Devotional Paths to the Divine PDF

DEVOTIONAL PATHS TO THE DIVINE Y ou may have seen people perform rituals of worship, or singing , or or even repeating the name of God in silence, and ,...

DEVOTIONAL PATHS TO THE DIVINE Y ou may have seen people perform rituals of worship, or singing , or or even repeating the name of God in silence, and , The beginning of noticed that some of them are moved to tears. Such Bhakti intense devotion or love of God is the legacy of various Worship of certain deities, which since the eighth century. became a central feature of later Hinduism, gained in The Idea of a Supreme God importance. These deities included Before large kingdoms emerged, different groups Shiva, Vishnu, and of people worshipped their own gods and goddesses. goddesses such as As people were brought together through the growth Durga. These deities were worshipped of towns, trade and empires, new ideas began to through Bhakti, an develop. The idea that all living things pass through idea that became countless cycles of birth and rebirth performing good very popular at deeds and bad came to be widely accepted. Similarly, this time. Bhakti is the idea that all human beings are not equal even at generally understood as a person’s birth gained ground during this period. The belief that devotion to his or social privileges came from birth in a “noble” family or her chosen deity. a “high” caste was the subject of many learned texts. Anybody, whether rich or poor, belonging Many people were uneasy with such ideas and to the so-called ‘high’ turned to the teachings of the Buddha or the Jainas or ‘low’ castes, man according to which it was possible to overcome social or woman, could differences and break the cycle of rebirth through follow the path of personal effort. Others felt attracted to the idea of a Bhakti. The idea of Bhakti is present in Supreme God who could deliver humans from such the Bhagavad Gita, a bondage if approached with devotion (or bhakti). sacred book of This idea, advocated in the grew in the Hindus. popularity in the early centuries of the Common Era. DEVOTIONAL PATHS 61 TO THE DIVINE  Shiva, Vishnu and Durga as supreme dei ties came t o be worshipped through elaborate rituals. At the same time, gods and goddesses worshipped in different areas came to be identified with Shiva, Vishnu or Durga. In the Fig. 1 process, local myths and legends became a part of the A page from a south Indian manuscript of Puranic stories, and methods of worship recommended the Bhagavad Gita. in the Puranas were introduced into the local cults. Eventually the Puranas also laid down that it was possible for devotees to receive the grace of God ? regardless of their caste status. The idea of bhakti became so popular that even Buddhists and Jainas You can observe adopted these beliefs. this process of local myths and legends receiving Bhakti in South India – wider acceptance Nayanars and Alvars even today. Can you find some The seventh to ninth centuries saw the emergence of examples new religious movements, led by the Nayanars (saints around you? devoted to Shiva) and Alvars (saints devoted to Vishnu) who came from all castes including those considered “untouchable” like the Pulaiyar and the Panars. They were sharply critical of the Buddhists and Jainas and preached ardent love of Shiva or Vishnu as the path to salvation. They drew upon the ideals of love and heroism as found in the Sangam literature (the earliest example of Tamil literature, composed during the early centuries of the Common Era) and blended them with the values of bhakti. The Nayanars and Alvars went from place to place composing exquisite poems in praise of the deities enshrined in the villages they visited, and set them to music. 62  Nayanars and Alvars There were 63 Nayanars, who belonged to different social backgrounds, such as potters, “untouchable” workers, peasants, hunters, soldiers, Brahmanas and chiefs. The best known among them were Appar, Sambandar, Sundarar and Manikkavasagar. There are two sets of compilations of their songs – Tevaram and Tiruvacakam. There were 12 Alvars, who came from equally divergent backgrounds, the best known being Periyalvar, his daughter Andal, Tondaradippodi Alvar Hagiography and Nammalvar. Their songs were compiled in the Divya Prabandham. Between the tenth and twelfth centuries, the Chola Fig. 2 A bronze image of and Pandya kings built elaborate temples around many Manikkavasagar. of the shrines visited by