ramam baje raghu ramam baje raghukula thilakam ramam baje bajan 01
2Bhakti (Sanskrit: भक्ति) literally means "attachment, participation, devotion to, fondness for, homage, faith or love, worship, piety to (as a religious principle or means of salvation)".[1] Bhakti, in Hinduism, refers to devotion and the love of a personal god or a representational god by a devotee.[2][3] In ancient texts such as the Shvetashvatara Upanishad, the term simply means participation in, devotion and love for any endeavor, or it refers to one of the possible paths of spirituality and moksha as in bhakti marga mentioned in the Bhagavad Gita.[4] The term also refers to a movement that arose between the 7th century and 10th century CE in India, focussed on the gods Vishnu and Shiva, possibly in response to the arrival of Islam in India.[2][3]
The Bhakti movement reached North India in the Delhi Sultanate and grew throughout the Mughal era evolving the characteristics of Hinduism as the religion of the general population as dhimmi, under the Islamic rulers in parts of the Indian subcontinent.[5] Bhakti-like movements also spread to other Indian religions during this period,[6][7][8] and it influenced the interaction between Christianity and Hinduism in the modern era.[9][10]
The term bhakti, in modern era, is used to refer to any tradition of Hindu devotionalism, including Shaivism ,Vaishnavism or Shaktism.[11] Bhakti movement rose in importance during the medieval history of Hinduism, starting with Southern India with the Vaisnava Alvars and Shaiva Nayanars,[2] growing rapidly therefrom with the spread bhakti poetry and devotion throughout India by the 12th-18th century CE.[12][13] The Bhagavata Purana is a text associated with the Bhakti movement which elaborates the concept of bhakti as found in the Bhagavad Gita.[14]
Along with Hinduism, nirguni Bhakti (devotion to the divine without attributes) is found in Sikhism.[
The meaning of the term Bhakti is analogous but different than Kama. Kama connotes emotional connection, sometimes with sensual devotion and erotic love. Bhakti, in contrast, is spiritual, a love and devotion to religious concepts or principles, that engages both emotion and intellection.[20] Karen Pechelis states that the word Bhakti should not be understood as uncritical emotion, but as committed engagement.[20] She adds that, in the concept of bhakti in Hinduism, the engagement involves a simultaneous tension between emotion and intellection, "emotion to reaffirm the social context and temporal freedom, intellection to ground the experience in a thoughtful, conscious approach".[20] One who practices bhakti is called a bhakta.[21]
The term bhakti, in Vedic Sanskrit literature, has a general meaning of "mutual attachment, devotion, fondness for, devotion to" such as in human relationships, most often between beloved-lover, friend-friend, king-subject, parent-child.[14] It may refer to devotion towards a spiritual teacher (Guru) as guru-bhakti,[22][23] or to a personal god,[14][24] or for spirituality without form (nirguna).[25]
The term Bhakti also refers to one of several alternate spiritual paths to moksha (spiritual freedom, liberation, salvation) in Hinduism,[26] and it is referred to as bhakti marga or bhakti yoga.[27][28] The other paths are Jnana marga (path of knowledge), Karma marga (path of works), Rāja marga (path of contemplation and meditation).[26][29]
The term bhakti has been usually translated as "devotion" in Orientalist literature.[30] The colonial era authors variously described Bhakti as a form of mysticism or "primitive" religious devotion of lay people with monotheistic parallels.[31][32][33] However, modern scholars state "devotion" is a misleading and incomplete translation of bhakti.[34][35] Many contemporary scholars have questioned this terminology, and most now trace the term bhakti as one of the several spiritual perspectives that emerged from reflections on the Vedic context and Hindu way of life. Bhakti in Indian religions is not a ritualistic devotion to a god or to religion, but participation in a path that includes behavior, ethics, mores and spirituality.[34] It involves, among other things, refining one's state of mind, knowing god, participating in god, and internalizing god.[34] Increasingly, instead of "devotion", the term "participation" is appearing in scholarly literature as a gloss for the term bhakti.[34][35]
David Lorenzen states that bhakti is an important term in Sikhism and Hinduism.[15] They both share numerous concepts and core spiritual ideas, but bhakti of nirguni (devotion to divine without attributes) is particularly significant in Sikhism.[15][16][36] In Hinduism, diverse ideas continue, where both saguni and nirguni bhakti (devotion to divine with or without attributes) or alternate paths to spirituality are among the options left to the choice of a Hindu.[15][26]
"Bhakthi" is also used as a unisex name.