Imagine a religious tradition that presents God as a handsome teenage boy, whose favourite activity is singing and dancing with his girlfriends in a moonlit forest at the dead of the night, after they escape from their homes without their families' consent. How would it be if the central ritual of this tradition demanded nothing but celebrating through congregational singing of certain mantras (chants) and dancing, without the slightest care whether the context was a private home or the busiest city thoroughfare? And if the sacred texts of the tradition, despite its philosophical sophistication and wrangling scholastic arguments, ultimately concluded that this method of singing, dancing and celebrating was not only the best kind of spiritual meditation, but also the easiest way to ultimate salvation? What if it claimed that salvation was not so much about redemption from sin or release from worldly bonds, but rather the experience of love of God that most resembled the thrilling emotions of a first teenage romance?

In very general terms, the above description summarizes the devotional movement of Gauḍīya Vaiṣṇavism inaugurated by Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (1486–1533) in Bengal. During his time, it was seen as a unique innovation by his contemporaries, but like many other strands of the varieties of Hinduisms, this one got absorbed in the mainstream.