A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which may be a chapel, church, or temple, and may also serve as an oratory.
Radha, also called Radhika, Radharani, and Radhe, is a Hindu goddess popular in Hinduism, especially in the Vaishnavism tradition. She was said to be the head of the milkmaids who resided in Braj Dham. She is the lover of the Supreme personality of Godhead Lord Krishna in the medieval era texts. She is a supreme goddess in her own right.
Krishna Chaitanya, honorific: "Mahāprabhu", , was a Bengali Hindu mystic, saint, and the chief proponent of the Achintya Bheda Abheda and Gaudiya Vaishnavism tradition within Hinduism. He also expounded the Vaishnava school of Bhakti yoga, based on Bhagavata Purana and Bhagavad Gita. Of various forms and direct or indirect expansions of Krishna such as Lord Narasimha, Maha-Vishnu and Garbhodakshaya Vishnu respectively, he is Krishna in the mood of a devotee. He popularised the chanting of the Hare Krishna mantra and composed the Siksastakam in Sanskrit. His followers, Gaudiya Vaishnavas, revere him as a Krishna with the mood and complexion of his source of inspiration Radha. His birthday is celebrated as Gaura-purnima.
Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, born Bimala Prasad Datta, also referred to as Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Gosvami, was a Hindu guru and spiritual reformer of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the early 20th century in India.
Shree Samarth Ramdas was a noted 17th-century saint and spiritual poet of Maharashtra. He is most remembered for his Advaita Vedantist text, the Dasbodh. Ramdas was a devotee of Hanuman and Rama.
Gaudiya Vaishnavism is a Vaishnava religious movement inspired by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1534) in India. "Gauḍīya" refers to the Gauḍa region with Vaishnavism meaning "the worship of Vishnu or Krishna". Its theological basis is primarily that of the Bhagavad Gītā and Bhāgavata Purāṇa as interpreted by early disciples of Chaitanya such as Sanātana Gosvāmin, Rūpa Gosvāmin, Jīva Gosvāmin, Gopala Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmin, and others.
A matha or mutt is a Sanskrit word that means "cloister, institute or college", and it also refers to a monastery in Hinduism.
Svami Sadananda Dasa (1908–1977) was born as Ernst-Georg Schulze in Germany. He met Swami Bhakti Hridaya Bon, a disciple of a Hindu spiritual reformer, named Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. Sadananda received diksa or formal initiation into the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition through Swami Bon from Bhaktisiddhanta and later received the name "Sadananda Dasa" by Bhaktisiddhanta directly after he had joined the Gaudiya Mission in Calcutta, India. He was one of the first known individuals who was not of Asian origin to embrace the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition.
The Ramanandi, also known as the Ramayats or the Ramavats, are a branch of the Vaishnava Sri Sampradaya of Hinduism.
Manavala Mamunigal (1370–1450) was a Hindu Sri Vaishnava religious leader, who during the 15th century in Tamil Nadu, with the help of his eight disciples helped spread Sri Vaishnavism. The disciples of Mamunigal established places of learning to teach Sri Vaishnavite Vishishtadvaita philosophy in Tamil Nadu.
RadhaKrishn are collectively known within Hinduism as the combined forms of feminine as well as the masculine realities of God. Radha and Krishna are the primeval forms of God and His pleasure potency respectively in the Vaishnava school of thought in Vedic culture. Krishna is referred to as svayam bhagavan in Vaishnavism theology and Radha is illustrated as the primeval potency of the three main potencies of God, Hladini, Sandhini (eternality) and Samvit of which Radha is an embodiment of the feeling of love towards the almighty God Shree Krishna (Hladini). With Krishna, Radha is acknowledged as the Supreme Goddess, for it is said that Krishna or God is only satiated by devotional service in loving servitude and Radha is the personification of devotional service to the supreme. She is also considered in Vaishnavism as the total feminine energy and also as the Supreme Lakshmi (Adi-Lakshmi). Various devotees worship her with the understanding of her merciful nature as the only way to attain Krishna. Radha is also depicted to be Krishna himself, split into two, for the purpose of His enjoyment.
Sri Vaishnava Sampradaya or Sri Vaishnavism is a denomination within the Vaishnavism tradition of Hinduism. The name is derived from Sri referring to goddess Lakshmi as well as a prefix that means "sacred, revered", and god Vishnu who are together revered in this tradition.
The Rass lila or Rass dance is part of the traditional story of Krishna described in Hindu scriptures such as the Bhagavata Purana and literature such as the Gita Govinda, where he dances with Radha and her sakhis. The Indian classical dance of Kathak evolved from the 'Raslila of Braj and Manipuri Classical Dance' (Vrindavana) also known as Natwari Nritya, which was revived in 1960s by the Kathak dancer, Uma Sharma.
Madhavendra Puri also known as Madhavendra Puri Goswami is a Vaishnava saint who appeared in the 14th century. He was initiated in to Dvaita Vedanta of Madhvacharya of Udupi region of Karnataka, and was highly revered in Vallabhacharya's Pushtimarg and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's Gaudiya Vaishnavism, both sects that emanate from the famed Vrindavan region.
Haridhos Giri (Hari-daas), affectionately called Guruji ,was born in the month of Margali(January) in the tamil calendar with the birth star of Utharattathi. He was born in town of Thiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu, South India.
Shri Tridandi Swami was a renowned Sri Vaishnava saint and one of the foremost preachers of the Sri Sampradaya in North India. One of the foremost disciples of Sri Prativadibhayankar Swamiji of Kanchi, he popularized Sri Vaishnavism throughout North India among the masses and brought Sri Vaishnavism beyond its traditional domain of South India. After Sri Rangadeshika Swamiji, who founded the Ranganathji temple in the mid-19th century, he can rightly be counted amongst the most noteworthy Acharyas of Sri Vaishnava sampradaya.
The Embrandiri, also transliterated as Embranthiri, are a Malayali Brahmin subcaste of Tulu origin.
Srila Bhakti Ballabh Tirtha Maharaj was a disciple of Bhakti Dayita Madhava Goswami Maharaj and an acharya and initiating spiritual master in the Gaudiya Math following the philosophy of the Bhakti marg, specifically of Caitanya Mahaprabhu and Gaudiya Vaishnava theology. He was the President Acharya of Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math, headquartered at Kolkata, West Bengal, India and having more than 22 branches in India. He was president of WVA and founder of GOKUL( Global organization for KrishnaChaitnaya's Universal Love).
Bairagi (Vaishnava) is a caste of Brahmins whose members follow one of four orders: the Visishtadvaita belief system of Ramanuja ; the Dvaitadvaita philosophy propagated by Nimbarkacharya; the Shuddhadvaita philosophy propagated by Vishnuswami ; or the Dvaita philosophy propagated by Madhvacharya. According to these philosophies, people are divided into four main sampradaya :
