***Note: The following work is solely that of Elizabeth Jordan. Any attempt to copy it without permission from the author is plagiarism and not worth it since you will be caught.***
The Bhakti Traditions
Written for Religions of South Asia
Sophomore Year - Fall 1998
During the first few centuries of the common era, Hinduism gained many additions to its scriptural heritage. Many of these additions took the form of devotional poetry and myths written to tell a story and give Hindus insight into how to devote themselves to God. Much of this new Hindu literature was written not in Sanskrit but in an Indian native language such as Tamil. With the introduction of this literature into the Hindu tradition, devotion to and worship of God became an inclusive practice not restricted to just the upper-castes who could learn Sanskrit. Myths such as The Ramayana and The Mahabarata and devotional poetry by poets such as Ramprasad Sen and Mahadeviyakka offered people of all castes a path to God through the inclusive tradition of bhakti (devotion). The idea of bhakti is present throughout both The Ramayana and The Bhagavad-Gita. The Ramayana explores different devotional relationships between human beings and God whereas The Bhagavad-Gita is Krishna’s telling of what it means to be devoted to God and how one can be devoted to God. Bhakti, as explained in these myths and poems, was not obtainable only by members of certain castes, but by all Hindus thus allowing more people to experience a direct relationship with God.
In The Ramayana, Vishnu is incarnated as Rama. In other words, God has come to earth as a human being. Vishnu’s human form allows the reader to understand that God, in Hinduism, is not detached from earth and the happenings on it. Vishnu is intricately involved in the lives of human beings to such an extent that he assumes the form of a human being. The idea of God as transcendent and yet earthly is explored further by Diana Eck in Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. The mere existence of images of gods and goddesses in Hinduism points to the belief that the gods and goddesses are as much a part of earth as they are of heaven. This is most obvious in the treatment of the image of a god or goddess. They are treated in a "domestic nature: cooking, eating, serving, washing, dressing, waking, and putting to sleep" (Eck 47). Also, the presence of the image in worship results in "the close relationship of the worshiper and God and makes possible the deepest outpouring of emotions in worship" (Eck 46) since the image gives the worshiper an object on which to focus.
If God displayed as an image allows for a close relationship between worshiper and God, then it is easy to see how a human incarnation of Vishnu, as in The Ramayana, can also promote that same idea. The myth explores different devotional relationships among human beings. However, since Rama is an incarnation of God, it is obvious that these human relationships can translate into relationships between the human and the Divine. For example, Rama is portrayed as the ultimate dharmic son. He is obedient to and respective of his elders. Even when Kaikeyi tells Rama of her demand to Dasaratha that Rama be banished, Rama replies: "‘I will carry out his wishes without question. Mother, be assured that I will not shirk" (Narayan 48 - emphasis added). He continues to call Kaikeyi "mother" even though he knows that it is she that has cost him his kingdom. Thus this relationship exhibits the devotional parent/child relationship among human beings.
Another devotional relationship in The Ramayana is apparent in the relationship between Hanuman and Rama. Hanuman treats Rama as a servant would treat a master. From the moment he meets Rama, Hanuman is willing to do anything commanded of him. Both the relationship between Hanuman and Rama and the relationship between Rama and his parents parallel devotional relationships in Hinduism. Flood describes the relationship of worshiper to God as "servant to master, of parent to child, friend to friend, or lover to beloved" (Flood 134). I believe the human incarnation of Vishnu as Rama and his relationships with other human beings in The Ramayana is the author’s way of enforcing the idea that "the relationship between the devotee and the Lord is modeled on human relationships and that the Lord can be perceived and approached in a variety of ways" (Flood 135).
The Ramayana also exhibits the influence of akam, or love, poetry because of its emphasis on the different landscapes during different times of Rama’s and Sita’s relationship. Akam poetry "classifies the inner emotions of love into five groups which correspond with five landscapes" (Flood 129). The landscapes used in akam poetry are found also in The Ramayana. One example of this is the time Rama spends waiting for Sugreeva to help him search for Sita. Rama tells Sugreeva: "‘The rainy season is coming. At the end of it, come with an army. There will be enough time" (Narayan 116). Rama spends the rainy season "patiently waiting for [his] wife" (Flood 130). In akam poetry, the rainy season represents just that emotion or period in the relationship of love.
Akam poetry came to represent more than love between two human beings. The lover pined for in many poems is actually God. The Ramayana follows this line, as well, since its "love story" is really the story of Vishnu and Lakshmi. In other words, the object of love is really the Divine. In Mahadeviyakka’s akam poetry, the lover she waits for is Shiva. She laments his absence as one would lament the absence of a husband or lover:
"I look at the road
for his coming.
If he isn’t coming,
I pine and waste away.
