REFUTATION: There are many evidences to prove the divinity of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. First we will present those statements of sastra which are from sruti, and then those from the Puranas and other Vedic literatures.

Sri Caitanyaitotham krta sannyaso'vatarisyami sa-guno nirvedo
niskamo bhu-girvanas tira-atho' lakanandayah kalau
catuh-sahasrabdhopari panca-sahasrabhyantare
gaura-varno dirghangah sarva-laksana-yukta isvara-
prarthito nija-rasasvado bhakta-rupo misrakhyo
vidita-yogah syam

I will take birth as the son of Saci, in Navadvipa-Mayapura.. I will come in my complete spiritual form in the first part of Kali-Yuga.

In the first part of Kali-Yuga, the Supreme Personality of Godhead will come in a gold-like form. First He will become the husband of Laksmi (Srimati Laksmi Devi, Lord Caitanya's first wife). Then He will become a sannyasi, near Lord Jagannatha who will appear in a divine wooden form. (Garuda-Purana)

I shall appear on this earth in the first part of Kali-yuga in a beautiful place on the bank of the Bhagirathi. I shall have a golden form, and I shall take birth as the son of Saci. (Padma-Purana)

O Divija (demigods), please come and advent as devotees on this earth in the age of Kali-yuga. I will incarnate as the son of Saci to inaugurate the congregational chanting of the name of Krsna.

I shall advent in the form of a brahmana devotee and I shall hide my factual identity. I shall deliver all the worlds. (Narada Purana)

I will be born in the city of Navadvipa, on the Ganges' shore, in a Brahmana's family. I shall take the renounced order of life (sannyasa) and show kindness to the people in general and engage them in bhakti. I will be known as Sri Krsna Chaitanya.

All of you should follow My order and deliver the people of the world. I shall appear as a Brahmana. I shall make this earth fearless. (Vayu-Purana)

In Kali-yuga, I will descend to the earth with My associates. In Navadvipa, which is surrounded by the Ganges, I will take birth in Saci-devi 's womb.

They who are bewildered by My illusory potency will not understand the great secret of the appearance in this world of Me in My personal form, in My form as the incarnation of devotion, in My form as the incarnation of a devotee, in My form bearing the name of a devotee, in My form as a devotee, and in My form as the giver of devotional service.

This secret is not to be revealed to them. Only the saintly, pure, renounced devotees, diligently engaged in My devotional service, will be able to understand Me in these five forms.

My dear male and female associates, headed by Sridama and Subala, who came to this world at the time of My advent as Lord Krsna, will come again during the Kali-yuga.

The Gopas will become the sixty-four mahantas and the twelve gopalas. To establish the truth of religion, I will enjoy many pastimes with them.

In this way I will again reveal the path of devotional service, which has been destroyed in the course of time. My sons should also descend to the earth, assume the forms of devotees, and, by My order, also work to re-establish the principles of true religion.

At this time My names will be: Krsna Chaitanya, Gauranga, Gauracandra, Sacisuta, Mahaprabhu, Gaura and Gaurahari. Chanting these names will bring devotion to Me. (Ananta-Samhita)

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The challenging party may question Mahaprabhu's divinity, yet it behooves them to to prove, through unbiased evidence, how they conclude that Sri Jaya Tirtha is the incarnation of Madhvacarya's pack-bull, Sri Raghavendra is the incarnation of Prahlada, Sri Vadiraja is the incarnation of Rukmini's brahmana messenger and Purandara Dasa is the incarnation of Narada.

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OBJECTION: Some of the scriptures that you quote have never been heard of.

REFUTATION: For acaryas to quote from fictitious scriptures when living in an environment of highly learned panditas, seems both incredulous and highly improbable. Therefore we may surmise from this that many of these unknown books were lost in time, including editions of puranas which are different to those we are familiar with today.

