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The Hare Krishna Movement Explained

Name: The Hare Krishna Movement Explained
Uploaded: 2026-06-20T14:00:17+00:00
Duration: 56 min 10 s
Channel: Let's Talk Religion
Description: Der Gaudiya-Vaishnavismus entstand in Gauda, einer historischen Region Bengalens, und gehört zu den Vishnu gewidmeten Traditionen, verehrt Krishna hier …

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If you've existed in this world at some point during the last couple of decades, which I assume most of you watching have, then there's a good chance that
you will have encountered the often called Hare Krishnas. Perhaps you've come across them on a street in a European city giving out
pamphlets and singing their joyful mantra praising the god Krishna. Maybe you've read the version of the Bhagavad Gita called As It Is by Srila Prabhupada
or enjoyed the classic George Harrison song My Sweet Lord, which includes the Hare Krishna chant. These are all examples of a tradition within Hinduism
known as Gaudiya Vaishnavism, a deeply theistic tradition focused on bhakti or devoted worship and love for the god Krishna
and which has become very popular and one of the most popular forms of {quote} Hinduism or Indian religion in the Western world attracting many people
from different backgrounds. Despite the fact that it's quite different from other popular forms of Hinduism like Advaita
Vedanta for example. So today let's explore Gaudiya Vaishnavism and the Hare Krishna movement.
>> [music] >> The story of Gaudiya Vaishnavism begins in the region of Gauda, also called
Gauda, after which the tradition derives its name. This was historically an important region of Bengal located toward the east of the Indian
subcontinent. That second word of the term Vaishnavism, of course, refers to the schools within Hinduism which are dedicated to the worship of the god
Vishnu either on his own or in his incarnations or avataras such as Rama and in this tradition Krishna. Today the Gaura region is divided by the
international border between India and Bangladesh, and it is here that we find the ancestral home of the most important historical figure in Gaudiya
Vaishnavism, Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Chaitanya was born in a town by the name of Mayapur, situated on the banks of the Ganges in the Gaura region.
His father was a learned pandit, a Hindu priest, well known in the town. Now, importantly, at that time, this region was also home to a lot of
interesting philosophical developments. Some Hindu philosophers of the time had developed teachings that came to be known as Navya Nyaya, or the new logic.
This was, in fact, a renaissance of the old Nyaya, or logic, school of Hinduism, a scholastic, highly technical group of thinkers who produced works defining
some Hindu doctrines, but didn't really place much emphasis on bhakti, which is devotion to what a particular god, which was so important especially in the
Vaishnava tradition. Also very active in the Gaura region during this time was the well-known school of Advaita Vedanta, which again is usually
understood as placing more emphasis on knowledge, or jnana, or jnana, the knowledge of the absolute impersonal attributeless Brahman
as being identical to the individual self. And and all of reality, right? The Brahman is all that exists, and to gain
and to come to a knowledge of that truth is enough for liberation. I'm simplifying, but that's basically the the approach of the Advaita school. We
find in the hagiographical literature written after Chaitanya's life many miraculous stories about him. The important point, though, is that
many of these stories are quite similar to the legends related about the god Krishna when he was a child, as found in the different Hindu scriptures,
particularly in the Bhagavata Purana, which is the central scripture for the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. The Bhagavata Purana is a text devoted
to Vishnu, and in its different chapters, it tells the stories of the various incarnations of Vishnu, the different avatars.
The 10th chapter of the scripture is the most famous, and it tells the entire life story of the Krishna incarnation. Given the context of 15th century India,
it's also interesting that the child Chaitanya would often break caste rules. His parents were orthodox members of the Brahmin, or the priestly caste, right,
the highest caste, and observed the rules of the time, like untouchability and not eating with members of other castes, quite strictly, in fact. There
are stories where, when Chaitanya's mother was angry with him and would take a rod to beat him up, Chaitanya would run off to an unclean part of the town,
{quote} {unquote}, where a Brahmin woman would not go. He would then touch a person belonging to the untouchable caste and threaten to pollute his mother
by touching her in that supposed unclean state. This would make his mother run back indoors. When criticized for this act by orthodox Brahmins, he would say,
"The idea of external purity is a delusion." Which foreshadows some of his later ideas. As Chaitanya grew up, the people of the
town observed unusual signs of divinity manifesting in him. There are stories where two devotees of Krishna had prepared some offerings to
the god on the other side of the town, and the five-year-old Chaitanya cries and has excruciating hunger. He tells his mother that he wants the offerings
those devotees have prepared, even sharing their names with her. When those devotees hear of this event, they rush to see the child. And when
they see him crying, they have a mystical vision of the infant Krishna in the child, and end up feeding Chaitanya instead.
Eventually, following somewhat in the footsteps of his older brother, Chaitanya would take his life a little more seriously and started to study.
It's said that he progressed very fast in his studies and eventually became quite an accomplished and respected scholar.
Soon, Chaitanya would go around the region debating other scholars, as well as the general practice. And he's even said to have written a tome on Sanskrit
grammar. Later, he studied the Navyanyaya, the new logic school, which was spreading around the region at that time.
At 16, Chaitanya started his own school, becoming the youngest professor in the region, and soon became very famous. Around this time, he also entered an
arranged marriage with a woman called Lakshmi, as was the common practice during that time, but she died only a year later from a snake bite. A few
years later, his mother had him married off again to another woman by the name of Vishnupriya. Now, so far in our story, Chaitanya is a professor, a
scholar, but not a devotee, a worshipper, right? His life is far removed from the bhakti for which Gaudiya Vaishnavism is famous.
