As a young boy, Gopala came to the lotus feet of Shri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. Shri Vakreshvara Pandit trained and initiated him. Lord Chaitanya loved Golpala and often joked with him. Once Mahaprabhu humorously called the boy “guru.” The name stuck and he became known as Gopala Guru Goswami.
When Shri Ganga Narayana Chakravarti, a renowned brahmana, took initiation from Shri Narottama Dasa Thakura the smarta brahmanas became outraged. They complained to King Narasimha that the “audacious sudra,” Narottama Dasa, had brazenly initiated a brahmana into the fold of Gaudiya Vaishnavism. The king, the smartas, and the dig vijaya pandit (world class scholar) went to challenge and conquer the “upstart” Narottama Dasa.
Sri Chandrashekhara was one of the main branches of Sri Chaitanya’s sankirtana movement. From the beginning of Sri Chaitanya’s Navadwipa lila he and his innumerable disciples faithfully served the Lord. In Sridhama Mayapur, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura established the headquarters of Sri Chaitanya Matha at the site of Chandrasekhara Acharya’s original home. His samadhi is behind the Madana Mohana Temple and next to Sanatana Gosvami’s samadhi. He is Subhadra or Candra-deva (moon god) in Krishna’s divine pastimes.
The terrible-tempered gopi named Shaivya became Damodar Pandit in Gaura lila, though occasionally the goddess Saraswati also entered into him for some special purpose.(Gaura-ganoddesha-dipika 159)
Damodar Pandit is considered to be one of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu’s branches.
He is another branch of the Chaitanya trunk. His love for the Lord was so intense that he even chastised Him. This verbal punishment so satisfied the Lord that he sent him to Nadiya. I will tell this story later.(Chaitanya Charitamrita 1.10.31-2)
Sri Bijali Khan was a Pathan Muslim. Even so, after receiving Mahaprabhu’s mercy, he became well-known as a Vaishnava. His father was a rich man. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami has described how he met the Lord and received His mercy in the eighteenth chapter of the Madhya-lila
Bhagavan Acharya was originally from the town of Halisahar, which is in the 24 Pargana district. Krishnadas Kaviraj Goswami writes that he is considered to be Chaitanya’s branch along with Brahmananda Bharati, Shikhi Mahiti and Murari Mahiti.
(Chaitanya Charitamrita 1.10.136)
He belonged to the lineage of Lord Chaitanya. Govinda Datta was the principal singer in Lord Chaitanya’s kirtana party (Cc 1.10.64). He was one of the Devotees who took part in kirtana with Lord Chaitanya in front of the Ratha cart of Lord Jagannatha (Cc. 2.13.37,73).
Hiranya Mahasaya was one of the most humble Devotees of the Lord. He was devout brahmana of Navadwipa and a great renunciate. His house was in a lonely place in Navadwipa. Lord Chaitanya in His childhood had bestowed causeless on Hiranya Mahasaya.
Achyutananda was born as the son of Advaita Acharya and Sitadevi in the town of Shantipur in the year 1428 Shaka (1506 AD). He was Advaita’s oldest son and is counted as a Chaitanya branch of the tree of devotion.
His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada appeared in a family of pure Gaudiya Vaisnavas in 1896 in Calcutta. From early childhood he showed signs of pure devotion to Lord Sri Krishna. At the tender age of five, he single-handedly organized a neighborhood Ratha-yatra festival to glorify Lord Jagannatha. He authentically decorated a small cart to resemble the Lord’s colossal chariot in Puri. Besides leading the kirtana party, he organized cooking and prasadam distribution. With his enthusiasm and ecstatic love for Lord Krishna he engaged the community in chanting:
Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare,
Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.