Jaswinder Singh

Student ID- 201910058

Reception of Bhakti in Vaishnava Tradition

Introduction
As Klaus K. Klostermaier states that there is three distinct paths for gaining
salvation is found in Hindu religiosity: karmamārga, the path of works,
Jñānamārga, the path of knowledge and bhaktimārga, the path of loving devotion.1
According to the Bhagavad-Gita, a Hindu religious text, the path of bhakti, or
bhakti-marga, is superior to the two other religious approaches, the path of
knowledge (jnana) and the path of ritual and good works (karma)2. The majority of
Hindus today are followers of the bhaktimārga, whose exterior manifestation in
temples, images, processions, feasts, and popular gurus characterize so much of
present-day India3. On the contrary of the above statements Krishna Sharma in his
book, ‘Bhakti and the Bhakti movement- A New Perspective’, claimed that bhakti is
neither a cult nor a doctrine. Nor does it signify any specific religious mood or belief.
Further, he asserts that the juxtaposition of Shankar’s Advaita Vedanta and bhakti
and that of Bhakti and Gyana is unwarranted.4The genealogy that constructs Bhakti
as a social movement is the genealogy of one of the many publics produced by
Bhakti over Millennia. It has its roots in colonialism, orientalist scholarship, and the
Indian Independence movement, on the one hand, and the rise of sociology and
structural analysis of a culture in Europe American scholarship of the late
nineteenth and twentieth century, On the other.5My point in this paper is not been
to prove or disprove this question of whether Bhakti is a “moment” but to ask the
question “who says” it is a moment. The fallacies involved in the current approach
to Bhakti and the Bhakti movement can be rectified only if the generic meaning of
Bhakti is accepted in academic circles. In this paper, we attempt to understand
what the term Bhakti itself is, how it emerged in Indian tradition particularly in

1
Klaus K. Klostermaier, A survey of Hinduism { Albany: State University of New York press, 1989}, 119.
2
Doniger Wendy, Article Title:Bhakti, Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., March 03, 2015,URL:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/bhakti Access Date:April 17, 2020.
3
Klaus K. Klostermaier, A survey of Hinduism { Albany: State University of New York press, 1989},181.
4
Sharma, Mr. Krishna, Bhakti and the Bhakti movement: A new perspective {New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal
Publishers, 1987), preface 9-17.
5
Novetzke, Christian Lee. “Bhakti and Its Public.” International Journal of Hindu Studies 11, no. 3 (2007): 266.
Accessed April 16, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/25691067.

1
Vaishnava tradition. Further, we will also make an approach to the fact that how
bhakti manifests through its public and what was its embodiment.
The Gupta Kings and the Spread of Vaishnava Tradition
The Garuda Emblem on the coins of Samudragupta suggests that this king was
also a Vaishnava. It should be mentioned in this connection that in most of the side
of the river of the coins the Goddess Lakshmi is shown. All these things no doubt
show that Samudragupta was devoted to Vaishnavas king. As regards the successor
of Samudra Gupta it may be mentioned that his son Chandragupta II was a devoted
worshipper of God Vasudeva- Vishnu. So, we see that these two Kings were the
devotees of Lord Vishnu it maybe we expected that they worked for the
propagation of the religion professed by them. And it was during their reign-period
that Vaishnavism traveled to the island overseas.6
Vaishnava tradition has not lost its importance in modern times. Swāmi Rāma
Tīrtha has carried the message of Lord Viṣṇu to the West. Swāmi Bhaktivedānta
founded ISKCON, a movement to propagate Gauḍīya-Vaiṣṇavism not only in India
but also throughout the whole world.

1.1 Etymology and Meaning of Bhakti

Most of the scholars assert that the word Bhakti originated from Sanskirt bhaj,
to adore, honor, worship and it is a central spiritual path in Hinduism, involving
devotion and service of the chosen deity. 7 If derived from the root bhañj-, to
separate, bhakti would have to be translated as separation. That makes sense
insofar as bhakti presupposes that the individual human person is separated from
and not identical with the Supreme Being. In this view, inner longing for the reunion
is the characteristic of human life and the Bhakta is one who is aware of the painful
separation Between humans and God and tries to overcome it.8Although scholarly
work typically associates Bhakti with literary practices that signal the rise of
devotional sentiment, many non-literary practices are also described as bhakti,

6
Mukherjee, Shyam Chand. “THE GUPTA KINGS AND THE SPREAD OF VAISHNAVISM IN GREATER INDIA.”
Proceedings of the Indian History Congress 20 (1957): 89-93. Accessed April 16, 2020.
www.jstor.org/stable/44304446.
7
Jones, Constance A., Encyclopaedia of Hinduism {USA: An imprint of InfoBase Publishing, 2007}, 76.
8
Klaus K. Klostermaier, A survey of Hinduism {Albany: State University of New York press, 1989}, 181.

