Apasampradaya

Apasampradaya

Kartabhaja: “Guru is all, follow blindly” – but Jiva Goswami says we should
know that KC is never blind, and even guru may not be infallible.

Gaur Nagari: Sri Chaitanya as Krishna (lampat).

Naraneyi: Buddhistic worship of Lord Chaitanya (started in LC’s time).

Atibari: these started in LC’s time; LC is God Almighty (ignores His lila as
devotee).

Sakhibeki: “gopis.”

Sahajiya: “easy”; bodily bhava.

Aula: something like Baul.

Baul: pretends to be mad (from Batul: “becoming mad.”)

Cudadhari: “wearing peacock feather”; imitation of Lord Nityananda.

Smarta: smarta brahmins.

Jat Goswamins: family goswamis.

Daravesha: Muslim mendicants influenced by Mahaprabhu.

Shain: ?
13 Apasampradaya

In a standard Sanskrit dictionary, the word sampradaya is
defined as “genuine instruction that has been received through
guru param¬para or disciplic succession” (guru paramparagatu sad
upadesasya). The prefix sam indi¬cates connec¬tion, while pradaya
is a cognate of prad¬hana, “source”. In the fourth chapter of
”Bhagavad©gita•, Lord Krsna declares Himself to be the original
source of the transcen¬dental science of bhakti©yoga, and He
confirms that one is connected to this knowledge only through
guru©parampara.

In the vocabulary of Western religious traditions, samprad¬aya really has no exact equivalent. One might be tempted to
employ “orthodoxy”, but as a noted German Sanskritist has pointed
out, this word really applies to matters of doc¬trine, not
practice. Admission into a sampradaya does not depend upon a
theoretical grasp of Krsna’s teach¬ings. One must surrender one’s
body, mind and soul to a Vaisnava who personifies Krsna’s teach¬ings and who can instill these teachings within the dis¬ciple.

Such a Vaisnava is known by quality, as ”Sri Caitanya©carit-amrta• Madhya 22.75 explains: sarva maha©guna©gana vais¬nava©sarire
© “A Vaisnava is one who has developed all good quali¬ties.” The
transcendental qualities of the Vaisnava (unlimited in number,
but twenty©six are prominent) are actually krsnera©guna, Krsna’s
own. They gradually appear in the disciple through submis¬sion,
service and inquiry at the lotus feet of the Vaisnava spiritual
master.

When asked what con¬stitutes the personal relationship of a
disciple to his spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada answered, “To
obey your spiritual master. Whatever he has said, you follow
strictly. Follow the regulative principles. Chant sixteen
rounds. That’s all.” In another conversation, Srila Prabhupada
compared the disciple to wood, the spiritual master to matches,
Krsna consciousness to fire and maya to water. When damp wood is
placed in fire, it first dries and then ignites. The drying is
compared to the disciple’s becoming situated in sinless life,
free of the bad habits of meat©eating, illicit sex, gambling and
intoxication. When he chants the Hare Krsna mahamantra as
instructed by his spiritual master, he soon ignites with Krsna
consciousness and becomes qualified to deliver others from maya;
thus the flame of pure devotion passes down the sampradaya.

In his purport to ”Srimad©Bhagavatam• 6.3.21, Srila Prabhupada
writes, “There are four lines of disciplic succession: one from
Lord Brahma, one from Lord Siva, one from Laksmi, the goddess of
fortune, and one from the Kumaras. The disciplic succession from
Lord Brahma is called the Brahma©sampradaya, the succession from
Lord Siva (Sambhu) is called the Rudra©sampradaya, the one from
the goddess of fortune, Laksmiji, is called the Sri©sam¬pradaya,
and the one from the Kumaras is called the Kumara©sampradaya.
One must take shelter of one these four sampradayas in order toÜn
understand the most confidential religious system. In the Padma
Purana it is said, sampradaya©vihina ye mantras te nisphala
matah: if one does not follow the four recognized disciplic
successions, his mantra or initiation is useless. In the present
day there are many apasampradayas, or sampradayas which are not
bona fide, which have no link to authorities like Lord Brahma,
Lord Siva, the Kumaras or Laksmi. People are misguided by such
sampradayas. The sastras say that being initiated in such a
sampradaya is a useless waste of time, for it will never enable
one to understand the real religious prin¬ciples.”

Srila Bhak¬tivinoda Thakura identified thirteen apasam-pradayas that split away from the Brahma©Madhva©Gaudiya sam¬pradaya after Lord Caitanya’s disappearance: aula, baula, kartab¬haja, neda, daravesa, sani, sahaji¬ya, sakhib¬heki, smarta, jataªgosani, ativadi, cudadhari and gauranga©nagari. Because these
apasam¬pradayas (apa means “deviated”) exhibit all the defects of
material consciousness, their mission¬ary activities are condemned
as cheat¬ing.

“A conditioned soul in the material world has the dis-qualification of cheating. He has four disqualifications: he is
sure to commit mistakes, he is sure to be illusioned, he is prone
to cheat others and his senses are imperfect. But if anyone
carries out the order of the spiritual master by disciplic
succession or the parampara system, he overcomes the four
defects. Therefore knowledge received from the bona fide
spiritual master is not cheating. Any other knowledge which is
manufactured by the conditioned soul is cheating only … To
honor the spiritual master means to carry out his instructions
word for word.” (”Bhag.• 3.24.12, Purport)

Instead of good Vaisnava qualities, three kinds of inauspi-cious qualities are visible in the apasamprad¬ayas. These are
men¬tioned in ”Vaisnava Ke• by Srila Bhaktisiddhan¬ta Sarasvati:
anitya©vaibhava (hankering for material success), kaminira©kama
(illicit sexual affairs that are usually passed off as “transcen-dental”), and mayavada (philosop¬hi¬cal specula¬tion that undercuts
the personal nature of God as taught by the Vaisnava samprad¬ayas).

What follows is a brief but careful examination of the
deviations of the thirteen apasampradayas. In this article’s
first install¬ment, two of the most important, the jata©gosani and
the smarta, are dealt with. Ã

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The jata©gosani are a hereditary caste of gurus. Their
qualification to initiate disciples is too often limited to the
boast of family connec¬tions to associates of Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu or to disciples of these associates. A famous example
of such a family is the so©called Nitya¬nanda©vamsa. They claim
seminal descent from Lord Nityananda through persons who wereÜl
actually disciples, not sons, of Lord Nityananda’s only and
childless son Sri Virabhadra Gosvami.

The jata©gosani use of gosvami (“master of the senses”) as a
family name is a deviation peculiar to this apasam¬pradaya.
Though sunken in mundane family affairs, they think themselves as
important as the renounced gosvamis of the Gaudiya sampradaya.

“One who is still in family life should not misuse the title
gosvami. Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura did not recog¬nize the caste gosvamis because they were not in the line of the
six Gosvamis in the renounced order who were direct disciples of
Lord Caitanya © namely, Srila Rupa Gosvami, Srila Sanatana
Gosvami, Srila Bhatta Raghunatha Gosvami, Sri Gopala Bhatta
Gosvami, Sri Jiva Gosvami and Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami.
Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakur said that the grhastha-asrama, or the status of family life, is a sort of concession for
sense gratification. Therefore a grhastha should not falsely
adopt the title gosvami.”

(”C.c.• Adi 12.27, Purport)

A popular superstition in India, alluded to in the Purport
of ”C.c.• Madhya 10.23, is that persons born in caste gosvami
families are automatically uttama©adhikaris, or highly advanced
devotees. Thus the title Prabhupada is theirs by birthright.
The Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya rejects this.

“It is said, phalena pariciyate: one is recognized by the
result of his actions. In Vaisnava society, there are many types
of Vaisnavas. Some of them are called gosvamis, some are called
svamis, some are prabhus, and some are prabhupada. One is not
recognized, however, simply by such a name. A spiritual master
is recognized as an actual guru when it is seen he has changed
the character of his disciples.” (”C.c.• Antya 3.143, Purport)

In Vrndavan, many of the important temples are managed by
caste gosvamis. The history of one such prominent family
illustrates how the jata©gosani contamination can divert even
highly©qualified persons from the path of the great acaryas. To
avoid the un¬pleasantries of controversy, names are omitted.