But soon, an event takes place which changes Chaitanya's nature completely. It is said that after a {quote} victory tour, when he won various debates in
Bengal, he went to the town of Gaya, which is today part of the state of Bihar in India. Now, Gaya is a famous pilgrimage center associated with
ancestral rites. Even today, many Hindus go to Gaya for rituals related to providing food offerings to their ancestors.
Chaitanya performed these rites and then went to the nearby shrine of Vishnu. It's said that he then entered into a trance and was about to fall down, but
then was supported by an ascetic by the name of Ishvara Puri. Returning to normal consciousness, Chaitanya turned to Ishvara Puri and
asked if he could help him realize a glimpse of Radha's love for Krishna. Now, Radha, to give some context here, is the lover of the god Krishna when he
was an adolescent. The tales of Radha and Krishna's love for each other are extremely important in the Hindu traditions associated with Krishna.
Chaitanya's behavior was surprising because prior to this experience, Chaitanya, the scholar, had never thought about bhakti or devotion or love
for God. And in fact, Ishvara Puri then initiated Chaitanya by giving him a mantra for the worship of Krishna. It is said that Chaitanya's nature
immediately transformed after chanting this mantra. Instead of his usual mood, Chaitanya now became overcome with an inexpressible
sorrow. He had surges of longing for Krishna followed by a sense of calm and fulfillment. He expressed a bipolarity in his mood going from sorrow in union
with Krishna to ecstasy in separation from him and back to sorrow again. His students who had accompanied him from their town were shocked and
confused by this complete change in his personality. To their dismay, he had also refused to return back to their town and then instead wanted to keep
going to where the west. He wanted to go to Vrindavan, the fabled town where Krishna had spent his youth. Somehow they managed to bring him back
to their town instead and on the way back they observed that Chaitanya's intellectual ego was completely shattered. He appeared to be incredibly
weak, emotional and full of humility. He kept crying, "My Krishna, my Krishna." And said to his students, quote, "I captured my Krishna, but he has fled.
There is a void in my heart and the whole world cannot fill it. Will no one bring him back to me?" Later, the previously brilliant young
professor was now unable to teach any classes. As he opens any book to teach, he utters the word Hari Om, which is a customary saying before beginning any
task, but now when he says this, he enters into a trance state. This is because Hari is another name for Krishna.
After this happens multiple times, he apologizes to his students and says, "My friends, as soon as I begin my lessons, an exquisitely beautiful boy of
dark complexion comes and stands before me playing on a flute. The sight of him takes me away from my senses, and I forget everything else. It is no longer
within my power to teach as I used to. Allow me to take leave of you all." The beautiful boy that appears before Chaitanya is, of course, Krishna himself
as an adolescent. And despite the fact that he basically abandoned his role as a teacher, his
students didn't want to abandon him, right? They they still stayed by his side. And instead of teaching, he suggested that they would start singing
and dancing, singing the the name of Krishna and Hari Hari Krishna, right? So, this is the kind of origin or one of the origin stories of the
famous Hari Krishna mantra. Hari in this mantra is a vocative form of Hara, a feminine form referring to Radha, remember his consort, his lover.
Importantly, instead of other famous mantras, which are often transmitted from a guru to a disciple and are meant to be kept hidden from other people, the
Hari Krishna mantra taught by Chaitanya was to be sung loudly in groups and could be accompanied by dance. These dances are quite well known in
Europe and North America, of course, due to the members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness or ISKCON, who are often referred to as the
Hare Krishnas because of their chanting this mantra. And the orthodox community of the town looked down upon these developments in Chaitanya.
Going from a respected scholar to a to a strange, devoted, um, lover who would go around dancing and singing, right? And they believed that he had
become mad, essentially. But around this time, there appeared some who believed that Chaitanya's behavior indicated a divine manifestation in him.
Around this time, certain things start happening also. There are stories about Chaitanya acting in strange and unusual ways,
like entering the home of a devotee or of a of a follower and sitting in the throne and the seat that's meant for God, for Vishnu or Krishna, and then
basically declares that he is Krishna in some way, right? But then also declares that he is a devotee of Krishna, a lover, a worshiper
of Krishna. So this becomes important for this tradition in the sense that um the followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the
followers of Chaitanya, believe that he is Krishna, right? He's a manifestation of Krishna, of that deity. But he's also worshiper of Krishna at
the same time, which is the role that Radha has in the tradition. So both Krishna and Radha are kind of inside or they they are both represented
by Chaitanya, both the deity himself and the devoted lover and worshiper of this deity. So Chaitanya is seen
or held in very high regard in in this tradition. But as Chaitanya's popularity in the region grew and now with the growing
belief among the group that Chaitanya was the God Krishna himself, the orthodox, quote unquote, Brahmans were scandalized by Chaitanya. Indeed, in the
literature of this tradition, it is the orthodox Brahmans who play the primary antagonistic role. Even though Chaitanya and many of the senior members of his
group were Brahmans, they got rid of all caste distinctions and also they did not care for intellectual scholarship anymore.
Now both of these points were a challenge to the orthodox members of the caste. And so the orthodox Brahmans would go again and again to the Muslim
ruler and his agent, the Qazi, who finally succumbed to the pressure and ordered the arrest of Chaitanya. In response, it's said that Chaitanya
took many members of his group to interview the Qazi. It's believed that when the Qazi met Chaitanya for the first time, they had a
very pleasant interaction. The Qazi told Chaitanya that he had taken the action of arresting members of his group because, quote, the leaders of
Hindu society had asked him to do so. It's said that he himself had no problems with their Hari Kirtan, the communal singing of the name Hari or
Krishna. Furthermore, the Qazi asked Chaitanya, quote, "There is only one God. The Hindus call him Narayana, which is another name for Vishnu.
