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Vaishnavism, Shaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c13: Chapter I.

Vaiṣṇavism, Śaivism and Minor Religious Systems v2.c13

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English

Contents

Chapter I.

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(Dohā 3) The highest soul, the highest excellent place, than whom or which there is no other, Tulasī understands and hears to be Rāma, the blessed. (Dohā 4) “Rāma whose attributes confer blessings upon all is himself free from all desires. He fulfils all desires, is the benefactor of all. The sages assert this.” — So says Tulasī. (Dohā 15) Tulasī sees plainly that in every pore of Rāma there is an endless universe. He is pure, is unchangeable and is irresistible. (Dohā 6) The blessed Jānakī is the mother of the world, and Rāma the father. Both are beneficent. Their grace destroys sin, and creates conscience (confers the knowledge of distinguishing good from evil). (Dohā 44) Where there is Rāma, there is no [evil] desire; where there is [evil] desire, there is no Rāma. Oh Tulasī, the sun and the night do not exist in one place. (Dohā 45) When Rāma is afar, Māyā (illusion or temptation) is strong. When he is known, it becomes tiny or thin. When the sun is at a distance, the shadow is long; when he is on the head, it is below the feet. (Dohā 48) Says Tulasī: “If there is no love for Rāma, all learning is thrown into an oven; and Yama takes away knowledge and devours it; everything burns away, and the very root is destroyed”. (Dohā 57) All things by which a man is surrounded, serve as hindrances, and none proves a help (towards the way of bliss); and, in such circumstances, if the end is good, it can become so only through Rāma’s grace.

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Chapter II.

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(Dohā 17) Says Tulasī: “Through the disobedience of God, man brings evil on himself and all his associates. The king of the Kurus, while governing his kingdom, was reduced to dust along with his army and family”. (Dohā 18) Says Tulasī: “From sweet words results good on all sides. This is a spell that overcomes everything; avoid all harsh words”. (Dohā 19) “A man attains happiness by the grace of Rāma, and it escapes one without it”, says Tulasī, “though they know this, bad men neglect to adore Rāma.”

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Chapter IV².

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² The editions consulted are those published by Navalkiśora at Lakhnau in 1886 and in the Bibliotheca Indica in 1897.

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82 (89 B. I.). The excellent retentive faculty is called Girā or Sarasvatī, and the immutable Dharma is a Vaṭa tree. Dharma consists of a triad of confluent rivers destroying sin. Oh Tulasī, conceive no dislike for these and accept these.

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The triad is given by the commentator as action, knowledge, and Bhakti, or devotion.

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83 (90 B. I.). One becomes clean by bathing (in these three confluent rivers), i. e. grasping the triad by the understanding. The dirt in the shape of immorality is washed off, and then there is no doubt as to the easy attainment of the place of Rāma. 84 (91 B. I.). Forgiveness is holy Vārāṇasī. Bhakti, or devotion, is like the river of gods (Gaṅgā), and clear knowledge is like Viśveśvara. These together with compassion, which is power (Pārvatī), shine.

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The commentator remarks that just as Benares with the other three brings about deliverance, so do forgiveness, devotion, knowledge, and compassion.

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85 (92 B. I.). Vārāṇasī is not far from him whose heart dwells in the house which is Kṣamā (forgiveness) — Vārāṇasī, in which shines, oh Tulasī, the celestial river in the shape of Bhakti, which results in numerous virtuous deeds. 86 (93 B. I.). Kāśī is the bright half of a month and Magaha, or Magadha, is the dark half in which dwell covetousness, infatuation, intoxication, and lust. Oh Tulasī, considering which is beneficial and which is injurious, do [choose where to] reside during all the watches of the day.

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Kāśī is associated with the four virtues mentioned above, and Magadha with the vices noticed here. So one is told to practise what is beneficial and to avoid what is injurious.

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87 (94 B. I.). What has gone away will not come again. Therefore do acquire knowledge. The same thing that you have to-day you will have to-morrow; therefore, oh Tulasī, give up all infatuation.

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The idea seems to be: Do not waste time by procrastination; begin your devotions at once.

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88 (95 B. I.). The past and the future hang together on the present. Oh Tulasī, do not entertain any doubt; get through that which is before you at present.

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89 (96 B. I.). A good soul is like the Mānasa (lake), and in it is the pure water of the sweet glory of Rāma. Sin is washed off and the heart becomes pure (by bathing in that water); and this calm water is not inaccessible to the wise.

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The idea seems to be that in a good soul a taste for devotion to Rāma springs up and, when it is cultivated, the soul becomes pure.

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From these extracts it will be seen that according to Tulasīdās Rāma is the supreme God, and that through his grace man becomes holy and blessed. He should, therefore, be adored; where he is, sin is not, and therefore, for the purification of the mind, he should always be thought of and meditated on. The ways to God usually followed are, he says, inefficacious and as such may be thrown into the fire.

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§ 62. We will now turn our attention to the more extensive and almost exclusive cult of the Kṛṣṇa of Gokula. The founder of it was

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XXII. Vallabha.

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Vallabha. He was the son of a Tailaṅga Brāhmaṇa named Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭṭa, who was a student of the Black Yajurveda and lived at a village named Kāṅkarava in the Telugu country. On one occasion Lakṣmaṇa Bhaṭṭa went on a pilgrimage to Benares with his wife, Elamāgāra. On the way she gave birth to a son on the eleventh of the dark half of Vaiśākha of the Vikrama year 1535, corresponding to 1479 A. D. ¹ That son was known as Vallabha. Vallabha lived for some time in Vṛndāvana and for some time at Mathurā. About that time it is alleged that Gopāla-Kṛṣṇa manifested himself on the Govardhana hill by the name of Devadamana, called also Śrī-Nāthajī. The God told Vallabha in a dream to come and see him, informing him that his companions in the cow-settlement, when he became incarnate as Kṛṣṇa, were born again in the present age and commissioned him to make them his attendants, that he might sport with them as in the former age. Accordingly, Vallabha went and saw Devadamana or Śrī-Nāthajī. Śrī-Nāthajī commanded him to erect a shrine for himself and to promulgate the method of worshipping him, without which a man would not be admissible to the Puṣṭimārga, or the path of divine grace, which Vallabha had founded. The meaning of this seems to be that Vallabha connected his system with a special manifestation of Kṛṣṇa known by the name of Śrī-Nāthajī ².