The family line was started by someone who took sannyasa
from Gopala Bhatta Gosvami. As if in imitation of Lord Nityanan¬da, he later married two sisters and claimed that he had been
ordered to do so by Sri Krsna personal¬ly. The Gaudiya Vaisnava
community disap¬proved both his deed and defense. In the year
1585, he es¬tablished a mandira near Kaliya Ghat. The caste
gosvamis who manage this mandira today are descendents of his
first son. Descen¬dents of his second son manage another famous
Vrndavana temple.

This clan takes a dim view of what they think are the
unnecessary austerities of the gosvamis of the Gaudiya Vaisnava
sampradaya. Krsna loves his devotees, they argue, and He becomes
pleased when He sees them living a life of material comfort andÜn
sense gratification. They uphold their founder’s example as
superior to that of the Six Gos¬vamis. Quoting a book called
Suslokamanimala, which is full of falsified history, they promote
their apa¬samprad¬aya as the genuine samprada¬ya.

In 1932, the caste gosvamis of Vrndavana opposed the Vraja
Mandala Parikrama of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and
his Gaudiya Matha disciples on the grounds that he had deviated
from the Vedic system by offering the sacred thread to persons
not of brahminical parentage. Srila Prabhupada explained the
fallacy of the jata©gosani in this regard in a letter to Acyut-ananda Svami: “Regarding the validity of the brahminical status
as we accept it, because in the present age there is no obser-vance of the garbhadhana ceremony, even a person born in a
brahmana family is not considered a brahmana, he is called dvijaªbandhu or un¬qualified son of a brahmana. Under the circumstan¬ces, the conclusion is that the whole population is now sudra, as
it is stated kalau sudra sambhava. So for sudras there is no
initia¬tion according to the Vedic system, but according to the
pan¬caratrika system initiation is offered to a person who is
inclined to take Krsna consciousness.”

In Bengal, many of the important temples and holy places
connected with Lord Caitanya’s pastimes remain under jata©gosani
control. Up until the early part of this century, they held the
lower©caste Vaisnavas in an iron grip of ignorance and ex¬ploita¬tion.

Srila Bhak¬tivinoda Thakura challenged the jati©gosani ”•”•in
such works as ”Jaiva Dharma• and ”Hari Nama Cintamani• by proclaiming
that it is not enough to accept a spiritual master merely on the
basis of his caste. Before initia¬tion, the can¬didate must be
complete¬ly satisfied that the initiator is fully conver¬sant with
the scriptures and can lift his disciples out of ignorance. The
guru must be of spotless character: if he is addicted to sinful
acts, even those he may have already initiated must reject him.
Bhaktivinoda’s books unleashed a wave of reform in Bengal that
pushed the jata©gosani into a defensive stance. But the confron¬tation came to open war when his son, Srila Bhaktisiddhan¬ta
Sarasvati, took over the Gaudiya mission.

In 1912, he was invited to attend a samminlani (assembly) of
Vaisnavas sponsored by the Maharaja of Kossimbazar. But some
jata©gosani and their sahajiya supporters pre¬vented him from
giving a public lecture; in protest, he fasted for four days
straight. According to the account of his disciple Sambidananda
dasa, Acarya Siddhanta Sarasvati refuted all the arguments placed
before him by the caste’s proponents in a discus¬sion separate
from the main program. The jata©gosani thus learned to fear
Srila Bhak¬tisid¬dhanta Sarasvati as the singlemost threat to their
privi¬leged existence.

After taking sannyasa in 1918, Srila Bhaktisiddhanta
Sarasvati mounted a concerted effort to smash the influence of
the jata©gosani even in their strongholds. He fearlessly toured
Jessore and Khulna (now in Bangladesh), the bastion of Priya¬nathÜn
Nandi, the leading spokes¬man of the caste gosvamis. Priyanatha
met defeat in a public debate held at the village of Tooth¬pada.

Things came to a head in February©March 1925, just as the
Gaudiya Matha began nine days of a Navadvipa parikrama leading up
to that year’s Gaura Purnima festivities. The party of devotees,
number¬ing several thousand and personally lead by Srila Bhak¬tisiddhan¬ta, was viciously attacked by goonda hirelings of the
jata©gosani when it entered the city of Navadvip without paying a
tax for maintenance of caste gosvami temples. Armed with brickªbats and other weapons, the goondas charged the elephant proces¬sion, injuring many pilgrims. The shocked public sided with the
Gaudiya Matha devo¬tees and the pilgrimage con¬tinued under police
protection. This incident permanently tarnished the reputation
and influence of the jata©gosani. Overnight, their stubborn
opposition to Srila Bhaktisid¬dhanta’s preaching lost all force.

The jata©gosani are the priestly class of a mundane religion
that superfi¬cially resembles Vaisnava©dharma. As Srila Bhak¬tisiddhan¬ta Sarasvati used to say, they use the saligram©sila and
arca©vigraha as “stones for cracking nuts” (i.e. as a means of
income for sense enjoyment). They give siddha©pranali initia¬tion
(in which they “reveal” the disciple’s rasa with Krsna) as a
ritual means of garnering a follower’s lifetime financial
support. They neglect their disciples’ factual spiritual
advancement by not teaching them the regula¬tive principles of
sadhana©bhakti; indeed, such “gosvamis” are worshiped by bidiªseva (ceremon¬ial presenta¬tions of cigaret¬tes) and offerings of
fish.

“If a person overly addicted to family life takes to ”SrimadªBhagavatam• or Krsna consciousness to earn a livlihood, his
activity is certainly offensive. One should not become a caste
guru and sell mantras for the benefit of mundane customers, nor
should one make disciples for a livelihood. All these activities
are offensive. One should not make a livelihood by forming a
professional band to carry out congregational chanting, nor
should one perform devotional service when one is attached to
mundane society, friendship and love. Nor should one be depen¬dent on so©called social etiquette. All this is mental specula¬tion. None of these things can be compared to unalloyed devo¬tional service.” (”C.c.• Madhya 8.83, Purport)

SMARTAS
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The word smrti means “that which is remembered.” It is a
classification of Vedic scriptures including dharma©sastras like
”Manu©smriti• that give rules and regulations for the orders and
asramas of civilized human life, and histories like the ”Puranas•
that give practical illustrations of how great per¬sonalities did
or did not follow these rules and what their fate was as a
result. Thus the smrti©sastras can be grouped into two divi-sions: “law books” and “law journals.”
Ün But why are these sastras given the name smrti? Like state
laws, they are to be considered ”before• doing something that might
have legal repercus¬sions. Can I ride my elephant on the ex-pressway? Either I learn the section and para¬graph of the
traffic code that applies to elephant driving, or I review the
verdict of a trial that dealt with the same. The point is, I
should remember the law before I act, or risk being punished.

”•”•But the ”Padma Purana• states that if we simply remember Visnu
or Krsna before performing our duty, we’ll not transgress the
law. If we forget Him, we unavoidably transgress it even if we
remember to observe lesser rules and regulations, because keeping
Krsna always in mind is the purpose of all those rules and
regulations.

Not everyone admits that purpose. There are three classes
of brahmanas: the dvija, the vipra and the Vaisnava. The thirdªclass dvija is ritualistically initiated, the second©class vipra
is learned in the Vedas and the first©class Vaisnava knows that
the goal of the Vedas is to always remember Krsna and never
forget Him. A dvija or vipra who is not a devotee can never know
the real sense of the rules and regula¬tions of scripture; like a
crooked lawyer, he’ll use the law to enrich himself materially.
The non©devotee dvija or vipra is what is meant by the term
smarta©brahmana.

