Nityananda

Nityananda (Bengali: নিত্যানন্দ, IAST: Nityānanda; c. 1474-c. 1540), also called Nityananda Prabhu and Nitai, was a primary religious figure within the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition of Bengal. Nityananda was Chaitanya Mahaprabhu's friend and disciple. Chaitanya and Nityananda are often mentioned together as Gaura-Nitai (Gaura, referring to Chaitanya) or Nimai-Nitai (Nimai being a name of Chaitanya). According to Gaudiya-Vaishnava tradition, Nityananda is Balarama Himself (so is also called Nityananda Rama, where Rama refers to Balarama), with Chaitanya being His eternal brother and friend, Krishna. Chaitanya is considered the "most merciful" incarnation of Krishna as Svayam bhagavan. Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati, the early 20th-century Gaudiya-Vaishnava reformer, writes about Nityananda's theological position as the embodiment of the mercy of the guru: "Nityananda is the Primary Manifestive Constituent of the Divinity. Nityananda alone possesses the distinctive function of the guru. In Nityananda, the function is embodied. Nityananda is the servant-God."