Early History of the Vaishnava Faith and Movement in Bengal, from Sanskrit and Bengali Sources c9.s5.1

c9.s5.1

It is indeed a remarkable fact that although direct worship of Caitanya as a deity prevailed, according to the testimony of his Bengali biographical works, even during his life-time, the Sanskrit sources of Caitanyaism (with the exception of the Sanskrit biographical works of Murāri and Kavikarṇapūra) are entirely wanting in all reference to a distinct cult of Caitanya, and they nowhere inculcate directly such a worship. The whole object of the learned Sanskrit works of the Vṛndāvana Gosvāmins, we have seen, is to establish that Kṛṣṇa is the exclusive object of worship, not as an Avatāra but as the supreme deity of the faith; and they attempt to demonstrate this proposition by an elaborate system of interpretation of those older Purāṇic and sectarian texts which the Bengal school would accept as authoritative. But they make no similar attempt anywhere to establish the supreme godhead or incarnated divinity of Caitanya, probably because such an attempt would have hardly been consistent with their central position that Kṛṣṇa alone is the supreme god. They acknowledge Caitanya as an Avatāra or even as Kṛṣṇa himself, but they never try to reconcile this practical faith in Caitanya with their theoretical creed regarding Kṛṣṇa. The whole theology or emotionalism of the religious system is deduced, more or less, from older devotional texts, chiefly from the Śrīmad-bhāgavata, and we have no direct presentation of the gospel or personal teachings of its founder, nor any express theological claim regarding his supreme and exclusive divinity. The recognized theologians of the sect, the Vṛndāvana Gosvāmins, are concerned principally with Kṛṣṇa-līlā in their serious works on theology or Rasa-śāstra, and do not speak in the same way at all about Caitanya-līlā and its place in their devotional scheme.¹