Traditional Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (Bengali: মহাপ্রভু শ্রীচৈতন্য দেব; Sanskrit: चैतन्य महाप्रभु, romanized: Caitanya Mahāprabhu), born Vishvambhara Mishra (IAST: Viśvambhara Miśra[2]) (18 February 1486 – 14 June 1534[3]), was an Indian Hindu saint from Bengal and the founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

[12] After becoming a renunciate he spent his time converting and instructing followers in the tenets of Kṛṣṇa bhakti and engaging in communal saṁkīrtana.

[citation needed] Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, the great sage of Dakshineswar, who lived in the 19th century, emphasised the bhakti marga of Chaitanya, whom he referred to as "Gauranga."

[20][failed verification] In the 20th century the teachings of Chaitanya were brought to the West for the first time by Baba Premananda Bharati (1858–1914),[21] the author of Sree Krishna—the Lord of Love (1904)—the first full-length treatment of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in English.

[24] His followers later formed several organisations, including now defunct the Order of Living Service and the AUM Temple of Universal Truth.

Prabhupada founded his movement known as The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) to spread Chaitanya's teachings throughout the world.

[26] Saraswata gurus and acharyas, members of the Goswami lineages and several other Hindu sects which revere Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, including devotees from the major Vaishnava holy places in Mathura District, West Bengal and Odisha, also established temples dedicated to Krishna and Chaitanya outside India in the closing decades of the 20th century.

[citation needed] Chaitanya's influence on the cultural legacy in Bengal, Odisha and Manipur, has been significant,[27] with many residents performing daily worship to him as an avatar of Krishna.

[31] In 2024, speaking at the commemorative event for the 150th birth anniversary of Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi called Chaitanya Mahaprabhu “the touchstone of love for Krishna.

He made spiritualism and meditation accessible to the masses”[32] and recalled his own personal experience of the transformative power of bhakti through kirtan.