Bhakti is a Hindu concept meaning devotion to a deity, emphasizing a personal and emotional relationship. It emerged during the reform period of Hinduism, with the Bhagavad Gita setting out the idea of bhakti as the correct way to honor the gods. Bhakti yoga is the yoga of emotional devotion, which adds humanity to the honor of the gods. The concept of káma versus prema raises questions about how human emotion can approach the transcendental. Prema is divine, selfless love, and is the love shared between deity and devotee through bhakti.
Bhakti is a concept within the religion of Hinduism. When literally translated from Sanskrit to English, it means “share” or “participate”. However, the word is more widely understood as devotion. Bhakti is the emphasis on a personal and emotional relationship with a deity.
Historically, the ideas of bhakti can be traced back to the reform period of Hinduism, circa 500 – 200 BC. Before that, Hinduism was characterized by Vedic rituals, which focused on worldly things like sons, gold and rain. During the Reformation period, these types of rituals were criticized. Hindus began looking for answers through internalized rituals such as yoga and asceticism. Through yoga and asceticism one transforms oneself into the ritual using the body as an instrument.
The later period, from about 200 BC to AD 1100, is known as Classical Hinduism. This is the period when the idea of bhakti crystallized. Perhaps the most important and widely known source of ideas on this concept is the Bhagavad Gita, a part of the Mahabharata text that originated during the period of classical Hinduism. The Gita, as it is familiarly known, sets out the ideas through the story of the relationship between the warrior, Arjuna, and the god, Krishna. The Gita unequivocally shifts the emphasis away from the Vedic ritual and names bhakti as the correct way to honor the gods. It is the central message of the Gita.
A discussion of this concept necessarily includes mention of bhakti yoga, jnana yoga and karma yoga. These three types of yoga are the teachings of the Gita. Traditionally, the goal of performing yoga is to realize that atman equals Brahman. Atman is the self and Brahman is the abstract concept which refers to the principle of universality. Brahman makes all else possible and known, yet he is nameless and formless.
Jñana yoga is mental yoga and seeks to realize the equivalence of individuality and wholeness by dissociating the mind from the temporary and associating it with the constant Brahman. Karma yoga also has the goal of realizing that atman is equal to Brahman and is realized through the cessation of attachment and the cessation of creating karma through will or volition. In contrast, bhakti yoga does not seek to link atman with brahman, but rather to link atman with god, to link self and divinity, through devotion.
Jñana yoga and karma yoga require strict discipline of body and mind, two things that are difficult to control. The idea presented in the Gita is that bhakti, the yoga of emotional devotion, is easy because it is easy to love. The Gita teaches that of all forms of discipline, the highest form is the discipline of devotion. Bhakti yoga adds an element of humanity to the honor of the gods because it personalizes the discipline through emotion.
In the Gita, bhakti is a universal way to understand Krishna and participate in the path of liberation. It is universal because while not everyone may be karmically or mentally perfect, everyone can love. Although the concept begins with emotion, it is ultimately something one does with one’s whole body through a combination of emotion and puja, or physical worship. Hence, jñana yoga and karma yoga are incorporated into bhakti yoga, because when one dedicates one’s heart, the body and mind will follow.
So how do you love a god? The idea of bhakti carries with it a certain contradiction in that it questions whether the gods are imminent or eminent. How is it possible for a human to have a personal relationship with the divine? How can human emotion approach the transcendental? These questions raise an important concept concerning the theory and practice of bhakti. This is the concept of káma versus prema.
Both káma and prema are ideas of love, but they are very distinct. Káma is worldly love, metaphorically associated with marriage, procreation and social order. So it implies attachment to the beloved and a sense of ownership. Káma aims for self-satisfaction, is contractual and stable, but can be lost if expectations are not met. Káma is socially useful love, usually understood as the love shared by a man and his wife.
Prema, on the other hand, is divine, selfless love. Káma is metaphorically associated with illicit love affairs and has no other purpose than pleasure. Prema only seeks to serve the beloved, and to do so he will give up self-satisfaction. Prema is sacrificial, uncertain, unrestrained and has no expectations. Prema is the love shared between deity and devotee through bhakti, the best known example of which is the relationship between the god Krishna and his human lover, Rhada.
Although bhakti is most commonly associated with devotion to Krishna, other gods can also be the object of devotion.
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