the saint-poets, strengthening the links between the bhakti tradition and temple worship. This was also the time when their poems were compiled. Besides, hagiographies or religious biographies of the Alvars and Nayanars were also composed. Today we use these texts as sources for writing histories of the bhakti tradition. The devotee and the Lord This is a composition of Manikkavasagar: How does the poet describe his relationship ? with the deity? DEVOTIONAL PATHS 63 TO THE DIVINE  Philosophy and Bhakti of India, was born in Kerala in the eighth century. He was an advocate of Advaita or the doctrine of the oneness of the individual soul and the Supreme God which is the Ultimate Reality. He taught that Brahman, the only or Ultimate Reality, was formless and without any attributes. He considered the world around us to be an illusion or , and preached renunciation of the world and adoption of the path of knowledge to understand the true nature of Brahman and attain salvation. Ramanuja, born in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century, was deeply influenced by the Alvars. According to him the best means of attaining salvation was through intense devotion to Vishnu. ? Vishnu in His grace helps the devotee to attain the bliss of union with Him. He propounded the doctrine Try and find out more about the ideas of Shankara even when united with the Supreme God remained or Ramanuja. distinct. Ramanuja’s doctrine greatly inspired the new strand of bhakti which developed in north India subsequently. Basavanna’s Virashaivism We noted earlier the connection between the Tamil bhakti movement and temple worship. This in turn led to a reaction that is best represented in the Virashaiva movement initiated by Basavanna and his companions like Allama Prabhu and Akkamahadevi. Th i s m o ve m e n t b e g a n in K a rn a t a ka i n t he mid-twelfth century. The Virashaivas argued strongly for the equality of all human beings and against Brahmanical ideas about caste and the treatment of women. They were also against all forms of ritual and idol worship. 64  Virashaiva vachanas These are vachanas or sayings attributed to Basavanna: The rich, Will make temples for Shiva. What shall I, A poor man, Do? My legs are pillars, The body the shrine, The head a cupola Of gold. Listen, O Lord of the meeting rivers, Things standing shall fall, But the moving ever shall stay. ? What is the temple that Basavanna is offering to God? Bhakti Movement in the Decean From the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries, Maharashtra saw a great number of saint-poets, whose songs in simple Marathi continue to inspire people. The most important among them were Dnyaneshwar (Gyaneshwar), Namdev, Eknath and Tukaram as well as women like Sakhubai and the family of Chokhamela, who belonged to the “untouchable” Mahar caste. This regional tradition of bhakti focused on the Vitthala (a form of Vishnu) temple in Pandharpur, as well as on the notion of a personal god residing in the hearts of all people. These saint-poets rejected all forms of ritualism, outward display of piety and social differences based on birth. In fact, they even rejected the idea of renunciation and preferred to live with their families, earning their livelihood like any other person, while humbly serving fellow human beings in need. A new humanist idea emerged as they insisted that bhakti DEVOTIONAL PATHS 65 TO THE DIVINE lay in sharing others’ pain. As the famous Gujarati saint Narsi Mehta said, “They are Vaishnavas who understand the pain of others.” Questioning the social order This is an abhang (Marathi devotional hymn) of Sant Tukaram: with the battered and the beaten Mark him as a saint For God is with him He holds Every forsaken man Close to his heart He treats A slave As his own son Says Tuka I won’t be tired to repeat again Such a man Is God In person. Here is an abhang composed by Chokhamela’s son: You made us low caste, Why don’t you face that fact, Great Lord? Our whole life – left-over food to eat. You should be ashamed of this. You have eaten in our home. How can you deny it? Chokha’s (son) Karmamela asks Why did you give me life? Discuss the ideas about the social order expressed ? in these compositions. 