Bhakti
From Free net encyclopedia
Template:Hinduism portal Template:Hinduism small Bhakti (Sanskrit: भक्ित) is an originally Sanskrit term, used in many South Asian languages, that means intense devotion, expressed by action (service) and/or placing oneself at the mercy of the divine. A person who practices Bhakti is called a Bhakta. In Hinduism, as Professor Klostermeier comments in The Survey of Hinduism, the path of devotion is a path of salvation in its own right, whereby none of the scriptural codes such as the caste system are followed and scriptures are disregarded. In the 12th to 17th centuries in India there was a surge of this movement where the proponents sang and formed congregations of people, many from the lower classes. The movement is by nature rebellious because of its egalitarian stance; some of its most charismatic proponents were women. There are some subtleties of the Bhakti movement. These are : the One Reality versus many ‘Gods’ of worship; deity worship through ‘icons’ and ‘images’ on the one hand, formless worship on the other; the freedom to choose one’s own ‘favourite deity’, at the same time not being exclusive; the interactive ramifications of God’s grace, fate and free will. Although some element of Bhakti was present even in the Vedic times, it is over the last six or seven centuries that Bhakti has taken the modern shape. The Bhakti movement seems to have started in Tamil Nadu and spread slowly northwards, becoming eventually a pervasive feature of Hinduism. The Tamil Alvars and Nayanars initiated the concept of Bhakti as a means of attaining salvation. However with time, the rebellious nature was subdued as the influences of the orthodoxy were incorporated which made it comparatively more complicated.
Concept of God
Early stages of man’s introspection revealed the superiority of Nature over him. But in course of time he realised that however deep he penetrated into the complexity of nature there was something deeper than what he knew to be true. Before long he postulated a Supreme Cosmic Power as the motive force behind every expression of Nature. But the concept of God in Hinduism is more complex than this naive conception of a Cosmic Power. The Upanishads take pains to explain how every physical expression amenable to sense perception is nothing but an expression of the divine. The Upanishads declare that there is a substratum of existence behind all the manifest presentations to the mind. This is just like gold being the substratum of existence in all gold ornaments, or the movie screen being the base of all the presentations on the screen.
Brahman, the Ultimate
This substratum – named Brahman, by the Upanishads – permeates everything in the world. It is the common content of all that has a name and/or form. For that very reason, it has no name or form for itself. It is spoken of as ‘THAT’ in the neuter gender by the Upanishads. This is the unique Godhead of Hinduism. There is no other. There is no second. It is the source of all energy, of all power, either in nature or in living beings. In this abstract concept, however, there cannot be any subject-object relationship. Brahman cannot be the object of cognition, since Brahman has no second. In fact nothing can be predicated about Brahman without delimiting the infiniteness of Brahman.
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 Brahaman 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. In the first chapter of Bhagavata, it is mentioned that when Veda Vyasa rishi called out searching for his son, Suka, all the animals, birds and even trees and inanimate objects started answering him saying, 'I am here, I am everywhere'. This story is to demonstrate as to what happens when the all-pervading state had been reached by a Brahma Jnani like Suka. The Bhagavata also states repeatedly that Suka was one of the very few to attain that exalted state, thereby indicating that 'Brahma Nirvanam' was indeed the highest state to be reached.
Two schools, the Absolutist and the non-Absolutist
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), with a mathematical precision, 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 Ishwara, otherwise called Saguna Brahman, Brahman with attributes. The non-Absolutist schools on the other hand, generally identify Brahman with Iswaara though some of them do make modifications that tend to assign attributes to Brahman. Vishishtadvaita and Dvaita are two major non-Absolutist schools.
Ishwara, the all-powerful Almighty
Ishwara is the all-powerful Almighty that is talked about by all religions. By its very nature all names and forms suit it. The Vedic logic here is really very subtle. The Ultimate has no name or form and therefore it could be called by any name and could be given any form. The concept of idol worship is the practical consequence of this unique logic of Hinduism. Hinduism, the Smarta tradition, in particular, dares to carry the rationale of this to its logical conclusion. Hence it is one finds a plethora of ‘gods’ and ‘goddesses’ in the Hindu framework.
Names and Forms
No single name or form of God can fully describe the infinite grandeur that is God. Each name or form is only a symbol that points to something that is beyond this visual representation. Each is only a representation of some aspect or manifestation of the supreme Divinity. Therefore, it is the entire array of all names and forms of God that will approximate to the fullness that is the one Ishwara. 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.