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¹ Yajñeśvara, Āryavidyāsudhākara.

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² See Harirāya Mahārāja’s Govardhanaprākaṭyakī Vārtā, published in Samvat 1935, p. 11.

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Vallabha’s Vedāntic theory is the same as that of an earlier author of the name of Viṣṇusvāmin. This Viṣṇusvāmin is said to have been the son of the councillor of a Draviḍa chief dependent upon the emperor of Delhi ³. Nābhājī in his Bhaktamālā makes Jñāndeva, Nāmdeva, Trilocana, and lastly Vallabha his successors ⁴. The first was Jñāndeva, who is represented as a follower of his system (Sampradāya). He was one of three sons born to a man, who became a householder after he had assumed the order of an ascetic. He was, therefore, excommunicated and was not allowed to learn the Vedas. But he himself by his miraculous power made a male buffalo repeat the Vedas. This story is the same as that related of the Jñāndeva of Mahārāṣṭra, the author of a vernacular commentary on the Bhagavadgītā. But the Marāṭhas do not know of Viṣṇusvāmin as his Guru, or teacher, or of Jñāndeva being his successor or follower. If, however, the tradition reported by Nābhājī is correct, Viṣṇusvāmin must have lived about the middle of the thirteenth century. The date of the commentary above alluded to is Śaka 1212, corresponding to 1290 A. D.

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³ Yajñeśvara, Āryavidyāsudhākara, p. 228.

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⁴ Ed. by Khemaraj, Bombay, Śaka 1827 (1905 A. D.), pp. 95—98.

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The Vedāntic theory of Viṣṇusvāmin which is the same as that of Vallabha is as follows. The one primeval soul was not joyful, because he was alone (BU. I, 4, 3), and, desiring to be many, he himself became the inanimate world, the individual soul, and the inward controlling soul. These sprang from him like sparks from a burning fire and are his parts (MU. II, 1). By his own inscrutable power he rendered the properties of intelligence and joy imperceptible in the first, and his joy alone in the second, while the third has all the attributes perceptible in it. Simple Brahman as such has perceptible joy prevailing in it ¹).

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¹ Sakalācāryamatasaṃgraha by Śrīnivāsa, Chowkh. Series.

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§ 63. The following particulars have been gleaned from two works belonging to Vallabhācārya’s sect ²). The whole world has Brahman for its material cause. The perception of forms apparently different from the Brahman is due to ignorance or delusion and to the true nature of Brahman being rendered imperceptible. The individual soul is identical with Brahman, a part of Brahman and atomic. From the Akṣara composed of existence, intelligence, and joy (Saccidānanda) particles come out as sparks from fire. From the predominance of the Sat portion in them the joy portion is concealed, and thus we have the individual souls possessing Sat, existence, and Cit, intelligence. The individual soul is not a form of the Supreme Soul altered by a third thing being involved in it, such as the Māyā (illusive power), but is itself the same substance as the Supreme Soul with one attribute rendered imperceptible. The relation between the two is thus that of identity (Advaita), both being in the pristine unchanged form, i. e. identity of untransformed souls (Śuddhādvaita).

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² Śuddhādvaitamārtaṇḍa by Giridhara, and Prameyaratnārṇava by Bālakṛṣṇa Bhaṭṭa, Chowkh. Series.

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The individual soul is of two kinds: (1) going through the circle of existences, and (2) delivered from the trammels of life. The first is subject to misery in consequence of his delusion that his body and senses are his soul. He remains in this condition till he acquires knowledge, sees the vanity of the world and devotes himself to meditation and the love of God, when he is delivered. The delivered souls are: (1) those who have become so, while in their previous condition, by the termination of ignorance or delusion, such as Sanaka and others; and (2) those who dwell in the world of the Bhagavat, other than the pervading Vaikuṇṭha ³), where they attain the condition of pure Brahman by the favour of the Bhagavat; (3) there are others, who, having the divine nature in them and coming in contact with good men, resort to various ways of Bhakti, or the propitiation of God, until perfect love alone for him comes to dwell in their heart, and finally become the associates of the Bhagavat in his eternal sports and amusements. This last is the highest Mokṣa, or deliverance. That class of worldly souls who have no divine nature in them and in whom evil predominates, are ever moving in the circle of existences. The souls who have the divine nature in them are of two kinds: (1) those who subject themselves to certain moral discipline (Maryādājīva), and (2) those who depend entirely on God’s grace (Puṣṭijīva). Both attain final deliverance, but there is a difference which corresponds to that between (2) and (3) above and which will be further explained below.

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³ I translate the word Vyāpi-Vaikuṇṭha thus. The Vyāpi-Vaikuṇṭha is above the Vaikuṇṭha of Viṣṇu, the protector of the world. There dwells Puruṣottama, who manifests himself variously to his various devotees. To those in whom Bhakti has risen to the highest pitch and has become a haunting passion he manifests himself as the sportive Kṛṣṇa. In a portion of the Vyāpi-Vaikuṇṭha there is the Goloka with Vṛndāvana in which there are extensive trees, bowers of creepers, and the river Yamunā. The highest Bhaktas are transferred to this Vṛndāvana, and Kṛṣṇa sports with them there.

