O Krishna, O Krishna, O Hari, O Hari,
O Hari, O Rāmo, O Hari, O Rāmo,
O Rāmo, O Rāmo, O Hari, O Hari.
The disciple is enjoined to repeat this text a prescribed number of times, 108 or more, every day. To those pupils who show their devotional ardour by continual repetition of the first text others are taught.
The next step is that the disciple should associate himself or herself with some other Parmārthi of the opposite sex and tend and serve them. This relation, which is known as Asra-patro, cannot exist between husband and wife, some other person having to be chosen in each case, and it results of course in an immoral connection. Following this is the further rite of Almo-Samarpana or offering of oneself, in which the disciple is required to give his wife to the Guru or preceptor as the acme of self-sacrifice. The guru calls the disciple by a female name of one of the milkmaids of Brindāban to indicate that the disciple regards Krishna with the same devotion as they did. Sometimes the guru and a woman personate Krishna and Rādha, but reverse the names, the guru calling himself Rādha and the woman Krishna. The other disciples wait upon and serve them, and they perform an immoral act in public. Parmārthi women sometimes have the mantra or text, ‘O Hari, O Krishna,’ tattooed on their breasts.
The Parmārthis often deny the accusation of immorality, and the above statements may not be true of all of them; but they are believed to be true as regards a considerable part of the sect at any rate. “With all his cleanliness, vegetarianism and teetotalism,” one writer remarks, “the Vaishnava is perhaps the most dangerous in the whole list of Hindu sects. He has done very good service in civilising the lower classes to some extent and in suppressing the horrors of the Tāntric worship. But the moral laxity which the Vaishnava encourages by the stories of the illicit loves between the God and Goddess, and by the strong tendency to imitate them which his teachings generate, outweigh the good done by him.” This statement applies, however, principally to one or two sects devoted to Krishna, and by no means to all nor to the majority of the Vaishnava sects.
Pārsi or Zoroastrian Religion
[Bibliography of works quoted: Dr. Martin Haug’s Essays on the Pārsis, Trübner’s Oriental Series; Bombay Gazetteer, vol. ix. part ii., Pārsis of Gujarāt. by the late Mr. Kharsedji Nasarvanji Seervai, J.P., and Khān Bahādur Bāmanji Behrāmji Patel; M. Salomon Reinach’s Orphéus; Rev. J. Murray Mitchell’s Great Religions of India. The whole account of the customs and social life of the Pārsis is taken from the excellent description in the Bombay Gazetteer.]