________________
OF THE HINDUS.
163
however, that persons of all castes and occupations are admitted into the sect, and all are at liberty to sink their civil differences in the general condition of mendicant and ascetic devotees, in which character they receive food from any hands, and of course eat and live with each other without regard to former distinctions. As followers of one faith all individuals are, in like manner, equally entitled to the Prasád, or food which has been previously presented to the deity, and it is probably the distribution of this, annually, at Jagannáth, that has given rise to the idea, that at this place all castes of Hindus eat together: any reservation, however, on this head is foreign to the tenets of this sect, as well as of the Ramánandi Vaishnavas', and in both community of schism is a close coumecting link, which should, in deed as well as word, abrogate every other distinction.
The Bhakti of the followers of this division of the Hindu faith is supposed to comprehend five Rasas or Ratis, tastes or passions: in its simplest form it is mere Šánti, or quietism, such as was practiced by the
Yogendras, or by sages, as SANAKA and his brethren, and other saints: in a more active state it is servitude, or Dásya, which every votary takes upon himself; a higher condition is that of Sakhya, a personal regard or friendship for the deity, as felt by BHÍMA,
sages are from the Chaitanya Charitamrita, where many others of similar purport may be found.
See remark on the Rámánandi Vaishnavas; page 56.
11*
