Bhakti
Bhakti (
Sanskrit: भक्ति) is a word of Sanskrit origin meaning
devotion and also
the path of devotion itself, as in
Bhakti-Yoga. Within
Hinduism the word is used exclusively to denote devotion to a particular
deity or form of
God. Within
Vaishnavism bhakti is only used in conjunction with
Vishnu or one of his associated
incarnations, it is likewise used towards
Shiva by followers of
Shaivism. Bhakti as a process of
yoga is described in detail famously within the
Bhagavad Gita, wherein it is given as the ultimate form of religious expression (
18.55), for which all other
dharmas should be abandoned (
18.66).
There is no exact information as to the early origins of Bhakti, however it is believed that at least some element of it was present in
Vedic times. It appears to have started in
Tamil Nadu and spread slowly northwards, eventually becoming an accepted doctrine within a number of paths within Hinduism. In the 12th to 17th centuries in India there was a stong growth in the Bhakti movement throughout the country wherein the
Bhakti Movements increased in popularity and grew into their current identities.
The forces that cause creation, sustain and maintain that which has become created and eventually cause the destruction of that which was created " named
Brahman, by the Upanishads " permeates everything in the Creation. Brahman is the self creating force that is in all that has a name and form as well as that which remains formless and nameless.
The
Bhagavata Purana describes three different'levels' of Brahman realisation. The first is an impersonal state of blissfull
consciousness, similar to
nirvana where one is aware of the great
universal Brahman effulgence permeating everything; the second is classified as
Paramatma realisation, wherein one is actually able to see the Form of Godhead alongside one's own soul (
atma); the third and ultimate realisation is described as
Bhagavan, in this state one has a direct loving relationship with The Supreme Personality of Godhead himself, in one or more of His
transcendental forms.
At this point, Hindu theory of Bhakti branches off into two distinct schools of thought, the Absolutist and the non-Absolutist. The former, (to which belongs the
advaita school of
Shankara) postulates that the moment one wants to think of
Brahman as an object of thought, one has already delimited Brahman and is only thinking of
Ishvara, otherwise called Saguna Brahman - Brahman with attributes. The non-Absolutist schools on the other hand, generally identify Brahman with Ishvara though some of them do make modifications that tend to assign attributes to Brahman.
Vishishtadvaita and
Dvaita are two major non-Absolutist schools.
The
Smarta tradition of
Hinduism recommends that each person may choose a deity of worship (
ishta-devata) to which they are most attracted to. If the grossest manifestation is the only thing that suits one's taste, or mood, or psychological make-up or intellect, one is free to worship God in that form, as long as the form itself is bonafide and from scripture (not imaginary). It is in this spirit that
Sahasranama stotras (1000 names of God) and ashtottara-stotras (poems of praise through
108 names) are found in abundance in Hindu religious literature for almost every deity. It is this train of thought in the Smarta Hindu mind that lives with different
puranas though they extoll different deities.
There are six populars traditions which embrace bhakti as a process of worship to a particular deity:
*
Vishnu, belonging to the classic Trinity and His concrete manifestations in the forms of
Rama,
Krishna and other
avatars.
* Maheshvara or
Shiva, the third God of the classic Trinity.
*
Devi, the Mother Goddess, in her three forms of
Durga or
Parvati,
Lakshmi and
Saraswati.
*
Ganesha, the elephant-faced deity who is said to remove obstacles on the path of devotion.
*
Suryadev, the Sun-God.
*
Subrahmanya, the six-faced deity known also as
Murugan or Kumaran to the Tamil world.
In addition, the choice of
ishta-devata became, over the centuries, a choice of one among the thousands of temples scattered throughout the country and the deity chosen may very well be the particular deity enshrined in a specific temple, though certainly belonging to one of the six major streams listed above.
It is this variety and possibility of ‘to each according to his needs and capabilities' that brings together under one banner of Hinduism people with varying practices, attitudes and states of evolution. Accordingly carving of images of deity forms both for worship at home and in the temples became one of the most highly developed art and profession in India. The religious life of India was thus nourished through the ages on a visual statement, unmatched perhaps, in the history of civilization.
The scripture known as the
Narada Bhakti sutra, believed to be spoken by the sage
Narada distinguishes eleven forms of bhakti based on the different relationship to God that the devotee can assume.
The devotee
Prahlada, as explained in
Srimad Bhagavatam, enunciates
Nine Expressions of Bhakti.
See also Bhakti yoga.
Adi Shankara, in verse 61 of his Sivanandalahari lists five analogies of Bhakti. See
Five Graded Analogies of Bhakti''.
Over the centuries there have been innumerable devotees who have been said to have exemplified a life of selfless devotion to their particular ishta-deva:
*
Chaitanya Mahaprabhu*
Mirabai *
Ramdas *
Thyagaraja *
Appar*
Namdev *
Kabir *
Vedanta Desika*
Ramana*
RamakrishnaIn any theory of grace it is the surrender to God's will and humility that matters. The practitioner has to surrender by their own free will with the understanding that living people have the free will to obey or disobey God. The fatalist view of reality is only a fragmentary part of Hinduism. A person's fate is reflected mainly in the tendencies that they has created for himself through committed actions. He has total free will to surrender to God or not. But if he surrenders to Him heart and soul, He promises that He will take care of his pure devotee. This is famously illustrated in one of Krishna's final statements to
Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita:
"Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reactions. Do not fear". (
Bhagavad Gita 18.66)
*Swami Nikhilananda, Hinduism, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1958
*D.S. Sarma, Hinduism through the ages, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 1973
*Swami Chinmayananda, Love Divine " Narada Bhakti Sutra, Chinmaya Publications Trust, Madras, 1970
*Swami Tapasyananda, Bhakti Schools of Vedanta, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Madras, 1990
*
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Srimad Bhagavatam (12 Cantos), The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust,2004
*
Bhakti Yoga *
Bhakti Movement*
Hare Krishna *
Mantra*
South India's 75 Apostles of Bhakti*
Bhakti Poets: A History of Bhakti by Doris Jakobsh*
The full text of the Bhagavata Purana (Srimad-Bhagavatam)*
Krishna.com: Krishna Consciousness & Bhakti-Yoga*
Bhakti and the Doctrine of Love by Sri Nitin Kumar
