Page 11 - Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu (English)

Prologue

Lord Caitanya has many names. His father
titled Him Viçvambhara, and in His youth He was
called Nimäi Paëòita. When He took sannyäsa
He became Çré Kåñëa Caitanya. He was also
renowned as Çré Caitanya Mahäprabhu, or simply
Mahäprabhu. And throughout His pastimes He
was known as Gauräìga, or Gaurahari, because of
His golden complexion. *
The Lord spent His first twenty-four years
in Navadvépa, West Bengal. Thereafter He
†
renounced family life and accepted sannyäsa.
Making Puré His headquarters, Mahäprabhu
then passed six years traveling between South
India, Bengal, and Våndävana. For the remaining
eighteen years of His manifest presence He stayed
in Puré, where He drifted into ever deeper trances
of love for Kåñëa.

The raptures exhibited by Lord Caitanya are
unparalleled in the history of Eastern or Western
religious mysticism. His biographers have recorded
that in the ecstasy of separation from Kåñëa,

* Gaura—golden or fair-complexioned.
† A town and area presently in the state of West Bengal,
India.

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