“A smarta©brahmana is always inter¬ested in material profit,
whereas a Vaisnava is interested only in satisfying the Supreme
Per¬sonality of God¬head.” (”Bhag.• 8.19.33, Purport)

Smarta©brahmanas completely reverse the instruction of the
”Padma Purana•: rather than always remember Krsna and thus fulfill
the rules and regulations, they remember the rules and regula-tions and always forget Krsna.

There are many traits the smartas share with the jataªgosani. This is because the jata©gosani lost their Vaisnava
qualifications by slipping back into upper©caste pride or upadhiªbhuta (acceptance of false designa¬tion), which is shunned by
those on the factual brahma©bhuta platform.

“Sometimes a caste guru says that yei krsna©tattva©vettha,
sei guru haya means that one who is not a brahmana may become a
siksa©guru or a vartma©pradarsaka©guru but not an initiator guru.
According to such caste gurus, birth and family ties are con-sidered foremost. However, the hereditary consideration is not
acceptable to Vaisnavas.” (”C.c.• Madhya 8.128, Purport)

That the jata©gosani are compromised by smarta conceptions
becomes very clear when we consider the following:

“There is a difference between the smarta process and the
gosvami process. According to the smarta process, one cannot be
accepted as a brahmana unless he is born in a brahmana family.
According to the gosvami process, the ”Hari©bhakti©vilasa• and the
”Narada©pancaratra•, anyone can be a brahmana is he is properlyÜn
initiated by a bona fide spiritual master.” (”C.c.• Madhya 23.105,
purport)

Still, if the caste gosvami at least maintains his family
tradition of exclusive Visnu©murti worship, he remains distinct
from the smarta©brah¬mana community. The smartas follow the
Mayavadi pan¬copasana conception and thus regard Lord Visnu as one
of five forms of Brahman. Of the five (Durga, Ganesa, Surya,
Siva and Visnu), Bengali smartas have always preferred goddess
Durga because she supplies her devotees with material opulence.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries A.D., the impor¬tance of the Bengali smarta community was practically nullified
by Lord Caitany¬a’s sankirtana movement. Among the great Vais¬nava©acaryas of that period, Srila Narottama dasa Thakura stands
out as the preacher who most cut down their pride. The smartas,
considering him just a low©born kayastha, became so infuriated at
his making disciples from among their ranks that they enlisted
the king, Raja Narasimha, and a conquering pandita named Sri
Rupa¬narayana, to lead a crusade to somehow expose Acarya Thakura
as a fraud. The king, the pandita and a large party of caste
brahmanas made their way to Kheturi, where Srila Narottama dasa
had his head¬quarters.

When Sri Ramacandra Kaviraja and Sri Ganga Narayana Cak-ravarti, two Vaisnava©brahmanas, came to know of the smarta
conspiracy, they disguised themselves as sudras and set up two
small shops in the Kumarapura market: one a pan and betel nut
shop and the other a store selling clay pots.

As the party arrived at Kumarapura, the smartas sent their
disciples to the market to purchase wares for cooking. When the
students came to the shops of Ramacandra and Ganga Narayana, they
were dumfounded to find that these “wallas” spoke perfect
Sanskrit and were eager not to do business but to engage in
philo¬sophical disputation. Finding themselves out¬matched, the
distressed students called for their gurus, who arrived on the
scene with Raja Narasimha and Rupa¬narayana. When the smartas
fared no better than their disciples, Rupanarayana himself was
drawn into the debate and soundly defeated.

The king demanded they introduce themselves. The two shop-keepers humbly submitted that they were low©born and insig-nificant disciples of Srila Narottama dasa Thakura Mahasaya.
Shamed, Rupanarayana and the smarta©brah¬manas lost interest in
proceeding to Kheturi. They all returned immediate¬ly to their
respective homes.

That night, Raja Narasimha had a dream in which an angry
Durga©devi threatened him with a chopper used for killing goats.
Glaring at him with blazing eyes, the goddess said, “Narasim¬ha!
Because you greatly offended Narot¬tama dasa Thakura, I shall have
to cut you to pieces! If you want to save your¬self, then you had
better immediately go and take shelter at his lotus feet.”
Ül His sleep broken, the frightened king quickly took bath and
set out for Kheturi. Arriving there at last, he was suprised to
meet the pandita Rupanarayana, who sheepishly explained that he’d
had a similar dream. They both entered the temple of Sri
Gauranga in order to meet Srila Narottama dasa Thakura. Acarya
Thakura was absorbed in his bhajana, but when a disciple informed
him of the arrival of the two guests, he came out to meet them.
Simply by seeing his transcendental form, the two offenders
became purified and fell down to offer their obeisances at the
Thakura’s lotus feet. Finally he initiated them with Radha-Krsna
mantra.

Because their leaders became Vaisnavas, many lesser smartas
thought it prudent to externally adopt Vaisnava customs. This is
how the smarta©apasampradaya, or Vaisnavism compromised by caste
brah¬manism, began.

The smartas think they have monopoly rights on initiating
persons born in brahmana families, and that only such persons as
initiated by them can wear the sacred thread. On this issue they
bitterly oppose the spiritual masters of the Gaudiya Vaisnava
sampradaya, who award the sacred thread to devotees from any
back¬ground on the basis of spiritual qualification. The smartas
also claim ex¬clusive right to worship the saligram©sila. And of
course they never marry outside of the brahmana caste: this taboo
is followed so rigidly that a smarta father would rather give his
daughter to the son of a tantrik©brahmana than a non©brahmana
Vaisnava.

Smashing all these arrogant notions, Srila Bhaktisid¬dhanta
Sarasvati Thakura soundly defeated the smarta©apasampradaya at
Valighai Uddharanapura in September of 1911. He presented a work
entitled ”Brahmana o Vaisnavera Tara¬tmya Vishayaka Siddhan¬ta• in
which he conclusively argued the superiority of Vaisnavas to
brahmanas. He read this paper before a gathering of more than
ten thousand panditas, and though he was the youngest speaker
present, he was acclaimed by the judges as the winner of the
dispute.

The acara (behavior) of a strict smarta©brahmana and a
strict Vaisnava may externally be hardly dis¬tinguishable, but the
consciousness is completely different. In its subtlest form, the
smarta contamination is a shift of ”values• more than of behavior
or even philoso¬phy.

Smarta values are purusarthika. Vaisnava values are
paramapurusarthika. The difference between the two are explained
by Srila Prabhupada in ”C.c.• Antya 7.24, Purport:

“Purusartha (‘the goal of life’) generally refers to
religion, economic development, satisfaction of the senses and,
finally, liberation. However, above these four kinds of purusar¬thas, love of Godhead stands supreme. It is called paramapurus¬artha (the supreme goal of life) or purusartha©siromani (the most
exalted of all purusarthas).”

PRAKRTA©SAHAJIYA
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“Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura suggests that
people who are materialistically inclined and sahajiyas, or soªcalled Vaisnavas who take everything very cheaply, are both
visayi, materialists … One should very carefully avoid as-sociat¬ing with both the sahajiyas, who are sometimes known as
Vais¬navas, and the non©Vaisnavas, or avaisnavas. Their associa¬tion changes the transcendental devotional service of Lord Krsna
into sense gratification, and when sense gratification enters the
mind of a devotee, he is contaminated. The materialistic person
who aspires after sense gratification cannot properly think of
Krsna.” (”C.c.• Antya 6.278, Purport)
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The word sahaja (“natural”, “simple”, “normal”) has two
connotations in Vaisnava literatures. In the ”Bhagavad©gita•, Lord
Krsna uses the word sahaja in reference to material nature:

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“Every endeavor is covered by some fault, just as fire is
covered by smoke. Therefore one should not give up the work born
of his nature, O son of Kunti, even if such work is full of
fault.” (”B.g.• 18.48)

Here the word saha©jam means “born of material nature.”
This refers to human sense activities, which are said to be saªdosa, faulty. Despite this, Lord Krsna says we should not
renounce activities. A man or woman’s sense activities are
faulty due to their birth in matter. But, knowing that our real
origin is Krsna, we should engage our senses in the Lord’s
service and tran¬scend the faults of our material con¬ditioning and
attain perfec¬tion. “Libera¬tion is never inaction, but service
without human mis¬takes.” (”Bhag•. 2.2.1, Purport)

The other sense of the word sahaja is found in ”Sri Caitanyaªcaritamrta•, Madhya 8.215:

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“It is to be noted that the natural characteristic of the
gopis is to love the Supreme Lord. Their lusty desire is not to
be compared to material lust. Nonetheless, because their desire
sometimes appears to resemble material lust, their transcendental
love for Krsna is sometimes described as lust.”
Ün Sahaja here refers to the natural spiritual attraction of a
liberated soul for Krsna. It is contrasted in this verse by the
word prakrta (“material”), which is used to distin¬guish kama or
lust from the gopis’ love for Krsna. The term prakrta©sahajiya
is, from the scriptural view, thorougly anoma¬lous. A person
subjected to material lust can never com¬prehend the gopi’s
spiritual emotions. He must first follow Lord Krsna’s prescrip-tion and rise above his imperfect condition.

