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71 Chap. II.J

HINDOO SECTS.

71

conform to the usages of the sect or caste to which they may happen to belong, a.d. — This they justify on the ground, that as the state of the mind and heart is alone important, all outward acts are matters of indifference. In all sects implicit The Kabir submission to the guru or spiritual guide is considered indispensable ; but even in this, the Kabir Panthis give proof of an independent spirit, by refusing to acknowledge the authority of the guru until by previous examination his fitness has been fully tested. In the simplicity of this sect, and the Quaker-like spirit and demeanour of its members, there is little to captivate the populace ; and hence, though widely diffused, it plumes itself more upon the character than the number of its adherents. Few of these are within the limits of Bengal proper ; but at Benares, where the sect originated, it has stiU its principal seat, and is said to have on one occasion mustered its members to the number of 35,000. The importance of the sect is greatly increased by the number of branches which it has thrown out, and of other sects which sometimes with, and oftener without acknowledgment, have borrowed from its doctrines and been emboldened by its example.

The above subdivisions of Vaishnavas have their chief adherents in professed ^'™j!|"^||^7 ascetics, or among those of the general mass of society, who are of a bold and curious spirit ; but the opulent and luxurious among the men, and the far greater part of the women, confine their worship to Krishna and his mistress Radha. The only worship which rivals it in popularity is that of the infant Krishna, or the Bala Gopala, It origin- ated with Vallabha Acharya, the founder of a sect called after him Vallabhacharis, but better known under the two other names of Radra Sampradayes, or Goku- lasta Gosains. One singular article of their creed is, that privation forms no part of sanctity, and that it is the duty of the teacher and his disciples to worship theii- deity " not in nudity and hunger, but in costly apparel and choice food — not in solitude and mortification, but in the pleasures of society and the enjoj^ment of the world." Their pi'actice corresponds. Most of their Gosains or teachers are married, and possessing unlimited influence over their followers, whom they bind to sub- jection of tan, man, and dhan, or body, mind, and wealth, are maintained in ease and luxury. Great

numbers of the mercantile class belong to this sect, and while constantly wan- dering over the country in the professed character of pilgrims, have a keen eye to the profits of trade. One of their dogmas is, that Golaka, the residence of Krishna, is far above the three worlds — Vaikunta and Keilas, the respective heavens of Vishnu and Siva, being no less than 500,000,000 of yoganas below it. While all else is subject to annihilation, Golaka is indestructible, and in its

GOSAIN. From Pennant's Views in Hindoostan.