But some people say you are him. Is it so?" In response, it's believed Chaitanya said, "You have uttered just now the
holy names Hari, Kirtan, and Narayana. Because of that, all your sins are forgiven." Now, after this conversation, the Muslim
rulers would not interfere with Chaitanya's group, which had by this time expanded throughout the Bengal region. But Chaitanya's response tells
us something more about the tradition, the emphasis on the names of God or Krishna. Just by uttering the name, a person can
attain salvation, even if the name is uttered in anger or with another negative emotion. Now, this tells us the importance of japa, the recitation of
the name of one's chosen deity in this tradition. Even the Hare Krishna mantra is repeating a set of names associated with Krishna, after all.
Chaitanya lived for 48 years. His hagiographers divide his life into two halves, basically. The first half, up until 24, which we've been discussing
so far, is the, quote, unquote, Krishna mood. Even though he's a great devotee even during this time, he's primarily a teacher of bhakti, of devotion, which is
a lower stage of attachment to God. In the second part, he was in the Radha mood. He's in prema, love. He's the lover of Krishna.
Radha's intense and intimate love for Krishna in separation and in union with him would now be demonstrated in his own example.
This was similar to the mood in which we found him at Gaya during his initial conversion to the path of devotion in ecstatic almost bipolar swoons and
depressions respectively at union and separation from Krishna. This behavior had subsided a little bit in the middle period, but now in the
mood of Radha, it was back and had an even higher intensity. Again, he wanted to leave his town and go west to Vrindavan, the town where
Krishna and Radha had met and loved each other. And it's also here in the later part of his life that he actually becomes a
sannyasan, a monk or ascetic. Before he had actually still lived with his wife, but now he completely abandoned regular life to live as a monk exclusively
dedicated to his love and devotion to God. He spent the rest of his life, 24 years, living near the famous temple of Jagannath in Puri, which continues to be
one of the most important temples in India for Hindus today. He only left Puri for sporadic pilgrimages to other regions.
There are some stories and events during this period that tell us a bit more about the actual teachings and ideas of the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. There's
one story when a learned pandit in Puri teaches Chaitanya some of the Upanishads with particularly with the commentary of Adi Shankara, who is a primary
teacher and person associated with the Advaita school of Vedanta, that non-dualist school, right? And when Chaitanya
studies these texts, he replies that the Upanishads themselves are quite simple enough for him to understand, but as for Shankara's commentary, he could not
understand even a single word. It all looked like absurdity to him. He then gave some verses from the Bhagavata Purana, the primary scripture
of this tradition, which discloses all the incarnations of Vishnu, with particular emphasis on Krishna. Chaitanya explained to the priest how
the Upanishads, and ultimately all of the Vedas, only taught devotion and love for God and not the soulless logic, according to him, of non-dualism. So, he
was not a fan of Shankara or of the of the Advaita school in their approach, right? And his school of Gaudiya Vaishnavism
very much in many senses is a kind of response to that and a critique of that. So, let's maybe turn a bit more to the actual teachings
then Chaitanya, which will become the teachings of the Gauda Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition. And how it differs from other
schools of of Hinduism. And one thing that we can press on immediately, there are many stories about this, too, where Chaitanya
really emphasizes uh these stories in the Bhagavata Purana, for example, of the the love that Radha has
for Krishna or the milkmaids have for Krishna, right? This devoted love, like this is the the core of the teaching. This is the core of the theology.
Not some high metaphysics, some knowledge like in Advaita, like monism or non-dualism, but it's precisely this love, this devotion,
this devoted worship of God as someone other than God, just like Radha would love Krishna. We are to love Krishna as well in the same way. So, it's not that
we are one with Krishna or we are one with God like in Advaita. There's there's a there's room for some of that, too, as we'll see, but
not in the same way at all, right? It is precisely in that duality, in that difference, and in the relationship that you have with God
um that is the very core of the tradition. This is how liberation, so to say, is achieved. Although liberation itself is
not even the goal in the same way as in other traditions, right? The goal is not to be liberated. The goal is to devote yourself to Krishna. That in itself is
the very core of the practice and the and the the philosophy. So, Krishna here is the supreme being. He is the source of all incarnations,
the the first cause. He's God. Now, it's interesting here that in usual Hindu theology, Krishna is of course seen only as one of the many
incarnations or avataras of Vishnu. Right? Even in Vaishnavism, which is which this is a branch of, it's Vishnu that's the supreme deity. Vishnu is the
the supreme being, let's say, God. And then Vishnu is incarnated in all these different avataras historically, like Rama, like like Krishna, for example.
But here, Krishna is the supreme being. Krishna is the highest uh personhood of of the Godhead. And this makes it very different even
from other schools of Vaishnavism. So, Krishna is, again, the supreme being, and the God Vishnu, even, is only one of the manifestations of Krishna.