This is what hits at the heart of the prakrta©sahajiya
contamination: they refuse to follow the reformatory process.
Thus their percep¬tions of Krsna, Krsna’s devotees, Krsna’s
service and love of Krsna are faulty creations of their lower
nature.

“Without serving Krsna according to vidhi©marga regulative
principles of the pancaratrika©vidhi, unscrupulous persons want
to jump immediately to the raga©marga principles. Such persons
are called sahajiyas.” (”Bhag•. 4.24.45©46, Purport) Vidhi©marga
is the path of rules and regulations. ”Bhagavad©gita• recommends
we follow this path to rid ourselves of lust. The raga©marga is
the path of natural attraction for Krsna, reserved for highly
advanced devotees. But as the old saying goes, “Fools rush in
where angels dare to tread.”

According to Dr. S.B. Das Gupta, the history of the Bengali
sahajiya movement can be traced back long before Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu’s appearance, to the reign of the Buddhist Pala royal
dynasty (ca. 700©1100 A.D.), when a secret cult of the name
Sahajayana arose within the Diamond Vehicle (Vajrayana) school of
Buddhism.

Sahajayana Buddhists abandoned ritualism and study of scrip¬tures as useless. They practised a “yoga of sex” in which they
visualized consciousness as being composed of the unity of the
male and female principles, sometimes called upaya and prajna or
karuna and sunyata. The Sahajayana Buddhists wrote many songs
known as the Caryapadas that express their philosophy in mys¬terious language.

Later on under the Sena kings, Vaisnavism became ascendent
in Bengal, royal patronage having been won for it by the great
acarya Srila Jayadeva Gosvami. Now the Buddhist sahajiyas
absorbed and perverted aspects of Vaisnava philosophy. They
renamed their upaya and prajna principles “Krsna” and “Radha”,
imagining Radha©Krsna to represent the highest state of bliss
attained by men and women on the sahajiya path.

After the Islamic occupation of northern India, the saha¬jiyas were influenced by the Sufis. The word Sufi comes from the
Arabian word saf, meaning sacred. The Sufis were a mystical
Islamic order of mendicants whose goal was a state of inspira¬tion
they called fana, or oneness in love with Allah, which they
sought to attain through song and dance. In the Arabic countri¬es, the Sufis faced persecution as heretics because some preached
that through fana they had become Allah. But in India the SufisÜn
flour¬ished, not in the least because their ideas had much in
common with Mayavadi philosophy.

In the sixteenth century, the sankirtan movement of Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu flooded the world with the sublime, perfect
and transcendental religion of pure love of Godhead. The
sahajiyas, who celebrated their mundane sex©mysticism with song
and dance, were nothing more than a perverted reflec¬tion of the
sankirtan movement. They were not accepted as genuine Vaisnavas
by Mahaprabhu and His fol¬lowers, as is evident in ”Sri Caitanyaªcaritamrta.• For instance, in ”C.c.• Antya 12.114, Lord Caitanya
refuses a gift of scented oil, explaining that those who might
smell it on His head would think Him a dari sannyasi, a tantric
sannyasi who keeps women for sense gratification. In Antya
2.120, the Lord calls such men markata©vairagis (“monkey san¬nyasis”). And as Srila Prabhupada relates in his purport to
Antya 2.143, Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu banished Chota Haridasa for
the slight mistake of begging rice from Srimati Madhavi©devi “as
an example to future sahajiyas who might adopt the dress of the
renounced order to imitate Rupa Gosvami and other bona fide
sannyasis but secretly have illicit connections with women.”

In the 1700’s, the great movement begun by Lord Caitanya
appeared to have become corrupted by the misguidance of the jataªgosani and the smartas. This presented an opportunity for the
sahajiyas to expand their influence among the common people.
Deviant sects like the Gauranga©nagari and Kartabhaja are the
spawn of the prakrta©sahajiya movement that became popular at
this time. In the following century, Srila Bhak¬tivinoda Thakura
took great pains to distin¬guish the pure teachings of Lord
Caitanya from prakrta©sahajiya perverions; on this basis, Srila
Bhaktisid¬dhanta Sarasvati vociferously de¬nounced all who deviated
even an inch from the Cai¬tanya©sampra¬daya.

Sahajiyas betray their historical affinity to Buddhism by
not distin¬guishing matter from spirit, which is the ”first• step in
bona fide spiritual life. As Srila Prabhupada mentioned in a
letter, they take “spiritual advancement as something materially
manifest” by inten¬sifying their mundane emotions until a maddened
state of sentimental ecstacy is reached.

A very significant feature of the sahajiya attitude is its
perverse “humility”, which is really just enviousness: “Sometimes
a sahajiya presents himself as being void of desires for reputa-tion (pratistha) in order to become famous as a humble man. Such
people cannot attain the platform of a celebrated Vaisnava.”
(”C.c.• Madhya 4.147) For example, sahajiyas think that a devotee
who becomes recog¬nised for his preaching accomplishments is
fallen into the grip of name and fame. If a preacher refutes
atheists and material¬ists, he is simply too proud. Harer©namaªsankirtana is too showy: it’s best to remember the Lord in the
core of one’s heart. Only caste brahmanas should worship
saligram©sila: if others do it, they’ll fall down by becoming too
puffed up. Vaisnavas who are fussy about sadhana, insisting that
illicit sex, smoking and other harmless enjoy¬ments be given up,
are actually attached to these pleasures themselves.Ün
In this connection, sahajiyas abhor preachers who accept
disciples and train them in vidhi©marga principles: “…Narottama
dasa Thakura and other great acaryas like Madhvacarya, Ramanuj¬acarya and others accepted many thous¬ands of disciples to induce
them to render devotional service. However, there is a class of
sahajiyas who think that these activities are opposed to the
principles of devotional service. Indeed, they consider such
activities simply another phase of materialism.” (”C.c.• Madhya
7.130)

The holy name is all©powerful, so the sahajiyas say;
therefore the the spiritual state of a guru and disciple at the
time of initiation doesn’t matter, because the holy name works by
its own power. There is no need to instruct anyone to follow
rules and regula¬tions © let them chant Hare Krsna while smoking,
drinking, gambling and having sex. The holy name will cleanse
them of sinful reaction. But such notions are rejected by
Gaudiya Vaisnava acaryas as namaparadha, or offenses to the holy
name of Krsna.

In summary, a sahajiya is a stubborn sense enjoyer who may
have some talent for singing, dancing, acting, speaking, joking
and seducing women. He dresses himself as a Vaisnava but is
unableto distinguish between worldly fame and spiritual fame,
incomplete renunciation and perfect renunciation, false devotion
and pure devotion, offensive chanting, unclear chanting and pure
chanting of the holy name, worldly service and devotional
service, lust and love, maha©maya and yoga©maya, jiva and Visnu,
the cheater and the bona fide spiritual master, the godasa and
the gosvami, the neophyte and advanced devotee, what is author¬ized and what is not authorized, the spiritual master and the
disciple, proper conclusion and wrong conclusion, rasa and
rasabhasa, idol worship and Deity worship, devotees and demons,
and so on.

