Shanta ("peaceful") Bhava Rupa Goswami, a devotee
(bhakta) of the deity Krishna and a fol lower of the Bengali saint Chaitanya,
elucidated the first of the five ways of devotion to God.
Rupa employed five distinct models of human connections to
describe the many kinds of interactions that followers may have with the gods.
From the serene (shanta) experience that comes from
realizing one's total identification with Brahman, or Supreme Reality, to con
ceiving of god as one's master, friend, child, or lover, these five models
demonstrated increasing emotional intensity.
The only one of these modes in which the devotee does not
have a personalized connection with God is the shanta bhava, in which one
experiences mental serenity via the knowledge of perfect oneness with Brahman.
The shanta bhava was therefore regarded inferior to the
other four modes, based on Rupa's opinion that Krishna was the greatest
manifestation of deity head and that real religious life included establishing
a contact with him.