There are many instances where Acarya Madhva quotes from sources that are unheard of. For example, Upagita, Kamatha Sruti, Karmaviveka, Kalapa Sruti, Tantra-prakasika, Kapileya Samhita, Karanaviveka, Kausika Sruti, Gatisara, Adhara, AruniSruti, Upanaradiya, Ubhayanirukta, Indraduymna Sruti, Upasana Laksana, Jivatattva, Gunaparama, Gitasara, Gitakalpa, Guruviveka, Gautamakhila, Jyotis Samhita, Tattvasara, Tattvodyoga, Tantra Bhagavata, Tantra Mala, Triyoga, Nibandha, Prana Samhita, Muktitattva, Yadavadhyatama, Linganirnaya, Mahodadhi, Vicara, Viparita Sruti, Visvambhara Sruti, Vimala Samhita, Vaibhavya, Vaisesya, Visva Tantra, Lokatattva, Vayuprokta, Vallabhya, Boddhavya, Pravrtta Samhita, Pavamaniya Vijaya, Pautrayana Sruti, Purusottama Tantra, Vimarda Sruti, Sumata, Sadgunya, Pippalada Sruti, Kathaka Sruti, Paingini Sruti, and Sauparna Sruti to name but a few. It may be argued that in the time of Madhva the sources of his scriptural references were never disputed by his opponents.

Similarly we may use the same line of reasoning — that at the time when our acaryas quoted such ‘spurious’ books and verses to establish Mahaprabhu’s divinity, no anti-party came forward to deny the authenticity of these quotes and their origin.

OBJECTION: Many of your scriptural quotes are not to be found in the said books.

REFUTATION: Sri Madhvacarya also quotes scriptural verses that cannot be found. Two instances of this are found in his Visnu Tattva Vinirnaya, wherein he quotes the following from Skanda Purana —

And from the Padma Purana —

nrpadya satavrtyanta
muktiga uttarottaram
gunaih sarvaih sataguna
modanta iti hi srutih

Neither of these slokas are to be found in the said books! The same peculiarity is found in other works of the acarya such as his Gita Bhasya, Mahabaharata Tatparya and Bhagavata Tatparya. Should we then assume that Sri Madhva has quoted fictitious verses?

OBJECTION: Those quotes that you use which can be found are conveniently interpreted by you to promote the cause of your own sect.

REFUTATION: This is consistent within the sampradayika tradition and those within that school are satisfied. However, those outside that fold may not accept such interpretations. For example, you accuse the Gaudiyas of misinterpreting verses to suite their own purpose in establishing the divinity of Mahaprabhu, yet you have done exactly the same, quoting the Balittha Sukta (2) as evidence to show your acarya as the incarnation of Mukhya Prana. So with this line of reasoning, you discredit your own Madhva line.

OBJECTION: But Madhva himself asserts his identity in many instances; one of them is in his Visnu-tattva-vinirnaya:

REFUTATION: This may well be, but how can we accept the writings of your acarya and his followers to prove such a point? Where is the neutral evidence based on Vedic scriptures? Do you have direct proof from the Puranas, Agamas, Upanisads or Vedas? All you can point at is one veiled statement, interpreted to promote the cause of your own sect.’

OBJECTION: It is the opinion of learned scholars such as Trivikrama Panditacarya that Madhva was the incarnation of Mukhya Prana (Vayu).

REFUTATION: It is also the learned opinion of great scholars such as Vasudeva Sarvabhauma, Kesava Bhatta, Prakasananda Sarasvati, Prabodhananda Sarasvati, Advaita Acarya, Srivasa Pandita, Gopala Bhatta Gosvami, Rupa Gosvami, Sanantana Gosvami, Jiva Gosvami, Raghunatha Dasa Gosvami, Raghunatha Bhatta Gosvami, Raya Ramananda, Nilambara Cakravarti, and Gopinatha Acarya that Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was Sri Krsna Himself. It was also the opinion of Rajarsi Prataparudra of Kalinga and his guru Kasi Misra. OBJECTION: In reference to Madhva’s being an incarnation of Vayu, there is no opportunity for exaggeration in the ‘Sumadhva Vijaya’ because the authentic history recorded in Madhva’s own lifetime has remained unchanged to this day. Although there are several different biographical texts of other sampradayika acaryas, they tend to conflict with each other, or were written a long time after the incidents occurred.