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“From the life of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, an intelligent
person engaged in pure devotional service can understand that He
always felt separation from Krsna within Himself. In that
separation He sometimes felt that He had found Krsna and was
enjoying the meeting. The significance of this separation and
meeting is very specific. If someone tries to understand the
exalted position of Lord Caitanya without knowing this, he is
sure to misunderstand it. One must first become fully selfªrealized. Otherwise he may misidentify the Lord as nagara, or
the enjoyer of the damsels of Vraja, thus committing the mistake
of rasabhasa, or overlapping understanding.” (”C.c.• Adi 4.106,
Purport)

The gauranga©nagaris are quite prominent in Bengal and
Bangladesh. Outwardly, they appear as regular Bengali Vaisnavas,
but there is a subtle sahajiya contamination in their conception
of Lord Caitanya’s mood of devotion. Thus their position isÜn
strongly refuted by the acaryas of the Gaudiya Vaisnava sam-pradaya, even though other aspects of this sect may seem praise¬worthy: like staunch Vaisnavas, they wear tilaka and neck beads,
are good kirtana performers and strictly abstain from flesh and
fish.

In his Purport to ”Bhag.• 4.23.31, Srila Prabhupada focuses on
the sahajiya contamination that the gauranga©nagaris represent:

“Sometimes the sahajiya class of devotees are interested
only in Krsna’s personal pastimes to the exclusion of the
activities of the devotees.”

But such an attitude can only baffle the attempt to com-prehend the person and activities of Sri Caitanya Mahapabhu, for
”C.c.• Adi 1.14 states:

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“I offer my obeisances unto the Supreme Lord, Krsna, who is
non©different from His features as a devotee, devotional incarna¬tion, devotional manifestation, pure devotee and devotional
energy.”

The gauranga©nagaris are not interested in Lord Caitanya as
a devotee, or in His five features as the Sri Panca©Tattva. They
desire to relate to Lord Caitanya as Krsna Himself, particularly
as lampat (yatha©tathava vidhadhatu©lampato: “He is a de¬bauchee,
so it is His nature to do as He likes”). They style Him as
nagara, and themselves as nagari.

The gauranga©nagari doctrine is very briefly and yet very
completely explained by Srila Prabhupada in several purports of
”Sri Caitanya©caritamrta•. A few relevant quotes are as follows.

“…the gaura©nagaris, who place Lord Caitanya in the
position of enjoyer and themselves as His enjoyed, are not
approved by Lord Caitanya or by Lord Caitanya’s fol¬lowers.
Instead of being blessed, the foolish imitators are left com-pletely apart. Their concoctions are against the principles of
Lord Caitanya Mahaprabhu. The doctrine of transcendental
enjoyment by Krsna cannot be mixed up with the doctrine of
transcendental feeling of separation from Krsna in the role of
Radharani.” (”C.c.• Adi 4.41, Purport)

“Doctrines like those of the nadiya©nagaris, a class of soªcalled devotees, are never presented by authorized persons like
Svarupa Damodara or the six Gosvamis. The ideas of the nadiya©
nagaris are simply mental concoction, and they are completely on
the mental platform.” (”C.c.• Adi 4.107, Purport)

“…a so©called party of devotees named nadiya©nagari has
sprung up and introduced the worship of Vis¬nupriya. ThisÜn
certainly indicates ignorance of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu’s
pastimes. In the opinion of Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati
Thakura, such worship is a product of the imagination.” (”C.c.•
Antya 14.7, Purport)

In ”C.c.• Adi 1.5, Lord Caitanya is described as radha©bhavaªdyuti©suvalita, “adorned with the mood and luster of Srimati Rad¬harani.” Nowhere in any revealed scripture is He said to be
krsna©bhava©dyuti©suv¬alita, “adorned with the mood and luster of
Sri Krsna,” which would support the gauranga©nagari conception.
Spokesmen of this apasampradaya not only say that Lord
Caitanya exhibited Krsna’s enjoying mood, they claim further that
Vis¬nupriya©devi, the Lord’s second wife, is Srimati Radharani,
and that her close female friends are gopis. But as Srila
Vrndavana dasa Thakura makes clear in ”Sri Caitanya©bhagavata•,
Visnupriya©devi is actually Bhu©sakti, a form of Laksmi. The
wives, mothers and daughters of Lord Gauranga’s associates in
Nadia attend Visnupriya in her bathing and dress¬ing exactly as
the maidservants of Lakmiji serve Her in Vaikuntha©dhama. Their
mood is different from the mood of the damsels of Vrnda¬vana.

”Sri Caitanya Bhagavata• is also very clear about Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu’s extreme gravity in His dealings with women © even
with His own wives, what to speak of other women. He never so
much as looked at the village girls of Nadia, let alone smile or
talk to them. But the gauranga©nagaris have invented offensive
myths about Lord Caitany¬a’s supposed love affairs with a mistress
named Kancana and other fictional consorts. These stories should
never be heard.

As Srila Prabhupada states above, the gauranga©nagaris are
on the mental platform. Their so©called mood of devotion is
really just eroticism, a creation of their impure minds. Their
wrong medita¬tion upon Lord Caitanya simply arouses their lust,
and they foolishly take that lust to be spiritual ecstacy.

SAKHI©BEKHI and CUDADHARI
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“Only when one regains his original spiritual body can one
enter into the spiritual kingdom. As for as the rasa©lila
pastimes of the Lord are concerned, it is futile to attempt to
imitate the Lord’s dances within the material word. One has to
attain a spiritual body like the gopis to enter into the pastimes
of rasa©lila. Simply by artificially imitating Krsna’s rasa©lila
dance or artificially thinking oneself as Krsna, and dressing
oneself up as a sakhi, one cannot enter into His rasa©lila
dance.” (”C.c.• Madhya 9.137, Purport)

The confidential gopis are called sakhis. The word bekhi is
a corruption of the Sanskrit word vesa, which means dress. A
sakhi©bekhi is a person © often a male, but sometimes females
take part © who dresses up like a gopi and imgines himself/her¬self as being enjoyed by Krsna.
Ün Sakhi©bekhis imitate rasa©lila, sometime by dancing with a
person dressed like Krsna who wears a cuda, a crown of peacock
feathers. This person is called cudadhari. The philo¬sophy of
these two types of sahajiya apasampradayas is the same; practi¬cally the only difference is that one group is dressed like gopis
and others dressed like Krsna.

Lord Caitanya taught, ekale isvara krsna, ara saba bhrtya ©
“the only controller is Krsna, everyone else is His servant.”
(”C.c•. Adi 5.142) Each jiva or individual spirit soul is a tiny
sample of para©prakrti, the Lord’s subordinate or female spir-itual energy. But this sense of our “being female” does not have
anything to do with sexual gender. We have temporarily assumed a
male or female body as a result of past karma; the material
covering does not reflect the constitutional nature of the soul.
Srimad Bhagavatam (Canto 4, chapter 28) informs us that a soul is
placed within a male body because of a strong attraction to the
masculine form that developed in a female body in the previous
life. Those who now have female bodies were males who were very
attached to females in their previous lives. This is all the
result of material lust.

The soul as a spiritual spark caught in the cycle of birth
and death is actually sexless. But accord¬ing to the ecstacy of
devotion most enjoyed by the soul in relation to Krsna, the
devotee’s transcendental gender is revealed, as seen in the
spiritual bodies of Krsna’s eternal associates. For instance,
matr©vatsalya (parental affection in the motherly mood) is
feminine, and pitr©vatsalya (parental affection in the fatherly
mood) is masculine. Mad¬hurya©rasa is purely feminine. To become
es¬tablished in the latter mood of love, one must develop the
eleven senti¬ments of a gopi (name, form, age, dress, the mood of
a kept maidser¬vant, and so on) under the direction of an highly
realized Vaisnava.