Favorite deity worship
The Smarta tradition of Hinduism however, recommends that each person may choose his own deity of worship (ishta-devata). 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. Even the same person may worship an idol at one time and at another time may meditate and attempt to merge in the transcendental nameless ultimate. One may choose a favourite as per one’s taste, and worship that as the Ultimate. It is this train of thought in the Smarta Hindu mind that lives with different puranas though they extoll different deities.
Six traditional favourites
When Divinity appears as a physical manifestation for a specific purpose, for that context, for that moment, that manifestation is considered to be Supreme. Smarta Hinduism therefore gives the privilege to each individual to choose an ishta-devata (favourite deity) and worship it as if it were the exclusive ultimate. There are six traditions, which may be listed as the worship of:
- Aditya, the Sun-God;
- Devi or Ambika, the Mother Goddess, in her three forms of Durga or Parvati, Lakshmi and Saraswati ;
- Vishnu, belonging to the classic Trinity and His concrete manifestations in the forms of Rama, Krishna and other avatars ;
- Ganesha, the elephant-faced deity, considered as the primal God of all worship;
- Maheshvara or Shiva, the third God of the classic Trinity; and
- Subrahmanya, the six-faced deity known also as Murugan or Kumaran to the Tamil world.
All-encompassing eclecticism
In addition, the choice of ishta-devata, also 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 that 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 gods 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.
Classifications of Bhakti
Narada Bhakti sutra by sage Narada distinguishes eleven forms based on the different relationship to God that the devotee can assume.
Prahlada, as explained in Srimad Bhagavatam, enunciates Nine Expressions of Bhakti.
Adi Shankara, in his verse#61 of Sivanandalahari lists Five analogies of Bhakti. See Five Graded Analogies of Bhakti.
Sathya Sai Baba, talks about Three stages of Bhakti, namely, External Worship (“Bahya bhakti”, like worshipping in temples and holy places), Exclusive Worship of one deity (“Ananya bhakti” like that of Tulsidas or Thyagaraja), and Intimate Internal Worship (“Ekantha bhakti” like the self-effacing worship of the Gopis of Brindavan).
Example of Towering Giants of Bhakti
God never lets down His devotees – is the clarion call of all bhakti literature. Over the centuries there have been innumerable devotees who have exemplified this in their very lives. In historical time numberless devotees of the Lord have been reported to have lived an exemplary life of devotion. Bhakti itself came to be defined by their actions and pronouncements. One has only to read the biographies of Thyagaraja, Appar, Mirabai, Ramadas, Namdev, Kabir, Vedanta Desika, Chaitanya, Ramana or Ramakrishna and scores of several others. Every one of their lives would show how devotion is always followed by the descent of the Grace of God on the devotee.
Theory of Grace
In any theory of Grace it is the surrender to God’s Will and humility that matter. And one has to surrender by one’s own free will. Man has the free will to obey or disobey God. The so-called fatalist view in religion is only a fragmentary part of Hinduism. Man’s fate is reflected mainly in his tendencies that he has created for himself through his 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 Yoga (security), and Kshema (well-being). Whosoever offers to Me with love, a leaf, a flower, a fruit or even water, says the Lord, I shall partake of his offering and bless him, says Krishna in the Gita. So we have only to purify the feeling behind every act of worship of ours in order to win His Grace.
Take the first step
If that feeling of bhakti is so important, why can’t God Himself give us that feeling? –God certainly grants that bhakti. But we have to receive it. If our minds are closed, we may not receive it even when it pours. He keeps on pouring His love but very often we do not look to Him for that Love. Actually He waits and waits until we take the first step towards Him out of our own free will. Why should He submit Himself to this ‘agony’ of waiting for His children to become His devotees is one of the mysteries of God. In His ‘agony’ He grabs us even when we take a simple step towards Him. He consumes us with His love.
One Purpose of prayer and worship
But generally devotees want only petty things from God. The theory of Bhakti is He keeps giving us the petty things we want, so that in due time we would want what He wants to give us all. All our temples, gods and goddesses and the innumerable ways by which we may propitiate the divine in these places of worship, as well as the uncountable methods of offering our private prayers, with or without the ritualistic mantras – all of them have that one objective, that we should ultimately want to go back to where we came from, that is, merge in Him and His glory or be with Him in His blissful Presence.
Sources
- 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
See also
External links
- "Bhakti Poets" by Doris Jakobsh for the "Women in World History" website
- Sree Chaitanya Gaudiya Math
- ISKCON official website
- Awakening the Inner Woman - Bhakti and the Doctrine of Love by Sri Nitin Kumar
- Krishna.com
- Bhakti Yoga Website
- Hare Krishna Newsde:Bhakti