DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.636#0154
142 Vaishnavism. Caitanya Sect.
emotion, which at last affected his reason. His biographers
assert that in one of these fits he was translated directly to
Vishnu's heaven (Vaikuntha). According to some accounts
he ended his life by walking into the sea near Purl in Orissa,
fancying he saw a beatific vision of Krishna sporting on the
waves with his favourite Gopis. Certain it is that he dis-
appeared in a mysterious manner about A.D. 1527, at the age
of forty-two.
Then happened what has constantly taken place in the
religious history of India. Men of high aspirations, who have
laboured for the revival or reformation of religion, and re-
ceived homage as inspired teachers from crowds of disciples
during life, have been worshipped as actual deities at death.
The only question in the minds of Caitanya's devoted fol-
lowers was as to whether he was a full manifestation of the
Supreme Being (Krishna) or only a descent of a portion (ansa)
of his essence. The difficulty seems to have been settled by
deciding that Caitanya was none other than very Krishna
incarnate, and that his two principal disciples, Advaita and
Nityananda, were manifestations of portions of the same
deity. These three leaders of the sect are therefore called
the three great lords (Prabhus). They constitute the sacred
triad of this phase of Vaishnavism.
But a fourth leader, named Hari-das, who during his life-
time was a companion of Caitanya, is worshipped as a sepa-
rate divinity in Bengal. Indeed, all the living successors and
the present leaders of the sect, called Gosains(=Gosvamins),
are venerated as little less than deities by the Vaishnavas of
this school. For the worship of living religious leaders and
teachers (usually called by the general name Guru) is a
marked feature of this as of all forms of Vaishnavism. The
Guru with Vaishnavas is far more than a teacher, and even
more than a mediator between God and men. He is the
present god—the visible living incarnation of the deity. His
anger and favour make themselves instantly felt. He is on
emotion, which at last affected his reason. His biographers
assert that in one of these fits he was translated directly to
Vishnu's heaven (Vaikuntha). According to some accounts
he ended his life by walking into the sea near Purl in Orissa,
fancying he saw a beatific vision of Krishna sporting on the
waves with his favourite Gopis. Certain it is that he dis-
appeared in a mysterious manner about A.D. 1527, at the age
of forty-two.
Then happened what has constantly taken place in the
religious history of India. Men of high aspirations, who have
laboured for the revival or reformation of religion, and re-
ceived homage as inspired teachers from crowds of disciples
during life, have been worshipped as actual deities at death.
The only question in the minds of Caitanya's devoted fol-
lowers was as to whether he was a full manifestation of the
Supreme Being (Krishna) or only a descent of a portion (ansa)
of his essence. The difficulty seems to have been settled by
deciding that Caitanya was none other than very Krishna
incarnate, and that his two principal disciples, Advaita and
Nityananda, were manifestations of portions of the same
deity. These three leaders of the sect are therefore called
the three great lords (Prabhus). They constitute the sacred
triad of this phase of Vaishnavism.
But a fourth leader, named Hari-das, who during his life-
time was a companion of Caitanya, is worshipped as a sepa-
rate divinity in Bengal. Indeed, all the living successors and
the present leaders of the sect, called Gosains(=Gosvamins),
are venerated as little less than deities by the Vaishnavas of
this school. For the worship of living religious leaders and
teachers (usually called by the general name Guru) is a
marked feature of this as of all forms of Vaishnavism. The
Guru with Vaishnavas is far more than a teacher, and even
more than a mediator between God and men. He is the
present god—the visible living incarnation of the deity. His
anger and favour make themselves instantly felt. He is on