishn's form is unique. He assumes
endless forms.

Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, Rama, Krishna, etc., are
Lila-Avataras (incarnations). There are Gunavataras and
Manavantaravataras. The four Sanakas, Narada, Prithu, Parasurama,
Brahma, Sesha in Vaikuntha and Ananta who supports the earth, are the
chief Avestavataras of the major type who have direct power from God.
In Sanaka, Jnana-Sakti; in Narada, Bhakti-Sakti; in Brahma, creative
Sakti; in Ananta, the earth supporting Sakti; in Sesha, God-serving
Sakti; in Prithu, the power of preserving people; and in Parsurama
the power of destroying the wicked prevailed.

Radha-Krishna

The Avataras (incarnations) are one with the Supreme. They are not
parts like the individual souls. God assumes infinite forms of which
the chief is that of Krishna. Radha is the essence of the delight
giving power of Lord Krishna (Hladini). The Lord is the ruler of all
souls. He is omnipresent or all-pervading.

The Jiva

The Jiva is of atomic size. He is the eternal servant of God. He
bears the same relation to God as the sun's rays bear to the sun and
as a spark bears to the mass of fire from which it flits out. The
ray, although it radiates from the sun and is part and parcel of the
sun, is not the sun. So also, the Jiva, who is partly similar to God
in respect of his spirituality or Chaitanya and partly dissimilar on
account of his animal nature and susceptibility to the influence of
Maya, is not God Himself.

The soul is bound by the power of Maya. Maya makes him forget his
real, essential, divine nature. The Jiva, illumined and infatuated by
Maya, can naturally have no knowledge of Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna
has, therefore, out of His infinite mercy, created the Vedas; and
reveals Himself to the Jiva through the media of scriptures, Guru and
intuition. Then the Jiva is convinced that Lord Krishna is his Lord
and saviour.

The Jiva can have God-realisation through spiritual love or Prema to
Lord Krishna. Bhakti overcomes the force of Karma. Bhakti (devotion)
is the way to the final emancipation. Through Bhakti the soul attains
to a status of equality with God, but he is never absorbed in Him. He
is freed from the round of births and deaths.

The Culture of Bhakti (Devotion)

Chiatanya taught that God could be realised only by means of ardent
and all-absorbing love. He wrote to a royal minister who had asked if
there was any path of salvation for a man leading an active life: "As
an immoral woman constantly thinks of her illicit lover while living
in the midst of her family, so do thou silently and ceaselessly
meditate on Hari while doing your worldly activities".

According to Chaitanya, ardour is born from the culture of Bhakti and
when ardour deepens, it is called love (Prema).

>From taste (Ruchi) comes strong inclination (Asakti) which generates
the sprout of passion (Rati) for Krishna. When this emotion deepens,
it becomes Prema. This is the permanent form of Bhakti in Krishna.

When love grows, it is successively called Sneha, Pranaya, Anuraga,
Bhava and Mahabhava, just as we have successively cane-seed, sugar-
cane juice, molasses, sugar and fine sugar-candy.

When the permanent emotion (Bhava) is mingled with Rasa, it is
changed into Vibhava, Anubhava, Sattvika and Vyabhichari; just as
curd, when being mixed with black sugar, black pepper and camphor,
becomes a thing of extreme deliciousness named Rasala. Vibhava is of
two kinds:

Alambana, which is kindled by Krishna, etc., and
Uddipana, by the notes of His flute, etc.,
Anubhava is stimulated by smile, dance and song. Stupor and other
sensations are included in Sattvika Anubhava. Vyabhichari is of
thirty-three kinds, such as delight, rapture etc.

Rasa is of five kinds- Santa, Dasya, Sakhya, Vatsalya and Madhurya.
In the Santa Rasa, Rati advances to the stage of Prema and in the
Dasya to Raga. Sakhya and Vatsalya attain to the limit of Anuraga.

Krishna-Prema – The Supreme Attainment

That devotee who has developed Prema always communes with Lord
Krishna. No mundane sorrow or affliction can perturb his mind. He has
no attraction for earthly objects. He has no fear. He never cares for
material success. He intensely longs for union with Lord Krishna.

Love of Krishna is the highest thing worth attaining. Bhakti is the
means of attainment. Krishna-prema is, indeed, the highest
achievement of life. This Prema makes the devotees serve Krishna in a
selfless spirit and enjoy the Rasa or sweetness of the Lord. Bhakti
is the only means of attaining Krishna and is, therefore, spoken of
as Avidhaya or means. Just as wealth gives comforts, and with the
enjoyment of comforts all worldly miseries disappear of their own
accord, so also, Bhakti generates Krishna-prema, and with the
enjoyment of Prema, the cycle of births and deaths comes to an end.
Escape from the effects of privations and the stoppage of rebirths
are not, however, the fruits of prema. Beatitude or Moksha is Prema's
handmaid. Therefore this Krishna-prema is regarded as the supreme
attainment .

Other Teachings of Sri Chaitanya

Veneration for the preceptor is a fundamental feature of Sri
Chaitanya's teachings. Study of the Vedas, the Bhagavata Purana,
etc., is inculcated. Practice of ethics and development of ethical
virtues such as mercy towards all creatures, humility, purity of
heart, freedom from mundane desires, serenity and truthfulness are
essential. The distinctions of caste have to be ignored. Anyone can
obtain the grace of the Lord.

The following qualities make a Vaishnava. He is compassionate,
truthful, saintly, innocent, charitable, gentle, pure, spiteless,
humble, serene, tender, friendly and silent. He is a universal
benefactor. He solely depends upon Lord Krishna. He is desireless. He
is abstemious in diet and self-controlled. He has mastery over the
six enemies. He honours others and does not care for honour from
others.

Sankirtana – The Supreme Healer

The supreme healer in this iron age is Sankirtana of the Name. It is
equivalent to the Vedic sacrifice. The true sacrificer is rewarded
with Krishna's feet. Sankirtana enables you to conquer sin and the
world. It creates purity of soul and all kinds of Bhakti. It is not
restricted to a particular place or time. It works everywhere. It
bears the name of Sarva-Sakti (omnipotence).

Hari's name should always be chanted by him who must be humbler than
a blade of grass (which is trodden upon); who is more patient,
forbearing and charitable than a tree (which does not cry out even
when it is cut down and which does not beg for water even when
scorched to death, but on the contrary, offers its treasure to
whoever seeks it, bears the sun and rain itself, but protects those
who take shelter under it from rain and sunshine); who, however
worthy of esteem should instead of claiming respect for himself, give
respect to all (from a sense of God's immanence in all beings). He
who thus takes Krishna's Name gets Krishna's Divine Love (Prema).