Even if one transcends the bodily conception and has
understood Krsna and his own svarupa in truth, he cannot par-ticipate in the madhurya©rasa if even the slightest material
attachment lingers in his conscious¬ness; the sakhi©bekhis and
cudadharis display the grossest attachment to the body, so what
is the question of their having any position in Krsna’s lila?
The sakhi©bekhis think that Krsna is pleased by seeing their
fleshy sack©bodies, full of bones, blood and stool, dressed up in
saries, decorated with nose©rings and ornaments, with hair done
like women, with feet painted red, with faces shaved twice daily,
singing in high falsetto voices and gesturing with women’s
mannerisms. The cudadaharis similar¬ly think that Srimati
Radharani will become attracted to their rotting material bodies
simply because they dress up like Krsna.

Lord Caitanya gave clear instructions to Sanatana Gosvami
about how the physical body of an advanced devotee is to be
engaged in Krsna’s service: “There are two processes by which one
may execute raganuga bhakti © external and internal. When selfªrealized, the advanced devotee externally remains like a neophyte
and executes all the sastric injuctions, especially hearing andÜn
chanting. However, within his mind, in his original purified
self©realized position, he serves Krsna in Vrndavana in his
particular way. He serves Krsna twenty©four hours, all day and
night. The advanced devotee who is inclined to spontaneous
loving service should follow the activites of a particular
associate of Krsna in Vrndavana. He should execute service
externally as a regulative devotee as well as internally from his
self©realized position. Thus he should perform devotional
service both externally and internally.” (”C.c•. Madhya 22.156ª158) The sakhi©bekhis and cudadaris simply ignore these direc¬tions.

Some of these sahajiyas argue that they are only following
the example of Sri Gadadhara dasa Thakura (who is different from
Gadadhara Pandita of the Sri Panca©Tattva), who once walked
through town with a clay pot of Ganges water on his head, calling
out that he had yoghurt for sale and laughing loudly. The
imitators claim that they can visualize their internal spiritual
form by such external play©acting. But they overlook the fact
that there is no instruction from Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu or any
acarya in the Gaudiya Vaisnava sampradaya that directs the
conditioned souls to awaken their love for Krsna through specula¬tive histrionics. As Srila Prabhupada said, “If you want to
cook, then you have to cook according to the method. You may
have a pot and you may have a flame, but if you don’t cook
according to the method, then you’ll never get the food.” He was
referring to a story of a cook who had placed the flame on the
floor and the pot near the ceiling. “If you want the result, you
have to follow the method” © bhakti©yoga as it is.

The sakhi©bekhi and cudadhari take Krsna and the gopis very
cheaply; this is due to the influence of impersonalism, by which
they think they can become one with the Lord and the gopis though
some imaginative meditation. But if even the goddess of fortune
cannot enter into the rasa©lila in Her eternal spiritual form,
even after ages of austerity, how will it be accomplished by a
fool who merely dresses up his gross material body?

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In the early 1870’s, when he was a deputy magistrate sta-tioned in Jagannath Puri, Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura arrested,
judged and jailed a pseudo©incarnation of Mahavisnu named Bisa
Kisen. This man had mystic powers: he used to sit near a fire
and lean into the flames, then lift his head and make flames come
out of his hair. He had two companions who went by the names
Brahma and Siva. Many wealthy and influential Hindus of Orissa
were under Bisa Kisen’s sway. They sent him funds for con-structing a temple and also provided him with women for “rasaªlila.” He boasted he would drive the British out of Orissa and
rule it as a divine king. Bisa Kisen belonged to the ativadi©
apasampradaya.

In a letter dated August 18, 1871 that was addressed to the
editor of a Cuttack newspaper called ”Progress•, Srila Bhaktivinoda
Thakura described the origin, philosophy and practices of the
ativadi sect. What follows is a synopsis of the most pertinent
points of that letter, along with additional details gleaned from
”Apasampradaya©svarupa•, a Bengali booklet by H.H. Bhakti©vilasa
Bharati Maharaja.

The ativadis claim to be Vaisnavas, but in fact they are
quite opposed to the principles of Vaisnavism. This apasam-pradaya was started by one Jagannatha dasa at the time Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu was staying at Puri as a sannyasi. He
claimed to be a disciple of Srila Haridasa Thakura, but later on
he broke his connection with the Thakura and began preaching his
own ideas. For instance, he had his followers cover their mouths
while chanting the maha©mantra, and told them to chant the second
half (Hare Rama) first, before Hare Krsna.

The word ativadi means “too great.” Once Jagannatha dasa
arrogantly approached Lord Caitanya, ignoring the Lord’s as-sociates like Svarupa Damodara, who would screen visitors so that
they would not disturb the Lord with some strange presenta¬tion of
wrong ideas. This Jagannatha dasa wanted to recite his own
translation of Srimad Bhagavatam, which contained five chapters
of his own invention. He also wanted to explain his independent
manner of chanting Hare Krsna. To avoid him, Lord Caitanya said,
“A fallen soul like Me is not worthy enough to hear the Bhaga¬vatam composed by an author like you.” Then Jagannatha dasa
declared Lord Caitanya to be Krsna, and himself Radharani. The
Lord replied, “Sir, you have become too great (ativadi). An
insignificant and fallen soul like Me can have nothing to do with
you.”

Very foolishly, Jagannatha dasa and his followers took the
Lord’s statement as praise instead of what it really was ©
condemnation. Thus this apasampradaya considers itself moreÜn
well©read in the scriptures than Mahaprabhu and His as¬socitates,
and likewise better in judgement and logic. Jagannatha dasa was
also “too great” when he seemingly or supposedly exhibited an
eight©armed form to prove himself even greater in mystic opulence
than Lord Caitanya.

Jagannatha dasa had a sweet singing voice, which
attracted women to him. He engaged these ladies in massaging his
body. When brought to the court of Prataparudra Maharaja for
indecent behaviour on this account, he said to the King, “I don’t
see any difference between men and women.” He was im¬prisoned for
conduct unbecoming a Vaisnava sadhu.

Jagannatha dasa had been living in an asrama donated to him
and his followers by the King, but when he rejected Haridasa
Thakura and started his own nonsense, the King took the property
back. Then Jagannatha founded his own asrama on the sea shore;
it is called the Satlahari Mandira, and can still be seen today.

Ativadi priests sometimes dress up as women on certain
religious occasions; they are known for loosely mixing with
women.

The ativadis are very influential in Orissa because Jagan¬natha dasa’s Oriyan translations of Srimad Bhagavatam and
Bhagavad Gita are widely liked, especially by simple people who
are not so discriminating about what is authorized and what is
not. The ativadis have often exploited their influence for
political ends, and can be quite fanatical. In this sense, Srila
Bhaktivinoda Thakura said they resemble certain Islamic sects
like the Wahabis.

They appear to be very devoted to Lord Jagannatha. It is a
source of pride among this group to claim that Lord Jagannatha
has personally revealed some truth or prophecy to them. Thus
every respected Ativadi can recite what they call their Malika,
or series of revelations from the Lord. A common prediction one
will hear from them is the year the world will end.

Yet at the same time, despite their fervor for Jagan¬natha,
the scriptures they have received from their founder contain many
impersonal ideas. Though they worship the Lord’s form in life,
they believe after death they will realize that He has no form,
and that they will merge into Him. This shows the in¬fluence of
Sankaracarya’s Advaita philo¬sophy.

Ativadis are mystics. They practice yoga and sometimes work
magic, to cure diseases, for instance. They form a secret
brotherhood, like the Freemasons in the West, and are also
involved with drugs like marihuana and opium. Bhaktivinoda
Thakura reckoned there were 15,000 of them in Orissa during his
stay there. At that time, they were often engaged in con-spiracies against the govern¬ment.

Bisa Kisen was only one of many self©proclaimed avataras
hailing from this apasampradaya. Lord Caitanya instructed,Ün
avatara nahi kahe © ami avatara: “the real incarnation of the
Lord never claims Himself to be so”.

