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Great saints have always been adorning this holy land of India like the perennial flow of Mother Ganges.These exalted souls have been reinforcing righteousness. The whole world, like a tree, stands firm even to-day only by the roots of dharma strengthened thus. There is no doubt that only by the grace of the Lord that one gets an opportunity to read the life histories of such great souls, who, even while living amongst worldly people, have been role models, and whose sole desire has been the welfare of the world.

On this sacred soil of India have appeared innumerable saints who have stressed that, "Human birth is very rare indeed. And the only goal of human-life is God-realisation." They have done a great favour to the laymen by clearly showing the different paths of karma, bhakthi and jnana, to realise God, according to the need of the time,

The incarnation of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the highly glorified of all the great saints of Kali Yuga, was purely to uplift innumerous souls from the clutches of worldly existence and lay them at the holy feet of Lord Krishna. A walking God, Sri Mahaprabhu was the repository of untainted devotion and love. Countless 'jivas' (lives) amply benefitted by this holy incarnation. His biography is fathomless and cannot be easily comprehended by the common man. Only those blessed by Sri Krishna get to know the life-history of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

Sacrifice and detachment are the two most prominent means to attain devotion. Divine love springs only from sublime devotion. It is for this reason that Sri Mahaprabhu described Divine Love as the fifth purushartha (ultimate goal), even surpassing moksha (liberation). Such love blooms only out of selfless devotion to the Lord. The life-history of Sri Chaitanya, who bestowed bliss upon one and all, by exhibiting the rarest and highest states of Bhava (divine trance), will undoubtedly create a permanent picture of the graceful form and the wonderful qualities of the 'love-incarnate' Mahaprabhu and also devotion for Krishna in the reader's mind (heart).

The very name 'Chaitanya Mahaprabhu' reminds one's mind of his 'Hari Naama Sankeerthanam' done in a state of super-consciousness(Bhava Samadhi). Here is a sweet imagination of that scene!

"The pitambara (yellow garment) shines on the golden body of Chaitanya. Both his eyes are turned upwards in blissful trance. From the corner of his eyes, tears gush down his glossy cheeks and onto the chest. Holding his two long and slender arms above his head, in his melodious voice, he fills the atmosphere with "Hari-bol! Hari bol! (chant the name of Hari). From all sides the devotees deepen the joy of Mahaprabhu by playing various kinds of musical instruments. Now and then, a blessed soul, gets a tight embrace from the joy-filled Mahaprabhu. Bhavuka (deeply devoted) devotees enthrall themselves by smearing the dust of Mahaprabhu's holy feet."

Ah! what a scene! Is there a parallel to the fortune of those devotees who lived with Mahaprabhu and chanted incessantly, "Sri Krishna Govinda Hare Murare! Hey Naatha Narayana Vasudeva" with divine fervour? Let us, too, benefit by enjoying Sri Chaitanya's life history!

The incarnation of Sri Chaitanya took place in the 16th century at a time when Muslim rule had begun in India. Babar, the Badshah of Kabul, had come to rule in Delhi. He had seized the state of Punjab from the Rajputs and had brought it under his control. In the South, too, the kingdom of Vijayanagara had disintegrated into smaller regions and had gradually come under Muslim rule. It was a time when disharmony prevailed right across the country and the Hindus and the Muslims waged war against each other. Not only in political life but in social circles, too, the Hindus and the Muslims were at loggerheads. Anyone who was found to have accepted anything from a Muslim was ostracised by the Hindus.

It was an age when knowledge of Sanskrit was highly honoured and patronised. The wealthy patronised the pundits (scholars). None would dare to overrule these pundits' words. Due to the harsh treatment meted out to the lower caste people by those who belonged to the upper caste, many of these lower caste Hindus embraced Islam.

In Bengal, Islam was a dominant and widely practised religion. In spiritual life, too, people's interest in performing yaga/yagnas had dwindled cosiderably. Sri Sankara's high advaitic philosophy could not be comprehended by the people and they were tired of mere utterance of the words "The world is only an illusion". Those of the lower castes seemed to have lost their right to reach God.

In such a situation, when there was a dire need for the graceful/imaginative path of devotion that the Lord sent many a great Saints to India. At first, Sri Ramananda appeared in Kasi (Varanasi). Later, Raidas, Namadev, Kabir, Guru Nanak, Samartha Ramdas,Sant Thukkaram, Sri Vallabhacharya, and many others came to strengthen this path and showed the way to all, irrespective of their status in the society, to realise God.

It was at this time that the birth of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu took place in Navadweep, situated on the banks of Ganges, a place as holy as Sri Vrindavan. Navadweep was a great centre of learning in Bengal. There were more than fifty patshalas [schools] and students from far-off places flocked Navadweep to learn various shastras. Vasudeva Saarvabowmar, a pundit of the kingdom of Mithila, who had learnt the whole of Nyaya Grantha (study of logic) stayed at Navadweep to propagate this branch of study. Many other popular pundits were here imparting knowledge. Here,on the banks of the Ganges, pundits were always found to be engaged in debates and discussions on Nyaya and Vyakarana. It was an age when study of Sanskrit was held in high esteem. The wealthy took care of the needs of the pundits and students.

