-“...the saints of Islam who excelled the Hindu
priesthood and monks in active piety, energy and far sight , began
prosely-
tizing on a wide scale not so much by force, as by the fervor of
their faith
and their exemplary character. They lived and preached among the
low-
caste Hindus then as ever in the grip of superstition and social
repression.
The new converts in rural areas became a source of additional
strength to
the Muslim Government. About a century after the military and
political
conquest of Bengal there began the process of moral and spiritual
conquest
of the land through the efforts of the Muslim religious
fraternities that now
arose in every corner “. (History of Bengal, chap 111)
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(“ more political than religious”-History of
Bengal )
–
Except the usual obeisance and homage to Chaitanya and general
pas-
sages testifying to his identity with the supreme deity, there is
nowhere in
the extensive works of the early authoritative Gosvamins (Rupa,
Sanatana &
Jiva) and direct reference to his personal views and teachings.
These theo-
logians and philosophers are chiefly concerned with godhead of
Krishna.
Krishna and his Lila as revealed in the older scriptures and
Krishna in their
theory as we shall presently see, is not an Avatara, but the
supreme deity
himself. There are almost entirely silent about Chaitanya-Lila and
its place
in their devotional scheme and it is somewhat strange that in
preserving a
system in Chaitanya’s name they rely exclusively upon older sources
and
do not refer at all to his direct realization of spiritual truth.
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“… while the intellectual seriousness or the ethical nobility of
the
heart is hardly propounded with force of direct realization, in as
much as
they are completely merged in a floating mass of uncertain myths,
legends
and traditional beliefs.” ,
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’ Vaisnava Faith and
Movement
Unlike the Vrindavana Gosvamis, they take Chaitanya as the
cen-
tre of their thought and emotion, and regard him as the highest
reality
and object of adoration of their faith. This has been characterized
as the
Gauraparamya-Vada, which the Vrindavana Gosvamis never discuss or
set
forth in their theological treatises. In the eyes of the
contemporary com-
posers of padas of Chaitanya for instance, Chaitanya is Krisna
himself who
in his recollection for Vrindavana pines for Radha. They also
believe in the
Radha Bhava of Chaitanya as both Krisna and Radha in one
personality.
They do not, however, consider it necessary to discuss the
question, but
take it as already established by Anubhava or personal experience.
Narahari
and his disciple Lochana, however, develop a doctrine of
Gaura-nagara-bha-
va in which the devotee (in the Raganuga way) regards Chaitanya as
the
Nagara and himself as a Nagara. But this doctrine receives little
credit in
the orthodox circles….
’
- “
” “
,
((means to an end)
(end in itself)” ()
’ -
- -
’ Vaisnava Faith and Movement
-
“Vasudeva paints Chaitanya as a devout person even from his birth :
and
like Narahari and some other Pada-writers, he believes in the
Radha-bha-
va of the Chaitanya incarnation – a doctrine, which is found indeed
in the
Stotras of Gosvamins and in the Ramananda Ray episode described
by
Krisnadasa Kaviraja, but which must have been a dogma of an earlier
Na-
vadvipa origin.” -
) ‘In these Padas, as in the lives of Caitanya which derive
their
inspiration from the Navadvipa circle, and to which they have a
natural
affinity, no abstruse theology obscures the simple and passionate
faith; to
them Caitanya is not an image of their supreme deity but the deity
himself
incarnated – not a means, but an end in itself’.
- S. K. De : Vaisnava Faith & Movement