So, the it's the other way around. Now, in all schools of Vedanta, Brahman, the absolute principle, is recognized as possessing three aspects,
sac-cid-ānanda, being, consciousness, and bliss. And according to this tradition, it is Krishna's body itself, which is pure
being, pure consciousness, and pure bliss. Brahman in its ultimate form. So, contrary to the tradition of Advaita
Vedanta, where one believes that the formless, attribute-less, and impersonal, the nirguna Brahman, is the highest reality, in Gaudiya Vaishnavism,
it is Krishna himself, in his body, who is the with-form, with-attributes, personal, or saguna Brahman. Indeed, the followers of this tradition
commonly argue that the nirguna, or formless, Brahman of Advaita Vedanta, is only a peripheral, minor aspect of the full, or ultimate, divinity,
which is Krishna's body. Krishna's play, or lila, in the town of Vrindavan, enchanted the milkmaids, the gopis, and drew all hearts toward him.
Indeed, some passages from the Bhagavata Purana are often translated as referring to Krishna as Cupid's very self, and the conqueror of hearts.
With respect to the Chaitanya incarnation, followers of this tradition say that Krishna's beauty charmed his own heart in such a way that he wanted
to know what it was like to embrace himself. But what about Radha? The third aspect of the Saccidananda
triad, Ananda, means bliss. So, Krishna himself is bliss, and yet he too enjoys bliss. This blissful aspect of him is Radha
herself, his greatest devotee and lover. Interestingly, today it's common to find Krishna and Radha worshiped together as a divine couple, but this was not common
in Chaitanya's time, and he himself is not known to have ever worshiped Radha. Chaitanya's followers would soon come to believe in Radha as hladini shakti, the
energy of bliss of Krishna, associating her with the symbolism of the primordial divine mother. And in Chaitanya, both Krishna and Radha
are united in one body. So, this is This is Chaitanya, right? He is a very um
highly revered in the tradition because he is an incarnation of Krishna. He's a manifestation of Krishna and Radha at one and the same time. So, very
important. >> [music] >> Uh and he dies at 48 years old. But then, of course, we might be well to
turn to some of his closest followers, the people who would carry the tradition forward and really formulate it in a scholarly way because, as we said,
although Chaitanya was a scholar originally, of course he becomes much more of an ecstatic mystic.
Um and it is another group of people, scholars around him, called the six Goswamis, or Goswamis, that would really sort of
formulate the theology, the philosophy of the tradition in a lot more systematic form and in written books. A Goswami is a
title given to a learned scholar, and it was in fact these six scholars who wrote most of the philosophical text on which Gaudiya Vaishnavism is based. Three of
these six Goswamis, Rupa Goswami, his brother Sanatana Goswami, and their nephew Jiva Goswami, are credited with the creation of many of the religious
sites around Vrindavan today. They were also the philosophers responsible for fitting Chaitanya's system of devotion for Krishna into the
framework of Vedanta by creating their own school of Vedanta, often known as Achintya Bheda Abheda, which essentially means the Vedantic school of
inconceivable oneness indifference. We'll talk more about this soon. For Chaitanya, even from his childhood, the mystical Vrindavan was a dreamland which
occupied his thoughts. But when he visited Vrindavan, he found that it had been reduced to jungles by time, and it was in fact Chaitanya's visit to the
region which helped in mystically identifying the spots associated with Krishna's adolescence in the town. [music]
Chaitanya only stayed in Vrindavan for a few months in his whole life though. A probable reason which is often shared for this is that staying in Vrindavan
was in fact dangerous for him. The town is based on the Yamuna River, which has a special significance due to its being associated with Krishna.
While in Vrindavan, Chaitanya would often recklessly throw himself into this river during his ecstatic visions and had to be rescued by his followers who
eventually persuaded him to move elsewhere. It is also at this time that he meets two of the future six Goswamis, Rupa and Sanatana, who would become some
of the main representatives of this tradition. And some of the teachings imparted by Chaitanya to Rupa and Sanatana Goswami
are recorded by their literature as follows, quote, "There are different grades of bhakti, devotion, according to differences of
ardor and passion. There are 64 modes of cultivating bhakti. Of these, the five most important are one, association with holy
people, two, the devotional singing of Krishna's name, three, listening to or reading the Bhagavata Purana, four, dwelling at a
holy place associated with Krishna's life like Vrindavan, Mathura, Dwarka, and others, and five, reverential service of an idol of Krishna.
A person who, renouncing their desires, seeks complete shelter in Krishna, the only one worthy of such seeking, is not indebted to anyone.
Such a person can seek Krishna abandoning all other duties and rituals. Theological knowledge or monasticism are not essential for the development of
bhakti. The final fruit of bhakti is prema, unconditional love. A man with sraddha, faith, associates
with pious people. Such association gives them occasion for the hearing and chanting of Krishna's name and the development of taste for the same.
This taste eventually develops into inclination, which is the sprout of passion for Krishna in the soul. When this emotion deepens, it leads to
unconditional love, which is the ultimate fruit and the source of every form of bliss. Now, hear the characteristics of one who
has developed this bliss. No worldly affliction can disturb their mind. They never waste their time, but always commune with Krishna. They are a picture
of dignified humility and of passionate longing for Krishna. There are five stages in the development of love, five moods with which Krishna
can be worshipped in order of greatness. The shanta, placid, the dasya, attitude of servantship, the sakhya, the attitude of a friend, the vatsalya, the attitude
of being parent of the child Krishna, and finally, the madhura, the conjugal attitude. Within the madhura attitude, the
attitude of the illicit lover Radha is the greatest. It is only this attitude which leads to the complete surrender of the self to Krishna.
