Page:Bengal Vaishnavism - Bipin Chandra Pal.djvu/55

 40 BENGAL VATSHNAVI8M While every school of the Krishna cult in Hinduism regards Shree Krishna as an incar- nation of the Lord, it is the Bengal school only which rejects this dogma as heresy, and declares that Shree Krishna, who is the object of Vaishnavic worship in Bengal, is not an incarnation of the Lord but the very Lord Himself. The Chaitanya Charitararita, which is regarded as the special scripture of the Bengal school of Yaishnavism, says that Shree Krishna is ‘‘‘"avataree" or That from which all a/catara'^ or incarnations proceed or emanate. He is Himself not an incarnation or emanation, but the root and origin of all incarnations and emanations. ^^In the Bhaga- vata Purana, however, Shree Krishna has been counted as an avatara by Shukdeva. But Shukdeva repented of this sin against the Lord, and, therefore, he corrected himself subsequently by declaring that Shree Krishna was not an incarnation or emanation of the Lord but the Lord Himself. And this Shree Krishna of Bengal Yaishnavism is differ- ent from the Shree Krishna of the clan of the Yadus, the Shree Krishna of the Maha- bharata epic. The Shree Krishna whom the Bengal Vaishnavas worship never moves from Brmdabana. Brindabana, as we have seen,