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Śrīkṛṣṇa is the highest Brahman. He has hands and feet not made up of ordinary matter (Aprākṛta), but celestial. His body consists of Sat, existence; Cit, intelligence; Ānanda, joy. He is called Puruṣottama, as the most excellent of all beings, and has all attributes which are not ordinary, but celestial. All his sports are eternal. He, with his four arms or two arms, sports with his various devotees, or Bhaktas, in the extensive Vaikuṇṭha, which contains Vṛndāvana with its large forests. Kṛṣṇa is, therefore, the highest joy (Paramānanda). By his will his Sattva portion overcomes the Ānanda or joy portion and, becoming Akṣara, or unchangeable, he is the cause of all causes and creates the world. Then Akṣarabrahman is of two kinds: (1) that which is recognised by the devotees as the place of Puruṣottama, which has the attributes of the extensive Vaikuṇṭha and others; (2) to the enlightened it appears in the form of existence, intelligence and joy, infinite in time and space, self-manifesting and devoid of all qualities. Therefore, in the form in which the enlightened see it all the positive qualities are hidden or rendered imperceptible by the inscrutable power referred to above, and therefore they are not to be regarded as non-existing. When Brahman is spoken of as devoid of all qualities, what is meant is just this. There are thus three forms of the Supreme Being, Puruṣottama and the two kinds of the Unchangeable here mentioned. To explain the controlling of all by Puruṣottama, that form of his that dwells in the sun, the gods, the earth, etc., is called Antaryāmin (the inward controller). It is this inward controller that becomes incarnate in the various forms usually mentioned. The celestial Sattva quality of Kṛṣṇa becomes Viṣṇu, and in this form he becomes the protector of all. Similarly the qualities of Rajas and Tamas assume the forms of Brahmadeva and Śiva for discharging the functions of creation and destruction.

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Puṣṭi is the grace (Anugraha) of God which is to be inferred from its fruit or the results, which are ordinary, or of this world, and extraordinary, or of the next world. Mahāpuṣṭi, or the highest grace, is that which removes great obstacles and conduces to the attainment of God himself. Puṣṭi enables one to attain the four objects of life. Extraordinary, or special Puṣṭi, conduces to Bhakti, which leads to the attainment of God. The Bhakti, or devotion generated by this special grace, is called Puṣṭibhakti. The frame of mind generated by this kind of devotion is the desire of the attainment of God to the exclusion of everything else. This Puṣṭibhakti is of four kinds: (1) Pravāha-Puṣṭibhakti, (2) Maryādā-Puṣṭibhakti, (3) Puṣṭi-Puṣṭibhakti, (4) Śuddha-Puṣṭibhakti. The first is the path of those who, while engaged in a worldly life with its me and mine, which is compared to a stream (Pravāha), do acts calculated to bring about the attainment of God. The second is of those who, withdrawing their minds from worldly enjoyments, devote themselves to God by hearing discourses about him, singing his name, and such other processes. The third is of those who already enjoying God's grace are made by another grace competent to acquire knowledge useful for adoration; and thus they come to know all about the ways of God. The followers of this path have to depend on their own efforts for the acquisition of knowledge referred to. The fourth is of those who through mere love devote themselves to the singing and praising of God as if it were a haunting passion. This Bhakti is generated by God himself and does not depend upon man's will as the third, mentioned above, does. First a liking for himself is generated by God in the mind of a man to whom his grace extends. Then a man sets about acquiring knowledge about God, and all this is called Premabhakti (love adoration). Now the stages in the development of this are as follows: (1) love or liking (Preman), (2) attachment or addictedness (Āsakti), (3) a haunting passion, which is the mature condition of the first two (Vyasana). The haunting passion leads to the attainment of the end, that is, the highest bliss. Those in whom Bhakti has attained to this pitch reject with scorn the four kinds of Mukti and choose the eternal service of Hari, as noticed in the section on the Pāñcarātra system. By the haunting passion about Hari he is seen everywhere, and therefore everything becomes an object of love, and the devotee identifies himself with everything. Then the inner and the outer world is, for the devotee, full of Puruṣottama, or the highest soul. The final fruit of this devotion is admission to the eternal sports of Kṛṣṇa. The Bhaktas join in these sports, assuming the forms of cows, beasts, birds, trees, rivers, etc., and enjoy the company of Puruṣottama, which confers boundless joy. These eternal sports are like those which Kṛṣṇa went through when he became incarnate in Vraja and Vṛndāvana. Some of the devotees become in the celestial Vṛndāvana Gopas and Gopīs and join in the sports. The Maryādābhaktas attain Mukti called Sāyujya, which consists in being one with Hari. The Puṣṭibhaktas reject it with scorn and seek for participation in the sports of Hari.

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§ 64. These are the doctrines of the school of Vallabha. We will now proceed to give a short description of the practical modes of worship. Vallabha had a son named Viṭṭhaleśa, and they are spoken of respectively as Ācārya and Gosāīm or Gosvāmin. The latter had seven sons of the names of Giridhara, Govindarāya, Bālakṛṣṇa, Gokulanātha, Raghunātha, Yadunātha, and Ghanaśyāma. The Gurus of this sect ordinarily called Mahārājas are descendants of these seven. Each Guru has a temple of his own, and there are no public places of worship. The devotee should visit the temple of his Guru at stated intervals, which are eight in number during the day. The mode of worship is as follows. The conductor of the worship should rise early in the morning, utter the name of Bhagavat and rinse his mouth and then drink a little of the washings of the feet [of Bhagavat] and, with his face to the north or the east, should utter the name of Ācārya and pray to him and make a bow. The same should be done to Viṭṭhaleśa and the names of his seven sons should be uttered, as well as of one's own Guru, and then a bow should be made to Kṛṣṇa after uttering the names Govardhana and others. Then the river Yamunā should be remembered and bowed to, and six stanzas of a poem called Bhramaragītā should be repeated; and then the Gopīs, or cowherdesses, should be adored. After this the worshipper should

