Bhakti Movement
Bhakti is derived from the root of a Sanskrit word, bhaj, to serve, and means service of the Lord. It is the intense love for god or the supreme desire for god, for its own sake. Bhakti is the love in which, without seeking results, all works are dedicated to the teacler of teachers. It is a profound experience which negates all desire and fills the heart with love for God.
The literature about the origin of the Bhakti cult in Hinduism is some what controversial, Many religious scholars trace it to be the influence of Islam. Some others find it to be the influence of Christianity. But if we analyse sacred Hindu literature to some depth, then we will know that it is an indigenous growth. The Bhakti movement first made its appearance in the shape of religious reform as a reaction against the ritualistic religion of Vedas. Its early name was Ekantika Dharma or, the religion of a Single-minded love and devotion to one, and it was based upon the teachings of the Bhagawad Gita in which Lord Krishna says:
"Give up all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall protect you from all sinful reactions. Therefore you have nothing to fear".
So it will be incorrect to say that the monotheistic movement among the Hindus-in the middle ages though strengthened by Islam had originated in it. Indeed old Hindu literature propounded the idea of the oneness of God well before the arrival ot Islam. All the higher thinkers, all the religious reformers, all the sincere devotees among the Hindus from the earlier times, have proclaimed one and only one supreme God behind the countless deities of popular worship. They have all tried to simplify religion and bring it to the doors of the common people. So what really happened after the Muslim conquest was a re-emphasis on the essential monotheistic character of the idea of God and the superiority of the path of devotion, over ritualistic sacrifice and more books of knowledge and wisdom. In addition to this, it was only after the arrival of Islam that the preachers of Bhakti denounced the caste system and gave importance to the equality of human beings.
Many sects arose which tried to harmonize Islam and Hinduism and to find a common meeting ground for the devout of both the creeds in which their difference of rituals, dogmas, and external marks of faith were ignored. It brought about an understanding between Islam and Hinduism and fostered friendly relations between the two communities. Religion, according to it, consisted neither in reasoning and dogmas, nor in meaningless rituals but in Bhakti, or passionate feeling of love for God-true devotion to the Almighty. The concept of God is well beyond the limit of logic or argument, and is only attained through whole-hearted devotion. The revelation of God to man is the highest stage granted by God to man. The Bhagats preached identity of religions, unity of Godhead, brotherhood of man, dignity relative to action rather than birth, exposed the futility of ceremonies, challenged the supremacy of Brahmins and Mullas, safeguarded fundamental religious beliefs and promoted the growth of local literature. They condemned caste, formality and priesthood, They were non-sectarian, non-communal and non-dogmatic. According to them, Ram and Rahim, Keshwar and Karim, Kaaba and Kailash, Quran and Puran very often go together in their devotional songs. The Bhakti cult made rapid progress in the hands of the masters who dominated the religious mind of India during the 8th to 16th centuries.
The first great teacher of Bhakti was Shankaracharya"" (788-820). He was born on the coast of Malabar in south India where Islam had made considerable headway through Arab traders and settlers. Consequently he drew his first inspiration from Islam.
Shankarcharya certainly led the revolt a gainst pluralism, preached his Advaita (non-dualism) philosophy and enunciated the doctrine of maya (illusion). According to him the knowledge alone is regarded as the means to liberation. Religious actions have only a secondary function in that they may direct the mind to knowledge, but in themselves can never bring about liberation. He led a controversial life, demolished the Buddhist doctrines, and popularized the worship of Shiva.
Shankaracharya's life and works are Wrapped in a mist but more is known about his Successor Ramanuja (1016-113), who is traditionally regarded as the bridge between the Bhakti movement of the south and the north india. Through his influence the ideas and the characteristic features of the Bhakti were transferred to northern India. He travelled widely and it is certain that he came in contact at Banaras with learned Muslims. As a result of his studies and discussions, he introduced many changes in Hindu theology. It was the mission of Ramanųja to demolish the doctrine of maya preached by Shankaracharya. He learnt his creed of Bhakti from the Alvars or the Tamil saints. His principal doctrine is known as visista advaita or qualified monism-a doctrine which gives scope for the feeling of Bhakti. Ramanuja considered love of God as both the end and means of man's self-realization. He maintained that individul souls are not essentially one with the Supreme, though they all fow out from Him is sparks from fire, and that the Supreme is not purely abstract Being, but possesses real qualities of goodness and beauty in the infinite degree. In northern India there are a few followers of Ramanuja, but in the south their number is very large. He laid the foundation of Srivaishnava sect and hence his followers worship Vishnu, and his wife Lakhshmi with great devotion and look upon him as the Supreme Being, the cause and creator of all things.
Ramananda (1400-1470), who is recognized as the great leader of the Bhakti movement in the north India was at first a follower of Ramanuja's Srivaishnava sect but later he established his own sect, the Ramanandis. He went about visiting holy places, demolishing the doctrine of maya (illusion), and establishing the worship of Rama and Sita. He was the first to use local language for the propagation of his doctrines. He rejected caste and threw his sect open to all, and his twelve personal disciples are said to have include women, an out-caste, and even a Muslim. The Ramanandi sect has a great historical importance because its followers initiated a number of other sects and movements which covered north India. The Ramanandis stand at the source of important later sects like the Sikhs and the Kabirpanthis, who inherited their social concern.
