Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ( also transliterated Caitanya, IAST ) ( 1486 – 1534 ) was a Vaishnava saint and social reformer in eastern India ( specifically present-day Bangladesh and states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Manipur, Assam, and Orissa of India ) in the 16th century, worshipped by followers of Gaudiya Vaishnavism as the full incarnation of Lord Krishna.

One of the defining aspects of Gaudiya Vaishnavism is that Krishna is worshiped specifically as the source of all Avataric incarnations of God.

Just as Mahaprabhu Caitanya was thought of as an incarnation of Vishnu ( and more specifically of Krishna ) in Gaudiya Vaishnavism so too is Ayya Vaikundar thought to be an incarnation of Vishnu.

When Krishna is recognized to be Svayam Bhagavan, it can be understood that this is the belief of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the Vallabha Sampradaya, and the Nimbarka Sampradaya, where Krishna is accepted to be the source of all other avatars, and the source of Vishnu himself.

Caitanya's Gaudiya Vaishnavism, which elucidates the doctrine of Acintya Bheda Abheda ( inconceivable oneness and difference ), is also thought to be panentheistic.

Proponents of the Gaudiya and Nimbarka schools of Vaishnavism give the highly esoteric nature of Radha's relationship to Krishna as the reason why her story is not mentioned in detail in the other Puranic texts.

Radha's love for Krishna is held within Gaudiya Vaishnavism as the most perfect primarily because of its endless and unconditional nature.

* Gaudiya Vaishnavism

* Gaudiya Vaishnavism

Within monotheistic Hinduism, it is the love felt by the worshipper towards the personal God, a concept expressed in Hindu theology as Iṣṭa-devatā ( also as Svayam Bhagavan in Gaudiya Vaishnavism ).

: See also Vaishnavism, Krishnaism, Gaudiya Vaishnavism and Hare Krishna Ekasarana Dharma

* Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, founder of Gaudiya Vaishnavism, immersed into deeper and deeper stages of ecstasy towards Krishna during the last 24 years of his life.

In Gaudiya Vaishnavism, aarti refers to the whole puja ritual, of which offering the lamp is only one part.

For example, Hindu deities have 108 names, while in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, there are 108 gopis of Vrindavan.

She was thoroughly conversant with the texts of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and practiced Tantra.

( February 6, 1874 – January 1, 1937 ), was a preacher of Gaudiya Vaishnavism throughout India in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

His father was the Vaishnava scholar Sri Kedarnath Dutta, later known as Bhaktivinoda Thakur, the first to present the teachings of Chaitanyite Vaishnavism to the English speaking world and was a notable Gaudiya Vaishnava Theologian.

Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati adjusted the traditions of Gaudiya Vaishnavism to conform with the technological and social conditions of the twentieth century.

Of this group, one gopi known as Radha ( or Radhika ) holds a place of particularly high reverence and importance in a number of religious traditions, especially within Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

Kirtan became more common with the spread of Gaudiya Vaishnavism by ISKCON's founder A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada in the 1960s.

Mills also posited that Kula Shaker's music should follow a more spiritual and mystical direction in future, in line with his own growing interest in the philosophy of Gaudiya Vaishnavism.

** Svayam Bhagavan or Supreme Personality of Godhead, in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, the divine person from whom all emanates

Within Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Vallabha sampradaya, Nimbarka sampradaya and among Ramanandis, the chanting of the names of Krishna and Rama to be superior to that of Vishnu.

** Gaudiya Vaishnavism ( includes ISKCON, the Hare Krishna movement ), adheres to the teachings of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu ( Gaurangacharya )

Of the four major sects, Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and Shaktism each regard only one specific Indic deity ( Shiva, Vishnu, or Shakti ) as the supreme being and principal object of worship, whereas all other divinities are considered merely " sub-gods " or manifestations of it.

It should be however noted that although it is usual to speak of Vishnu as the source of the avataras, this is only one of the names of the God of Vaishnavism, who is also known as Narayana, Vasudeva and Krishna and behind each of those names there is a divine figure with attributed supremacy in Vaishnavism.

The concept of avatar within Hinduism is most often associated with Vishnu, the preserver or sustainer aspect of God within the Hindu Trinity or Trimurti or the one and only supreme God for followers of Vaishnavism.

For example, in Vaishnavism, special focus is given to a particular form of Vishnu or one of his Avatars ( i. e. Krishna or Rama ), and similarly within Shaktism, focus is given to a particular form of the Goddess such as Parvati or Lakshmi.

Gopala Bhatta Goswami, was born a Vadakalai Iyengar, who was one of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan in Chaitanya Vaishnavism / Hare Krishna, and a highly revered Guru in ISKCON.

* Gopala Bhatta Goswami ( 1503 – 1578 ), born a Vadakalai Iyengar, one of the Six Goswamis of Vrindavan in Chaitanya Vaishnavism, and a highly revered Guru in ISKCON.

While any one of five forms of a personal being can embody the concept of Ishvara in Advaita Vedanta, schools of Vaishnavism, on other hand, consider only Vishnu and His incarnations as the ultimate omnipotent Ishvara and all other forms as merely expansions or aspects of Vishnu.

His other work Thiruvaaimozhi ( Divine words ) is one of the key works of Vaishnavism.

Historical Vishnuism as early worship of the deity Vishnu is one of the historical components, branches or origins of the contemporary and early Vaishnavism, which was subject of considerable study, and often showing that Vishnuism is a distinctive worship — a sect.

This white mark was unlike the one worn by a Hindu of Vaishnavism tradition who wore it on the forehead in the shape of ' U ', or of Saivism tradition who wore it horizontally as three parallel lines.

Tirumazhisai-aazhvaar is one of the twelve Alvars of Vaishnavism and is so called as he was born in Thirumazhisai.

A ' Thanian ' is a ' laudatory dedication verses ' composed on a ' Aacharya ' ( in simple terms ) in Sri Vaishnavism by one more great Aacharya who either being the pupil of the former or by a person who was greatly admired by the former.

Thus, as he saw it ( in Comparative Studies in Vaishnavism and Christianity ), Vaishnavism and Christianity were two distinct religious traditions, each with its own uniquely rich tradition of historical exegesis that spanned two millennia and could in no way be seen as being phases in the development of ( a Eurocentric ) human civilization, as one leading to another in a pattern of cause and effect.

The temple is one of 108 Divya Desams ( Holy Abodes of Vishnu ) – principal centres of worship of the deity in Vaishnavism.

The Pancharatra ( pancha, five ; ratra, nights ) sect was one of the early traditions that developed into Vaishnavism, the worship of Vishnu.

The Sri Adikesavaperumal Temple ( Malayalam: ശ ് ര ീ ആദ ി ക േ ശവപ െ ര ു മ ാ ള ്‍ ക ് ഷ േ ത ് ര ം) is a Hindu temple located in Thiruvattar, India and is one of the 108 Divya desams, the holy sites of Hindu Vaishnavism.

Smarta Sampradaya ( Smarta Tradition, as it is termed in Sanskrit ) is a liberal or nonsectarian denomination of the Vedic Hindu religion which accepts all the major Hindu deities as forms of the one Brahman, in contrast to Vaishnavism, Shaivism, and Shaktism, the other three major Hindu sects, which revere Vishnu, Shiva, and Shakti, respectively, as the Supreme Being.