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answer the call of nature, wash his hands, feet and face, and then drink a portion of the washings of the feet of Kṛṣṇa, and eat the residue of the betel leaves supposed to be eaten by Kṛṣṇa. Then he should besmear his body with oil and bathe. After bathing he should drink in a little water, after repeating the name of Nārāyaṇa. Then he should make a perpendicular mark on his forehead with white earth, the mark of a lotus on the bosom and of a bamboo leaf on the arms, etc., twelve in all, to represent the twelve forms of Viṣṇu, Keśava, Nārāyaṇa, Mādhava, etc. He should then print the forms of the various weapons of Viṣṇu on his body, and then, saluting Vallabhācārya, should adore Kṛṣṇa with the Gopīs. He should then open the door of the temple and, going into the sleeping apartments, bring out the wreaths of flowers and all other things used on the previous day, and then sweep and clean the apartments. He should then brush the throne and make all the arrangements necessary for the reception of Kṛṣṇa awakened from sleep. He should then approach the bed-room and sing a song calling upon Kṛṣṇa to rise from sleep, to take the refreshments prepared for him and to go with his companions to the forest for grazing the cows. Kṛṣṇa should be brought out and placed on the throne. Rādhā should be placed to his left hand, and then the worshipper should prostrate himself before her. The refreshments already prepared should then be placed before them, and they should be requested to eat them. Then the bed should be dusted and cleaned and then Kṛṣṇa should be made to wash his mouth. Other refreshments should be then placed before the two. And at the end of all an Āratī, or waving of lamps, should be gone through with a song. Vallabhācārya should then be saluted. Then comes the bath of Kṛṣṇa. After bathing saffron paint should be applied. Then he should be dressed and milk given to him. Afterwards by the churning of milk froth should be prepared and offered to Kṛṣṇa. He should be then told to wash his mouth with water. Then betel leaves should be offered to him. Then a cradle should be adorned and Kṛṣṇa should be told to get into it, and then it should be rocked and toys should be got ready for the divine boy. Afterwards the mid-day dinner should be prepared. A Caukā, or a small four-legged table, should be placed before him and viands of all kinds in cups should be put on the table. The lord should then be told to eat them. A little rice should be placed in a small plate and, mixed with ghee, five or seven mouthfuls should be held before him. Then lamps should be waved about him. Subsequently all the other dishes should be offered. In this manner the ceremonies go on. A meal is again prepared at night and Kṛṣṇa is laid on the sleeping cot and made to sleep again. Thus the order of the ceremonies is as follows: (1) the ringing of the bell, (2) the blowing of the conch-shell, (3) awakening of the Lord (Ṭhākurji) and offering morning refreshments, (4) waving of lamps, (5) bathing, (6) dressing, (7) Gopīvallabha food, (8) leading the cows out for grazing, (9) the mid-day dinner, (10) waving of lamps, (11) after the last screen is drawn up and the God cannot be seen; this interval is called Anosara or Anavasara, i. e. no time for seeing him, (12) the finishing up, (13) the evening meal, (14) going to bed.

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Besides the ordinary worship detailed above, the followers of this sect hold a number of feasts and festivals, some of which are in honour of Vallabhācārya, his son and seven grandsons. The influence exercised by Vallabha and his successors over their adherents seems to have been immense, and this has come down to their descendants or existing Gurus of the sect also. This is kept up by the fact that the God cannot be worshipped independently in a public place of worship, but in the house and temple of the Guru or the Mahārāja, which therefore has to be regularly visited by the devotees with offerings. The followers of this system consist principally of the trading classes of Gujarāt, Rājputāna and further to the north about Mathurā. The principal doctrine which these latter are taught is that all their belongings should be dedicated to their Guru; and this doctrine is not seldom carried to an extreme. Among the different kinds of Bhakti mentioned above there is only one which contemplates non-attachment to worldly objects. The highest Bhakti as well as the others are generated in the heart of man by the grace of God; and the first even ripens into a haunting passion. This grace of God one may enjoy even while engaged in a worldly life. The Maryādā-Puṣṭi, which is one of the four forms and requires the restraint of passions, does not conduce to the attainment of the highest bliss, which consists in joining in the eternal sports of Hari in the Goloka. The spirit of this system, therefore, seems to be sportive enjoyments and it cannot but be expected to influence the ordinary life of its followers. Moral rigidity culminating in indifference to worldly enjoyments and self-abnegation does not appear to be a characteristic of this school. Vallabhācārya himself was a married man, and so were all his successors and so are all the Gurus of the sect, who are as much men of the world as their followers.

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§ 65. From the account we have given it will be seen that the fourth element of Vaiṣṇavism, that we have described in a preceding section, alone constitutes the religion of Vallabha. The sportive boy Kṛṣṇa of the cow-settlement with all his pranks is the highest god of this school; and his mistress Rādhā, who is mentioned only in the later books and dignified into his eternal consort, as will be mentioned further on, is the object of the deepest adoration. This sportive Kṛṣṇa with his Rādhā is transferred to a heaven which is in a region higher than the ordinary Vaikuṇṭha of Nārāyaṇa or Viṣṇu and is called Goloka. The highest aim of man's life is to get to this place and join in the sports. Thus the doings of Kṛṣṇa in Gokula and his relations with the men and women as well as the inferior animals, trees and even the river Yamunā constitute the basis of Vallabha's system and also its goal when transferred to Goloka.

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§ 66. About the same time as Vallabha there flourished in Bengal another propagator of the religion of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa, who is known by the name of Caitanya. The prominent distinction between the two appears to be, that while Vallabha and those who followed him

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XXIII. Caitanya.

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developed the ceremonial side of the religion, Caitanya and his successors devoted themselves to the cultivation of the emotional side. Caitanya endeavoured to win the hearts of man by instituting Kīrtanas or the fervent singing of songs about the love of Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa and other devotional matters. The love of the cowherd god and his mistress had already become the subject of bewitching songs by Jayadeva in Sanskrit and by other poets in the vernacular. Caitanya also was a more courageous reformer in so far as he cried down the mechanical religious ceremonial of the prevalent Hinduism and preached spiritual devotion and at the same time condemned the distinctions of castes and admitted all, including even Mahomedans, as his pupils.

