The bhakti profile

In this section we will start to build up the understanding of the bhakti persona by looking briefly at two examples from recent and more ancient history, Ramakrishna from 19th century India, and Richard Rolle from medieval England. Ramakrishna's devotion to his chosen deity, the female goddess of destruction Kali, was extraordinary in its intensity and expression. He would dance and sing, and weep in front of her shrine, and often pass into devotional ecstasies. One of the few photographs we have of him shows him being supported by a disciple in a trance-like state during such an ecstasy.

'Bhakti is familiar to us in the West through Christianity, which is mainly taught as a devotional religion. Some have even called Christian prayer the bhakti-yoga of the West'

The life of Ramakrishna epitomises that of Hindu devotionality, but we can find a similar passion in the great 14th century English mystic, Richard Rolle (for example). As a young man Rolle ran away from home to become a monk, inflamed by what he called 'the fire of love' (which is also the title of his major work). Like other great devotional mystics such as Jelaluddin Rumi (13th c Afghanistan) and Kabir (15th c India), Rolle speaks in terms of his 'beloved', naming him as God, Christ, or his 'maker'. The language of spiritual devotion is full of the imagery of romantic love, and this has developed quite independently but in parallel in different cultures including Christian, Muslim, and Hindu. Sometimes the imagery is mistaken for that of human relationships, so Rumi for example has been mistakenly called a homosexual because of his love and devotion to his spiritual teacher Tabriz.

It is a valid question to ask whether the transcendent reality seen and attained by the great bhaktis is the same as for the great jnanis. The eminent scholar of religion, Georg Feuerstein, is quite sure for example that when yoga is to be understood as 'union' it is not the same 'union' as for the Christian mystics with their God (he states this in his translation of the Yoga Sutras). However, a study of the life and sayings of Ramakrishna should convince even the most sceptical that, whatever the differences in appearance, the two orientations are quite equivalent in their highest expression. The subject of bhakti is introduced here to make clearer the meaning of jnani and in no way is it suggested that one is superior to the other. As discussed earlier, the work of the bhakti can be understood as a progressive illumination of all the dark corners of the heart with spiritual intelligence. One only has to encounter the extraordinary eyes and spontaneous wit and humour of Ramakrishna to see a great intelligence at work, a phenomenon that was known to conquer even the greatest scholars he encountered.

More detailed accounts of the great bhaktis, both living and dead, are to be found in other sections of the site.

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