He had starved and preached and sung
and raved himself quite out of his senses. On one occasion he imagined
that a post in his veranda was R??dh??, and embraced it so hard as nearly
to smash his nose, and to cover himself with blood from scraping all
the skin off his forehead; on another he walked into the sea in a fit
of abstraction, and was fished up half dead in a net by a fisherman.
His friends took it in turns to watch by his side all night lest he
should do himself some injury.
The leading principle that underlies the whole of Chaitanya's system is
_Bhakti_ or devotion; and the principle is exemplified and
illustrated by the mutual loves of R??dh?? and K.rish.na. In adopting
this illustration of his principle, Chaitanya followed the example of
the Bhagavad G?®t?? and the Bh??gavat Pur??.na, and he was probably also
influenced in the sensual tone he gave to the whole by the poems of
Jayadeva. The Bhakta or devotee passes through five successive stages,
_S??nta_ or resigned contemplation of the deity is the first, and
from it he passes into _D??sya_ or the practice of worship and
service, whence to _S??khya_ or friendship, which warms into
_B??tsalya_, filial affection, and lastly rises to _M??dhurya_
or earnest, all-engrossing love.
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