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§ 67. Caitanya's original name was Bisambhar (Viśvambhara) Miśra, and his father's name was Jagannātha Miśra and mother's Sacī Debī. The father lived originally in Sylhet in Eastern Bengal, but had emigrated to Nadiya (Nabadvīpa) before the birth of Bisambhar, his youngest son. The eldest son's name was Bisvarūpa, who is called Nityānanda in the history of Caitanya. These were the only two sons of Jagannātha, and between these were eight daughters, who died young. Caitanya was born on the full-moon day of Phālguna in the year 1407 of the Śaka era, corresponding to 1485 A. D. He was afterwards called Kṛṣṇa Caitanya and was considered by his disciples an incarnation of Kṛṣṇa himself. As such he is reported to have played pranks with the women of the village, which, however, cannot be considered as historically true. Caitanya is also known by the name of Gaurāṅga, i. e. possessed of a fair and not a dark body, and Gauracandra, or fair moon. When he was eighteen years of age, he married a wife of the name of Lachmī Debī and began to live the life of a householder, taking pupils and giving them secular instruction. Soon after he took to a wandering life and visited many places in Eastern Bengal. Begging and singing were his occupation, and he is said to have collected a great deal of money. During his peregrinations his wife died, and on his return home he married another.

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When he was about twenty-three years of age, he went to Gayā to make offerings to his manes and on his return he began the mission of his life. He condemned the ritualistic system of the Brāhmaṇas and preached faith in Hari and the love of him as well as singing his name as the only effectual ways to salvation. He also preached the doctrine of the brotherhood of men, denouncing the system of castes. It is stated that the doctrine of faith and love had been preached before Caitanya by a person of the name of Advaitācārya, whose practice it was, after the performance of the usual Brāhmanic rites, to go to the banks of the Ganges and call out for the appearance of God to substitute the doctrine of faith and love for that of the performance of various rites. It is also said that this Ācārya was at first the instructor of Caitanya and afterwards became his pupil. Whatever it may have been, the new doctrine was first publicly proclaimed to the exclusion of others by Kṛṣṇa Caitanya. He was assisted by his brother Nityānanda, who was regarded as an incarnation of Balarāma, the brother of the god Kṛṣṇa. Caitanya now began to hold meetings for the singing and glorification of the name of Hari. These were at first private and held in the house of a pupil named Srībāsa.

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The doings of these devotees met with scorn and ridicule, especially at the hands of the worshippers of Kālī, one of whom put red flowers and goat's blood on the steps of the door of the house in which the Vaiṣṇava meetings were held. The fervour displayed at these Kīrtanas, or singing of the name of Hari, gradually increased in intensity, until the loud singers and principally Caitanya himself swooned away and dropped senseless on the ground. In the year 1510 Caitanya became a Saṃnyāsin, or an ascetic, and was initiated into the order by Keśab Bhāratī of Katva. After this he first went to Purī to visit the shrine of Jagannātha, and thence wandered about the country for six years preaching his new faith ¹). On one occasion he went to Benares, where he is reported to have held a disputation with Prakāśānanda, a teacher of the monistic Vedānta of Saṃkarācārya. Caitanya condemned Saṃkara's commentary on the Vedāntasūtras and said that it mystified the sense of the original. Saṃkarācārya did not give the plain ordinary sense of the words of Bādarāyaṇa, but forced his own views into them. The doctrine of development (Pariṇāmavāda) was held by the author of the Sūtras, while Saṃkarācārya rejects it and brings in his doctrine of illusion (Vivartavāda). The former alone is true according to Caitanya. After these wanderings he returned to Purī, where he spent the last eighteen years of his life, and died in Śaka 1455, corresponding to 1533 A. D.

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¹ The above is an abstract of the account given by J. Beames in his paper published in Ind. Ant. Vol. II, pp. 1 ff.

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§ 68. Some of the doctrines attributed to Caitanya are as follows. Kṛṣṇa is the highest god and is so beautiful that he excites love for himself even in the heart of the God of love, and is enamoured of himself. His Parabrahmaśakti (power) pervades the universe and assumes a corporeal form by his wonder-creating power (Māyāśakti), though he is the soul of all. He possesses a self-multiplying power (Vilāsaśakti) which is of two kinds. By one of these, in sporting with the cowherdesses, he became as many Kṛṣṇas as were sufficient to give one to every two of them (Prābhavavilāsa). By the other self-multiplying power (Vaibhavavilāsa) he assumes the forms of the four Vyūhas, or forms of Vāsudeva, Saṃkarṣaṇa, etc., Vāsudeva representing intelligence, Saṃkarṣaṇa, consciousness, Pradyumna, the love, and Aniruddha, sportiveness. Here, it will be seen, the functions of the four Vyūhas are changed, and the principle of love is attributed to Pradyumna, instead of that of the mind as in the older system, and that of sportiveness, instead of self-consciousness which is transferred to Saṃkarṣaṇa, is attributed to Aniruddha. This change is in consonance with a system of which love and sport form the distinguishing characteristics. All the usual incarnations spring from one or other of the Vyūhas. According as the quality of Sattva, Rajas, or Tamas predominates, Kṛṣṇa becomes Viṣṇu, Brahmadeva, or Śiva, respectively. The sports of Kṛṣṇa go on always, as the rising and setting of the sun. His eternal sports are carried on in the Goloka. Kṛṣṇa has three powers: the internal which is intelligence, the external which generates appearances, and the differentiated which forms the Jīva, or individual soul. His chief power is that which creates dilatation of the heart, or joy. This appears to be the power of love. When this love becomes settled in the heart of the devotee, it constitutes Mahābhāva, or the best feeling. When love attains to the highest pitch, it constitutes itself into Rādhā, who is the most lovable of all and full of all qualities. She was the object of the highest love of Kṛṣṇa and being idealised as love, some of the agreeable feelings of the heart are considered her ornaments. The sports of the cowherdesses were due to simple love (Preman), and this it was that Uddhava and other devotees sought to attain. The Supreme Soul (Paramātman) is boundless and is full intelligence itself. The individual soul is an atom having intelligence. They are necessarily connected together and this connection can never be destroyed. Kṛṣṇa is the support (Āśraya) and Jīva rests on him (Āśrita). The relation between the two is identity as well as difference. Thus the Vedāntic theory of Caitanya's system is the same as that of Nimbārka. As the bee is distinct from the honey and hovers about it and, when it drinks it, is full of it, i. e. is one with it, so the individual soul is at first distinct from the Supreme Soul, seeks the Supreme Soul consistently and continuously and, when through love he is full of the Supreme Soul, he becomes unconscious of his individual existence and becomes, as it were, absorbed in him. Herein is described the ecstatic condition in which the individual soul becomes one with God, though they are really distinct. Kṛṣṇa is the lord of the power of delusion, or ignorance (Māyā), and Jīva is the slave of it. When the latter cuts off its shackles, he distinctly sees his own nature and his true relation to God. Kṛṣṇa is to be approached and attained by Bhakti alone ¹).

