asks for no return
but is its own reward. "He who expects remuneration for his love acts
as a trader." In this devotion there are five degrees: (_a_) santi,
calm meditation, (_b_) dasya, servitude, (_c_) sakhya, friendship,
(_d_) vatsalya, love like that of a child for its parent, (_e_)
madhurya, love like that of a woman for a lover. All these sentiments
are found in God and this combined ecstasy is an eternal principle
identified with Hari himself, just as in the language of the Gospels,
God is love. Though Caitanya makes love the crown and culmination of
religion, the worship of his followers is not licentious, and it is
held that the right frame of mind is best attained by the recitation
of Krishna's names especially Hari.

The earlier centre of Caitanya's sect was his birthplace, Nadia, but
both during his life and afterwards his disciples frequented Brindaban
and sought out the old sacred sites which were at that time neglected.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Lala Baba, a wealthy
Bengali merchant, became a mendicant and visited Muttra. Though he had
renounced the world, he still retained his business instincts and
bought up the villages which contained the most celebrated shrines and
were most frequented by pilgrims. The result was a most profitable
speculation and the establishment of Caitanya's Church in the district
of Braj, which thus became the holy land of both the great Krishnaite
sects. The followers of Caitanya at the present day are said to be
divided into Gosains, or ecclesiastics, who are the descendants of the
founder's original disciples, the Vrikats or celibates, and the laity.
Besides the celibates there are several semi-monastic orders who adopt
the dress of monks but marry. They have numerous maths at Nadia and
elsewhere. Like the Vallabhis, this sect deifies its leaders.
Caitanya, Nityananda and Advaita are called the three masters (Prabhu)
and believed to be a joint incarnation of Krishna, though according
to some only the first two shared the divine essence. Six of
Caitanya's disciples known as the six Gosains are also greatly
venerated and even ordinary religious teachers still receive an almost
idolatrous respect.

Though Caitanya was not a writer himself he exercised a great
influence on the literature of Bengal. In the opinion of so competent
a judge as Dinesh Chandra Sen, Bengali was raised to the status of a
literary language by the Vishnuite hymn-writers just as Pali was b