Bhakti

Bhakti is an intense emotion of sublime nature with which a person makes a total surrender to a personal form of God. In Hindu religion, it represents one of the major ‘Bhavs’ or attitudes that helps to build a variety of complex yet beautiful relationships between God and His devotees like parent-child, master-servant, lover-beloved or friend- friend. Bhakti is accepted and recognized by all the major streams of Hinduism – Shaivas, Vaishnavs and Shaktas.

In the 4th century CE, Bhakti movement began in South India and it spread very fast as a form of profound devotion for Vishnu and Shiva. Vaishnava and Shaiva poetry played a key role in the development of Bhakti movement which encompassed all regions and languages and significantly influenced the Hindu, nay, the pluralistic culture of India. The poet-saints went around singing the praises of God and converted people from all castes, races and genders to Vaishnavism and Shaivaism. They helped build many temples and pilgrimage sites.

The sages Shandilya and Narada are believed to have written two major Bhakti texts, the Shandilya Bhakti Sutra and the Narada Bhakti Sutra respectively. Besides, there is elaborate reference to Bhakti in Bhagavat Gita and Bhagavat Purana.

The concept of Bhakti gave birth to Bhakti Yoga, which in essence is the path of love and devotion. The Gita describes Bhakti Yoga as the way to devote all actions to God. One whose mind is immersed in God attains liberation from the material world.

There are different forms of Bhakti Bhavas or attitudes that a devotee takes to show his devotion to God. They are ‘santa bhava’, passive love for God, ‘dasya bhava’, servant’s attitude towards master, ‘sakhya bhava’, friendly attitude, ‘vatsalya bhava’, motherly attitude, and ‘madhura bhava’, attitude of the beloved towards her lover.

The uniqueness of Bhakti lies in the fact that it gives the devotee the freedom to choose any particular form of God from the innumerable deities mentioned in the scriptures and worship him/her with any ‘bhava’. This sometimes leads the devotees to a state of divine ecstasy which perhaps they cannot reach through any other path.

This spirit of Bhakti spawned innumerable “Sahasranama Stotras” and “Ashtottara Stotras” in Hindu religious texts, extolling the greatness of almost all deities in the Hindu pantheon of gods and goddesses.

Bhakti movement also caught the imagination of the masses from other religions like Islam and Sikhism in medieval India. The Bhakti way of singing the praise of God was reflected in Kirtan in Hindu temples, Qawali at Dargahs and Gurbani at Gurdwaras.

In the twelfth and thirteenth century, the names of saints like Bhagat Namdev and Kabir were associated with the Bhakti movement. These saints composed devotional songs in praise of God. The teachings of Guru Nanak reflected so much of Bhakti spirit that many historians imply that the root of Sikhism, at least some aspects of it, goes deep down to the spirit of Bhakti movement in Punjab. However, in spite of Sikhism’s similarity with the Bhakti concept, Sikhism never propagated spiritual love with any particular deity but with the Lord of the Universe who is transcendent as well as immanent.