66 Nathpanthis, Siddhas and Yogis A number of religious groups that emerged during this period criticised the ritual and other aspects of conventional religion and the social order, using simple, logical arguments. Among them were the Nathpanthis, Siddhacharas and Yogis. They advocated renunciation of the world. To them the path to salvation lay in meditation on the formless Ultimate Reality and the realisation of oneness with it. To achieve this, they advocated intense training of the mind and body through practices like , breathing exercises and meditation. These groups became particularly popular among “low” castes. Their criticism of conventional religion created the ground for devotional religion to become a popular force in northern India. Fig. 3 Islam and Sufism ascetics. The much so that it is believed that they adopted many rejected outward religiosity and emphasised love and devotion to God and compassion towards all fellow human beings. Islam propagated strict monotheism or submission to one God. In the eighth and ninth centuries, religious scholars developed different aspects of the Holy Law (Shariat) and theology of Islam. While the religion of it with an additional dimension that favoured a more elaborate rituals and codes of behaviour demanded by Muslim religious scholars. They sought union with God much as a lover seeks his beloved with a disregard for DEVOTIONAL PATHS 67 TO THE DIVINE  poems expressing their feelings, and a rich literature in prose, including anecdotes and fables, developed were Ghazzali, Rumi and Sadi. Like the Nathpanthis, can be trained to look at the world in a different way. They developed elaborate methods of training using (chanting of a name or sacred formula), contemplation, (singing), (dancing), discussion of parables, breath control, etc., under the guidance of a master or. Thus emerged the a spiritual genealogy of ( ) of instruction and ritual practice. Fig. 4 Mystics in ecstasy. In Kashmir, the Rishi order of in the 15th and 16th centuries. This order was established by Sheikh Nuruddin Wali also known as Nund Rishi and had a deep impact on the life of the people in Kashmir. A number of shrines dedicated to Rishi saints can be found in many parts of Kashmir. 68  A l ar ge nu m b er of Suf i s Fig. 5 from Central Asia settled in A page from a Hindustan from the eleventh manuscript of the Quran, Deccan, late century onwards. This process w as st re ngt he ned w i t h t h e est ab l is hm e nt o f th e De l hi Sultanate (Chapter 3), when several major Sufi centres developed all over the subcontinent. The Hospice Chishti was among the long line of teachers like Khwaja Muinuddin Chishti of Ajmer, Qutbuddin Bakhtiar Kaki of Delhi, Baba Farid of Punjab, Khwaja Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi and Bandanawaz Gisudaraz of Gulbarga. assemblies in their or hospices. Devotees of all descriptions including members of the royalty and nobility, and. They discussed spiritual matters, sought the blessings of the saints in solving t h e i r w o r l d l y p r o b l e m s , or simply attended the music and dance sessions. masters with miraculous powers that could relieve others of their illnesses and troubles. The tomb or a place of pilgrimage to which thousands of people of all faiths thronged. Fig. 6 Devotees of all backgrounds DEVOTIONAL PATHS 69 TO THE DIVINE  Finding the Lord Jalaluddin Rumi was a great thirteenth-century Sufi poet from Iran who wrote in Persian. Here is an excerpt from his work: He was not on the Cross of the Christians. I went to the Hindu temples. In none of them was there any sign. He was not on Mecca. He was not there. I asked about him from Avicenna looked into my heart. In that, his place, I saw him. He was in no other place. New Religious Developments in North India The period after the t hirteenth century saw Fig. 7 Chaitanyadeva, a a new wave of the bhakti movement in North sixteenth-century India. This was an age when Islam, Brahmanical bhakti saint from Bengal, preached Krishna-Radha. In another. We saw that new kingdoms (Chapters 2, 3 the picture you see a and 4) were emerging, and people were taking up new group of his followers engaged in ecstatic dancing and singing. people, especially craftspersons, peasants, traders and labourers, thronged to listen to these new saints and spread their ideas. Some of them like Kabir and Baba Guru Nanak rejected all orthodox religions. Others like Tulsidas and Surdas accepted existing beliefs and practices but wanted to make these accessible to all. Tulsidas conceived of God in the form of Rama. Tulsidas’s composition, the written in Awadhi (a language used in eastern Uttar Pradesh), is important both as an 70  Map 1 Major bhakti