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¹ See Gaurāṅgatattvasaha Gaurāṅgacarita by Prasanna Kumāra Vidyāratna, printed at Calcutta.

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§ 69. Kṛṣṇa Caitanya, Nityānanda and Advaitānanda are called the three Prabhus, or masters of the sect. The descendants of Nityānanda live at Nadiya, and those of Advaita at Śāntipur. They are the spiritual heads of the sect. Nityānanda was appointed by Caitanya himself as the superior of the church. His female descendants live at Bālegor and male ones at Khordu near Barrackpur. There are temples belonging to Caitanya's followers at Mathurā, Vṛndāvana, and three principal ones in Bengal: one at Nadiya dedicated to Caitanya, the other at Ambikā, to Nityānanda, and the third at Agradvīpa, to Gopinātha. There is a shrine dedicated to Caitanya in the vicinity of Dhākādakṣiṇa in Northern Sylhet, where his father originally lived. It is visited by pilgrims from all parts of the district and even from Bengal. At Khetur, in the Rajaṣāhi district, a temple is erected in his honour, where a religious fair is held in the month of October, which is attended by about 25,000 persons.

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The sectarian marks worn by the followers of Caitanya are two white perpendicular lines on the forehead joined together at the bridge of the nose and a line continued up to the tip of the nose. They also use necklaces of three strings of Tulasī beads and a rosary of the same, as a help in the muttering of Hari's name. The worship of Gurus, or spiritual heads, as gods characterises this system. Most of Advaita's followers observe caste distinctions, but a minority rejects them. This minority consists of Bairāgīs, or recluses. In one branch of the sect there are monks as well as nuns. They live in the same convent. And there is only a platonic relation between them. A person of the name of Rām Saram Pāl of the Sadgopa caste founded about two hundred years ago a branch of the sect called Kartābhājas, or worshippers of the Kartā, or headman. It admits of recruits from all castes and observes no distinction. The founder, also called Kartā Bābā, died at Ghoṣapur, and his votaries assemble periodically to do honour to him. The spiritual teachers of Caitanya's sect, whether male or female, are celebates.

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The three Prabhus, or masters, did not leave any compositions. But Caitanya's pupils, especially Rūpa and Sanātana, wrote a great deal. A work by the latter entitled Rasāmṛtasindhu contains an analysis of the feeling of love, or Bhakti, explaining the states of mind which lead to it and its various forms. A considerable body of literature has grown up round this system of religion.

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XXIV. Debasement of Vaiṣṇavism.

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§ 70. The worship of Rādhā, more prominently even than that of Kṛṣṇa, has given rise to a sect, the members of which assume the garb of women with all their ordinary manners and affect to be subject even to their monthly sickness. Their appearance and acts are so disgusting that they do not show themselves very much in public, and their number is small. Their goal is the realisation of the position of female companions and attendants of Rādhā; and hence probably they assume the name of Sakhibhāvas (literally, the condition of companions). They deserve notice here only to show that, when the female element is idolised and made the object of special worship, such disgusting corruptions must ensue. The worship of Durgā in the form of Tripurasundarī has led to the same result.

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Though the Vaiṣṇava systems of Nimbārka, Vallabha and Caitanya are based on the fourth element of Vaiṣṇavism that we have pointed out in a preceding section, still that element has undergone an important modification. Before, Kṛṣṇa was a person who had amorous dalliances with the Gopīs generally. But now Kṛṣṇa had a definite consort in Rādhā, who had a large number of female companions, who were probably the original Gopīs. She is indissolubly united with him in the creed of the worshippers. This Rādhā is not mentioned by name in the Harivaṃśa, Viṣṇu-Purāṇa and the Bhāgavata. In the last, however, among the cowherdesses engaged in Kṛṣṇa's amorous sports in Vṛndāvana on an autumnal moonlight night, there was one with whom the youthful god carried on his dalliance further, after he had become invisible to the rest. This woman became proud of Kṛṣṇa's special attachment for her, whereupon the god disappeared from her also. Here was contained a suggestion which probably led to the creation of Rādhā in later times. In the apocryphal Nāradapañcarātra - Saṃhitā, as mentioned before, the one single lord is represented to have become two, one a woman and the other a man, who was he himself. He then had amorous intercourse with her. The woman was Rādhā. In the Brahmavaivarta-Purāṇa she has been made to spring from the primordial body of Kṛṣṇa, forming its left side, and is eternally associated with him in his amorous sports in this world as well as the world of cows (Goloka). The name of Rukmiṇī occurs in the ordinary forms of Kṛṣṇaism, but in the systems named above it is entirely absent. The introduction of Rādhā’s name and her elevation to a higher position even than Kṛṣṇa’s operated as a degrading element in Vaiṣṇavism, not only because she was a woman, but also because she was originally a mistress of the cowherd god, and her amorous dealings were of an overt character.

