Sri Chaitanyas Life and Teachings: The Golden Avatara of Divine Love

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Tucked away in ancient Sanskrit and Bengali texts is a secret teaching, a blissful devotional (bhakti) tradition that involves sacred congregational chanting (krtana), mindfulness practices (japa, smaraam), and the deepening of ones relationship with God (rasa). Brought to the worlds stage by r Chaitanya Mahprabhu (14861533), and fully documented by his immediate followers, the Six Goswms of Vrindvan, these unprecedented teachings were passed down from master to student in Gauya Vaishnava lineages. The Golden Avatra of Love: r Chaitanyas Life and Teachings, by contemporary scholar Steven J. Rosen, makes the profound truths of this confidential knowledge easily accessible for an English language audience. In his well-researched text, modern readersspiritual practitioners, scholars, and seekers of knowledge alikewill encounter a treasure of hitherto unrevealed spiritual teachings, and be able to fathom sublime dimensions of r Chaitanyas method. Using the ancient texts themselves and the findings of contemporary academics, Rosen succeeds in summarizing and establishing r Chaitanyas life and doctrine for the modern world.

Reviews

There is much that is praiseworthy and much to be learned from Steven Rosen's book. * Reading Religion *
Steven J. Rosen is well known and respected for his prolific output of writing on Krishna bhakti and related topics, but I would venture to state that this is by far his most important work yet. It represents a lifetime of serious study and scholarship, sieving through all the literature on Chaitanya hagiographic, theological, pedagogical, academic and morefrom the earliest literary sources to the transplantation of the tradition to the West. Indeed, this accumulation of sources from different genres is among the unique contributions of this book, allowing us to engage the significance of this remarkable saint/avatra through a wide variety of lenses. This user-friendly volume seems set to be the go-to source for scholars, students, and practitioners of bhakti on one of the most divinely intoxicated personalities in recorded history. -- Edwin Bryant, Rutgers University
As one might imagine, I was delighted to learn that Steven was interested in contributing a work to this series. And not just any work: it could well be argued that this volume is his magnum opus. While it is written with the clarity of his earlier work, there is scholarly depth here that makes this particular volume a substantial contribution to academic knowledge of the important, but under-studied figure of r Chaitanya Mahprabhu. -- Jeffery Long, Elizabethtown College

Author Bio

Steven J. Rosen is author of 31 books, the founding editor of the Journal of Vaishnava Studies, and associate editor of Back to Godhead magazine.