saints and the regions associated with them. Eka Sarana Nama Dharma expression of his devotion and as a literary work. Surdas was an ardent devotee of Krishna. His compositions, Bhagavad Gita compiled in the , and Bhagavata , express his devotion. Also contemporary was Purana emphasised devotion to Vishnu, and composed poems and plays in Assamese. He began the practice of setting satra up or houses of recitation and prayer, a practice that continues to date. This tradition also included saints like Dadu Dayal, Ravidas and Mirabai. Mirabai was a Rajput princess married into the royal family of Mewar in the sixteenth Kirtana-ghosha century. Mirabai became a disciple of Ravidas, a saint from a caste considered “untouchable”. She was DEVOTIONAL PATHS 71 TO THE DIVINE  devoted to Krishna and composed innumerable expressing her intense devotion. Her songs also openly challenged the norms of the “upper” castes and became popular with the masses in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Gita Govinda A unique feature of most of the saints is that their works were composed in regional languages and could be sung. They became immensely popular and were raga tala handed down orally from generation to generation. Usually the poorest, most deprived communities and women transmitted these songs, often adding their own bhajan, experiences. Thus the songs as we have them today are kirtan abhang as much a creation of the saints as of generations of people who sang them. They have become a part of our living popular culture. Beyond the Rana’s palace This is a song composed by Mirabai: Ranaji, I have left your norms of shame, and false decorum of the princely life. I have left your town. And yet Rana why have you kept up enmity against me? Rana you gave me a cup of poison. I drank it laughing. Rana I will not be destroyed by you. And yet Rana why have you kept up enmity against me? ? Why do you think Mirabai left the Rana’s palace? Fig. 8 Mirabai. 72 A Closer Look: Kabir was brought up in a family of Muslim or weavers settled in or near the city of Benares (Varanasi). We have little reliable information about his life. We get to know of his ideas from a vast collection of verses called and said to have been composed by him and sung by wandering singers. Some of these were later collected and preserved in the and. In search of the True Lord Here is a composition of Kabir: O Allah-Ram present in all living beings Have mercy on your servants, O Lord! Why bump your head on the ground, Why bathe your body in water? You kill and you call yourself “humble” But your vices you conceal. Twenty-four times the Brahmana keeps the ekadasi fast While the Qazi observes the Ramzan Tell me why does he set aside the eleven months To seek spiritual fruit in the twelfth? Hari dwells in the East, they say And Allah resides in the West, Search for him in your heart, in the heart of your heart; There he dwells, Rahim-Ram. In what ways are the ideas in this poem similar Fig. 9 ? Kabir working on to or different from those of Basavanna and a loom. Jalaluddin Rumi? DEVOTIONAL PATHS 73 TO THE DIVINE  Kabir’s teachings were based on a complete, indeed vehement, rejection of the major religious traditions. His teachings openly ridiculed all forms of external worship of both Brahmanical Hinduism and Islam, the pre-eminence of the priestly classes and the caste system. The language of his poetry was a form of spoken Hindi widely understood by ordinary people. He also sometimes used cryptic language, which is Kabir believed in a formless Supreme God and preached that the only path to salvation was through bhakti or devotion. Kabir drew his followers from among both Hindus and Muslims. A Closer Look: Baba Guru Nanak We know more about Baba Guru Nanak (1469-1539) than about Kabir. Born at Talwandi (Nankana Sahib Fig. 10 Baba Guru Nanak in Pakistan), he travelled widely before establishing a as a young man, in centre at Kartarpur (Dera Baba Nanak on the river Ravi). discussion with A regular worship that consisted of the singing of his holy men. own hymns was established there for his followers. Irrespective of their former creed, caste or gender, his followers ate together in the common kitchen ( The sacred space thus created by Baba Guru Nanak was known as. It is now known as Gurdwara. Before his death in 1539, Baba Guru Nanak appointed one of his followers as his successor. His name was Lehna but he came to be known as Guru Angad, signifying