By Peter Holleran

   Lord Chaitanya (1486-1533) was the founder of the Krishna cult in medievil India. His followers attempted to achieve mystical ecstasy, bliss, and God-communion by chanting the name of Krishna. Chaitanya (whose name means "consciousness") taught one and all to:

   "Be humbler than a blade of grass,
   Be patient and forebearing like the tree,
   Take no honor to thyself,
   Give honor to all,
   Chant unceasingly the Name of the Lord."

   Chaitanya (known as Visvambhur) was a householder and philosophy school master until the age of twenty-two, when, while paying a visit to Gaya to offer oblations to the soul of his deceased father, a preceptor of his father named Isvara Puri gave him a mantra for worshipping Krisruoa. This changed his life, and henceforth he became a devotee of Krishna, chanting and singing in the streets. He renounced the world and was formally ordained a monk on January 23, 1510, taking the name of Chaitanya. While on a pilgrimage of South India he stopped in Puri, Orissa, where he achieved fame by converting a widely respected scholar of Vedanta to his bhakti doctrine (In this he was similar to Ramanuja, who humbled the proud Yadavaprakasha by the power of his devotion to Vishnu).

   For five years Chaitanya traveled, and in 1515 set out on foot for Brindivan, the birthplace of his beloved Krisruoa. It was there that he had his realization. For the next seventeen years he lived in Puri, and frequently passed into devotional ecstasy during his devotion to Krishna. In these later years he was often in a trance-like condition and was looked after by his attendant Govinda. His body became worn down by his emotional frenzy; he would often shout, laugh, weep, talk incoherently, and behave like a demented person. Once he ran into the ocean, thinking it to be the Yamuna river! He was carried out to sea where his unconscious but still living body was recovered by a fisherman.

   Sources differ as to the manner of his death. Some claim that he translated directly into light, body and all, on either April 27 or June 29, 1533. (1) This phenomenon (shared by Elijah, Jnaneshwar, Tukaram, and Ramalingar (2) is known in the yoga sutras as agni yoga dharana, or a yogic process of radiating inner fire to reduce the body to a subtle form or to consciousness itself without actually burning it. It is a possible but not necessary accompaniment of the ultimate stages of the spiritual process, known in Tibetan Buddhism as the Rainbow Body, but something than can occur any time after maturity in the mystical process, which is the more common historical occurence. Even Ramana Maharshi admitted this possibility when he said that, inasmuch as the body is a condensed form of mind, when the mind resolved into the Self, the body might itself do likewise.

   This is a rare form of siddhi associated with advanced yogic development or divine realization itself, and is not to be equated w'ith the equally rare phenomenon of spontaneous combustion, whereby ordinary persons literally burn up without apparent cause:

   "The shower was cold but she complained of being hot. After that, smoke started pouring out of her ears and mouth. Then she caught fire and started screaming" ... the young woman burned intensely for about ten minutes. When the flames subsided, all that remained was ash ... "There was no source of heat or fire visible to her teachers and classmates. She obviously started to burn spontaneously from the inside out.” (3)

   The outward emotional signs displayed by Chaitanya in his ecstasy are often considered signs indicating spiritual enlightenment, and immature followers may be tempted to emulate or strive after them. Paul Brunton, however, saw in Chaitanya's behavior indications that he was a mystic and not a philosopher or one who had transcended personal attachment to subtle states to realize the lofty impersonal serenity of the sage. Yet such signs can be of spiritual significance, in so far as they accompany advancement of the spiritual process beyond identification with the lower verbal mind and physical body as well as the opening of the chakras at and above the subtle heart-center, and this itself is an uncommon attainment, although far from ultimate realization per se.

   Chaitanya's devotional ecstasies helped popularize the practice of "kirtan" , or heart-felt singing and dancing in praise of the divine.

   While Chaitanya left behind no written teaching, his followers wrote prolifically on the path of devotional surrender and unceasing ecstasy that he embodied, thus creating a perennial source of inspiration for future generations. Chaitanya taught by example the life of Divine Madness, or "divya-unmada."


1. Prabat Mukherje, History of the Chaitanya Faith in Orissa (

2. Ramalingar (1823-1873), a contemporary of Sri Ramakrishna, demonstrated many signs of bodily transfiguration by spiritual illumination while alive. At the age of fifty-three, dismayed that he could not find any serious disciples, but only those fascinated with miracles, Ramalingar "closed up shop": He entered his room, locked the door, sealed all of the windows and disappeared, never to be seen again. He completed the last of his literary works, a poem presaging this awesome event, one hour before. Ramalingar predicted the formation of the Theosophical Society, saying that a Russian (Madame Blavatsky) and an American (Henry Steel Olcott) would come to India and start a movement for universal brotherhood. The Society was formed in New York in 1875 and permanent headquarters were established in India in 1882.
3. see Weekly World News, Jan. 17, 1989: "Girl Bursts Into Flames - In Shower"