Therefore there is either very little or no support from physical evidence. ‘Sumadhva Vijaya’ was written by a contemporary of Madhvacarya and does not have to compete with any other text to assert it’s authority.

REFUTATION: Because there is no other record of Madhva’s life apart from ‘Sumadhva Vijaya’, what proof do we have that the writer did not exaggerate? When writing a kavya, the poet is prone to use dramatic license (alankara) to enhance the qualities of the principal personality that he glorifies. How can we be so certain that your Narayana Panditacarya did not follow this trait, while you at the same time are accusing us of such.

Many biographies such as Kaviraja Gosvami’s Chaitanya Caritamrta, Vrndavana Dasa Thakura’s Chaitanya Bhagavata, Locana Dasa Thakura’s Chaitanya Mangala and Kavi Karnapura’s Chaitanya Candradaya were written about the life of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. While some accounts differ on some details of His lilas, on the point of His divinity they are all unanimous.

OBJECTION: But Narayana Panditacarya writes in his ‘Bhavaprakasa tika’ on ‘Sumadhva Vijaya’ -

Krsnadasa Kaviraja Goswami

REFUTATION: Similarly the followers of Sri Chaitanya say that the facts presented by Srila Kaviraja Gosvami in Sri Chaitanya Caritamrta are authentic because they are taken from the personal diaries of Sri Murari Gupta and Sri Svarupa Damodara Gosvami, two intimate associates of Mahaprabhu. The diaries are still available and it would be absurd to argue that someone would exaggerate or lie when writing a personal diary.

When Vrndavana Dasa Thakura wrote his Chaitanya Bhagavata, many personal associates of Mahaprabhu were still physically present. The fact that Chaitanya Bhagavata was accepted as a genuine biography by all of these associates is proof that the events therein are not exaggerated or false.

In fact, the Gaudiyas accept Madhvacarya as the incarnation of Vayu and respect the exalted position of Narayana Panditacarya and his biography of Madhva. However, as stated before we are using such arguments to show that such logic can work both ways.

We may now present a question to our Tattvavadi friends — what is the yuga-dharma and who is the yuga-avatara?

The following quotes are presented thus:

And finally, Madhva himself, quoting Narayana Samhita, in his Mundakopanisad Bhasya says -

CONCLUSION: Therefore it is clear that the yuga-dharma in this age is Hari-nama sankirtana, as proclaimed in the above Vedic references. Furthermore, the above verses clearly describe that the advent and purpose of Sri Caitanyadeva's appearance is to propogate the yuga-dharma Hari-nama sankirtan. Further authentication is found in the recorded biographies of the intimate associates of Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. (3)

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(1) The words krsna-varnam mean two things – firstly they indicate that Sri Chaitanya is of the same category (varna) as Sri Krsna. Secondly it also refers to one who constantly chants the name of Krsna.

(2) balittha tad vapusedhayi darsatam devasya bhargah sahaso yato ajani /
yadimupahvarate sadhate matir-rtasya dhena anayanta sasruta //
prkso vapuh pitumannitya asaye dvitiyamasaptasivasu matrsu /
trtiyamasya vrsabhasya dohase dasapramatim janayantayosanah //
niryadim budhnanmahisasya varpasa isanasah savasa krantasurayah /
yadimanupradivo madhva adhave guhasantam matarisva mathayati //
prayatpituh paramanniyateparyaprksudho virudho dansu rohati /
ubhayasya janusam yadinvata adidyabistho abhavadhdhrna sucih //
adinmatravisadyasva sucirahimsyamana urviya vivavrdhe /
anuyatpurva aruhastanajuvoni navyasisva varasu dhavate // ( Rg Veda 1.141.1-5)

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