In January 1510, Chaitanya suddenly took it into his head to become a Sanyasi or ascetic, and received initiation at the hands of Keshab Bhârati of Katwa. Some say he did this to gain respect and credit as a religious preacher, others say it was done in consequence of a curse laid on him by a Brahman whom he had offended. Be this as it may, his craziness seems now to have reached its height. He wandered off from his home, in the first instance, to Purî to see the shrine of Jagannâth. Thence for six years he roamed all over India preaching Vaish.navism, and returned at last to Purî, where he passed the remaining eighteen years of his life and where at length he died in the 48th year of his age in 1534 A.D. His Bengali followers visited him for four months in every year and some of them always kept watch over him, for he was now quite mad. He had starved and preached and sung and raved himself quite out of his senses. On one occasion he imagined that a post in his veranda was Râdhâ, and embraced it so hard as nearly to smash his nose, and to cover himself with blood from scraping all the skin off his forehead; on another he walked into the sea in a fit of abstraction, and was fished up half dead in a net by a fisherman. His friends took it in turns to watch by his side all night lest he should do himself some injury.
The leading principle that underlies the whole of Chaitanya's system is Bhakti or devotion; and the principle is exemplified and illustrated by the mutual loves of Râdhâ and K.rish.na. In adopting this illustration of his principle, Chaitanya followed the example of the Bhagavad Gîtâ and the Bhâgavat Purâ.na, and he was probably also influenced in the sensual tone he gave to the whole by the poems of Jayadeva. The Bhakta or devotee passes through five successive stages, Sânta or resigned contemplation of the deity is the first, and from it he passes into Dâsya or the practice of worship and service, whence to Sákhya or friendship, which warms into Bâtsalya, filial affection, and lastly rises to Mádhurya or earnest, all-engrossing love.
Vaish.navism is singularly like Sufiism, the resemblance has often been noticed, and need here only be briefly traced. [Footnote: Conf. Capt. J. W. Graham's paper 'On Sufiism,' Bombay Literary Soc. Trans. Vol. I. pp. 89 et seqq.; Râjendralâla Mittra's valuable introduction to the Chaitanya Chandrodaya (Biblioth. Ind.), pp. ii-iv and xv; also Jones' 'Mystical Poetry of the Persians and Hindus,' Asiat. Res. Vol. III. pp. 165-207; and Leyden, 'On the Rosheniah Sect, &c.,' As. Res. Vol. XI. pp. 363-428.—ED.] With the latter the first degree is nâsût or 'humanity' in which man is subject to the law shara, the second tarîkat, 'the way' of spiritualism, the third ´arûf or 'knowledge,' and the fourth hakîkat or 'the truth.' Some writers give a longer series of grades, thus—talab, 'seeking after god;' ´ishk, 'love;' m´arifat, 'insight;' istighnâh, 'satisfaction;' tauhîd, 'unity;' hairat, 'ecstacy;' and lastly fanâ, 'absorption.' Dealing as it does with God and Man as two factors of a problem, Vaish.navism necessarily ignores the distinctions of caste, and Chaitanya was perfectly consistent in this respect, admitting men of all castes, including Muhammadans, to his sect. Since his time, however, that strange love of caste-distinctions, which seems so ineradicable from the soil of India, has begun again to creep into Vaish.navism, and will probably end by establishing its power as firmly in this sect as in any other.
Although the institution of love towards the divine nature, and the doctrine that this love was reciprocated, were certainly a great improvement on the morbid gloom of Šiva-worship, the colourless negativeness of Buddhism, and the childish intricacy of ceremonies which formed the religion of the mass of ordinary Hindus, still we cannot find much to admire in it. There seems to be something almost contradictory in representing the highest and purest emotions of the mind by images drawn from the lowest and most animal passions.
"Ut matrona meretrici dispar erit atque discolor."
So must also Vaish.navism differ from true religion, the flesh from the spirit, the impure from the pure. The singing of hymns about Râdhâ and K.rish.na is much older than Chaitanya's age. Not to mention Jayadeva and his beautiful, though sensual, Gîtagovinda. [Footnote: It is many years now since I read Gitagovinda as a text-book at college, but the impression I still retain is that it was in many parts far too warm for European tastes.] Bidyapati, the earliest of Bengali poets, and Cha.n.di Dâs both preceded Chaitanya, and he himself is stated to have been fond of singing their verses. There was therefore a considerable mass of hymns ready to his hand, and his contemporaries and followers added largely to the number; the poems of the Padakalpataru in consequence are of all ages from the fifteenth century downwards; moreover, as Vaish.navism aspires to be a religion for the masses, the aim of its supporters has always been to write in the vulgar tongue, a fortunate circumstance which renders this vast body of literature extremely valuable to the philologist, since it can be relied on as representing the spoken language of its day more accurately than those pretentious works whose authors despised everything but Sanskrit.
The Padakalpataru, to keep up the metaphor of its name throughout, is divided into 4 šakhas or 'branches,' and each of these into 8 or 10 pallabas or smaller branches, 'boughs.' It should be explained that the kîrtans are celebrated with considerable ceremony. There is first a consecration both of the performers and instruments with flowers, incense, and sweetmeats. This is called the adhibás. The principal performer then sings one song after another, the others playing the drum and cymbals in time, and joining in the chorus; as the performance goes on many of them get excited and wildly frantic, and roll about on the ground. When the performance is over the drum is respectfully sprinkled with chandana or sandalwood paste, and hung up. Several performances go on for days till a whole Šakhâ has been sung through, and I believe it is always customary to go through at least one Pallab at a sitting, however long it may be. The Bengali Kîrtan in fact resembles very much the Bhajans and Kathâs common in the Marâ.tha country, and each poem in length, and often in subject, is similar to the Abhangas of Tukarâm and others in that province.
The first Pallab contains 27 hymns, of these 8 are by Gobind Dâs, 8 by Baishnab Dâs, 3 by Brindâban Dâs, the rest by minor masters. Brindâban Dâs and Parameshwar Dâs were contemporaries of Chaitanya, the others— including Gobind Dâs, who is perhaps the most voluminous writer of all- -are subsequent to him. Of the hymns themselves the first five are invocations of Chaitanya and Nityânand, and one is in praise of the ceremony of Kîrtan. There is nothing very remarkable in any of them. Number 5 may be taken as a specimen, as it is perhaps the best of the batch.
"Nand's son, lover of the Gopîs, lord of Râdhâ, the playful Syâm:
Is he, Sachi's son, the Indra of Nadiya, the heart-charming dwelling of gods and saints; victory to him who is love embodied to his own beloved, hail! hail to him who is the joy of the existence of his well-beloved! hail to the delight of the eyes of his comrades in Braj! hail to the charm of the sight of the women of Nadiya! hail! hail to Sridam, Sudam, Subal, and Arjun, [Footnote: Names of Chaitanya's disciples.] bound by love to him whose form is as a new cloud! hail to Râm and the rest, beautiful and dear companions! hail to the charmer, the incomparable Gora (Chaitanya)! hail to the mighty younger brother of Balarâm! hail! hail to Nityânand (who is) joy (personified)! Hail to him who destroys the fear of good men, the object of the hope of Gobind Dâs!"