The Post-Caitanya Sahajiya Cult of Bengal by Mahindra Mohan Bose. (1930)
“We generally utilize this conception of God to minister to our needs, but the Sahajiya doctrine does not contemplate any such necessity. It has made man, and not God, the object of worship, holding fast to the view that the development of human qualities can imprint on man the character of the Supreme Being. It maintains that even salvation cannot come from any outside agency, but it has to be squired by man by his own perfection. Working on this ideal, the Sahajiyas have centred all attention on the culture of self, with the conviction that man in potentiality is even superior to gods. In their treatment of the doctrinal points also they have always evinced a tendency to combine philosophy and religion together, with a thorough insight into the reality of our existence. In the sphere of practical culture with Parakiya com panions as well as in the spiritistic conception of the never-ending play of Matter and Energy symbolised in Krsna and Radha, they have proceeded on the same principle by making deductions from the rationalistic observations of nature. This is the true character of the Sahajiya doctrine which we have tried to illustrate in the pages of this book.” -Excerpt from Introduction.
“We generally utilize this conception of God to minister to our needs, but the Sahajiya doctrine does not contemplate any such necessity. It has made man, and not God, the object of worship, holding fast to the view that the development of human qualities can imprint on man the character of the Supreme Being. It maintains that even salvation cannot come from any outside agency, but it has to be squired by man by his own perfection. Working on this ideal, the Sahajiyas have centred all attention on the culture of self, with the conviction that man in potentiality is even superior to gods. In their treatment of the doctrinal points also they have always evinced a tendency to combine philosophy and religion together, with a thorough insight into the reality of our existence. In the sphere of practical culture with Parakiya com panions as well as in the spiritistic conception of the never-ending play of Matter and Energy symbolised in Krsna and Radha, they have proceeded on the same principle by making deductions from the rationalistic observations of nature. This is the true character of the Sahajiya doctrine which we have tried to illustrate in the pages of this book.” -Excerpt from Introduction.
“We generally utilize this conception of God to minister to our needs, but the Sahajiya doctrine does not contemplate any such necessity. It has made man, and not God, the object of worship, holding fast to the view that the development of human qualities can imprint on man the character of the Supreme Being. It maintains that even salvation cannot come from any outside agency, but it has to be squired by man by his own perfection. Working on this ideal, the Sahajiyas have centred all attention on the culture of self, with the conviction that man in potentiality is even superior to gods. In their treatment of the doctrinal points also they have always evinced a tendency to combine philosophy and religion together, with a thorough insight into the reality of our existence. In the sphere of practical culture with Parakiya com panions as well as in the spiritistic conception of the never-ending play of Matter and Energy symbolised in Krsna and Radha, they have proceeded on the same principle by making deductions from the rationalistic observations of nature. This is the true character of the Sahajiya doctrine which we have tried to illustrate in the pages of this book.” -Excerpt from Introduction.