What they're doing here is actually um using the old language of of aesthetics, the theory of aesthetics in Indian thought called
rasa, which is a way to up explaining aesthetics like in theater and music, different emotions and how one can
um experience and also um invoke those emotions in art and aesthetics. And they're sort of taking
those rasas to still those different moods and are sort of applying it to bhakti love, which is really fascinating and really unique. Chaitanya passed away
in 1534 at the young age of 48. Now, how he passed away is a matter of speculation, but what we do know is that
before dying, he sung eight verses in Sanskrit about the path of bhakti. These are known as the eight verses of instruction.
All of Chaitanya's writings from his days as a scholar are now lost and he never wrote anything after his conversion to the devotee of Krishna.
Hence, the eight verses of instruction are essentially all that we have available today, which was written directly by him. Here are some extracts
from these verses taken from Edwin Bryant's translation and found in his book Bhakti Yoga, quote, "May Krishna's sankirtana be supremely
triumphant. The chanting of the names of Krishna cleanses the mirror of the heart. It extinguishes the great forest fire of samsara. It gives life to the
young bride of wisdom. It bestows the taste of the highest nectar at every step. It cleanses the mind completely. The name of Hari should always be
chanted while considering oneself lower than a blade of grass and while being more tolerant than a tree. One should be free from any desire for
personal respect, but yet one should offer respect to others. I do not desire wealth, followers, beautiful women, or poetic virtuosity, O
Lord of the universe. I wish only for bhakti for you, without any motive, birth after birth. When will streams of tears pour from my
eyes from chanting her name? When will my voice clog up and falter with emotion? When will my body appear with its hairs bristling in ecstasy?
And then, the last two verses, written in the mood of Radha. Quote, in the absence of Govinda, the blinking of an eye seems like an entire
eon. The eyes behave like the rainy season, and this entire universe appears empty. I am devoted to Krishna's feet. He may
embrace me or crush me, or he may pierce my heart by not appearing before me. That flirt may do as he pleases, but only he and no one else will remain the
lord of my life. In the most popular hagiography of Chaitanya, the Chaitanya Charitamrita, or the nectar of Chaitanya's deeds, was
written by a follower around 20 years after Chaitanya passed away, and here the singing of these eight verses concludes the text. [music] And so, we
have no reliable information on exactly how Chaitanya passed away. Before Chaitanya, at least in the context of Vaishnavas, the worshipers of
Vishnu, the ideal of bhakti had been a sense of being overawed by divine majesty. But, it is with Chaitanya that bhakti
takes the intimate form that we know today. God, here, is not seen as an all-powerful being to be worshipped from
down below, but seen as one's very own. Here, bhakti becomes prema, love. True love cannot a sense of superiority or divine majesty. It needs to be
intimate, and even include teasing God, which is why in Chaitanya's song, Radha, the greatest devotee, refers to Krishna as the flirt, who may do as he pleases
with her, but she will always love him unconditionally. The devotee will worship God, no matter where God puts them. In this tradition, the devotee
does not even ask for salvation or moksha, like other traditions of Vedanta, they just want to dwell in love with Krishna eternally. After Chaitanya
passed away, these six Goswamis of Vrindavan wrote Sanskrit texts on the philosophy behind Chaitanya's devotional practices.
Chaitanya himself was of course too God-intoxicated to produce his own scholarship. Indeed, his conversion had begun with his throwing away his tome on
the Nyaya philosophy into the Ganges River. Later actual members of this tradition would write a commentary on the Brahma
Sutras. And the Brahma Sutras, as we know from earlier discussions about Advaita, to write a commentary on this work, the
Brahma Sutras, is kind of how you establish a particular school of Advaita, a particular school of philosophy. Shankara has his Advaita
commentary, Ramanuja has his Avishishta Advaita commentary, Madhva has his Dvaita, and so on. This is like something that you do. But here, more
importantly, is that song and dance could reach many more people than books written in Sanskrit, right? So, the approach of Chaitanya
and his followers was not so much scholarly, even though that exists in the tradition. There are scholarly writings of
philosophy like presenting it as a school of Advaita, but mainly the the the way of practicing but also spreading the the faith or the the
the this tradition has been through singing and dancing often in public, right? Reaching the masses through this joyous
uh singing and dancing. But now, let's turn again to the philosophical core of Gaudiya Vaishnavism as developed by the six Goswamis.
What exactly is Achintya Bheda Abheda Vedanta, the Vedanta of inconceivable identity in difference? But first, let's start with what we
know. When most people hear about Vedanta, they automatically assume that refers to the Advaita Vedanta or non-dual
philosophy, which is most famously expounded by the Hindu philosopher Adi Shankara, which we mentioned before. But in fact, Vedanta is a much broader
category. It First of all, it refers to a group of ancient Hindu texts called the Upanishads. So, Vedanta is just another name for the Upanishads.