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In the Rāma cultus Sītā is a dutiful and loving wife and is benignant towards the devotees of her husband. She holds a position entirely subordinate to Rāma, while Rādhā is often preferred to Kṛṣṇa. There is no amorous suggestion in her story as in that of Rādhā, and consequently the moral influence of Rāmaism is more wholesome. Kabīr does not, so far as I know, mention the name of Sītā at all. He was a strict monotheist and his Rāma was the supreme lord (Sāheb) only. Those other teachers who followed him maintain the same attitude, so that the Rāma cultus represents a saner and purer form of Hindu religious thought than Rādhākṛṣṇaism.

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XXV. Nāmdev and Tukārām.

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§ 71. The popular Vaiṣṇavism of the Marāṭha country centres itself round the shrine of Viṭhobā at Paṇḍharpur, which is a city situated on the banks of the Bhīmā or Bhīmarathī. The full name of the god is Viṭṭhal, which is not a Sanskrit name, but the etymology is clear enough. It is stated that the corruption of the Sanskrit name Viṣṇu in the Canarese language is Viṭṭhu, and this looks probable, since Kṛṣṇa is corrupted into Kuṣṭa in the Goanese dialect and Kuṭṭa, Kiṭṭi, or Kṛṣṭa in the Canarese, and we have seen that Viṣṇu, the first portion of the name of the Hoysala prince Viṣṇuvardhana, was corrupted to Viṭṭi or Biṭṭi¹. The terminations bā and la are appended to the name Viṣṇu or Viṭṭhu to indicate additional sense such as tenderness or reverence. When the shrine was established we have not the means of determining, but we have clear evidence of its being in existence in the middle of the thirteenth century. In a copper-plate inscription of the reign of Kṛṣṇa of the Yādava dynasty of Devagiri it is stated that Malliseṭṭi a general and viceroy of the king made, while engaged on a military expedition, the grant of a village in the Belgaum district at Pauṇḍarīkakṣetra, a holy place situated on the Bhīmarathī, in the vicinity of the god Viṣṇu, in the year 1171 of the Śaka era corresponding to 1249 A. D.

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² Now if the Pauṇḍarīkakṣetra was situated on the Bhīmarathī or Bhīmā river, it is certainly not unreasonable to suppose that is was the same as Paṇḍharī which is the alternative name of Paṇḍharpur; and the god in whose vicinity the grant was made must therefore have been Viṭṭhal, or Viṭhobā, here mentioned by his Sanskrit name and not the popular Canarese corruption. In another inscription on stone existing at Paṇḍharpur itself and dated 1192 Śaka, which corresponds to 1270 A. D., Bhānu, the son of Keśava, is represented to have performed an Aptoryāma sacrifice in Pāṇḍuraṅgapura in consequence of which crowds of people and Viṭṭhala together with the gods were greatly gratified¹. Here we have another name of Paṇḍharpur and that was probably given to it because it was the city of Pāṇḍuraṅga. Paṇḍaraṅga, or Pāṇḍuraṅga, is according to Hemacandra a name of Rudra or Śiva². And we have a temple of Śiva at Paṇḍharpur and pilgrims have to visit it first before going to that of Viṭhobā or Viṭṭhal. Pāṇḍuraṅga, which is the same as the Pāṇḍuraṅga of Hemacandra, is however in modern times a popular name for Viṭṭhal. Whether then the city was called Pāṇḍuraṅgapura on account of it containing the temple of Viṣṇu, or Viṭṭhal, or that of Śiva is doubtful.

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But from the wording of the inscription in which Viṭṭhala and Pāṇḍuraṅgapura are mentioned independently it would appear as if Viṭṭhal had no connection with the name and that it was given to the city on account of its containing a Śiva temple. But when Viṭhobā's importance increased in later times so vastly that Śiva was thrown entirely into the shade, Pāṇḍuraṅga became identical with Viṭṭhala. The name Pauṇḍarīka occuring in the first inscription seems to owe its origin to a man named Puṇḍarīka, the popular legend about whom is to the following effect. The region about Paṇḍharpur was, it is said, a forest of the name of Diṇḍiravana. There lived a man of the name of Puṇḍalīka, who spent all his time in the service of his aged parents, and the god Kṛṣṇa was pleased with his devotion to them. In the meantime, while Kṛṣṇa was living at Dvārakā, he remembered Rādhā, who was the object of his fervent love while he was in Gokula. Rādhā, who had after Kṛṣṇa's leaving Gokula betaken herself to a residence in the Himālaya mountain for the practice of austerities in consequence of her separation from Kṛṣṇa, came to know of this through her innate cognitive power and came at once to Dvārakā and sat on the lap of Kṛṣṇa. Some time after, Rukmiṇī, the wedded wife of Kṛṣṇa, came to the place, and Rādhā did not rise up to honour her as every other woman in similar circumstances did at her approach.

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Kṛṣṇa even did not take Rādhā to task for this dishonour of Rukmiṇī, and Rukmiṇī got offended, left Dvārakā and wandered about, until she came to Diṇḍiravana and rested there on the site of the modern Paṇḍharpur. Kṛṣṇa was filled with sorrow at the disappearance of Rukmiṇī and went about in quest of her to all parts of the country, until he came to the place where Rukmiṇī was lying. After some explanations she was reconciled to him, and Kṛṣṇa then went to the hut of Puṇḍalīka to reward him for his devotion to his parents by personal manifestation.

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¹ See above, p. 52.

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² Indian Antiquary, Vol. XIV, p. 68 ff.

