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Bhakti

"Bhakta" redirects here. Not to be confused with Bakhta.

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Bhakti (Sanskrit: भक्ति; Pali: bhatti) is a term common in Indian religions which means attachment, fondness for, devotion to, trust, homage, worship, piety, faith, or love.[1] In Indian religions, it may refer to loving devotion for a personal God (like Krishna or Devi), a formless ultimate reality (like Nirguna Brahman or the Sikh God) or for an enlightened being (like a Buddha, a bodhisattva, or a guru).[2][3][4][5][6][7] Bhakti is often a deeply emotional devotion based on a relationship between a devotee and the object of devotion.[8][9][10]

One of the earliest appearances of the term is found in the early Buddhist Theragatha (Verses of the Elders).[11] In ancient texts such as the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the term simply means participation, devotion and love for any endeavor, while in the Bhagavad Gita, it connotes one of the possible paths of spirituality and towards moksha, as in bhakti marga.[12]

Bhakti ideas have inspired many popular texts and saint-poets in India. The Bhagavata Purana, for example, is a Krishna-related text associated with the Bhakti movement in Hinduism.[13] Bhakti is also found in other religions practiced in India,[14][15][16] and it has influenced interactions between Christianity and Hinduism in the modern era.[17][18] Nirguni bhakti (devotion to the divine without attributes) is found in Sikhism, as well as Hinduism.[19][7] Outside India, emotional devotion is found in some Southeast Asian and East Asian Buddhist traditions.[4][5][20]

The term also refers to a movement, pioneered by the Tamil Alvars and Nayanars, that developed around the gods Vishnu (Vaishnavism), Shiva (Shaivism) and Devi (Shaktism) in the second half of the 1st millennium CE.[2][3][21][22][23][24]

Devotional elements similar to bhakti have been part of various world religions throughout human history.[25] Devotional practices are found in Christianity,[25][26] Islam,[27][28] Buddhism[29][30][31] and Judaism.[25][32]

  1. ^ See Monier-Williams, Sanskrit Dictionary, 1899.
  2. ^ a b Bhakti, Encyclopædia Britannica (2009)
  3. ^ a b Karen Pechelis (2011), "Bhakti Traditions", in The Continuum Companion to Hindu Studies (Editors: Jessica Frazier, Gavin Flood), Bloomsbury, ISBN 978-0826499660, pp. 107–121
  4. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference swearer9 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference werner45 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference :6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference hardip was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Hans G. Kippenberg; Yme B. Kuiper; Andy F. Sanders (1990). Concepts of Person in Religion and Thought. Walter de Gruyter. p. 295. ISBN 978-3-11-087437-2., Quote: "The foundations of emotional devotionalism (bhakti) were laid in south India in the second half of the first millennium of our era (...)".
  9. ^ Indira Viswanathan Peterson (2014). Poems to Siva: The Hymns of the Tamil Saints. Princeton University Press. pp. 4, footnote 4. ISBN 978-1-4008-6006-7.
  10. ^ DeNapoli, Antoinette (2018). "Earning God through the "One-Hundred Rupee Note": Nirguṇa Bhakti and Religious Experience among Hindu Renouncers in North India". Religions. 9 (12): 408. doi:10.3390/rel9120408.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference :4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ John Lochtefeld (2014), The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Rosen Publishing (New York), ISBN 978-0823922871, pp. 98–100. Also see articles on bhaktimārga and jnanamārga.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference Cutler was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Flood, Gavin D. (2003). The Blackwell Companion to Hinduism. Wiley-Blackwell. p. 185. ISBN 978-0-631-21535-6.
  15. ^ Neill, Stephen (2002). A History of Christianity in India, 1707–1858. Cambridge University Press. p. 412. ISBN 978-0-521-89332-9.
  16. ^ Kelting, Mary Whitney (2001). Singing to the Jinas: Jain Laywomen, Maṇḍaḷ Singing, and the Negotiations of Jain Devotion. Oxford University Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-19-514011-8.
  17. ^ A. Frank Thompson (1993), Hindu-Christian Dialogue: Perspectives and Encounters (Editor: Harold Coward), Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, ISBN 978-8120811584, pp. 176–186
  18. ^ Karen Pechelis (2014), The Embodiment of Bhakti, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0195351903, see Introduction chapter
  19. ^ Lorenzen 1995, pp. 1–2.
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference karunaratna435 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ Rinehart, Robin (2004). Contemporary Hinduism: Ritual, Culture, and Practice. ABC-CLIO. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-57607-905-8.
  22. ^ Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press. pp. 131. ISBN 978-0-521-43878-0.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Embree was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Jerry Bentley, Old World Encounters: Cross Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 120.
  25. ^ a b c Michael Pasquier (2011), The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization, Wiley-Blackwell, ISBN 978-1405157629, See article on Devotionalism and Devotional Literature, doi:10.1002/9780470670606.wbecc0417
  26. ^ L. D. Nelson and Russell R. Dynes (1976), The Impact of Devotionalism and Attendance on Ordinary and Emergency Helping Behavior, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 15, No. 1, pages 47-59
  27. ^ GJ Larson, India's Agony Over Religion: Confronting Diversity in Teacher Education, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-2411-7, page 116
  28. ^ Roxanne Leslie Euben and Muhammad Qasim Zaman (2009), Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought, Princeton University Press, ISBN 978-0691135885, pages 21-23
  29. ^ Minoru Kiyota (1985), Tathāgatagarbha Thought: A Basis of Buddhist Devotionalism in East Asia, Japanese Journal of Religious Studies, Vol. 12, No. 2/3, pages 207-231
  30. ^ Pori Park (2012), Devotionalism Reclaimed: Re-mapping Sacred Geography in Contemporary Korean Buddhism, Journal of Korean Religions, Vol. 3, No. 2, pages 153-171
  31. ^ Allan Andrews (1993), Lay and Monastic Forms of Pure Land Devotionalism: Typology and History, Numen, Vol. 40, No. 1, pages 16-37
  32. ^ Anthony M. Stevens-Arroyo (1998), The Evolution of Marian Devotionalism within Christianity and the Ibero-Mediterranean Polity, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Vol. 37, No. 1, pages 50-73

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