Bhakti

Published on 4th February, 2023, in Economic Times. Most family business owners in India prefer loyal staff over professional staff. Loyal staff can be paid less, work on Saturdays, take abuse but they will never leave your side. The professional staff will leave you if they get a better offer. That makes the loyal staff more like a wife, and the professional staff like a courtesan, willing to go wherever the price is right. In mediaeval Sanskrit literature (kavya), we often find similar sentiments being echoed with men complaining about the faithless courtesan who prefers the richer suitor, and the veneration of the chaste wife, ..

Published on 15th August, 2021, in The Hindu. The story of the eagle Garuda stealing the nectar of immortality from Indra’s paradise to liberate his mother from slavery reminds us of Greek heroes who go on quests to fight monsters to liberate damsels in distress. In Biblical tales, the role of the Greek hero is taken up by a messiah who rescues the faithful from slavery or exile. Our ideas of independence stem from these stories. To be independent, you need to struggle against an enslaver or an oppressor. In the case of the Indian nation state, the oppressor was colonial rule. In the case ..

Published on 6th November, 2016, in Mid-Day. Bhakti is translated as devotion. And, generally, devotion is viewed as something feudal, a kind of loyalty, the kind demanded by cult or tribal leaders from their followers. But, in Hinduism, bhakti is a very complex relationship, an emotional highway that connects the devotee to the deity. This takes many forms such as devotion of the friend (sakha bhaav), of the lover (madhurya bhaav), of the parent (vastsalya bhaav), of the servant (daasya bhaav). The most peculiar form of devotion is called reverse devotion, or devotion of the enemy. This is viparit-bhakti. In reverse devotion, a demon hates ..