Loving devotion to God, recommended as the most effective path to God in most of the religious texts of popular Hinduism. Devotees are drawn into a close personal relationship to God and, in surrender to God, receive grace however lowly their station.
| Hinduism portal |
Bhaktī (Devanāgarī: भक्ति) is a word of Sanskrit origin meaning devotion and also the path of devotion itself, as in Bhakti-Yoga. 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).
History
There is no exact information as to the early origins of Bhakti, however it is believed that it was present to at least some extent in Vedic times. In the 12th to 17th centuries in India the Bhakti Movements increased in popularity and numbers, growing into the various branches known today.
Brahman, the Ultimate Person
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.
The Bhagavata Purana describes three different levels of Brahman realisation.
Two schools
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.
Arcana: Deity worship
The Smarta tradition of Hinduism recommends that each person may choose a deity of worship (ishta-devata) to which they are most attracted to.
Six traditional favourites
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.All-encompassing eclecticism
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.
Classifications of Bhakti
The scripture known as the Narad 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.
According to Adi Shankara, bhakti is the seeking after one's real nature.
Theory of divine grace
In any theory of grace it is the surrender to God’s will and humility that matters. 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
Famous proponents 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:
Akka Mahadevi Appar Basavanna Chaitanya Mahaprabhu Jagadguru Kripaluji Maharaj Kabir Kanakadasa Madhvacharya Mirabai Namdev Purandaradasa Ramana Ramdas Srimanta Sankardeva Thyagaraja Vedanta Desika
User Comments Add a comment…