Bhakti

Bhakti, a Sanskrit term derived from the verb bhaj, meaning “to love, adore, enjoy, eat, or make love to”; it denotes passionate devotion to a Hindu god, primarily Krishna, Rama, Shiva, or Devi. In this sense the word appears in the Bhagavad-Gita, where Krishna teaches bhakti as the third religious path, after the paths of works and knowledge. Under the influence of vernacular sectarian movements, particularly in southern India and Bengal, the word assumed connotations of intensity and self-abandon. The Alvars and the Nayanars, 7th- to 10th-century ad hymnists, poured out their love in ecstatic hymns that challenged the very basis of the Hindu social and religious order. For them, the body was the only temple and the inspired words of their saints the only canon. During this period bhakti became widespread, inspiring much splendid religious poetry and art. In Bengal, bhakti was subdivided into the love of parent for child, child for parent, friend for friend, brother for brother, woman for lover, and servant for master. Although devotion to the guru, or spiritual teacher, was important to all bhakti sects, the love of God, to the exclusion of all other social concerns, was and is the mark of the true devotee, or bhakta.