2
including pilgrimage, daily worship, the repetition of a deity's name or names, as
so on. In practical terms, the bhakti resists confinement to any particular action or
utterance.9
There is also available a translation of the word bhaj, to share, to apportion and
hence comes most commonly to indicate love, sharing, worship, and devotion. The
verbal root has other association too, however the most common include: to
divide, distribute and bestow; to obtain as one's share, to enjoy or possess; to
resort, to engage in, assume(as a form), put on; to experience; to practice or
cultivate; to choose; to serve and adore.
The noun Bhakta refers to a person or in some cases a thing in whom some
qualities of Bhakti inhere. Thus, a bhakta is someone who is devoted, who serves,
who is associated with the community and who is faithful and loyal.
Bhakti means not only love for God but also enmity toward those, who do not
love him in the same way. Even a saint like Tulasīdāsa, whose verses generally are
expressing a very humane form of religiosity, teaches the Rāma bhaktas: avoid
those who do not love Rāma and Sītā, as your most bitter enemies, no matter how
near of kin they may be.
1.2 The Embodiment of Bhakti Through Practices
There are some main practices performed by bhaktas in their daily routine. we
have mentioned some of them in the below points.
1.2.1 Prayer
Hindu prayer books contain hymns to all the main deities who Form the object
of loving devotion and adoration of many groups of bhaktas. Included are prayers
to Gaṇeśa, Viṣṇu, Śiva, Sūrya, Devī, Dattā, Rāma, Kṛṣṇa and besides hymns to Gaṅgā
and Yamunā, the planets and various less popular Avatāras of the main deities.
Fifteen numerically the Viṣṇu bhaktas with their many subdivisions are the most
important group. Śiva bhaktas come second and Devī Bhaktas or Śāktas, rank third
followed by the rest.

9
Novetzke, Christian Lee. “Bhakti and Its Public.” International Journal of Hindu Studies 11, no. 3 (2007): 258..
Accessed April 16, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/25691067.

3
1.2.2 Temple Worship
At the end of the Gupta Empire (320-647) and in the reign of the Pallavas and the
Pandyas in South India (fourth to tenth centuries), we see a surge in royally
sponsored temple construction, the creation of “homes” for deities and loci for
public worship. These provide at least one early context for the practices associated
with bhakti, such as the process of making visual contact with a deity, or darshan,
and the offering of goods to a deity’s image, or puja.
1.2.3 Recitation of Name
This has led practically all the bhakti schools to teach that the name of God is
sufficient to bring salvation to everyone who utters it. Therefore, many bhakts
recite the “mantra of the sixteen names,” which is the “Great Mantra” for the japa
of Kṛṣṇa bhaktas:
Hare Rāma Hare Rāma Rāma Rāma Hare Hare
Hare Kṛṣṇa Hare Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Kṛṣṇa Hare Hare.10

1.3 Bhakti as An Aesthetic Sentiment

Bhakti is not only considered as a devotion but also considered as an
aesthetic sentiment. There are eight sentiments according to Bharta. They are
erratic (srngâra), comic (hàsya), pathetic (karuna), furious (raudra), heroic
(vira), terrible (bhayànaka), odious (bibhatsa) and marvelous (adbhuta).
These eight sentiments have eight corresponding sthàyi Bhàvas.11The rasas
are together called as Navarasa and are considered to be explained by
Bharata Muni. Ramayana and Mahabharata are equally popular for their flair
of depicting various incidents with elaborate mention of Navarasas which is
an integral part of our day to day life. Aacharya Abhinavagupta mentions
Bhakti in his commentary on the Natya Shastra, as an important accessory
sentiment of the Shanta Rasa, which he strove with great effort to establish.

10
Klaus K. Klostermaier, A survey of Hinduism { Albany: State University of New York press, 1989}, 186.
11
BHADURI, NRISINHA P. "BHAKTI (DEVOTION) AS AN AESTHETIC SENTIMENT." Journal of
Indian Philosophy 16, no. 4 (1988): 377-410. Accessed April 17, 2020.
www.jstor.org/stable/23445538.

