Secret Forms of Worship
The presence among the Chaitanyas of a great many low-caste people, largely if not entirely illiterate, and the almost entire lack of anything like spiritual supervision over them by sect leaders, makes of them a fruitful field for corrupt forms and weird practices.
There have always been these elements of corrupt Vaishnavism in Bengal, and they have usually found their adherents from among the neglected lower ranks.
It is difficult to get at the facts about such secret practices, or to ascertain their strength and prevalence in the sect. We can do little more than mention the existence of these groups.
Sahajiyās
The Sahajiyās were dealt with somewhat in the introductory chapter. We have noted the possible influence of the Sahajiyā theory on the theological development of the Rādhā-Krishna idea.
Just what is represented by the actual practice of those who call themselves by this name today is not so easy to determine. The main drift of their teaching, however, is not difficult.
They oppose the gopī doctrine of Chaitanya and his followers,
which makes the bhakta seek to imagine himself a Gopī, in the effort to realise within his own heart the passionate devotion which the gopis felt for Krishna. With the heart of a woman one must worship, taught Chaitanya.
This, the Sahajiyās say, is unnatural. The natural way is to worship with the help of a woman. This is the natural religion (sahaja-dharma) of human passion.
The worshipper is to think of himself as Krishna and is to realise within himself the passion of Krishna for Rādhā, who is represented by the female companion of his worship.
Through sexual passion salvation is to be found. The Rādhā-Krishna stories are held as the justification of their practices, which are secret and held at night.
Kiśorībhajās
The Kiśorībhajās, as indicated by their name (maiden worship) are worshippers of and with young maidens. They differ little, if any, from the Sahajiyās in their theory.
Participants of both sexes gather at night at designated places for their bhajan, worship, spending much of the night in singing Rādhā-Krishna songs and in Krishna-līlā, i.e. imitation of the Krishna play with the gopīs.
Just what the ritual followed consists of is unknown, but the Kiśorībhajās are commonly believed to be little different in practice from the Vāmāchārīs, the left-hand Śaktas.
Members of higher castes in the community are known to join these meetings, but they do so incognito. The extent of this group is considerable in the more populous Vaishnava districts.
There was a general meeting of Kiśorībhajās held some years ago near Dacca, attended by large numbers.
Chaitanya pandits from Vrindāvan ruled their ideas out of court as heretical, and this led to considerable correspondence in the vernacular papers. This would seem to indicate the existence of many adherents.
Śrī Rūpa Sevā
This is a secret form reported to me from Sylhet, where it is taught to the villagers by wandering vairāgīs.
Those who become initiated receive a second mantra and this teaching, as a higher form of Vaishnavism. The second mantra is represented as necessary to make operative the latent power of the first, or dīkṣā mantra.
All this goes on at night, and there is something about it that respectable women find repulsive. It seems probable that this is only a variant of the Kiśorībhajās worship.
Neṛā-Neṛīs
We have already traced the origin of this body, in the movement towards Vaishnavism of the stranded remnants of the Buddhist mendicant orders.
Its connection with Nityānanda or his son, Vīrabhadra, seems clear enough, as was witnessed by the mela held every year until recently at the Khardaha seat of the Nityānanda Gosvāmīs in commemoration of the reception of this group into the Vaishnava fold.
They are particularised in one Vaishnava work of the period as "Vīrabhadra's Neṛās." All this as to their origin is clear, but what is not so clear is their relation to the Chaitanya sect:
Most leaders of the sect would refuse to recognise them as having any connection, now or at any time, with Chaitanya Vaishnavas.
Some maintain that they were organised as a separate mendicant group by Vīrabhadra, and have always continued as such. They certainly are not counted as ordinary vairāgīs of the sect.
Dr. Sen seems to consider them as synonymous with the Sahajiyās.
In name, at least, they still persist as a distinct group. I am told that at the annual mela held in the village of Bāghnāpāra in the month of Māgh (January-February), these people congregate in large numbers.
The truth seems to be that there is little to distinguish these various groups of discredited and degenerate Vaishnavas from one another.
Some may affect particularities of dress more ragged or fantastic than others, and there are doubtless differences in tradition and custom between them.
But as they are to be seen today at a village mela, the outward appearance is much the same. They all share pretty much the same essential doctrine, to justify their sensual mode of worship and to cover their loose living.
There are various groups of Vaishnavas in Bengal which are not considered as belonging to the Chaitanya Vaishnavas,
but which claim some relation to the sect, or look upon Chaitanya as their founder, or show in their doctrine or practices the influence of the larger body.
I shall consider briefly the more important of these groups.
Karttābhajās
This sect was founded by an ascetic named Aul Chand, a contemporary of Chaitanya, among low-caste people.
It was greatly developed by a disciple, named Rām Charan Pāl, of Ghoshpārā, near Kanchrapara, just out of Calcutta. By him and his followers, Aul Chand was identified with Chaitanya, indeed these two and Krishna were held to be one.
The descendants of Rām Charan Pāl have continued in power ever since, some of those holding the supreme power having been women.
The ruling Karttā, or Thākur, as he is called, is supreme in authority and designates his successor.
The gurus of the sect, called Mahāśay, are under him and subject to him. They are assigned to different villages, one to each. They give mantras to disciples, first a partial one, then full after a period of proved devotion.
The divinity of the guru is taught and his supreme rights over the bodies of disciples.
