"Even if the sinners reject religion or flee to foreign countries, still they will get the mercy. I will send My senapati (military field commander) bhakta to go there and deliver them."

Lord Caitanya from Sri Caitanya Mangala, Sutra-Khanda by Locana das Thakura

The four Vaisnava Sampradayas, including our Brahma Madhva Gaudiya Sampradaya, are the main vehicles with which the Supreme Personality of Godhead fulfills his promise to assist the embodied living entities in escaping the bondage of material life and returning to their eternal constitutional position in the Spiritual World. In order to maintain the purity and potency of these linkages, the Lord personally incarnates periodically, or sends his unalloyed representatives. Our Sampradaya has been blessed by the appearance of the Yuga Avatara, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. Since his disappearance 500 years ago, there have been extended periods of dormancy in the Sampradaya. The revival began with the descent of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura over 150 years ago. Those empowered associates of the Lord who are sent specifically to surcharge the parampara are classified as Sampradaya Acaryas. There are innumerable pure devotees who are involved in other capacities and pastimes in the overall transcendental scheme to benedict the suffering souls, but all are not included on the list of Sampradaya Acaryas.

The nomenclature “Sampradaya Acaryas” properly describes the three successive Acaryas, beginning with Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakur, then Srila Bhaktisiddanta Sarasvati. Srila Prabhupada is the third appearance in this most recent succession of prominent Sampradaya Acaryas. As a successive team, they made their nitya-siddha appearance to fulfill the precise mission of spreading Krsna Consciousness to every town and village throughout the planet, as predicted by Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. They were deputed to perform this preordained pastime.

From "Sampradaya Acarya" by Rocana dasa

Picture copyright Bhaktivedanta Book Trust.