AULA, BAULA, SANI (SAIN) and DARAVESA
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These four apasampradayas are closely related. They are
actually different divisions of one group, commonly called “the
Bauls of Bengal.” Heavily tantric sahajiyas with Sufi leanings,
they do not necessarily present themselves as Vais¬navas, though
they claim to embody the real spirit of Lord Caitany¬a’s move¬ment.

The word aula has different meanings, either of Arabic or
Bengali origin. The Persian word aul (which comes from the
Arabic wallia) means “very important person,” signify¬ing the
supposed exalted status of a member of the cult of Auls. There
is also from the Islamic world the word auttal, which means “the
first phase”. This indicates that of the four sects, the Auls
are on the first stage of advance¬ment, because they are married
house¬holders. They practice tantric sex©yoga with their own
wives as well as the wives of other Auls. Another meaning of Aul
is au (woman) and ula (come down); this points to their close
connec¬tion to woman, through whom they think descends deeper
wisdom of the univer¬se. In Bengali, the word Aul is related to
kulata (“afflicted”), in the sense of being afflicted with love.
They think they have attained the state described in ”C.c•. Antya
17.46:

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“The transcen¬dental vibration of Krsna’s flute disturbs the
hearts of women all over the world, even if they hear it only
once. Thus their fastened belts become loose, and these women
become the unpaid maidservants of Krsna. Indeed, they run toward
Krsna exactly like madwomen.”

The word baula comes from the Sanskrit word vatula, or mad.
In the previous verse, the word bauli was used in this sense. It
may also be related to the word vyakula, which means “impatiently
eager”. The Bauls are wandering minstrels who play instruments
like the ektar, dugi (a drum like the larger drum in a tabla set)
and bamboo flute. They do hari©nama©kirtana and sing enchanting
songs to express their philosophy, the words of which are very
enig¬matic. Some Bauls are world famous, like Purna Dasa Baul,
who has done concerts in Albert Hall in London.

The word sani comes from svami. This group is more commonly
known as the Sain. They are mendicants who wander about without
following any rigid path, having supposedly renounced all
external designa¬tions.

The daravesa (Darbesh) are the gurus of the Auls, Bauls and
Sains. They are supposed to have reached the highest realizationÜn
through the tantric sadhana that is practiced by these cults.
Darbesh is a Sufi term; it comes from the Persian dar (door) and
bhitan (to beg), meaning “one who begs from door to door.”

The Auls, Bauls, Sains and Darbesh share the same philo-sophy, which directly descends from the Sahajayana tradition.
They view all existence as being formed from the combina¬tion of
the mundane male and female principles (purusa and prakrti).
They believe they can harmonize these two principles within
themselves through so©called love, which is generated by a kind
of bodily union between man and woman according to tantric yoga.
When purusa and prakrti are perfectly harmonized, then one
realizes the inner ecstacy they call jiyante mara or “death while
living”, which is signified by complete stoppage of all physical
and mental activity. They identify this state with the mahabhava
ecstacy of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu. When this state of “death
while living” is attained, one can know the maner manush © the
“man in the heart”, who is also known as sahaja manush © “natural
man”; bhaber manush © “man of devotion”; raser manush © “man of
rasa”; and sonar manush © “man of gold.”

There are certain practices of these apasampradayas (like
the cari¬candrabhed or “ritual of the four moons”) that are too
disgust¬ing to be described here. It is enough to say that they
are absorbed in the darkest regions of ignorance. They believe
that all exalted states of transcendence, like the realization of
Vaikuntha and Krsnaloka, rest in the gross physical body. Their
motto is “what cannot be found in the body cannot be found
anywhere.” Their philosophy encourages a person to engage in all
sorts of degraded acts of lust and depravity in order that the
inner bliss (svarup) stored in the material form (rupa) may be
re¬leased.

These apasampradayas are syncretic, in that they artifi¬cially combine aspects of different religious disciplines, i.e.
Vaisnava, Mayavadi, tantra and Islam. And they are icon¬oclastic,
because they reject Deity worship.

The Auls, who are said to be on the beginning stage of
sadhana, practice what is termed “bodily meditation.” This means
that the men of this sect take themselves to be purusa and the
women are called prakrti. Their sadhana is illicit sex.
Husbands and wives of this community freely switch partners.
Their idea is to excite lust to a fever pitch so that they can
attain divine love. They claim that Lord Caitanya, Lord Nitya-nanda and the six Goswamis were all “auliya”, and use citations
from ”Sri Caitanya©caritamrta• in which the word aula appears to
try to substantiate their claim sastrically.

The influence of Mayavadi philosophy on the Aul sect is very
marked. They claim to be purusa, though Krsna is actually the
only purusa. They base their claim solely on the body © if one
happens to have a male form, he is purusa, and may imitate
Krsna’s activities with impunity.
Ül Lord Caitanya’s teachings clearly distinguish between love
and lust (atmendriya©priti©vanca tare bali kama…, ”C.c•. Adi
4.165). The practices of the Auls are simply lust, and have no
connection with authorized scriptures.

The Bauls, being folk musicians, exert an extraordinary
influence upon Bengali culture. They were patronized by no less
than Rabindranath Tagore, Bengal’s nobel©prize©winning poet.
Bengali intellectuals are fascinated with them and have written
many books to their glory. In recent years, interest in the
Bauls has spread to the West.

They often keep long hair in a bun on top of their heads and
wear the gown of a Muslim Fakir with Shaivaite rudraksa beads,
the glass worry©beads of a Muslim, and the tilaka and japa©mala
of a Vaisnava, all simultaneously. They are usually bearded, and
carry a shoulder bag, a bamboo walking cane and a fisti (pot made
from a big coconut). They use hashish liberal¬ly for “selfªcontrol.”

The Bauls typically flock to festivals they call mahotsabs,
many of which coincide with important Gaudiya Vaisnava functions.
The Jayadeva©Kenduli Mela during winter is the largest such
mahotsab; the Bauls have an akhra (or asrama) there, and thou¬sands of them converge at that spot for the three©day festival.
At other places across Bengal and Bangla¬desh they hold are
mahotsabs throughout the year. The Bauls move from one to the
next, perform music, smoke hemp and look for women. Often a Baul
picks up a woman (or sadhika) at one mahotsab and drops her at
the next to take on a new one. His former sadhika will be picked
up by another Baul.

Some Bauls are literate, and use their talents to write
books presenting perverted accounts of the lives of Sri Caitanya
Mahaprabhu and His associates. These need not be mentioned here,
as they are too offensive. Because of their talents, the Bauls
cast an extremely inauspicious spell over the minds of the
innocent but foolish populace.

The Sains, supposedly liberated from all material concep¬tions, may appear in any kind of dress (Hindu sannyasi or Muslim
Fakir) or no dress at all. They are so much beyond the grip of
illusion that they may drink wine or eat human flesh as expres-sions of their high awareness. Many Sains maintain themselves by
dis¬tributing mysterious medicines and cures. Some Sain “saints”
of the past were Nanak Sain, Alek Sain, Ksirodha Sain and Garbha
Sain.

The Darbesh Asrama in Dubrajpur, West Bengal, was founded by
Atal Behari Darbesh, known simply as Darbeshji. It is said he
brought a king under his control by his mystic feats; that king
gave him the land on which the asrama is situated. Darbeshji is
thus venerated by the Auls, Bauls and Sains as a spiritual giant.
The followers of Darbeshji dress as Sanatana Gosvami was dressed
when he escaped the jail of Nawab Hussain Shah to join Sri
Caitanya Mahaprabhu in Prayaga. Sanatana told the jailer whomÜn
he’d bribed, “I shall go to Mecca as a daravesa.” The Darbesh
cult take this as Srila Sanatana Gosvami’s most profound instruc¬tion.

