So who is Chaitanya anyway?

"Once a Pandita prided himself before Sri Chaitanya on his having put an interpretation upon a certain sloka of the Purâna different from that of Śridhara Svâmi. Now 'Svâmi'
is the designation of a learned Sanyassi, such as Śridhara Svâmi was and it also means a husband. Sri Chaitanya remarked 'one that does not follow the Svâmi is unchaste.' Such was the high opinion which the great Teacher held regarding Śridhara's commentary.

"I have purposely avoided making any reference to the commentaries made by the followers of Sri Chaitanya as I intend to study them separately along with the teachings of his school."

--from the Introduction of A Study Of The Bhavatata Purana Or Esoteric Hinduism

I have tried to track down books by Purnendu Narayana Sinha to see if he ever did write anything about Chaitanya. It looks like he never did. That is unfortunate. The modern Hare Krishna movement is based on the teachings of Shri Chaitanya, an Indian saint who lived 500 years ago and who is considered by his followers to be a combined incarnation of Krishna and His greatest devotee Radharani.

It is tempting to compare Chaitanya with Jesus. Jesus came to earth as a human being to suffer on the cross and die for the sins of humanity.

Chaitanya's purpose was both similar and different. He came to earth not to suffer but to experience the ecstasy that his own followers feel, which is greater than His own bliss. In the process of doing this He would teach mankind to reawaken its love of God (Krishna) and redeem it.

So while Jesus had to suffer, Chaitanya was in nearly constant ecstasy, and the end result for both was the deliverance of humanity.

Purnendu Narayana Sinha's book is almost what the Hare Krishna's consider to be an impersonalist interpretation of the Bhagavata Purana. The impersonalist idea is that the end result of devotion to God is to become freed from the illusion of personality and to merge into the blissful entity that is Krishna.

Chaitanya's followers believe something very different. They believe that our individual existence is not an illusion, that we are separate from God but made of the same stuff. Our union with God is akin to that of lover and beloved, or parent and child, or two friends, etc. In every case Krishna is the one being served and the devotee is the one giving service.

Chaitanya taught that the chanting of Krishna's names was the only means of deliverance that will work in the present age.

You can read about Chaitanya here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/38016

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6817

http://archive.org/details/Chaitanyas...