If he is late,
I grow lean." (Mahadeviyakka 140)
Poems such as this enforce the idea that God can be approached in many different ways and in the form of human relationships. More specifically, this poem exhibits the relation of worshiper to God as a relationship of lover to beloved.
These devotional poems also offer a path of devotion to castes previously restricted from worship because of their inability to read Sanskrit. Akam poetry is written not in Sanskrit but in the native language of Indians, such as Tamil. One no longer must be able to read the Vedas to understand how to be devoted to God and how to worship the Divine.
Although bhakti traditions are not restricted by caste, "the forms that the devotion will take have been moulded by the devotee’s place within the social hierarchy, that is by caste and gender" (Flood 135). Krishna explains in The Bhagavad-Gita that one must follow the duties of one’s caste in order to obtain liberation. Throughout his counsel of Arjuna, Krishna emphasizes the importance of performing one’s dharma, saying: "Your duty done imperfectly is better than another man’s done well" (Miller 46). Krishna teaches Arjuna that devotion to God is the result of discipline of the senses and the body and action (Miller 41-47). All people can be people of devotion and can learn to discipline their senses and actions but they must also be sure to follow the dharma prescribed to people of their caste.
Since Krishna is counseling Arjuna, a warrior, much of his teachings focus on the performance of actions as opposed to the renunciation of all action as in the life of an ascetic. Krishna explains the difference between renouncing action and relinquishing the fruits of action in the Fifth Teaching of The Bhagavad-Gita. Relinquishing the fruit of action is a way by which to discipline action. In other words, relinquishing action is a form of devotion to God.
Relinquishing the fruit of action is different from renunciation of action because when a person relinquishes action, he or she is still active as opposed to renunciation when a person ceases to act altogether. However, when one relinquishes action, he or she gives all of the awards from the action to God. A person no longer performs actions with the desire to obtain the award for himself or herself. Instead, everything that comes from human action belongs not to humans but to God. Krishna warns: "Be intent on action, not on the fruits of action" (Miller 36).
Krishna also says a person can obtain liberation by "focusing his reason on me (Krishna)" (Miller 79). In other words, if a person is completely focused on the divine, he will obtain liberation. This idea also appears in The Ramayana when Rama kills Vali. While Vali is dying, he realizes that even though he is a demon he is completely focused on God (in the form of Rama). He tells Rama that "great sages have attempted. . . to obtain a vision of God, but you have bestowed it on me unasked" (Narayan 112). While Vali struggles between life and death his entire being, all his energy, is focused on Vishnu in the form of Rama. Thus "his essential spirit soared to the highest heavens and found a place there, because the great God himself had released his soul" (Narayan 113). This path to salvation is also evident in a poem to the goddess Durga by Ramprasad Sen. In the poem, he laments that "all some sinners have to do is shout ‘Durga’ and-pouf!-they’re saved"(Sen 9) whereas that path was not successful for the poet.
Obviously there are different devotional paths that lead to liberation. There is not one set way for all humans to follow. One path depends on action and dedication of the fruits of action to the Divine. Another path is merely the "focus of reason" on the Divine even if it is only at the time of death. Krishna says: "A man who dies remembering me at the time of death enters my being when he is freed from his mind" (Miller 77). Thus, different paths are available for different people. One basis for which path a person should take might be caste or gender. Especially when a person follows the devotional path that requires action, caste and gender are important as emphasized by Krishna in The Bhagavad-Gita. But the most important notion is that there is a path for people of all castes; not just upper-caste people.
Bhakti traditions are decidedly more inclusive than previous vedic traditions in Hinduism. This is most evident by the fact that the literature from this tradition is written in native languages rather than Sanskrit which requires extra education. Bhakti traditions also focus more on a direct or "immediate experience of the divine" (Flood 131) whether it be through human interaction with an incarnation of God, as in The Ramayana, or the worship of divine images, as described in Darsan, or dedication of fruits of action to God, as in The Bhagavad-Gita. The most revolutionary aspect of the bhakti traditions and the myths and poetry that came from them is the inclusive experience and the association of the human with the Divine. Both The Ramayana and The Bhagavad-Gita exhibit aspects of bhakti traditions and thus serve to enforce the notion that all people can reach God.
Works Cited
Eck, Diana L. Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India. Anima Books: Chambersburg, 1985.
Flood, Gavin. An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1996.
Mahadeviyakka. Translated by A.K. Ramanujan. Speaking of Siva. Poem Number 323.
Miller, Barbara Stoler. The Bhagavad-Gita. Bantam Books: New York, 1986.
Narayan, R.K. The Ramayana. Penguin Books: New York, 1972.
Sen, Ramprasad. Grace and Mercy in Her Wild Hair: Selected Poems to the Mother Goddess.