Chapter 8 - Devotional Paths To The Divine

Our Pasts - II

The Idea Of A Supreme God

• Before the 7th century, Buddhist, Jain, and other faiths in the Indian sub-
continent believed that all are equal and all have the right to live and to become free.
• Before the formation of empires, people worshipped different gods and goddesses, but as kingdoms
grew into empires, the idea that all living things pass through cycles of birth, rebirth,
and karma became widely accepted.
• One of the beliefs that developed from the 7th century onwards was that human beings are not
equal, not even at birth, and social privileges are for those who are born in a higher caste.
• Many people did not believe in this idea and turned to Buddhism or Jainism, where the path to
salvation lay through personal effort.
• Other people followed the idea of a supreme god, where salvation (nirvana, moksha, freedom from
birth and death) could be achieved through devotion to one God (bhakti), and this is advised in
the Bhagavadgita.
• Shiva, Vishnu, and Durga became supreme deities, and their myths and legends became a
part of Puranic stories.
• The Puranas introduced methods of worship in local cults, and said that all devotees could get the
blessings of the gods, regardless of their caste.

Nayanars and Alvars

• Between the 7th and the 9th centuries, there was an emergence of new religious movements
led by Nayanars (saints devoted to Shiva) and Alvars (saints devoted to Vishnu), who came from all
castes, including those considered 'untouchables', such as the Pulaiyar and the Panars.
• They detested Buddhists and Jains and preached that love for Shiva and Vishnu was the
path to salvation. They believed in the ideals of love and heroism from
the Sangam literature and mixed them with values of bhakti.
• Nayanars and Alvars wandered from place to place and composed unique
poems and music in praise of their deities.
• Between the tenth and the twelfth centuries, the Chola and Pandya kings built splendid
temples around the shrines visited by these saint-poets.
• Their poems were compiled and their hagiographies (religious biographies) were composed, and even
today, they are sources of history for modern researchers
Philosophy and Bhakti

Shankara
Shankara, born in Kerala in the eighth century, was a very influential thinker of India.

He was an advocate of Advaita or the doctrine of the oneness of the human soul and the Supreme
Soul which is formless and is the Ultimate Reality.

He advised people to give up worldly things because they are an illusion or maya, and to follow the
path of knowledge because it is the true path of salvation.

Ramanuja

He was born in Tamil Nadu in the eleventh century, and he was highly influenced by the philosophy
of the Alvars.

He thought that the path to salvation was through intense devotion to Lord Vishnu because the
grace of the Lord helps devotees attain permanent bliss (freedom and happiness).

He also suggested the theory of Vishishadvaita or qualified oneness which says that even if a soul
unites with the Supreme Soul, it remains distinct and under the blessing of the Supreme Soul. This
ideology inspired a new form of bhakti in northern India.

Basavanna's Virashaivism
• The Tamil bhakti movement and temple worship came together to create the Virashaiva
movement that began in Karnataka in the mid-twelfth century.
• It was initiated by Basavanna and other virashaivas such as Allama Prabhu and Akkamahadevi.
They fought for the equality of all human beings and against the Brahmanical
ideas of caste and poor treatment of women.
• They were also against religious rituals and idol worship.

The Saints of Maharashtra

Between the thirteenth and the seventeenth centuries, many saint-poets such as Janeshwar, Namdev.
Eknath, and Tukaram, women such as Sakkubai, and the family of Chokhamela from Maharashtra
inspired people to follow the bhakti of the Vitthala temple in Pandharpur as well as that of the god
that lives in the people’s hearts.They rejected all kinds of rituals, unnecessary display of piety, and
discrimination on the basis of caste.They rejected the concept of renouncing the world and
preferred to stay with their families and serve fellow humans. This was a new form of bhakti where
happiness was in sharing the pain of others.
Nathpanthis, Siddhas, and Yogis

Nathpanthis, Siddhacharas, and Yogis preached renunciation (self-sacrifice), and taught that the

path to salvation was through meditation on the formless Ultimate Reality and the oneness of the

human soul with it.They preached intense training of the mind and body through yogasanas,

breathing excercises, and meditation.These groups were popular among the ‘low’ castes and their

criticism for the common Vedic religion created a base for a new religion to become a common power

in the north.

