Q. Did Caitanya Mahaprabhu also accept that Madhvacarya was Jagat guru or did he disregard that fact because as He is the incarnation of God, He can do anything. Why don’t you celebrate Madhva Navami when even Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Himself claimed Himself to be a follower of Madhva? I would really appreciate the answers to these Questions.
Answer by Romapada Swami: Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu came in the role of a devotee and an acharya. He taught by His own personal example how to be a devotee of Krishna. He is the yuga-avatara and thus He taught the process of congregational chanting. He also most munificently distributed pure love of God, unlike ever before in the history of the world. Yet, even though the Independent Supreme Personality of Godhead, He accepted initiation in the Madhva sampradaya, just to teach by His own example the importance of accepting a bona fide spiritual master in disciplic succession. He certainly did not disregard Madhvacharya. Furthermore He took the teachings of not only Madhvacharya but from all the four vaishnava sampradayas, and presented them in synthesis in the philosophy of ‘acintya-bheda-abheda-tattva’ (Inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference).
The appearance of Madhvacharya is indeed observed as a holy day in our Gaudiya-vaishnava calendar each year, at which time we remember and discuss his glories on this day following the path chalked out by the followers of Lord Caitanya.
