Bhakti or Loving Devotion from the Viewpoints of Śankra and Rāmānuja

Subject Areas : Christianity

پریا  الیاسی ¹ (ندارد)

Received: 2012-08-15 Accepted : 2012-10-10 Published : 2013-03-21

Keywords: Bhakti, Śankra, Rāmānuja, nirguna- bhakti, saguna-bhakti, Bhagavad&#x0D, &#x0D, Gītā,

Abstract :

Bhakti or Loving Devotion is one of the most important terms in twomajor Hindu sects, i.e. Vaishnavism and Shaivism. Early Indologistsconsidered bhakti as an unbridled and irrepressible feeling which is incontrast with jñāna (knowledge) or rational knowledge of God.However Hindu sages and scholars, such as Śankra and Rāmānuja,never considered jñāna and bhakti detached from each other, butbelieved that these two are always complementary. Their onlydisagreement is about the subject of bhakti, while Śankra emphasizednirgūna-bhakti (devotion to divinity without form) Rāmānuja believedin sagūna-bhakti (devotion to a personal form of God).