Chaitanya advanced a step further, Bornina pious family. 408 BENGALI LANGUAGE & LITERATURE. [ Cha pared by Buddhism, came Chaitanya Deva into this historic land of religion, to advance a step further
and teach love to God.
He taught it unmistakably. The family 09.
which he belonged had for many generations past
been Vaisnavas—which means that they had abs- ;
tained from all kinds of meat. No fish or flesh
could cross the threshold of a Vaisnava family.
The word killing is not to be found in their voca-_
bulary ; to speak of ‘cutting’ even a vegetable, for
food, was unholy with them. They called it বানান
or dressing (lit. preparing). The older phraseology
current in the country had been changed by the
Vaisnavas. The idea of kindness to animals had
reached perfection with them and how can this be
explained, except as the result of Buddhism which —
long predominated here ? The family of Chaitanya”
Deva were of an unworldly character. His father
Jagannath Mi¢ra, was very poor. His wife Cachi
Devi asked him one day why he did not worship
Chandi—for the avocation of such a priest would
bring him more money. Jagannath Micra smiled
and said he did not care to have it.
It was a family that cared only for the grace of
God,—God who was real to the Hindus of that
period, and not a mere matter of speculation as
he is to so many modern Bengalis. The life of
Chaitanya proves that all the tender emotions of
love,—the yearnings of a mother for her child
all that friendship of man or woman may inspire
in the soul, do not represent a tithe of what a man |
can feel or suffer when he realises the love of God.
But it requires the clear vision of one in whom
