Chaitanya

Chaitanya

चैतन्य, caitanya

1. Consciousness, more often – supreme consciousness, closest to the absolute, self-aware and aware of others. 
2. Chaitanya Mahaprabhu is the teacher of bhakti-yoga and the preacher of the cult of Lord Krishna. 

Chaitanya is one of the parts of the antahkaran, specific to the Gorakshanath philosophy, which separates all forms of manifestation of consciousness and matter into five qualities – panchakas.

In "Siddha-Siddhanta Paddhati" (I.49) the following qualities of chaitanya are given:

"Meditation, virtue, fearlessness, awareness, impartiality is such a five-quantitative consciousness."

The properties of consciousness, according to Gorakshanath, are:

• Vimarsha (meditation) is a reflection of awareness of various mental, sensual and physical processes together
• Shilana (virtue) is self-discipline, inherent in chaitanya
• Dhairya (fearlessness) is the absence of hesitation, since fluctuations are limited, and Chaitanya encompasses many processes simultaneously
• Chintana (awareness) is meditation or contemplation amidst general tranquility
• Nisprihatva (impartiality) is the cultivation of liberation from desires.