What does Bhakti esthetics reveal about Hindu religious life? Give some examples of your argument.
The aim of a true Hindu is to realize God. It can be possible with the help of Bhakti.
Bhakti means “devotion,” “devoted service” and is the basis of all religious life in Hinduism that expresses emotional ties and love between devoted people (Bhakta) and God in different forms. Bhakta states that a human life is empty without love and its practice destroys people’s egoism and leads to beauty. It is easy to have a thing that is beautiful. God is the most beautiful. God is the beginning of all beauties. God is the embodiment of eternal beauty. Thus, it is easy to love God.
Love is the core of Bhakti but not human love because it can decay any moment under different circumstances and a person becomes unhappy. During lives, people love their children, parents, wives or husbands and friends. These are perishable objects. This kind of love can lead to unhappiness when close people die or love between a man and a woman fade because a woman loses her beauty or a man loses his wealth. Love to God is always happiness because God never dies or changes.
Bhakti considers a human love as the empty, changeable, ardent, carnal and selfish feeling.
A selfish man loves only his body. Then his love becomes wider because he falls in love and marries. Thus, the love extends to his wife and children. The higher rate of a human love is when he starts loving the people of his caste and the people living in his neighborhood. Then he extends his love to the people of the province, then to the people of the whole country. Eventually, he starts loving all people in the world and this true and unselfish love can lead to God. Thus, Bhakti destroys selfishness and Vasanas (sins). Devoted people do not think about Mukti, freedom from the cycle of rebirth. The Bhaktas speak to each other about God, serve the Bhagavatas, help poor and sick people, sing glorious hymns to the Lord, sacrifice everything to him and make God the purpose of their lives. Thus, Mukti comes to them automatically.
According to Bhakti, love is the greatest power that turns a formless Brahman into Lord Hari, who pleases his devoted people with the food and drinks and gives them everything they need. People are born with the natural feeling of love. Nevertheless, it needs constant development in order to become a universal love. One of the ways of this development is Bhakti Yoga. There are three things there, Lover, Beloved, and Love. When the Lover understands that he is the same with the Beloved, that means the end for Bhakti and the beginning of Jnana that means knowledge. ("What Is Bhakti")
Works Cited
"What Is Bhakti". Sivanandaonline.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 10 July 2016.
