Portal:Gaudiya Vaishnavism/Intro

Aum, an all-encompassing, mystical entity, representative of the Hindu religion and philosophy.

Gaudiya Vaishnavism (also known as Chaitanya Vaishnavism) is a Vaishnava religious movement founded by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gaudiya" refers to the Gauḍa region (present day Bengal/Bangladesh) with Vaishnavism meaning "the worship of Vishnu [i.e., Krishna]". Its philosophical basis is primarily that of the Bhagavad Gita and Bhagavata Purana. The focus of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is the devotional worship (bhakti) of Radha and Krishna, and their many divine incarnations as the supreme forms of God, Svayam Bhagavan. Most popularly, this worship takes the form of singing Radha and Krishna's holy names, such as "Hare", "Krishna" and "Rama", most commonly in the form of the Hare Krishna (mantra), also known as kirtan. It classifies itself as a monotheistic tradition, seeing the many forms of Vishnu [i.e., Krishna] as expansions or incarnations of the one Supreme God, adipurusha.