Uh Vedanta actually means the end of the Vedas, which means that it was placed at the end of the Vedas, like in
in the Vedic scriptures, the Upanishads are the last section. So, it's literally the end of the Vedas. So, Vedanta refers to to those texts, those scriptures, but
also to the massive uh interpretive tradition that interprets and uses the Upanishads as a primary source, right? And and so, Vedanta as such, which all
refers back to that, and also to these other texts like the Brahma Sutras, for example, which kind of is in itself a commentary on the
Upanishads. Um but it also becomes a very important uh text, source for all schools of Vedanta. Like
I said, almost all um major thinkers of Vedanta write a commentary on the Brahma Sutras. And then also, the Bhagavad Gita is very
important, the famous story of Krishna actually uh speaking to the warrior Arjuna during this great battle. So, these three
texts, the Upanishads, Vedanta, uh the Brahma Sutras, and the Bhagavad Gita are kind of the three core texts of Vedanta, which all these great thinkers
essentially do their own commentaries on and read these texts according to their philosophy. Like, if it's non-dualism or dualism and and whatever. Now, the
Upanishads are highly philosophical texts, which talk about things like the Atman, the the self, the the substratum of the universe, or the ultimate
reality, Brahman, and how these may be realized. So, for example, the famous Advaita Vedanta with its non-dualism is one of
the many interpretations of the Upanishads and these other texts. It is the interpretation which says that the Atman and the Brahman in the Upanishads
are ultimately non-dual, that they are completely identical, and that Brahman is attributeless and impersonal, and is all that there is. Everything is
Brahman, everything is one with Brahman, there's nothing but the Brahman. I am that, as the famous saying goes, right? But in contrast to this, the other more
theistic schools of Vedanta believe in Brahman as the personal God or deity that they worship, most commonly Vishnu or his incarnations. This is the supreme
person who contains all auspicious qualities and all omni-attributes. Of course, Shankara and other followers of Advaita Vedanta also accept the
myriad gods and goddesses of Hinduism, but they create a hierarchy where the formless Brahman, the Nirguna Brahman, is ultimate, and the personal gods must
still be transcended to reach Brahman. So, they exist a There places an emphasis on Ishvara, God, even Shankara does, but the this idea of God with
attributes is like a step on the way. It's not the highest ultimate reality. The ultimate reality is this attributeless Nirguna Brahman. For
Chaitanya and his followers, though, Krishna is Brahman himself. There is no higher absolute apart from him. In non-dualism, as explained by
Shankara, the individual soul, the Atman, is ultimately the same as Brahman. All one has to do is to realize the truth and then remove the ignorance
of distinction between the two things. But in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the individual soul is only a part of or attributes of Krishna, distinguishable
from the whole of Krishna, but not necessarily different from him, either. Importantly, for Advaita, there is no ultimate bondage of the soul in samsara,
and no ultimate release from bondage, as there was no difference in the first place, and all was Brahman from the very beginning. The world only has empirical
reality, but no ultimate reality. But in this tradition, the world is very much ultimately real. Bondage, samsara, is real, and liberation is real.
And finally, in Advaita Vedanta, similar to Buddhism, the ultimate goal is moksha or nirvana, which is a release from the world cycle or samsara, right? But in
Chaitanya's tradition, the ultimate aim is to serve the supreme being, Krishna, in his eternal realm. This realm is called Goloka, which is
where he sports with the milkmaids. The devotee eventually reaches this realm after dying, where they live eternally with Krishna, who is also eternally
manifested in that realm. We should point out that even this school of Vedanta is kind of in its own way also non-dual.
Now, Shankara, Advaita, of course, says that everything which exists is ultimately non-dual Brahman. It's all Brahman with no distinction.
Chaitanya and his followers say that everything is Krishna, the supreme person. The entire world is taking place within Krishna to a degree. And this is
in fact supported and justified by some verses in the Bhagavad Gita, where Krishna says, "I am the support of Brahman." Taking this verse, the
followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism argue that the formless Brahman sought by Advaita Vedanta is just the surrounding or peripheral brilliance of Krishna's
form. Shankara, in his philosophical writings, follows the argument that what is without form and other attributes is
ultimately higher to that which is with attributes. But this logic is turned upside down in Gaudiya Vaishnavism.
The spiritual state of witnessing Krishna's beautiful form is superior to any formless spiritual experience. If one were to argue against this, that
a person with a particular form like Krishna cannot be an infinite or ultimate reality, this tradition responds that even our notions of space
and time are included within Krishna's form. His body is a transcendent spiritual reality. Now, you might ask, how does Krishna become the whole world?
What explains the multiplicity of the things of this world if it's all just one Krishna? Now, this is answered in the writings of the six Goswamis using
the concept of shakti or dynamic energy, power. The relation between Krishna and his shakti, which is often shakti is often seen as a divine feminine, right?
So, the relationship between Krishna and shakti is both identity and difference. While they're ultimately the same, it is the shakti of Krishna which manifests as
the multiplicity of the world. The changes to the shakti, the birth and death of ordinary beings like ourselves, does not affect the unity of Krishna's
person. But, this shakti, including ourselves, also has no separate existence from the whole, from Krishna. It is this idea of identity and
difference, which is believed to be incredibly complicated and hence inconceivable, that lends this tradition its philosophical name, achintya bheda
abheda, or inconceivable identity in difference. Because that is the relation which, according to this school, we and this
whole world have with Krishna. Having both identity and difference between two things, here between Krishna and his shakti which manifests as the world, is
beyond the terms of ordinary logic and hence is called achintya, inconceivable. And it is this very realization of the inconceivable relation between Krishna
and ourselves as manifestations of his energy, which causes our ordinary devotion to transform into a restless love, the ideal of Gaudiya Vaishnavism,
which is the more popular name for this tradition. Experienced and attentive watchers and listeners will maybe recognize some of
this language. And it seems quite likely, I would say, that some of this idea of shakti and the relationship of of um
Krishna to to Shakti uh very much comes also from the Shaiva tradition like a non-dual Shaivism right has a very similar theology about the difference
between unity and multiplicity and and Shiva in that case as the one as unchanging consciousness and Shakti as his power
um that manifest the world and still remains identical and the same as Shiva right so um similar things there. And and so this is basically the idea of
Achintya Bheda Abheda Vedanta. So as opposed to Advaita Vedanta which is completely non-dual there's just the Brahman the attributeless Brahman and
everything is that it's non-dual. Right? Um and on the other side of that you have Dvaita Vedanta dual Vedanta let's say of
Madhva Madhvacharya which says that Brahman is Vishnu with form as the supreme being and is different
from you. There is a duality between yourself and the world and God. And you worship God as something outside of yourself.
