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MODERN HINDUISM.
Vishnu stamped with a red-hot iron on their shoulders or breast. They worship a plurality of gods, but teach that the human spirit is distinct from the Divine Spirit, though united to it, and that absorption in the godhead is impossible, thus differing markedly from the ordinary Hindu belief.
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The majority of the Vishnu worshippers of Bengal belong to the sect founded by Chaitanya, whose influence raised the festivals of Puri to such popularity. His followers believe that Vishnu is the supreme soul and the one substance in the universe, and that Chaitanya was an incarnation of him. They also lay great stress upon bakti, or faith, of which there are five degrees: (1) peace, calm contemplation; (2) servitude; (3) friendship; (4) filial affection; (5) sweetness. Their cult is a joyous one, qualified by the necessity of implicit obedience to the guru. Caste is laid aside at their feasts.
The distinguishing marks of the Sivaitic sects are horizontal lines instead of perpendicular; and differences Sivaitic of width and colour indicate the particular
sects. sect. The Sivaites are very largely Brahmans, and the sects are not so extensive and popular as those of the Vishnuites. Among them are the Dandis, or staff bearers, mendicants who spend most of their time in meditation. Often they become almost idiotic from their perpetual suppression of thought and speech. The Yogis are another sect of meditationists with very special regulations, which are believed to give them the power of levitation, of travelling immense distances instantly, of rendering themselves invisible, etc. Many of them are practically jugglers and fortune-tellers, travelling about and practising on popular credulity.
The Saktas include those sects specially devoted to the worship of female forms of the deity, such as Sarasvati, Lakshmi, Sita, Parvati, Durga, Kali, etc. The The Saktas. Saktas look upon their female deity as the active energy of all things, and the source of all beings, for without the female element they could not be born. It is chiefly in modern books termed Tantras that these views are taught. They have been called the Bible of
