Today is Sri Gaura Purnima, the auspicious appearance of Sri Chaitanydev. We have heard from Srila Sridhar Maharaj how “…when the Absolute is distributing Himself, He becomes Sri Chaitanyadev. And that Sri Chaitanyadev in the highest stage of His mercy is found here in Koladwip.” The following is a short excerpt from Sermons of the Guardian of Devotion Volume I, by His Divine Grace on the nature of Sri Chaitanyadev.
Srila Sridhar Maharaj describes what is the essence of Sri Chaitanyadev
The Direction to Your Wealth
Sri Chaitanyadev is both Radha and Krishna combined. He is Krishna in the mood of Radha, searching for Himself. He is both the positive and the negative aspects of the Absolute combined. The Sankara school and other impersonalists claim that when the positive and negative combine, the result is a kind of equilibrium. But according to the Vaishnava philosophy, the combination is dynamic. His nature becomes that of searching for Himself – searching for His own positive self, in the mood of the negative. In that search, He distributes Himself to others. The negative attracts the positive, and the positive is thus distributed to the public. This is the essence of Sri Chaitanyadev. The intimate associates of the Lord have revealed such a conception, and we shall be able to conceive it according to the intensity and degree of our faith.
Sri Chaitanyadev distributes Himself to others through His Sankirtan Movement
Faith in the Land of Sacrifice
Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is putting the questions and Sri Ramananda Raya is answering: in this posing, the entirety of theological development was expressed there on the banks of the Godavari River. Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is magnanimity and sweetness combined. And that meeting on the banks of the Godavari was the only time Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu revealed His real identity. He revealed it to Sri Ramananda Raya in that place only, and we never find it anywhere else. Rasa-raja, mahabhava – dui eka rupa: Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is both Radha and Krsna combined. The most secret portion of the Truth was shown there, only once; and we never find that it was expressed in any other place.
Sriman Mahaprabhu at our San Jose, California Sri Chaitanya Saraswat Seva Ashram