4
However, just as Shantha slowly attained a state of primacy that it was
considered the Rasa of Rasas, Bhakti also soon began to loom large and
despite the lukewarmness of the great run of Alankarikas, had the service of
some distinguished advocates, including Tyagaraja. It is the Bhagavata that
gave the great impetus to the study of Bhakti from an increasingly aesthetic
point of view.12
1.4 Three Grades of Bhakti
Sādhana-bhakti, the first stage, contains vaidhi-bhakti, ritualistic devotion, and
rāgānugā, or passionate following. It begins with having faith in Kṛṣṇa, enjoins
association with good people, participation in worship, avoidance of the worthless,
steadfast devotion and real liking of the Lord, which results in attachment and love.
The next major stage is bhāvana-bhakti, emotional devotion, in which the theory
of rasas finds a masterful application. Beginning with the sentiment of
peacefulness, continuing through servitude, companionship, parental love, and
culminating in madhu-rasa, sweet love, the authors expound a complex system of
religious psychology at the center of which is Kṛṣṇa’s divine bodily presence. When
emotional devotion has fully matured it develops into the third stage of bhakti,
premā, which is simply loved at its highest level. This is considered to be permanent
and cannot be taken away from the devotee under any circumstances.
2.1 Bhakti in Vaishnava Theology
Vaishnava tradition is one of the major forms of modern Hinduism, characterized
by devotion to the god Vishnu and his incarnations (avatars). A devotee of Vishnu
is called a Vaishnava. The Devotional Vaishnava literature that emerged in Sanskrit
and vernacular writings from the 10th through the 16th century continues to be a
part of Vaishnava worship, though it is often supplemented by later philosophical
and narrative texts, both written and oral. In the following paragraphs, we will be
trying to examine the basic conception of bhakti in Vaishnava tradition
2.1.1 Bhakti of Lord Vishnu and his Adherents

12
Wikipedia contributors, “Indian aesthetics,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Indian_aesthetics&oldid=902516059 (accessed
April 17, 2020).

5
 Worshipping and praising God is the most prominent activity of Viṣṇu bhaktas.
Countless people praise Viṣṇu, whom they have accepted as their one and supreme
Lord. Contemporary Vaiṣṇavism, the largest section of all Hindu traditions,
comprising about 70 percent of Hindus today. The core of Vaiṣṇava tradition,
however, is Lord Viṣṇu as savior, a belief that, again, has found expression in
countless myths. The most popular and consequently the most important part of
Viṣṇu mythology is focused on the avatāras, the bodily descents of Viṣṇu exercising
his function as the saviour of the world. The ten most widely recognized avatāras
are described in so many texts are Matsya, (the fish), Ekaśṛṅga (the unicorn), Kūrma
(the tortoise), Varāha ( the boar), Nṛsinha( the man-lion), Vāmana ( the dwarf),
Parashurama, The Rāma, and Kṛṣṇa. The most popular among the Viṣṇu avatāras
is, undoubtedly, Kṛṣṇa, “the black one,” also called Śyāma. Popular myths reveal
faith in Kṛṣṇa as a manifestation of God, capable of liberating mankind. His birth is
surrounded by miracles. In later Vaiṣṇavia tradition, Śrī becomes a major part of it
we can see in Śrī Worship an element of popular Indian religion, in which worship
of goddesses Always occupied a prominent place13.
2.1.2 Poet-Saints of Vaishnava Tradition and Bhakti
Andal is one of the best-loved poet-saint of the Tamils. Pious tradition
holds her to be the incarnation of Bhūmi Devi (Sri Lakshmi as Mother Earth)
to show humanity the way to Lord Vishnu's lotus feet. Sūrdās (1478 to ca.
1560) was, according to tradition, blind from birth. Yet his poetry, aflame with
the love of Kṛṣṇa, was so famous all-over North India. Vaiṣṇava tradition had
and has a deep appeal to women. One of the woman-saint Mīrābāī’s songs
may help to appreciate the depth of feeling that is Viṣṇu bhakti.

2.1.3 Bhakti as Personal and Impersonal Devotion in Vaishnava Tradition

A common scholarly convention interprets Bhakti to mean personal devotion or
sentiment of intimacy with a deity, but the term is also used in highly abstract
contexts where the person is not present. In these cases both in scholarship and
the Indian public sphere, Bhakti defined as in the form of saguna and nirguna.
Nammalvar, the last of the great Tamil Vaishnava saints called Alwars (880-930 A.D)
13
Klaus K. Klostermaier, A survey of Hinduism {Albany: State University of New York press, 1989}, 198-218.

