proponent of Advaita Vedanta, one
of the six schools of classical Hindu
philosophy, despite Gaudapada’s simi-
larities to certain Buddhist positions.
Gaudapada’s most famous work is a
commentary on the sacred text called
the Mandukya Upanishad.
Gaudapada
(2) (5th–8th c.) Philosopher and
commentator in the Samkhyaschool,
one of the six schoolsof classical Hindu
philosophy. Gaudapada is best known for
his commentary on the Samkhyakarikas,
the foundational text of the Samkhya
school, which is ascribed to the philoso-
pher Ishvarakrishna.
Gaudiya Vaishnava
Religious community founded by the
Bengali saint Chaitanya(1486–1533).
It takes its name from the ancient
name for Bengal (Gauda), and its
stress on the worship of the god
Vishnu. The community’s religious
practices and beliefs are founded in
Chaitanya’s ecstatic devotionalism. He
asserted that the path to religious
ecstasy is the repetitive recitation of
Krishna’s name, often while singing
and dancing in the streets. Chaitanya’s
religious charisma gained him many
followers, of whom the most important
were the Goswamis—the brothers
Rupa and Sanatana, and their nephew
Jiva. At Chaitanya’s command the
Goswamis went to live in Brindavan,
the village where Krishna is believed
to have grown up. The Goswamis’
descendants live there to this day. In
Brindavan, the Goswamis set about orga-
nizing and systematizing the philosophi-
cal foundation of Chaitanya’s ecstatic
experience. Although they conceived of
themselves as Chaitanya’s servants,
they are equally important in the com-
munity’s development. The Goswamis’
key philosophical doctrine was
achintyabhedabheda, the idea that
there was an “inconceivable identity
and difference” between the Supreme
Divinity (Krishna) and the human being
that renders the soul simultaneously
identical to and different from the divin-
ity. The Gaudiya Vaishnava community
is also famous for its exhaustive analysis
of devotion (bhakti) as an emotional
experience. They enumerated the differ-
ent ways to experience the love of god as
five modes of devotion. For further
information see Sushil Kumar De, Early
History of the Vaishnava Faith and
Movement in Bengal, 1961.Gaumukh
(“cow’s mouth”) Sacred site (tirtha) high
in the Himalayas. It is located at the
glacier that is the actual source of the
BhagirathiRiver, one of the tributaries
of the Ganges. Gaumukh is twelve miles
upriver from Gangotri, the place that is
ritually celebrated as the source of the
Ganges. In popular Hindu belief, the
Ganges is believed to issue from the
mouth of a cow, hence the name.Gauna
This is the name for the ceremony of
taking a new bride into her marital
home for the first time. The addition of a
new bride marks an important change
for a family and is a time of both oppor-
tunity and danger. On one hand, it car-
ries the potential for great blessings,
since it is assumed that the bride and
groom will soon begin a family. On the
other hand, it also carries the threat of
danger since the addition of a new per-
son to the family brings the potential for
disruption. The bride and her new family
perform various rituals to ensure that
her addition to the family will be auspi-
cious and harmonious.Gaura
Festival celebrated in central India that
climaxes on the first dayof the bright or
waxing half of the lunar month of
Kartik (October–November), the day
after the festival of Diwali. The Gaura
festival celebrates the marriage of the
god Shivaand the goddess Parvati.Gaura