
Chapter Eight

KARTABHAJA (Worshipers of Guru as God)


"One should accept a thing as genuine by studying the words of saintly people,
the spiritual master and sastra. The actual center is sastra, the revealed
scripture. If a spiritual master does not speak according to revealed
scripture, he is not to be accepted. Similarly, if a saintly person does not
speak according to the sastra, he is not a saintly person. Sastra is the
center for all." (C.C. Madhya 20.352, Purport)

In India, the kartabhaja-apasampradaya is nowadays lumped in with the Bauls of
Bengal (aula, baula, sani, daravesa). Though indeed it is in many ways similar
to the Bauls, there is yet a singular feature of this cult that distinguishes
it from all others: its doctrine of guruvada. To be sure, all the tantric
apasampradayas venerate the guru, and they all justify this veneration with a
philosophy they call guruvada. But none go to the extreme that the Kartabhajas
do by proclaiming the guru to be God incarnate.

Kartabhaja-guruvada is drawn from the Mayavadi idea of Absolute Oneness; the
conclusion is that the guru alone is God in His worshipable form. No form
other than his is worshipable, including the arca-murti. No name is chanted
other than the name of the guru - if the name "Krsna" is chanted, it is
because the guru is Krsna.

In Lord Caitanya's acintya-bhedabheda philosophy, the guru is known to be
non-different from God, but that does not mean he is identical to God in all
respects. He is asraya-vigraha - the receptacle of Krsna's mercy. He is
Visnupadaya (situated at Lord Visnu's lotus feet) and Krsna-presthaya (very
dear to Krsna). As Srila Raghunatha dasa Gosvami states in his Manah Siksa:
yuruvaram mukunda presthatve smara parama ajasram nanu manah - "O mind, please
remember again and again your spiritual master, who is most dear to Krsna."

The founder of the kartabhaja-apasampradaya was one Aul Chand, who lived
approximately from 1686 to 1779. He was a fakir or daravesa said by his
followers to be none other than Lord Caitanya Himself, whom they say
reappeared at Ghosepara in Nadia 200 years after He appeared in Sridhama
Mayapura. In Ghosepara, the residence of Karta Ram Sharan Pal and his wife
Sati is still preserved as the Kartabhaja place of pilgrimage. This husband
and wife were Aul Chand's principal disciples, said to be Adi Purusa and
Adyasakti. Nowadays, the Ghosepara Kartabhaja center is overrun with Bauls
during the three-day Dola Yatra festival. This is probably why many people
think the Kartabhajas are a kind of Baul. But they are a distinct group with a
distinct philosophy, and they used to be extremely influential in the last
century. In 1893, an invitation was extended to Karta Dulalchand, a famous
songwriter and guru of this sect, to attend the World Parliament of Religions
in Chicago (at which Vivekananda lectured). But the invitation was a little
late - by that time, Dulalchand had been dead for 60 years!

The Kartabhaja sect has its own holy book called the Bhaver Gita, most of
which was written in the form of songs by Dulalchand. Much of the text is
puzzling and purposefully contradictory; it is to be understood only by
initiates. But there are clear hints of Mayavadi and tantric ideas (though it
seems the Kartabhaja sect does not have a reputation for sexual promiscuity
like the Bauls). The followers are supposed to marry and be true to their
partners. And they should be vegetarian, at least on Fridays (the Muslim
sabbath). Husbands and wives should not have sex on this day also. The
Kartabhajas share with the Bauls the concept of jiyante mara - living death -
as the highest goal. They chant the name of Krsna, but say the names of Kali
and Khoda (Allah) are equal to it, because all are names of the guru.

An interesting note of history is that the Kartabhajas were a powerful
movement of revolt against the jati-gosai and smartas, who as mentioned
earlier, had become the sedentary establishment of 18th century orthodox
Gaudiya Vaisnavism. The Kartabhajas and other sahajiya groups converted
thousands of common folk on the plea that "the company" (their special term
for the Gaudiya Vaisnavas) was once rich, but is now bankrupt. Out of the
ruins of the old company, a new company has arisen (meaning the Kartabhajas).
This company does not carry out business in the name of religion.

The word karta means "master" or "boss"; with this term the Kartabhajas
address their gurus, beginning with Karta Ram Sharan Pal. All the Kartas lived
at the residence of the first Karta and organized the Kartabhaja mission from
there.

The faithful followers of the Kartas are called Baratis, which means "members
of the bridegroom's party" in the curious terminology of this sect. The
business of the Baratis is to fully accept and serve the Karta as God on
earth. Because of their fanatical devotion to this principle, the Kartabhaja
sect was very well organized and enthusiastic, and thus very influential among
people who could see the faults of the jati-gosai and smartas.

The Kartabhajas worship no deity other than the Karta. Whatever words he
speaks are themselves sastra and should be blindly obeyed. His activities are
always divine. Such divine activities were revealed by Aul Chand, the
founder-avatara. While living with his disciple, Ram Sharan Pal, he used to
squat in a room alone without moving for many days together. But when Ram
Saran had a wedding ceremony for his eldest daughter, Aul Chand suddenly came
out of his room completely naked and danced all around the wedding party. Ram
Sal became angry, but when Aul Chand threatened to leave his house forever,
Ram Saran surrendered and begged him to stay, suddenly realizing that Aul
Chand was God.

In Bangladesh, a new version of the Kartabhaja sect was founded some years
back by one Anukul Chandra. He is now dead, but latter-day devotees can be
directly initiated by him through preachers known as ritviks. New initiates
must agree to follow the principles  be vegetarian once a week and worship no
deity other than Anukul Chandra's picture.

