The Five Essential Verses of Gīta-govinda: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

Perhaps the most significant contribution made by Rupa Goswami, the principal architect of the Gauḍīya Vaishnava tradition, was to synthesize the various strands of the Rādhā-Krishna līlā tradition. According to Krishnadas Kaviraj, who states it several times in his Caitanyacaritāmṛta, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu was particularly fond of five devotional works or authors through which he relished the rasas of bhakti to Krishna. To these five, of course, should be added the Bhāgavata itself.