Chaitanya of Bengal (1485-1553), was one of the greatest and most popular leaders of Bhakti movement; he is believed by his followers to be an incarnation of Vishnu. Chaitanya does not show any deep acquaintance with Islam, but he also encountered Muslim faqirs in the course of his wanderings, and his teaching and practices. show, at least, indirect effect of Muslim ideas. Some of his disciples were well versed in Islamic lore, and two of them (Rupa and Sanatana) knew Persian and Arabic well, had held high posts at the courts of the Muslim Sultans of Gaur, and had, in the opinion of some Hindu scholars, even accepted Islam at one stage.
Another leading preacher of this cult was Kabir (1440-1518), who occupies a place of pride among the preachers of Bhakti movement in northern India. It is said that he was the son of a Hindu widow who, to hide her shame, left him immediately after his birth, by the side of a water tank in Banaras. He was picked up by a Muslim weaver named Niru who brought him up as his own son. Kabir married and adopted the profession of his godfather but, being a man of sober and serious mood, he spent most of his time in meditation. Later he became the disciple of Shaikh Taqi Shorwardhi and other Muslim sufis. Kabir is generally regarded as a Muslim sufi, who came under the Ramananda's influence, accepted some Hindu ideas and tried to reconcile the Hindu and Muslim points of view. The cult of Tauhid dominated him. He repeatedly pointed out that Hindus and Muslims were the children of the same ancestors and worshipped the same God-call him Ram or Rahim. He calls upon his believers:
It is not by fasting, repeating prayers and the creed,
That one goes to the Heaven,
The inner veil of the Temple of Makkah
Is in man's Heart; if the truth be known
Make thy Mind thy Kaba, thy body its enclosing temple,
Conscience its prime teacher;
Sacrifice wrath, doubt, and malice,
Make patience thine utterance of the five prayers,
The Hindus and Muslims have the same Lord.
For Kabir there is only one way to God: the way of personally experienced Bhakti, which gives one the vision of the Lord, and which is a gift of God's grace. Man must purify his soul by love and praise of God and in his quiet meditation. Kabir opposed the caste system, untouchability and idol-worship as practised by the Hindus as he says:
Translation:
If God can be found by worshiping idol (stone) then I would worship mountain. Though a millstone is better than that which grinds the food for people.
Simultaneously he condemned the orthodoxy and the meaningless rituals of the Muslims. He exposed the futility of offering five daily prayers in the mosque without the purity of heart and sincere dedication to God. Kabir laid stress on religious toleration and taught a lesson of brotherhood to Hindus and Muslims. Kabir raised his voice against the custom of sati and child-marriage, the two evils which were purely social in character. Kabir was not in favour of rejecting the world and going to forests or hills in search of true knowledge of salvation; instead, he advised his followers to earn their livelihood by the sweat and perform all the duties as householders while leading an honest, noble and dedicated life. Kabir's teachings were in perfect harmony with the social and religious needs of the times; he identified himself completely with the concept of an integrated Indian society and won the hearts of millions.
Though Kabir's teachings do not form a system, he has a large following among both Hindus and Muslims, known as Kabirpanthis. Muslims claimed him as a sufi, the Hindu looked on him as a Rama-Bhakta, and the Sikhs included his songs in their Adi Granth.
Legend has it that after Kabir's death both Hlindus and Muslims claimed the body. The spirit of Kabir appeared and told them to raise the shroud. They did so and found that the body had vanished. In its place they found only some scatbered fresh roses. The Muslim followers of Kabir then buried their half of the roses in accordance with Muslim beliefs at Maghar. The Hindus took the remaining half, burned them as Hindu dogma required, and scattered the ashes on the waters of the Ganges River.
Baba Guru Nanak (1469-1539), a contemporary of Kabir, who took up the cause of socio-religious reforms in the Punjab, received maximum fame among the leaders of Bhakti movement. His teachings were identical with those of Kabir and his efforts proved much more fruitful than those of all the other Bhakti reformers, Born at Talwandi, modern Nankana Sahib-a village in Sheikhupura district (Pakistan). He studied Persian as well as Sanskrit, and counted both Maulvis and Pandits among his teachers. After a short period of service under a Muslim Nawab, he became a wandering faqir, and in the company of a Muslim minstrel, Bhai Mardana, and a Hindu companion, Bhai Bala, he is stated to have visited holy places in India besides Persia and the Muslim places of pilgrimage at Makkah and Madina. He preached monotheistic doctrine, universal toleration and all the ideas he thought good in Islam and Hinduism. Nanak's doctrines has an anti-caste, anti-Brahminical and iconoclastic trend like that of Kabir. Laying the foundation of the Sikh religion he uttered the words:
"I am with those low castes even nay those who are lower than these low castes even, though I keep their company, I desire not to rival the high up .. There is only one Supreme God by whom all men are made, and, the whole Universe is born of Him. Then none is good and none is bad".
His doctrines are embodied in the Adi Granth, the Holy Book of the Sikhs. He
exhorted the people to abandon hypocrisy, selfishness, worldliness, and falsehood. He said in Adi Granth:
He is in the ternple as He is in the mosque,
He is in the Hindu worship as He is in the Muslim Prayer,
Men are one, though they appear different
Love not saints of every faith,
Not the shaven heads; Not long prayers,
Not recitations and self abnegation,
Not the ascetic way-But a life of goodness and purity amid the world's temptation.
Nonsense is caste and nonsense the titled fame. God will not ask men of his birth, He will ask on what one has done.
There is but one God, whose name is true, the Creator, devoid of fear and enmity,
immortal, unborn, self-existent, great and beautiful.
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