This the core of this philosophy Achintya Bheda Abheda inconceivable difference and similarity inconceivable oneness and difference. So it's both
non-dual and dual at the same time. Everything is Krishna but there is also a difference between us and Krishna
at the same time and this this strange difference between the two is inconceivable to us ultimately but is the reality of the
matter. So it it's somewhere in between in this really interesting way. And again kind of similar in some way to to non-dual Shaivism for example which
doesn't talk about it in that way but has a similar idea right of it's non-dual but it's non-dual to to that it's also dual.
Where it's it's it's a non-duality that includes multiplicity as well within itself. Um so, it's I would say it's something close to that, but with a
heavy emphasis here, of course, on bhakti and devotion to God, to Krishna. Um So, really fascinating stuff. And this
is the core of of the philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which to this day is
popular in the Hindu tradition and has become popular around the world as what's often known as the Hare
Krishna movement. The charisma and teachings of Chaitanya, the Hare Krishna mantra, and the intellectual teachings and
interpretations of the Goswamis had created a strong foundation for a powerful and lasting form of Vaishnavism that would indeed come to flourish in
basically all corners of the world at this point. Originally, even for quite a long time after Chaitanya's life, Gaudiya Vaishnavism was primarily active
and popular in the Bengal region. It had become institutionalized to a degree as its practitioners became more organized. And despite this, the 17th
and 18th centuries are often seen as a kind of period of decline in its popularity and prominence even in this region to a certain degree. While
Chaitanya himself and his immediate followers can be argued to have had a much more egalitarian attitude, right? Um part of the message or part of what
what was going on with them was a kind of rejection of classical caste distinctions, right? Um where those differences were collapsed. We saw this
from the stories of Chaitanya when he was a child, for example, he also broke some of those caste rules. But over time, after, you know, the centuries
after Chaitanya died and as it became more institutionalized, um some of those hierarchies kind of started to seep in again.
So, that by the 18th century and 19th century even at that point, the Brahmans were kind of they held most of the power in the
movement. So, they'd become kind of hierarchical again, and sometimes even along caste lines, so to say. And this is one of the factors behind the rebirth
or resurgence of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the 19th and 20th century. A development often attributed to Bhaktivinoda Thakur, and especially his son, Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati, who founded the so-called Gaudiya Math. One of the main aims of this movement was a kind of modernizing of Hinduism
and Vaishnavism in particular. This wasn't, of course, unique to them, but could be seen in many other movements in the region at the time,
such as the Brahma Samaj, for example. What it meant on a practical level was a higher emphasis on reason, but also a challenge towards some of the
traditional social rules, and in particular, the caste system. While it didn't abolish the system entirely, the interpretation of
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati was one where caste was a lot more fluid and not only determined by birth. John Brzezinski writes, quote, "In Brahmana or
Vaishnava, Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati furthers the cause by presenting arguments for the existence of caste mobility in ancient times, citing the
Mahabharata, Puranas, and even Smritis and Dharmashastras." He also points out how Bengali social customs had deviated in other ways from
the pristine Vedic model. When Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati began taking disciples as an aspect of his effort to establish Daivi Varnashrama, he would
give the sacred thread and Gayatri mantra to them, no matter what their caste, thus appointing them as Brahmans, or what he hoped would be an exemplary
class of spiritual leaders. This was a controversial move. The Gaudiya Math movement was quite successful and continued after
Bhaktisiddhanta's death in 1937 through his disciples and students. And indeed, one of Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati's students would go on to
become perhaps the most influential proponent of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in modern history. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada.
He became a disciple of Bhaktisiddhanta in the 1930s, and after his master's death, he would publish many translations and works on Gaudiya
Vaishnavism according to the interpretations of his teacher. Prabhupada was a highly educated man with a family who had worked in the
pharmaceutical industry, but would later choose to live as a sannyasin or renunciant dedicated to Krishna worship and scholarship.
And in 1965, he made a fateful decision. His teacher had previously expressed a wish for Gaudiya Vaishnavism to spread
to the west, and Prabhupada aimed to fulfill that wish by traveling to New York in the United States. Now, this was in the middle of the
countercultural revolution with hippie culture and young people seeking new approaches and ways of living life. And only about a year later in 1966,
Prabhupada had amassed a following in New York that would attend his talks and gatherings. And at that point, he formally established the International
Society of Krishna Consciousness, often known simply as ISKCON. And with this, the modern International Hare Krishna movement was born.
The movement began in New York, but soon the Swami had managed to spread the movement to many parts of the world. The focus of practice for ISKCON was, just
like for Gaudiya Vaishnavism at large, the chanting of the Maha Mantra, Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna, Krishna, Hare, Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama,
Rama, Hare, Hare. This chanting or singing, called Sankirtan, was also taken to the streets where the devotees would chant publicly
to spread the message, the blessings, and the message of the mantra and the movement, a practice [music] that still continues prominently to this day and
which I think many of us have experienced at one point or another in our lives. If we've spent time in cities in the West, it's
[music] quite, at least the major cities, it's quite common to run into the Hare Krishnas as they go around singing this mantra. Over the course of
the late '60s and '70s, the Hare Krishna movement gained a lot of attention from various places. Famous people like the American poet
Allen Ginsberg and the Beatle George Harrison became interested in and involved with the movement in different ways.