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“One should accept a thing as genuine by studying the words
of saintly people, the spiritual master and sastra. The actual
center is sastra, the revealed scripture. If a spiritual master
does not speak according to revealed scripture, he is not to be
accepted. Similarly, if a saintly person does not speak accord-ing to the sastra, he is not a saintly person. Sastra is the
center for all.” (”C.c.• Madhya 20.352, Purport)

In India, the kartabhaja©apasampradaya is nowadays lumped in
with the Bauls of Bengal (aula, baula, sani, daravesa). Though
indeed it is in many ways similar to the Bauls, there is yet a
singular feature of this cult that distinguishes it from all
others: its doctrine of guruvada. To be sure, ”all• the tantric
apasampradayas venerate the guru, and they all justify this
veneration with a philosophy they call guruvada. But none go to
the extreme that the Kartabhajas do by proclaiming the guru to be
God incarnate.

Kartabhaja©guruvada arises from the Mayavadi idea of
absolute oneness; the conclusion is that the guru alone is God in
His worshipable form. No form other than his is worshipable,
including the arca©murti. No name is chanted other than the name
of the guru © if the name “Krsna” is chanted, it is because the
guru is Krsna.

In Lord Caitanya’s acintya©bhedab¬heda philoso¬phy, the guru
is known to be non©different from God, but that does not mean he
is identical to God in all respects. He is asraya©vigraha © the
receptacle of Krsna’s mercy. He is Visnupadaya (situated at Lord
Visnu’s lotus feet) and Krsna©presthaya (very dear to Krsna).

The founder of the Kartabhaja©apasampradaya was one Aul
Chand, who lived approximately from 1686 to 1779. He was a fakir
said by his followers to be none other than Lord Caitanya
Himself, whom they say reappeared at Ghosepara in Nadia 200 years
after He appeared in Sridhama Mayapura. In Ghosepara, the
residence of Karta Ram Sharan Pal and his wife Sati is still
preserved as the Kartabhaja place of pilgrimage. This husband
and wife were Aul Chand’s principal disciples, said to be Adi
Purusa and Adyasakti.

Nowadays, the Ghosepara Kartab¬haja center is overrun with
Bauls during the three©day Dola Yatra festival. This is probably
why many people think the Kartabhajas are a kind of Baul. But
they are a distinct group with a distinct philo¬sophy, and they
used to be extremely influential in the last century. In 1893,
an invitation was extended to Karta Dulal¬chand, a famous song¬writer and guru of this sect, to attend the World Parliament of
Religions in Chicago (at which Vivekananda lectured). But theÜn
invitation was a little late © by that time, Dulalchand had been
dead for sixty years!

The Kartabhaja sect has its own holy book called the Bhaver
Gita, most of which was written in the form of songs by Dulal¬chand. Much of the text is puzzling and purposefully contradic¬tory; it is to be understood only by initiates. But there are
clear hints of Mayavadi and tantric ideas (though it seems the
Kartabhaja sect does not have a reputation for sexual promiscuity
like the Bauls). The followers are supposed to marry and be true
to their part¬ners. And they should be vegetarian, at least on
Fridays (the Muslim sabbath). Husbands and wives should not have
sex on this day also. The Kartabhajas share with the Bauls the
concept of jiyante mara © living death © as the highest goal.
They chant the name of Krsna, but say the names of Kali and Khoda
(Allah) are equal to it, because all are names of the guru.

An interesting note of history is that the Kartabhajas were
a powerful movement of revolt against the jati©gosai and smartas,
who as mentioned earlier, had become the sedentary establishment
of 18th century orthodox Gaudiya Vaisnavism. The Kartabhajas and
other sahajiya groups converted thousands of common folk on the
plea that “the company” (their special term for the Gaudiya
Vaisnavas) was once rich, but is now bankrupt. Out of the ruins
of the old company, a new company has arisen (meaning the Karta¬bhajas). This company does not carry out business in the name of
religion.

The word karta means “master” or “boss”; with this term the
Kartabhajas address their gurus, beginning with Karta Ram Sharan
Pal. All the Kartas lived at the residence of the first
Karta and organized the Kartabhaja mission from there.

The faithful followers of the Kartas are called Baratis,
which means “members of the bridegroom’s party” in the curious
terminology of this sect. The business of the Baratis is to
fully accept and serve the Karta as God on earth. Because of
their fanatical devotion to this principle, the Kartabhaja sect
was very well organized and enthusiastic, and thus very influen¬tial among people who could see the faults of the jati©gosai and
smartas.

The Kartabhajas worship no deity other than the Karta.
Whatever words he speaks are themselves sastra and should be
blindly obeyed. His activities are always divine. Contemporary
adherents of a recently deceased Karta can become directly
initiated by him through preachers known as ritviks. They must
simply agree to follow the principles © be vegetarian once a week
and worship no deity other than the Karta’s picture.

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The word neda indicates a man with a shaven head. Nedi
means a shaven©head woman. The neda©nedi cult is said to be
still visible around the Navadvipa area, where they are indistinÜn
cloth. The neda©nedi apasam¬pradaya began at the time of Sri
Virabhadra Gosvami, the son of Lord Nityananda and Jahnava©mata.
It is said that Sri Viracandra converted over a thousand nedas
and an equal number of nedis to Vaisnavism from tantric Bud¬dhism.
Under his direction, these neda©nedis took to the chanting of the
Hare Krsna maha©mantra. Most of them got properly married, thus
ending the illicit connections that had been going on between
them in the name of tantric meditation. But after some time, a
number of them again revived their old practices while passing
themselves off as Vaisnavas. Nowadays, the neda©nedi is taken to
be a type of Baul.

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In the first part of this article, it was established that a
genuine Vaisnava is known by his good qualities. Because the
Vedic scriptures prescribe the chanting of the holy name of Krsna
to be the essential dharma in the present age of darkness, a
Vaisnava is to be especially recognized by the quality of his
chanting. As Srila Prabhupada explained, “You should always
remember that either grhastha or brah¬macari or sannyasi, nobody
can strictly follow all the rules and regula¬tions. In the Kaliªyuga it is not possible. Therefore Caitanya Mahaprabhu has
recommended that hari©nama, chanting Hare Krsna mantra, should be
very rigidly performed, which is common for everyone.”

If a person advertises himself as a Gaudiya Vaisnava by
chanting the Hare Krsna mahamantra and yet delib¬erately commits
namaparadha (offenses to the holy name), he disqualifies himself.
The link between namaparadha and deviation from the sam¬pradaya is
indicated by Srila Jiva Gosvami, who”• warns in ”Bhakti©sandharba•
that there are offenders to the holy name who are acikitsya or
incorrigible (jnana©lava©dur¬švidagdhastra©acikit¬sya©atva©dupeksa),
who immediatly become insolent and arrogant due to acquiring a
little knowledge from the sampradaya. Such acikitsya©namapradhis
are automatically disbarred from the sam¬pradaya because of three
kinds of nam¬aparad¬ha: sadhu©nindha, guru©avajna and sruti©sastraªnindha.

Yet the incorrigible offender never concedes the fact of his
offenses. He cannot understand that the mercy of the spiritual
master and the association of pure devotees are indispensible to
the chanting of the holy name. Because he highly values worldly
knowledge and accomplishments, he looks down upon the simple
devotees who have surrendered themselves to devotional service.
This is sadhu©ninda (blasphemy of the devotees of the Lord). He
cannot accept that the spiritual master is a transcendental
teacher, not a worldly one; thus he tries to measure the person
and instructions of the guru by his own mental standards. This
is guru©avajna (disregard of the spirit¬ual master). He studies
the revealed scrip¬tures as he would ordinary literature, gleaning
from it whatever seems to support his preconceived notions,
heedless of the rest. This is sruti©sastra©nindha (blasphemy of
the revealed scriptures).
Ün The acikitsya©namaparadhi confuses the growth of these and
other offenses within his heart with the growth of the bhaktiªlata (creeper of devotion). Thus he mistakes his fallen condi¬tion for a condition of great advancement; such is the illusion
from which the apasampradayas have sprung.

By taking proper shelter of the sampradaya, we learn to
avoid offenses and protect the creeper of devotion implanted in
the heart by the spiritual master. By offenseless chanting of
the holy name, the creeper grows to full maturity and bears the
fruit of Krsna©prema, pure love of God.

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