Sri Gaura Arati

Text One

(kiba) jaya jaya gaurachander aratiko shobha
jahnavi-tata-vane jaga-mana-lobha

All glories, all glories to the beautiful arati ceremony of Lord Chaitanya! This Gaura-arati is being performed in a grove on the bank of the Ganges and is captivating everyone in the universe.

Text Two

dakhine nitaichand, bame gadadhara
nikate adwaita, shrinivasa chatra-dhara

On Lord Chaitanya’s right is Lord Nityananda, and on His left is Shri Gadadhara. Nearby stands Shri Advaita, and Shrivasa Thakura holds an umbrella over Lord Chaitanya’s head.

Text Three

bosiyache gaurachand ratna-simhasane
arati koren brahma-adi deva-gane

Lord Chaitanya has sat down on a jeweled throne, and Lord Brahma and the other demigods are performing His arati.

Yoga-pitha: The birth site of Sri Chaitanya

The temple at Yoga-pitha, established by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur

 

Lord Chaitanya is the teacher of the religion of transcendental love of Sri Krishna. He was born at Sridham Mayapur in the year 1486. For a long time it was believed that the real site of birth of the Lord were washed away by the river Bhagirathi. However these places were later discovered with painstaking effort by Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura in the year 1887. In 1893, Bhaktivinoda Thakura established Yoga-pitha as the actual site of Lord Chaitanya's appearance. He personally collected the funds to purchase this land and built a small temple here.

Extract from an article published in the magazine, Harmonist dated March 31, 1935

A great shrine, externally one of the biggest in Bengal, was opened to worship on the 20th of March by His Highness Maharaja Vira Vikrama Kisora Deva Varman Manikya Bahadura of the Tripura State, at Sridham Mayapura (old Nabadwip), on the birth-site of the Supreme Lord Sri Krishna-Chaitanya. The Temple is 125 feet high. Its donor is a merchant of Calcutta, Sriyukta Sakhi-carana Raya Bhakti-vijaya, a devoted servant of Sridhama Mayapura.

 

Sridham Mayapur is located 130 km from Kolkata, West Bengal. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu enacted His pastimes here until He adopted the renounced order of life (sannyasa) at 24 years of age. His birthplace, known as the Yoga-pitha, is on the banks of the holy river Ganga.  After Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura discovered this place he organized to build a beautiful temple here with the Deities of Mahaprabhu and His consorts Vishnupriya and Lakshmipriya. 

There is a neem tree in the courtyard at Yoga-pitha that marks the exact spot where Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was born. There are also Deities of Mahaprabhu as a child along with His parents, Sachi-devi and Jagannatha Misra. 

The Deities of Jagannatha Misra and Sachi Devi holding little Chaitanya

10 Scripture That Reveal Lord Chaitanya’s Identity as Lord Krishna

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the pioneer of the modern Hare Krishna movement, appeared in Mayapur, West Bengal over 500 years ago. He is Krishna Himself, who appeared to inaugurate the yuga-dharma – the Harinama Sankirtana (congregational chanting of the holy names of the Lord).

He never disclosed Himself as the incarnation of the Lord and exemplified the life of a perfect devotee, so that others can follow in His footsteps. However, this fact is corroborated in many authorized scriptures and also confirmed by great spiritual masters of our sampradaya. The descriptions of Lord Chaitanya in terms of His appearance, bodily features, characteristics and pastimes as found in the several works of His celebrated associates and great devotees completely conform to those predicted in the Vedic literatures. In this article we present certain important verses from some of the well-known Vedic literatures to substantiate the identity of Lord Chaitanya as the Supreme Lord Krishna.

(1) Srimad-Bhagavatam (11.5.32)

krishna-varnam tvishakrishnam sangopangastra-parshadam
yajnaih sankirtana-prayair yajanti hi sumedhasah

 

In the age of Kali, intelligent persons perform congregational chanting to worship the incarnation of Godhead who constantly sings the holy name of Krishna. Although His complexion is not blackish, He is Krishna Himself. He is accompanied by His associates, servants, weapons and confidential companions.

krsna-varnam: This word denotes that Lord Chaitanya belongs to the category of Krishna or in other words He is Krishna Himself. krsna-varnam also means one who constantly chants the name of Lord Krishna.

tvisa akrsnam: His bodily complexion is not black. He appeared in golden-like yellow complexion.

sangopangastra-parsadam: Lord Chaitanya is always accompanied by His confidential associates like Lord Nityananda, Advaita Acharya, Sri Gadadhara Pandita, Srivasa Acharya, Haridasa Thakura, etc. In other incarnations, the Lord sometimes made use of His weapons to defeat or kill the demons, but in this age the Lord subdues the demonic mentality with His all-attractive figure of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu who freely distributes Krishna-prema, pure love of Krishna. That is His weapon.

(2) Vishnu-sahasra-nama stotra from Mahabharata

Each of the 1000 names contained in the Vishnu-sahasra-nama stotra that is found in the