Traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism

Namaste all.

I've become infatuated with the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition as of late, and I'm taken aback quiet a bit by the Chaitanya Charitamrita. From what I understand ISKCON and the Gaudiya Math (who I've been able to find quiet a bit of info about over the internet) are actually off shots of the traditional Gaudiya Vaishnava sampradays of Bengal. Does anyone know of the major branches which "Traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism" consists of and how they differ from ISKCON and the Gaudiya Math?

Also if anyone practices a branch of Gaudiya Vaishnavism (traditional or not), and wouldn't mind educating me more on the subject via email, please give me a PM stating such, and I'll gladly send you my email address.

Haribol!

You could start with Gaudiya Vaishnavism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Regards.

Thanks, though for the most part I think I've known most of what is on Wiki, managed to come over some new things while skimming through.

Hari Om- Atman.

Gaudiya.com - Resources

Main Page - gkWiki

Centro Studi Bhaktivedanta - Accademy of Traditional Indian Sciences - Psychology Courses, Philosophy Courses, Archaeology Courses and more.

Are you a Vaishnava or a Gaudiya Vaishnava? I assume from your affinity with Meerabhai that you might be more Krishna centered, but this doesn't mean Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Meerabhai existed centures before Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, credited with starting the movement.

Haribol and thanks for the links Pariah.

Are you a Vaishnava or a Gaudiya Vaishnava? I assume from your affinity with Meerabhai that you might be more Krishna centered, but this doesn't mean Gaudiya Vaishnavism. Meerabhai existed centures before Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, credited with starting the movement.

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Well, at the moment I do consider myself a Vaishnava, but I don't belong to any particular sampraday. I'm certainly interested in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, but I'm not a follower of it at the moment. Also, Chaitanya and Mirabai both lived in the same time period (Mira from 1498 to 1547, and Chaitanya from1486 to 1533), some even say Jiva Goswami (the nephew of two of Chaitanya's direct followers) acted as a guru to her for a short period of time.

Atman said:

Haribol and thanks for the links Pariah.


Well, at the moment I do consider myself a Vaishnava, but I don't belong to any particular sampraday. I'm certainly interested in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, but I'm not a follower of it at the moment. Also, Chaitanya and Mirabai both lived in the same time period (Mira from 1498 to 1547, and Chaitanya from1486 to 1533), some even say Jiva Goswami (the nephew of two of Chaitanya's direct followers) acted as a guru to her for a short period of time.

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I thought Meera's guru was Ravidas? Or Kabir?

Either way, they were world's apart. Meera was in Rajputana (now, Rajasthan) and Chaitanya was in Bengal. I doubt there was any real connection between them.

What is the sort of traditional GV you are looking for? How does that differ from ISKCON or the other GV maths today?

I thought Meera's guru was Ravidas? Or Kabir?

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I think Ravidas was her primary guru, but he wasn't her only one.

Either way, they were world's apart. Meera was in Rajputana (now, Rajasthan) and Chaitanya was in Bengal. I doubt there was any real connection between them.

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Well Meera never directly met Chaitanya, some say she did meet his disciple Jiva Goswami when she went off to Vrindavan.

What is the sort of traditional GV you are looking for? How does that differ from ISKCON or the other GV maths today?

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This link here has a nice explanation of what traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism is- Vilasa Kunja -> Traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism

As for differences between traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism and ISKCON, this is pretty hard to call as traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism, refers to many different branches of the Gaudiya tradition. However, I'll go into detail about this in a bit.