Harrison oversaw and produced famous recordings of the mantra and even included it in what has become probably his most famous non-Beatle song, which
is of course My Sweet Lord. The Hare Krishnas soon showed up in movies like in the comedy Airplane, on television, established centers all
across the world. It was a tradition that of course stretched back hundreds of years to Chaitanya but took on new and unique features in order to adapt to
the modern and Western world. Becoming initiated into the movement and adopting a quite strict way of living. While Prabhupada attracted mostly young people
of the counterculture and hippie movement, many of the hallmarks of that movement were not really acceptable to a Vaishnava way of living. So, no drugs or
alcohol, a strict vegetarian diet, sometimes even complete celibacy. Although many were allowed to get married or at least stay married and in
that case, sexual activity was kept only within the bounds of the marriage completely, which was also a bit different from the sort of free uh sex
aspect of this uh countercultural movement. Devotees would get up early in the morning, often around 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. to engage in chanting for hours.
And much of the rest of the day is also spent in service of different kinds. It's a quite intense and strict way of living, in other words, where one's
entire life is essentially dedicated to devotion to Krishna. When Prabhupada passed away in 1977, the movement faced a quite turbulent and
difficult couple of years, especially in the 1980s. Many of the people that succeeded him as gurus in the different zones and regions
of the world were accused of various forms of abuse and, in the worst cases, even serious crimes. Most of these people were excommunicated
by ISKCON, but it dealt a lot of damage to the movement and its reputation and left a lot of people disillusioned. Only 10 years after Prabhupada's death,
about 80% of the movement's original members had left. But despite this, ISKCON has recovered to some degree and are actually more
numerous and widespread today than they've ever been. The wounds from this difficult period are still there, but they have a strong
presence in many of the major cities around the world, and it's common to encounter Krishna devotees on the streets joyfully singing the Maha
Mantra. And of course, we shouldn't forget that, you know, modern Gaudiya Vaishnavism is not limited to ISKCON and the movement started by Prabhupada. The
tradition has still kept going uh in India outside of the influence of Prabhupada, even outside of the influence of uh
Bhaktisiddhanta right, outside of the Gaudiya Math in particular. And so there are still today different forms of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, although
ISKCON is of course the most widely known and and famous worldwide, and probably the most influential, at least internationally.
As we can see then, the Hare Krishna movement, or Gaudiya Vaishnavism at large, is another example of the vast and diverse tapestry of what we often
call, {quote} Hinduism. While many might be more familiar with the non-dual philosophical schools like
Advaita Vedanta, where the goal is to reach liberation or moksha, often, in the case of Advaita, by gaining knowledge of our true self as identical
to the Brahman, this is just one out of the many schools and traditions of Hinduism. Vaishnavism has offered a perspective
where there is a single theistic God with attributes, often Vishnu in particular, but in this case Krishna, and even within that wider movement,
there've been many approaches to the relationship of this one God to the human being, from the qualified non-dualism of Ramanuja to the dualism
of Madhva, but always with a dynamic where God is to some degree a force other than you that you turn to for worship and bhakti devotion. Gaudiya
Vaishnavism came along relatively late in history, in the 15th and 16th centuries, and offered a unique and maybe even radical take on this
tradition of bhakti and devotion. It grew primarily out of the dualistic tradition of Madhva, and retains this essential difference between the
worshiper and God, but also adopts the fascinating theological position of Achintya Bheda Abheda, inconceivable oneness and difference at the same time,
to some degree thus bridging the different traditions, both the non-dualistic aspect, at least the qualified kind of non-dualism, and
dualism. All right, so it's it's kind of in between them in some way. Furthermore, they also offered a very unique position on the person of the
Godhead himself. Rather than Krishna being an avatar of Vishnu as the supreme God, Krishna himself is the supreme godhead.
Its take on bhakti and devotion is also unusually radical. The relationship between Radha and Krishna is central, and devotees aim to embody it in
different ways. And unlike other forms of Hinduism where the goal is to reach liberation, the highest goal in Gaudiya Vaishnavism is the worship itself.
You don't worship God in order to become liberated or to have some heavenly afterlife, though this can perhaps of course be a positive outcome, right? Uh
but instead, the main part of all our lives is the very act of bhakti and loving devotion itself. That is the goal. For these reasons and many others,
this is a really interesting, fascinating, and very important form of {quote} Hinduism around the world that still is very influential not just in
India, but internationally in every corner of the globe where the Maha Mantra continues to be chanted by the devoted worshippers of Krishna.
Thank you so much for watching and listening. This episode was co-written by Anmol Kohli and myself. So, I hope you liked it. I can uh leave links to
his uh stuff in the description. I would also like to extend a special thank you to my patrons over on patreon.com who keep this channel going monetarily. Uh
none of this would be possible without you, so thank you so so much. If anyone else wants to become a patron, I will leave links to that in the description.
You can follow my Linktree where you find all my links. Um so, check that out. You can also leave a one-time donation through PayPal, or simply so
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It's Philip Holm usually in most of those places. Uh you can also check out my other channel, Philip Holm, where I post my music and content about music in
different ways. So that is interesting and go over there and subscribe to that channel as well for more content like this.
Thank you all so much for watching again. And I'll see you next time.
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