Within the Gaudiya Vaishnava tradition centered on Radha–Krishna bhakti, the lineage of ācāryas is often contemplated as a living stream of realization that begins, in its historical manifestation, with Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. He is revered as the inaugurator of the movement and the foremost authority on the path of nāma-saṅkīrtana and ecstatic devotion. Alongside him stand his intimate associates, especially Nityānanda Prabhu and Advaita Ācārya, whose preaching and spiritual influence helped establish and expand this devotional current. Together, they form the founding generation that set the theological and experiential tone for subsequent teachers.

The next great pillar of the lineage is the group known as the Six Gosvāmīs of Vṛndāvana: Rūpa, Sanātana, Jīva, Raghunātha dāsa, Raghunātha Bhaṭṭa, and Gopāla Bhaṭṭa Gosvāmī. They systematized the theology, codified devotional practices, and articulated the subtle dimensions of rasa, or spiritual emotion, in relation to Radha–Krishna. Their writings and personal examples are treated as the standard by which later expositions are measured. In the same broad era, Krishnadāsa Kavirāja, the author of the Caitanya-caritāmṛta, also stands out as a key transmitter of Caitanya’s life and teachings, preserving the devotional mood and doctrinal core of the movement.

Following the Gosvāmīs, the lineage continues through powerful preachers and poets such as Narottama dāsa Ṭhākura, Śrīnivāsa Ācārya, and Śyāmānanda Prabhu, who carried the teachings from Vṛndāvana back to Bengal and other regions. Their kīrtanas, instructions, and organizing efforts helped unify diverse branches of the tradition and make the Gosvāmīs’ works accessible to a broader devotional community. In later generations, theologians such as Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura and Baladeva Vidyābhūṣaṇa further clarified Gaudiya Vedānta and defended its distinct perspective through commentaries on foundational scriptures.

In more recent centuries, saints such as Jagannātha dāsa Bābājī and Gaurakiśora dāsa Bābājī are revered for their deep renunciation and absorption in bhajana, embodying the inner life that the earlier ācāryas described. Building upon this contemplative foundation, Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura is remembered for revitalizing and articulating Gaudiya theology in a way that spoke to a changing world, while his disciple Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī Ṭhākura established organized missions to broadcast these teachings widely. A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda, standing in this same line, carried Gaudiya Vaiṣṇavism across cultural and geographical boundaries, ensuring that the message of Radha–Krishna bhakti and the insights of the earlier ācāryas would be heard far beyond their original heartlands.