Bhaktiratnakara is one of the outstanding words of Sankardeva which was based on Vaishnavic thoughts. This is the only one work completely composed on Sanskrit by him. Of course Bhaktiratnakara is a ...doctrinal work on Bhakti, where Bhakti means devotional and ratnakara means ocean- the ocean of devotion. However, Bhaktiratnakara may be called a compilatory work The entire work consists 520 verses. All the verses are arranged in 30 individual chapters In the Bhaktiratnakara , Sankardeva describes four forms of Bhakti viz.- Sravana, Kirtana, Smarana and Arcana, while Bhagavatapurana speaks of nine different forms of Bhakti. Besides this Sankardeva classified bhakti into four categories as follow- a) Uttama Bhakti b) Antaranga Bhakti c) Nirguna Bhakti d) Saprema Bhakti These were described in Bhaktiratnakara at the chapters – XI; XII; XIII; XIV respectively. Uttama Bhakti- the highest forms of bhakti which consists of involuntary and disinterested performance of duties to the Lord. Antaranga bhakti or intimate or all loving devotion. Nirguna Bhakti or uninterrupted and disinterested devotion in the Supreme person. Saprema bhakti or purely emotional loving devotion, amounting to an intoxication with love. In Bhaktiratnakara he considers Bhakti as superior to liberation and considered the Uttama Bhakti as a best type of Bhakti. The Person, who follows the path of Uttama bhakti is called Uttama bhagavata – the best type of bhakta.
This Special Issue of Religions brings together a talented group of international scholars who have studied and written on the Hindu tradition. The topic of religious experience is much debated in ...the field of Religious Studies, and here, we present studies of the Hindu religious experience explored from a variety of regions and perspectives. Our intention is to show that the religious experience has long been an important part of Hinduism, and should not be dismissed or considered as irrelevant. As a body of scholarship, these articles refine our understanding of the range and variety of religious experience in Hinduism. In addition to their substantive contributions, the authors also show important new directions in the study of the third-largest religion in the world, with over one billion followers.
The wave of the Bhakti movement significantly affected India for over a period of twelve centuries. Considering that it left inerasable impressions on the history and culture of the land, this ...research paper argues that what only imbibed the feeling of pure devotion also became a tool in the hands of those who were desirous of radical religious, political and social changes. To prove this, the paper undertakes the translation of Dadu Dayal’s Sanskrit compositions. Additionally, the paper also questions the very model of Bhaktikal (the Age of Devotional Literature), propagated by the scholars of Hindi Literature, which divides it into two distinct theological categories, Sagun and Nirgun. By examining the devotional poetry of Jayadeva Goswami and Dadu Dayal, and their sectarian positions, it demonstrates that the proponents of the two diametrically opposite schools of Bhakti did not always honour such a distinction for bhakti’s spirit is above such schisms.
This research aims to develop a model for assessing lecturer performance that includes tools, evaluation standards, standard-setting, computer programs, assessment standards, and instructions for ...using evaluation results. This is a development project. Nine experts approved the instrument design before using Aiken's V formula to determine content validity, exploratory factor analysis to determine construction validity, and Cronbach's alpha to determine reliability. The study's findings revealed that: 1) the entire instrument meets the criteria for validity; 2) an instrumental analysis of the teacher's instructional activities revealed reliability of the preparation, implementation, and evaluation components of 0.843; and finally, 3) the effectiveness of teaching, the efficacy of research, the efficacy of dedication to the community, and the qualifications of lecturers were all taken into account when evaluating the efficiency of the lecturer's employment.
This paper examines the coexistence of various religions in Punjab in the 18th century, particularly the Bhakti movement, the poetry of Sufism and the doctrine of Sikhism. First, it reviews the ...history of the development of Sufism in North India and points out its correlation with the Bhakti movement there. This coincides with the period of stable development of the Mughal dynasty through the coexistence of Hindus and Muslims, both politically and socially, and examines how religious coexistence was preserved in songs and other forms. The poetic works of Kabir, a leading Bhakti poet, and Bulleh Shāh, a Sufi from Punjab who enjoys great popularity today, are then exemplified and examined. The common thread in both poems is their criticism of the skeletonised religious authority in Hinduism and Islam of the time, and beyond such formalist currents, they point out the characteristic emphasis on devotion to the Absolute God. in Bulleh Shāh’s poetry, God is depicted as a lover or husband, which is strongly influenced by the Vishnu school of Hinduism. Punjabi folklore is also depicted as a protagonist in his poetic work, in that Islam was once spread by Sufis who came from West and Central Asia, whereas Muslims born in the Punjab wrote Islamic poetry under the influence of migratory folklore and Hinduism. This indicates the situation where Islam was becoming entrenched in the Punjab. It was in this vein that Sikhism was established, and its doctrines show that it was not only influenced by Bhakti, but also formed the environment in which Sufis such as Bulleh Shāh were born.
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