Nityananda Trayodasi

Being the Lord’s active principle in both creation and lila. He is known to be the second body of the Lord, manifesting as Balaram to Shri Krishna, Lakshman to Shri Ram and Nityananda Prabhu to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. All other forms and expansions of the Lord emanate from this second body. Nityananda Prabhu is thus the source of Sankarshan, all the Vishu’s, and Ananta Shesha. As Vishnu tattva He and Advaita Acharya are worshipped in the same category as Chaitanya Mahaprabhu. In the manifested earthly lila, Nityananda Prabhu is senior to Chaitanya Mahaprabhu by more than a decade. Nityananda Prabhu appeared in the village of Ekachakra, in West Bengal, India, around 1474. He was born to a religious Bengali Brahmin, known as Pandit Hadai, and his wife, Padmavati. They are the real parents of Nityananda Prabhu in Goloka Vrindavan.

The transcendental abode of Kṛṣṇaloka includes Śvetadvīpa, or Vṛndāvana, which is the ultimate spiritual realm. Below Kṛṣṇaloka are the Vaikuṇṭha planets, where the four-handed Nārāyaṇa resides. Lord Balarāma, as the original Saṅkarṣaṇa, expands into Mahā-saṅkarṣaṇa, who maintains the spiritual sky. Beyond this is Brahmaloka (the impersonal effulgence of Kṛṣṇa) and the Causal Ocean (Kāraṇa-samudra), separating the spiritual and material worlds.

Mahā-Viṣṇu, an expansion of Saṅkarṣaṇa, glances over material energy (pradhāna), initiating creation. From Him, Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu enters each universe and generates Brahmā, while Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣṇu acts as the Supersoul of all living beings. Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu also manifests the universal form and resides in the ocean of milk on Śvetadvīpa within each universe.