that he was a part of Baba Guru Nanak himself. Guru Angad compiled the compositions of Baba Guru Nanak, to which he added his own in 74 a new script known as Gurmukhi. The three successors of Guru Angad also wrote under the name of “Nanak” and all of their compositions were compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604. To this compilation were added the writings of Kabir, Bhagat Namdev and Guru Tegh Bahadur. In 1706, this compilation was authenticated by Guru Tegh Bahadur’s son and successor, Guru Gobind Singh. It is now known as , the holy scripture of the Sikhs. The number of Baba Guru Nanak’s Fig. 11 followers increased through the sixteenth century An early manuscript under his successors. They belonged to a number of the Guru Granth Sahib. of castes but traders, agriculturists, artisans and craftsmen predominated. This may have something to do with Baba Guru Nanak’s insistence that his followers must be householders and should adopt productive and useful occupations. They were also expected to contribute to the general funds of the community of followers. By the beginning of the seventeenth century, the town of Ramdaspur (Amritsar) had developed around the central Gurdwara called Harmandar Sahib (Golden Temple). It was virtually self-governing and modern historians refer to the early-seventeenth-century Sikh community as ‘a state within the state’. The Mughal emperor Jahangir looked upon them as a potential threat and he ordered the execution of Guru Arjan in 1606. The Sikh movement began to get politicised in the seventeenth century, a development which culminated in the institution of the by Guru Gobind Singh in 1699. The community of the Sikhs, called the , became a political entity. The changing historical situation during the development of the Sikh movement. The ideas DEVOTIONAL PATHS 75 TO THE DIVINE of Baba Guru Nanak had a huge impact on this development from the very beginning. He emphasised the importance of the worship of one God. He insisted that caste, creed or gender was irrelevant for attaining liberation. His idea of liberation was not that of a state of inert bliss but rather the pursuit of active life with a strong sense of social commitment. He himself used the terms , and for the essence of his teaching, which actually meant right worship, welfare of others and purity of conduct. His teachings are now remembered as , and , which also underline the importance of right belief and worship, honest living, and helping others. Thus, Baba Guru Nanak’s idea of equality had social and political implications. This might partly explain the difference between the history of the followers of Baba Guru Nanak and the history of the followers of like Kabir, Ravidas and Dadu, whose ideas were very similar to those of Baba Guru Nanak. Imagine You are attending a meeting where a saint is discussing the caste system. Relate the conversation. Let’s recall 1. Match the following: The Buddha Shankaradeva worship of Vishnu Nizamuddin Auliya questioned social differences Alvars worship of Shiva 76 2. Fill in the blanks: (a) Shankara was an advocate of _____________. (c) _____________, _____________ and _____________ were advocates of Virashaivism. (d) _____________ was an important centre of the Bhakti tradition in Maharashtra. 3. Describe the beliefs and practices of the Nathpanthis, KEYWORDS Siddhas and Yogis. 4. What were the major ideas expressed by Kabir? How Virashaivism did he express these? bhakti Let’s understand 6. Why do you think many teachers rejected prevalent religious beliefs and practices? 7. What were the major teachings of Baba Guru Nanak? Let’s discuss 8. For either the Virashaivas or the of Maharashtra, discuss their attitude towards caste. 9. Why do you think ordinary people preserved the memory of Mirabai? DEVOTIONAL PATHS 77 TO THE DIVINE  Let’s do 10. Find out whether in your neighbourhood there are any or temples associated with saints of the bhakti tradition in your neighbourhood. Visit any one of these and describe what you see and hear. 11. For any of the saint-poets whose compositions have their works, noting down other poems. Find out whether these are sung, how they are sung, and what the poets wrote about. 12. There are several saint-poets whose names have been mentioned but their works have not been included in the chapter. Find out more about the language in which they composed, whether their compositions were sung, and what their compositions were about. 78