Pundit Jagannatha Mishra, one of the seven sons of the pious pundit Upendra Mishra of Limhat in Assam, was the chosen one to become the father of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. He had gained excellence in Sanskrit poetic literature and held the post of 'Purandarar' in the patshala. The famous pundit Sri Nilambara Chakravarthy who was pleased with the intelligent, handsome and young Jagannatha Mishra gave him his daughter Sachidevi in marriage. After his marriage to the beautiful Sachidevi, Jagannatha Mishra stayed in a place called Mayapur in Navadweep and did not return to Limhat.

The couple were drowned in sorrow due to the premature deaths of their eight female babies one after another.Later by the grace of God, Sachidevi gave birth to a beatiful male child whom they named Vishwarupa. When Vishwarupa was ten years old, in the month of Masi, Sachidevi conceived once again and this child was none other than the great avatar (incarnation), Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu.

After a thirteen months' stay in his mother's womb, Sri Mahaprabhu was born on the auspicious day of the full moon in the month of March,1542, when the whole of India was jubilantly celebrating the Holi festival. Being lunar eclipse day innumerable people had gathered on the banks of the Ganges to have a purifying bath. At this auspicious time they chanted the divine names of Rama,Krishna and Hari. It was on such a joyous and auspicious day that the birth of Sri Gauranga, who was the incarnation of the Lord, took place.

The joy of Sachidevi and Jagannatha Mishra knew no bounds on the birth of their second male child. As Gauranga had been in his mother's womb for thirteen long months even at birth he was a well-grown and beautiful baby. With a radiant skin that shone like gold, thick locks of curly black hair, chubby limbs and big dark eyes, the child captivated the hearts of all. The parents and the others experienced inexplicable joy on seeing the child's enrapturing beauty. The baby was christened 'Gauranga' (one with a fair complexion) because of the golden hue of his skin. But, Shashidevi and her friends affectionately named him 'Nimayi'[meaning 'neem'] as he was born after several years.

Nimayi did not cry at birth. The silent child responded only when the name 'Hari' was whispered in his ears. The elder son Vishwarupa was very calm. But Nimayi was very restless. Even as a month old babe Nimayi started crawling. He would crawl very fast shouting out loudly and his mother had a tough time catching him. Even while his mother nursed him he would crawl away quickly!

Quite frequently Nimayi would weep uncontrollably with heavy sobs.Once when he wept so, the mother found that no words of hers could console him. But when she sang 'Hari Bol... Hari Bol.... Mukunda Madhava Govinda Bol' little Nimayi immediately stopped crying. His mother felt relieved for having found the way out to stop him from crying. Thenceforth, whenever he cried 'Hari bol' was sung to quieten him.

In his fourth month, on the day of christening, as per the family custom, Jagannath Mishra spread a few things like money, food, clothes, playthings and some books before Nimayi. He then said to the little one, "My child Nimayi, pick up anything from amongst these." It is but natural for children to pick up anything that is bright and glittering. But Nimayi, however, picked up Srimad Bhagavatham. All those who were around cried out in one voice,"Nimayi will become a great pundit".

Little Nimayi was very mischievous and so Sachidevi's entire time was taken up in keeping him under control. One day, Sachidevi had given Nimayi a bath and dressed him up beautifully. As she stood admiring the beauty of her son, Vishwarupa came up to her and asked,"Ma, haven't you finished the cooking yet?" Sachidevi said,"All my time is spent in looking after your naughty brother. Take care of him a while. I shall prepare the meals."

Vishwarupa carried the child to the courtyard and sat down to read a book. Being an avid reader Viswarupa soon lost himself in a book. Little Nimayi slowly moved away. He found a huge serpent which he took to be a plaything. And soon started to play with it. In a short while Sachidevi came in search of Nimayi and found Vishwarupa all alone reading a book. He gave a perplexed look when the mother asked,"Where is the little one?" Everyone began to search for the child frantically. Soon all stood frozen with fear by what they saw at the other end of the courtyard. Sachidevi screamed wildly. All the neighbours had by then assembled there.

Nimayi's body was smeared with dust. Rapped in pitambara the golden body shone brighter than ever. He stood with one hand on the spread out hood of the serpent and the other on the ground. The serpent glowed in the sunlight and little Nimayi stood chuckling. None dared to free the child from the serpent. Sachidevi herself rushed to free the child. As she rushed up, the serpent quickly crawled back into its hole and disappeared. Nimayi ran upto his mother laughing. Sachidevi embraced and kissed the child. Everybody caressed him and prayed for warding off of any evil. The women chided him affectionately,"Nimayi, could you not get anything else to play with? Why do you have to trouble us so?" and sang "Hari Bol... Hari Bol".

To be continued......