Page:History of Bengali Language and Literature.djvu/76

46 For love, a little out of the way, if sanctioned by religion, offers temptations which the mass can hardly resist; and it is no wonder that taking advantage of a wicked interpretation of the love of Rādhā and Kriṣṅa, this cult of the Buddhist monks found favour in the lower stratum of Vaiṣṅava society, the degeneracy of which was mainly brought about by the immoral latitudes of the Sahajiā Vaiṣṅavas. The great Vaiṣṅava leaders were conscious of this drawback of their society and so condemned the creed. Chaitanya Deva would not allow any of his ascetic followers to mix with women, and Rupa, Sanātana and other devotees, who followed him, were unsparing in their hostile attitude to the Sahajiā Vaiṣṅavas.—Yet the creed numbered its votaries by hundreds amongst the Vaiṣṅavas, and we have come across about thirty authors in old Bengali literature who advocated the principles of Sahajiā.