“All Vaiṣṇavas are Gurus” Narahari Sarakāra on Vaiṣṇavas, Gurus, and the Fate of the Gauḍīya Tradition: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

In the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja visualizes the entire Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇava community as a gigantic tree. Rooted in the devotion of his gurus, Śrī Caitanya became the trunk of a magic tree of devotion, and from that trunk sprang innumerable branches. The tree is enormous: its largest branches alone, Kṛṣṇadāsa writes, “shade the entire world.” Two of these largest branches are so large that they are equivalent to trunks themselves. The first is that of Nityānanda, which was “very heavy,” and its many branches, “bearing the fruits
and flowers of love, covered the entire earth.” The second is Advaita’s; nurtured by Caitanya, its branches were innumerable and bore the fruits of his love.5 But there are many more branches besides these, growing directly out of the main trunk, “the greatest” of which is that of Gadādhara.6 Though this tree of devotion is firmly rooted, it is yet mobile, and its branches extend themselves to various places, where they bear the fruits of love