1486-1532 Chaitanya Mahaprabhu
Bhakti-yoga recommends kirtan as the most effective means for awakening the soul’s blissful spiritual nature, and reconnecting with the Divine. Such reawakening returns the successful practitioner to the spiritual world. There, according to the Bhakti tradition, the Supreme Lord is glorified with joyous singing and dancing. Although kirtan is an eternal principle in the bhakti-yoga, it is acknowledged that 500 years ago Chaitanya Mahaprabhu brought kirtan to the masses.
At the same time as the European Renaissance, India in the fifteenth century was also undergoing a renaissance. Scholars have called it the “bhakti renaissance,” a great rebirth of devotion to God. The preeminent figure of this powerful religious upsurge was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Chaitanya inaugurated the bhakti renaissance and turned people’s vision to God. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is a revolutionary medieval saint from Mayapur, West Bengal, India. Those who witnessed Mahaprabhu saw him dance and chant with unconditional love for God, the likes of which had never been seen before. He encouraged everyone to follow this same process. He taught that anyone through kirtan—regardless of background or spiritual qualification—could develop their innate love of God, experience great spiritual pleasure & become fully enlightened chanting the holy names of the Lord.
Chaitanya pioneered a great social and spiritual movement that influence continues to spread today. He transformed India in four respects: philosophically, by persuading the greatest philosophers of his day that worship of the Supreme Person, God, is the highest purpose of life ; socially, by opposing the rigid caste system; politically, by organizing India’s first civil disobedience movement against repressive government; and spiritually, by teaching and demonstrating bhakti-yoga or the yoga of devotion.
What was happening in the world during Chaitanya’s time:
1475-1564 Michelangelo
1483-1520 Raphael
1450-1516 Hieronymus Bosch
1445-1510 Sandro Boticelli
1483-1546 Martin Luther
1469-1527 Niccolò Machiavelli
1473-1543 Nicolaus Copernicus
1451-1506 Christopher Columbus
1460-1521 Juan Ponce de León
1465-1524 Vasco da Gama
1469-1539 Guru Nanak
1498-1546 Mira Bai
1491-1547 King Henry VIII of England
1495-1525 Cuauhtémoc (last Aztec king)
1503-1566 Michel Nostradamus
1509-1564 John Calvin
1515-1582 Saint Teresa of Ávila
1515: Saint Teresa of Ávila is born, a prominent Spanish mystic, Roman Catholic saint, Carmelite nun, an author of the Counter Reformation and theologian of contemplative life through mental prayer, named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Paul VI. Her books, including “The Interior Castle” and “The Way of Perfection,” form an integral part of Christian mysticism and meditation practices.
1527: Mira Bai, the Rajput princess and Hindu mystic poet, is persecuted for her fervent devotion, resulting in her seeking refuge in Krishna as her only shelter. Her grief turns into passionate spiritual devotion that inspires her poems.