Islam and Sufism

Sufis were Muslim mystics who rejected hypocrisy in religion and emphasised love and devotion to

God and compassion for fellow human beings.Islam is a strictly monotheistic religion which believes

in submission to one God, rejects idol worship, and preaches collective worship of God.Muslim scholars

developed a holy law called the Shariat which the sufis rejected because they wanted union with God

just like a lover seeks unity with his beloved.Sufis composed expressive poems and music, and also rich

prose that included fables and anecdotes.Great sufi saints include Ghazali, Rumi, and Sa’adi who

believed that the heart can be trained to look at the world with a different perspective.They used

zikr (chanting of a name or formula), contemplation, sama (singing), raqs (dancing), discussion of

parables, breath control, etc., under the guidance of a master called a pir.Genealogies of sufis were

known as silsilas, and each followed a different method of ritual practice and instruction.After the

establishment of the Delhi Sultanante, major sufi centres developed in India, of which the Chishti

silsila was one of the most influential.This order has had many thinkers, such as Khwaja Moinuddin

Chishti of Ajmer, Qutbuddin Bakhtiyar Kaki of Delhi, Baba Farid of Punjab, Khwaja Nizamuddin

Auliya of Delhi, and Bandanawaz Gisudaraz of Gulbarga.Sufi masters held assemblies in their

khanqahs or hospices where all kinds of devotees came to discuss spiritual matters, solve their worldly

problems, or attend music and dance sessions.People mostly associated sufis with magical powers. So
 their tombs or dargahs became places of pilgrimage for people of all ages and castes to visit and pay

their respects.

New Religious Movements in the North

Many different kinds of movements influenced each other in North India, and people from

different religions and castes thronged to holy places to listen to preachers of new religions.

People such as Kabir and Guru Nanak rejected all orthodox religions but people such as Tulsidas and

Surdas accepted existing beliefs and made them accessible to all.

Tulsidas accepted God in the form of Rama and composed the Ramcharitramanas in Awadhi. This

work is important both as a religious book and a literary work.

Surdas was a devotee of Krishna, and he expresses his devotion with compositions such as the

Sursagara, Surasaravali, and Sahitya Lahari.

Shankaradeva of Assam was a devotee of Vishnu, composed poems and plays in Assamese, and set up

namghars or houses of recitation and prayer.

Mirabai was a Rajput princess married into the royal family of Mewar before she became a disciple

of Ravidas who was a saint from the ‘untouchable’ caste. She was a devotee of Krishna and composed

many bhajans which became popular among the people of Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Kabir
Kabir was brought up in a family of Muslim julahas (weavers) in the city of Benaras.

He wrote many verses called sakhis and pads which were sung by wandering bhajan singers.

Many of his writings were later compiled in the Guru Granth Sahib, Panch Vani, and Bijak.

His teachings rejected major religious traditions and ridiculed external worship in Brahmanism and Islam, the special
position of the priestly class, and the caste system.
He mostly wrote in Hindi, but he also used a cryptic language sometimes.

He believed in a formless Supreme God and preached that the only path to salvation was through bhakti (devotion).

Baba Guru Nanak

Irrespective of their creed or caste, his followers ate together in a common kitchen known as a langar. And the sacred
place/temple he created for worship and meditation was called a dharmasal (now known as a Gurudwara).

Before he died in 1539, he appointed a follower called Lena (known later as Guru Angad) as his successor.

Guru Angad compiled the work of Guru Nanak and added to it his own script known as Gurmukhi.

The next three Gurus also wrote under Nanak’s name, and their work was compiled by Guru Arjan in 1604.

Works of Shaikh Farid, Sant Kabir, Bhagat Namdev, and Guru Tegh Bahadur were also added to these compilations.

Finally, in 1706, Guru Gobind Singh authenticated the compilation and created the Guru Granth Sahib.

Guru Nanak’s followers increased in the sixteenth century as people from all castes and occupations joined the
community.

By the seventeenth century, the town of Ramdaspur developed around a Gurudwara called the Harmandar Sahib and
became a self-governing society.

The Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan saw them as a potential threat, and in 1606 he ordered the execution of Guru Arjan.

By the seventeenth century, Guru Gobind Singh organised the Khalsa Movement, and the community of Sikhs became a
political organisation called the Khalsa Panth.

Guru Nanak emphasised the worship of one God and insisted that caste, creed, and gender were irrelevant to attaining
salvation.

According to him, pursuit of an active life would liberate humans, and he also used the terms nam, dan, and isnan to
mean right worship, welfare, and purity of conduct.

His ideas today are called nam-japna, kirt-karna, and vand-chhakna, which mean right belief and worship, honest living,
and helping others.