6
said in his great poem, the Tiruvaymoli that God participates in two states both in
the world of forms and existence and qualities (saguna) and in the world of
formlessness and non-existence without qualities (nirgun).14 The manifestation of
personal God could be observed from the process of making visual contact with
deity or darshan, and the offering of goods to a deity’s image, or puja. On the other
hand, the nirguna deity is manifested as Brahman, the impersonal divine substance
of which all living things are elements. Although there is a big difference between
nirguna and saguna bhakti, however, one can see similar interactions in these
beliefs by looking in the structure of the Hindu temple. In some Hindu temples for
instance as the Meenakshi Temple in South India, one can see that the outlook of
temple expressed in a mind-blowing variety of detail about Saguna bhakti
manifestations however when we look the innermost shrine, the center of the
temple, called garbha griha (Sanskrit for 'womb house') here one encounters the
nirguna god. 15 In the South Indian temples, too one encounters the simplest of
images in the garbha griha, usually a Shiva Lingam or Vishnu's Shalgram stone,
sometimes a small icon completely mummified in layers of cloth, a sinister image
but one without qualities, nirguna. This is the triumph of the nirguna deity in the
Hindu temple. So, we can say that the minimal temple is Nirgun, the orthodox
temple is saguna and the mobile temple mediates between them giving qualities
to the formulas Central image.
Conclusion
As we have discussed in the above Paragraphs that each of the major divinities of
Hinduism like Vishnu, Shiva, and the various forms of the Goddess have distinct
devotional traditions. Vishnu-bhakti is based on Vishnu’s avatars (incarnations),
particularly Krishna and Rama. Devotion to Lord Vishnu is associated with his
frequent manifestations on earth. As we have seen that there is no one Particular

14
If you say he exists, he does.
His forms are these forms.
If you say he does not,
His formlessness
Is of these non-forms.
If he has the qualities
Of existence and non-existence,
He is in two states.
He who pervades is without end. {Tiruvaymoli of Nammalvar, 1.1.9, from Carman and Naranayan, The Tamil Veda}
15
Doniger, Wendy, On hinduism, {New York: Oxford University press, 2014}, 151-156.

7
meaning which could be attributed to bhakti. However, much work has been
written about Bhakti and the Bhakti movement in the field of Indian history,
philosophy, religion, literature, and sociology but there are many fallacies involved
in the current approach to Bhakti and Bhakti movement. These fallacies should be
rectified, as I mentioned above, through exploring the generic meaning of bhakti.
In this paper we have examined the fundamental question about bhakti and its
conception in the mind of Scholars and as well as of bhaktas. Through this
evaluation, we have been going through the expression of bhakti in the Vaishnavas
tradition. This paper was a little attempt to looking for the true expression of bhakti
throughout modern works done by scholars in the context of devotion.

8
 Bibliography
Books
• Doniger, Wendy, On Hinduism, Oxford University Press, New York 2014.
• Klaus K. Klostermaier, A survey of Hinduism, State University of New York
Press, Albany, 1989.
• Sharma, Mr. Krishna, Bhakti and the Bhakti movement: A new perspective,
Munshiram Manohar Lal Publishers, New Delhi, 1987.
Encyclopedia
• Jones, Constance A., Encyclopaedia of Hinduism, An imprint of InfoBase
Publishing, USA, 2007.
Online resources
• BHADURI, NRISINHA P. “BHAKTI (DEVOTION) AS AN AESTHETIC
SENTIMENT.” Journal of Indian Philosophy, vol. 16, no. 4, 1988, pp. 377–
410. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/23445538. Accessed 17 Apr. 2020.
• Mukherjee, Shyam Chand. “THE GUPTA KINGS AND THE SPREAD OF
VAISHNAVISM IN GREATER INDIA.” Proceedings of the Indian History
Congress, vol. 20, 1957, pp. 89–93. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/44304446. Accessed 17 Apr. 2020.
• Novetzke, Christian Lee. “Bhakti and It's Public.” International Journal of
Hindu Studies, vol. 11, no. 3, 2007, pp. 255–272. JSTOR,
www.jstor.org/stable/25691067. Accessed 17 Apr. 2020.
• Wikipedia contributors. "Indian aesthetics." Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 19 Jun. 2019. Web.17
Apr. 2020.
• Doniger Wendy, Article Title: Bhakti, Encyclopædia Britannica,
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., March 03, 2015, URL:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/bhakti Access Date: April 17, 2020.