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¹ Early History of the Dekkan, Second Ed., p. 115, in which, however, Keśava, the father of Bhānu, is by mistake represented as the sacrificer.

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² Deśīnāmamālā VI, 23.

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Puṇḍalīka being engaged in attending to the wants of his father and mother was not able to greet him at once and threw back a brick (Marāṭhī: viṭ) and asked him to stand on it and wait for him until he finished what he was engaged on. Kṛṣṇa stood on the brick and there he was joined by Rukmiṇī, and thus the shrine of Paṇḍharpur grew up.

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Puṇḍalīka has been referred to as the originator of the Viṭṭhal cult of devotion both by Nāmdev and Tukārām, and that is the popular belief. The legend points to this fact and we may therefore take him to be the person who promulgated the cult of Viṭhobā, or Viṣṇu, in the Marāṭha country. He established himself at Paṇḍharpur and it must be on that account that the city is called the holy place (Kṣetra) Pauṇḍarika, which I identify with the modern name Paṇḍharī in the first inscription. The Pāṇḍuraṅgapura of the second may have become the later Paṇḍharpur.

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There is another historical significance in this legend, and that appears to be this. At first, no woman was connected with the Kṛṣṇa worship, as we have seen in the case of the pure Pāñcarātra or Bhāgavata system. Then came Rādhā to be associated with him in the north, as we have seen, in the systems of Nimbārka, Vallabha and Caitanya, while Rukmiṇī, the lawful wife, was united with him in the Marāṭha country. The Kṛṣṇa of Paṇḍharpur is almost exclusively known by the name of Viṭṭhala or Viṭhobā, and Rukmiṇī by the name of Rakhamāī or Rakhamābāī. In the religious literature of the country Viṭṭhala, or Kṛṣṇa, is almost exclusively spoken of as Rukmiṇīpati or Rukmiṇīvara, the lord or husband of Rukmiṇī, and not as Rādhāvallabha, or the lover of Rādhā. Thus the Vaiṣṇavism of the Marāṭha country, associated as it is with these two names, is more sober and purer than that of the three systems named above. Rāhī, the Marāṭhī form of Rādhikā, is not unknown, but an insignificant place is assigned to her. The sports of Kṛṣṇa in Gokula are also represented occasionally in the mode of worship, but very little importance is attached to them. This Vaiṣṇavism of the Marāṭha country found a fertile soil among the lower classes, though it has had followers among Brāhmaṇs and other higher classes also. Like the Vaiṣṇavism of the disciples of Rāmānanda, it had no learned or Sanskrit-knowing promulgators, but its prophets were Śūdras, who, however, had the true religious instinct and possessed a clear spiritual insight. Such were Nāmdev and Tukārām.

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§ 72. The family of Nāmdev originally lived at a village called Narasi Vāmaṇī, situated near Karhāḍ in the Sātāra district, and now known by the name of Bhayē-Narsingpur or Kolem-Narasingpur. It belonged to the tailor caste and followed that occupation or of dealers in cloth. The name of Nāmdev’s father was Dāmā Seṭ, and that of his mother, Goṇābāī. They migrated to Paṇḍharpur, where Nāmdev was born in the Śaka year 1192, corresponding to 1270 A. D. Nāmdev received ordinary education, but showed little capacity for the usual occupation of his family. He became a devoted worshipper of Viṭhobā and had for his Guru a person named Visobā Khecar, who appears to have been a non-idolater. For Nāmdev says of him that he gave him the following instruction: —

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No. 191 ¹). “A stone-god never speaks. What possibility then of his removing the disease of mundane existence? A stone image is regarded as God, but the true God is wholly different. If a stone-god fulfils desires, how is it he breaks when struck? Those who adore a god made of stone, lose everything through their folly. Those who say and hear that a god of stone speaks to his devotees, are both of them fools. Those who extol the greatness of such a god and call themselves his devotees, should be regarded as worthless persons and their words should not be heard by the ear. If, by chiselling a stone, a god is made of it and is worshipped with care for many years, will he be of use at any time? Do reflect on this well in your mind. Whether a holy place is small or large, there is no god but stone or water. In the village of Dvādaśī (Bārsī) ²) instruction was given that there is no place which is devoid of God. That God was shown to Nāmā in his heart, and thus Khecar conferred a blessing on him.”

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¹ Tukārām Tātya's edition, published in Bombay in 1894.

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² Bārsī is a town near Paṇḍharpur.

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The omnipresence of God and his being neither stock nor stone are well brought out here. The omnipotence of God Nāmdev brings out the following: —

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No. 151. “The Veda has to speak by thy might and the sun has to move round; such is the might of thee, the lord of the universe. Knowing this essential truth, I have surrendered myself to thee. By thy might it is that the clouds have to pour down rain, mountains to rest firm and the wind to blow. Nothing moves at all (without thee). Oh lord Pāṇḍurang, thou art the cause of all.”

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It will thus be seen that, though Nāmdev worshipped the idol at Paṇḍharpur, he had full knowledge of the true nature of God, as given in treatises like the Upaniṣads; and this God it was that he tried to attain.

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No. 1029. “Your mind is full of vices. What is the use of the pilgrimages you make? What is the use of austere practices, if there is no repentance? The sins resulting from a mental act cannot be effaced by the highest holy place (literally: the father of the holy places). The essence of the matter is very simple: Sin is effaced by repentance”, so says Nāmā.

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No. 887. “Vows, fasts, and austerities are not at all necessary; nor is it necessary for you to go on a pilgrimage. Be you watchful in your hearts and always sing the name of Hari. It is not necessary to give up eating food or drinking water; fix your mind on the feet of Hari. Yoga or sacrificial ceremonies or giving up objects of desire is not wanted. Realise a fondness for the feet of Hari. Neither is it necessary for you to contemplate (lit. dwell in) the one without attributes. Hold fast to the love of the name of Hari; says Nāmā, be firm in singing the name and then Pāṇḍurang will render himself manifest to you.”

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