The Supreme Lord Krishna declares in the Bhagavad Gita that whenever there is a decline in the religious principles, He descends millennium after millennium to put order into disorder. The major part of this mission is to annihilate the demoniac forces.In Satya Yuga, the demons and the divine lived on different planets. In Treta Yuga,they lived on the same planet and in Dvapara Yuga, grew up together within the same house such as the Kauravas and the Pandavas.
But in Kaliyuga, the worst of the ages, the divine and the demoniac live within the same person. So if the Lord decides to destroy the demoniac people, He will have to destroy almost everyone since each one of us carries this nature to some degree or the other. But the Lord is supremely merciful. Therefore in Kali Yuga He comes in a special incarnation in which rather than destroying the demoniac people, He prefers to destroy the demoniac mentality within.
Once this is achieved, naturally peace will prevail everywhere since what we see outside is nothing but the manifestation of what is inside of us. The path He taught, to achieve the above goal, was to chant
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare
This incarnation of the Lord, which descended on this planet 500 years ago, is known as Lord Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In this incarnation, the Lord did not exert himself as the Supreme Lord but took the role of His own devotee just to teach the world the path of pure bhakti towards Him.
He acted like a teacher who seeing His student doing poorly holds the hand of the child and teaches him to form the alphabets. He is considered the most magnanimous manifestation of the Supreme Lord and His appearance day, known as Gaura Poornima, falls on the 23rd of this month.
This day is considered the most holy of all the holy days in a year and anyone who celebrates this day receives the topmost blessings of the Lord. This is the day which the devotees await all through the year and the day when mercy overflows..!
(The subsequent articles will describe more of His life and teachings in detail.)