All gifts and income from disciples are brought to the Karttā by the gurus once a year, at a grand festival held at Ghoshpārā. Many stories of miracles of healing performed at this time are circulated, and believed by the people.
Caste lines are not observed. Some of the gurus are Moslems, and all followers eat together. The sect has had a considerable growth, but the adherents are mostly women.
There is no literature of the sect to speak of. Songs are its characteristic expression, but they are not the work of cultured men.
Aul Chand gave 10 commandments on moral living to his followers, which form the moral basis of the sect's teaching. Truth-speaking is stressed, and abstention from liquor, meat, etc.
The influence of the Chaitanya movement is evident in the emphasis on bhakti and prema (love) as the chief end of life.
They have a few temples, but worship no idols. There are no mendicant members. The obligation to attend and give to the Ghoshpārā festival is prominent in the requirements.
The census give no reliable data, as the adherents return themselves as Hindus and Moslems.
A curious chapter in the history of the Brahma Samaj is connected with the Karttābhajās:
It appears that in the 80-s of the 19th century, several members and even ministers of the Brahma Samaj were members of this sect, recognising the sect leaders as their gurus. They were led to this action, seemingly, by the desire for "a short cut" to the spiritual life.
Pandit Bijoy Krishna Gosvāmī, who had come out of the Chaitanya sect into the Brahma Samaj, was finally deposed from his position as minister in the Sādhāraṇ Samaj,
on the grounds of introducing a new system of religious discipline, reference being to the practices of the sect.
There is practically nothing in common between this group and the followers of Gaurāṅga.
Bāuls
The Bāuls are a group of Bengal Vaishnavas whose name indicates their standing. The word means mad.
They lay claim to Chaitanya as their founder, but the sect was probably in existence before Chaitanya's day. Their origins are obscure.
Their main doctrine, summed up in the term dehatattva, is the presence of God in the human body and the sufficiency of self-worship.
All deities and sacred places exist in the body, and the way of worship is the cultivation of love for the deity within.
This is best achieved through sex-love and the worship of woman. Female companions, therefore, are essential.
The full realisation in sexual experience of the Līlās of Rādhā-Krishna is exalted as the supreme worship. Naturally it is secret. Procreation is looked upon as evil, leading to rebirth.
By means of a revolting drink, compounded of the excreta of the cow, they seek the so-called power of Krishna, i.e. sex-union without issue.
The sect is noteworthy for its rejection of image worship.
The Gosvāmīs of the Chaitanyas are not recognised by the Bāuls,
although they exalt their own gurus. The word of a Guru takes precedence over the śāstras. Their ākhrās are founded at the grave of a guru which they honour with worship.
They are not strictly vegetarian, as are the Chaitanya Vaishnavas, and they observe no fasts.
They wear a long yellow robe known as ālkhellā, often mere rags patched together, use Tilakas and necklaces made of glass, coral and seeds, and wear the hair and beard long, the hair often rolled up in crest shape on the head.
Daṇḍavat is their form of salutation. They live in ākhrās much as the Chaitanya vairāgīs do, but the better class do not beg promiscuously. Some practice yoga, and pride themselves on being superior to the Chaitanya vairāgīs.
They have something of a literature in Bengali, but the technical terms of their prakṛti sādhana (worship of the female principle) make the meaning of their songs difficult to understand.
Popularly the sect is known as weird singers in ragged garb:
Not only their dress, but their musical instruments, their dancing and their songs are all characterised by a kind of queerness which makes them very amusing. The quaint allegories and rustic philosophy of their songs are highly appreciated by the lower classes.
Their exhibitions are upon the whole so enjoyable that, in most of the important towns of Bengal, amateur parties of Bāuls have been organised, who cause great merriment on festive occasions by their mimicry.
Darbesh
The Vaishnavas who go by this name are traditionally associated with the name of Sanātana Gosvāmī.
It is said that when he fled from his high post in the Kingdom of Gaur to join Chaitanya, he assumed the guise of a Muhammadan fakir, and was followed in this by certain Vaishnavas, who thus started a sect.
Moslem influence is evident in their songs, which extol the divine names of Islam.
Although an ascetic group, they are said to follow the Bāuls with respect to sensual modes of worship.
They are similar also in dress and in their aversion to all use of images. Instead of wooden necklaces they use bead, coral and glass.
Shains
The Shains are a branch of the Darbesh.
They are more radical in their freedom from social rules and restrictions, observing no caste distinctions. They take wine and beef, for instance, and accept food from any and all.
Jaganmohinī Sect.
The Vaishnavas of this group, numbering some 5’000, almost entirely of Sylhet, do not claim any connection whatever with the Chaitanyas, although they bear considerable similarity to them.
Their name is that of the founder of the sect, whose tomb is marked by an Ākhrā near Habiganj, Sylhet.
Originally this sect discarded idols and the tulsi plant, and inculcated a more spiritual form of worship, but the dead pull of custom, and pressure from Vrindāvan, resulted in a return to more orthodox Vaishnava ways.
The songs used in their worship are concerned with Hari, Krishna and Rāma, and include the praises of Chaitanya, but these songs are their own and not the usual Vaishnava pādas.
They have a large and prosperous Ākhrā at Bithangal, in Sylhet, which is reported to have an annual income of Rs. 40,000 from disciples' gifts. The inmates are all vairāgīs, and are credited with a stricter life than that of the Chaitanya vairāgīs.