His theology[637] shows little originality.  The deity is called Bhagavan or more frequently Hari.  His majesty and omnipotence are personified as Narayana, his beauty and ecstasy as Krishna.  The material world is defined as bhedabhedaprakasa, a manifestation of the deity as separate and yet not separate from him, and the soul is vibhinnamsa or a detached portion of him.  Some souls are in bondage to Prakriti or Maya, others through faith and love attain deliverance.  Reason is useless in religious matters, but ruci or spiritual feeling has a quick intuition of the divine.

Salvation is obtained by Bhakti, faith or devotion, which embraces and supersedes all other duties.  This devotion means absolute self-surrender to the deity and love for him which 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.