Diksha and diksha-mantra in the Chaitanya tradition are usually presented as guaranteed means of spiritual transformation. This article takes a critical look at questions of authority, lineage, and what is actually promised by initiation, including the often-claimed link to the Madhva tradition. Chaitanya followers (Hare-Krishna Movement, ISKCON, Gaudiya Vaishnavas, Bengali Vaishnavas) attach great importance to disciplic succession (guru-paramparā). For them, disciplic succession is the proof of the validity and permanence of the tradition. Chaitanya’s school, according to devotees from Gaudiya Mathas and ISKCON, as well as some traditional Gaudiya-parampara parivaras, is linked to the Madhva school (tattvavāda). According to A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, “All transcendental messages are received properly in the chain of disciplic succession. This disciplic succession is called paramparā.” (Commentary on Shrimad Bhagavatam 1.3.42) “By the paramparā system, one can thus be endowed with the original spiritual power coming from the Supreme Personality of Godhead.” (Comm. on Shrimad Bhagavatam 8.15.28) “The spiritual master must be in the disciplic succession from Kṛṣṇa.” (Comm. on Shrimad Bhagavatam 3.29.17) It is also important for Gaudiya Vaishnavas that the guru-parampara, as well as the gaudiya sampradaya itself, are linked and associated with one of the four true vaishnava sampradayas, namely the Madhva sampradaya (tattvavāda). For this reason, the Chaitanya followers call their tradition the Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya. It is time to ask the single most important question for those interested in the Chaitanya’s school: does Gaudiya Vaishnavism provide the working tools to achieve the stated goals of Gaudiya Vaishnava spiritual practice? It is time to look at Gaudiya Vaishnavism through the eyes of Gaudiya Vaishnavism itself, starting from the norms and principles adopted by the teachers and acharyas of this school. Guru-parampara In research, it is important to understand and consider the context. The context is the historical events of the 16th and 18th centuries that influenced the self-identity of Chaitanya’s followers; their self-definition, how they view themselves and who they consider themselves to be. In Hinduism, which consists of many religious and philosophical schools and movements, tradition — aka school — is based on two basic elements — teaching and parampara, i.e., the chain of disciplic succession. Spiritual masters are the custodians of the tradition, which continues in the disciples. And so from generation to generation for hundreds of years. The origins of tradition are believed to go back to God Himself. Parampara is the best means of preserving the teachings. The question of the position of the Gaudiya sampradaya is directly related to parampara. Discipleship (in the North Indian Vaishnava schools) implies initiation into the tradition. Initiation in the Chaitanya school and more widely in the various forms of the North Indian Vaishnava schools is called diksha (dīkṣā). The ritual part of diksha consists of the guru giving a mantra, the diksha-mantra, to the disciple. Diksha is a sacrament, so the initiation takes place by whispering the mantra directly into the ear of the disciple. This is how the spiritual bond between spiritual master and disciple is established, this is how the guru-parampara continues. The Gaudiya sampradaya consists of many lineages, which began to branch out actively after Chaitanya’s death. We have more information about the members of the gaudiya-parampara after Chaitanya Mahaprabhu than about the members who lived before him. The more ancient, the less reliable information we have. Thus tradition, speaking of the North Indian Vaishnava schools, is a guru-parampara, a succession of spiritual masters transmitting some message/teachings. Initiation into the tradition takes place through the transmission of diksha-mantra. Sampradaya The followers of Kedaranatha Bhaktivinoda Thakura, the reformer of Gaudiya Vaishnavism in the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as his son Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati and ISKCON founder A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, call the Gaudiya Sampradaya “Brahma-Madhva-Gaudiya sampradaya”. The name reflects the key links — Brahma and Madhvacharya. Madhvacharya is the founder of the Tattvavada or Dvaita Vedanta, a 13th century South Indian Vaishnava school. Its centre is in South India, Udupi, Karnataka. The Gaudiya Vaishnavas regard Krishna as the source of their tradition and parampara, who transmitted the innermost knowledge to Brahma. Brahma to Narada, Narada to Vyasa, and the latter already to Madhvacharya. Madhva’s disciples continued the parampara. Vyasatirtha (1460–1539) was one of the prominent Madhva religious and, in a sense, political figures in the 16th century, the time of Chaitanya’s life. According to Chaitanya’s followers, Vyasatirtha is the link and chain of their guru-parampara and their own previous acharya. Vyasatirtha’s disciple, according to Gaudiya Vaishnavas, was Lakshmipati Tirtha, and his disciple was Madhavendra Puri. Madhavendra Puri is considered by Gaudiya Vaishnavas to be the first guru in the Madhva sampradaya who introduced the pure moods of devotion to this tradition. Madhavendra’s favourite disciple, according to Gaudiya authors, was Ishvara Puri, the diksha-guru of Chaitanya himself. Ishvara Puri initiated Chaitanya by a diksha-mantra called gopola-mantra. Thus, the unbroken succession of spiritual masters of Chaitanya’s school, omitting intermediate and unimportant links for this article, goes from Krishna through Madhvacharya, Vyasatirtha, Lakshmipati Tirtha, Madhavendra Puri, Ishvara Puri to Chaitanya. Madhavendra’s disciples were also Advaita Acharya and Nityananda, important representatives of Gaudiya Vaishnavism and contemporaries of Chaitanya. Further on, the gaudiya parampara branched out vigorously. And in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries another branch from traditional Gaudiya Vaishnavism appeared. Its founder was Bhaktivinoda Thakura. His mission was continued by his son Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati, the founder of Gaudiya Matha. Then this branch also divided into several gaudiya mathas. One branch of the Gaudiya Matha was the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), founded in the 1960s by Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada. The followers of Chaitanya, as well as some other Vaishnava streams of North India, are convinced that they are one of the four vaishnava sampradayas that form their guru-parampara. Is Gaudiya Vaishnavism really part of the Madhva sampradaya and Tattvavada? Why exactly only four vaishnava sampradayas when in reality there are many more of them? Who came up with the idea of Four Vaishnava Sampradayas in the first place?