Khartabhaja

[sect]

The Khartabhaja appear in Jeffrey J. Kripal's Kali's Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna. From Kripal's description, the Khartabhaja appear to be another Tantric manifestation of orthodox Vaisnava ideas. The leader of the sect, Vaishnarvacharan, taught that "if one can worship God in an image [then] why not in a living man?" For Vaishnarvacharan, such worship led to the complete knowledge of God's play in man. The Khartabhaja cult took the form of a community, possibly composed of both men, women, and Hijras. According to Kripal, Vaishnarvacharan's teachings had some influence on Ramakrishna, and it is from Ramakrishna's teachings that Kripal has pieced together what little is known of Khartabhaja practice. For example, Kripal (quoting Ramakrishna) writes:

"Vaishnarvacharan liked to look at pictures of men, for they aroused in him feelings of tenderness (komala) and love (prema)."

This practice was also used by female Khartabhajas - through loving a chosen man, identified with God, they could attain the divine. Ramakrishna railed against such an idea in his teachings, speaking against the women who take lovers and end up 'scandalously pregnant.