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 Râdhâ and K.rish.na. In adopting this illustration of his principle, Chaitanya followed the example of the Bhagavad Gîtâ and the Bhâgavat Purâ.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, _Sânta_ or resigned contemplation of the deity is the first, and from it he passes into _Dâsya_ or the practice of worship and service, whence to _Sákhya_ or friendship, which warms into _Bâtsalya_, filial affection, and lastly rises to _Mádhurya_ or earnest, all-engrossing love.
Vaish.navism is singularly like Sufiism, the resemblance has often been noticed, and need here only be briefly traced. [Footnote: Conf. Capt. J. W. Graham's paper 'On Sufiism,' _Bombay Literary Soc. Trans._ Vol. I. pp. 89 et seqq.; Râjendralâla Mittra's valuable introduction to the _Chaitanya Chandrodaya_ (Biblioth. Ind.), pp. ii-iv and xv; also Jones' 'Mystical Poetry of the Persians and Hindus,' _Asiat. Res._ Vol. III. pp. 165-207; and Leyden, 'On the Rosheniah Sect, &c.,' _As. Res._ Vol. XI. pp. 363-428.--ED.] With the latter the first degree is _nâsût_ or 'humanity' in which man is subject to the law _shara_, the second _tarîkat_, 'the way' of spiritualism, the third _´arûf_ or 'knowledge,' and the fourth _hakîkat_ or 'the truth.' Some writers give a longer series of grades, thus--_talab,_ 'seeking after god;' _´ishk_, 'love;' _m´arifat_, 'insight;' _istighnâh_, 'satisfaction;' _tauhîd_, 'unity;' _hairat_, 'ecstacy;' and lastly _fanâ_, 'absorption.' Dealing as it does with God and Man as two factors of a problem, Vaish.navism necessarily ignores the distinctions of caste, and Chaitanya was perfectly consistent in this respect, admitting men of all castes, including Muhammadans, to his sect. Since his time, however, that strange love of caste-distinctions, which seems so ineradicable from the soil of India, has begun again to creep into Vaish.navism, and will probably end by establishing its power as firmly in this sect as in any other.