Can faith (Bhakti) and knowledge (Gnāna) coexist?

Humans are essentially creatures of emotion. How much so ever the rational intellect may try to convince one of the futility of emotions, the heart still reins supreme. As the romantic poets of India in the 4th thru 10th centuries of CE exploited the beauty of Sānskrit language to tell the many tales of love, ‘Love of God’ also found its expression in the Hindu religion through the Bhakti movement. The devotional Bhakti movement that had its humble beginnings in South India during the early centuries of Common Era, expanded to envelop almost all of India from the 8^th Century CE through 17^th century CE. During this period, many famed temples came into being as the Kings found everlasting glory in the consecration of grandiose temples rather than Yāga rituals. India was not alone in this. Coincidentally during the same period, very similar movements had spread over rest of the world through Christianity and Islam

Ādi Sankara

India’s most prolific philosopher of Advaita Vedānta, Sri Ādi Sankara, is supposed to have lived in the 9^th Century AD. Ādi Sankara was a great devotee of many of the Hindu Gods and composed beautiful hymns to them even though his philosophy had anchored on an absolute God principle rather than a human-like God with qualities of benevolence and omniscience. Ādi Sankara offered himself as a living example on achieving the ultimate state of realization by simultaneously pursuing the distinct paths of knowledge and devotion. His primary inspiration for this came from the teachings of the Bhagawad Gita, Upanishads and the Brahma sutra. He also formalized the many devotional practices into six systems comprising worship of the Surya, Vishnu, Shiva, Devi, Ganesha and Subramania. Sankara was also instrumental in consecrating many temples across India.

In Sankara’s philosophy of Advaita (non-dualism), the world’s reality is not absolute. He concluded that the world, which is conditioned by space-time and constrained by relationships between causes and effects, could not be real in the absolute sense. At the same time, Sankara did not totally deny the existence of the world. According to him the world’s reality is true in a relative sense and he called it as the ‘transitional reality’ (vyāvahārika satya). Brahman, according to Sankara and the scriptures, is the ‘absolute reality’ (āthyanthika satya) on which the transitional reality of the world is superimposed. Sankara also professed that within the transitional reality of the world, a collective consciousness exists experiencing the three states of awareness waking, sleep and dream states similar to an individual. This collective consciousness manifests in the three states of consciousness of waking, dream and sleep states as the ‘Iswara’, ‘Virāt’ and ‘Hiranyagarba’ respectively. According to Sankara, devotion was the relationship between the individual soul and this collective consciousness in the transitional reality. However, in absolute reality, the individual soul and the absolute Brahman are the same and devotion has no relevance. As a realized soul who could simultaneously be aware of these two states of reality, Sankara produced highly abstract philosophical texts about Brahman as well as beautiful hymns brimming with devotion about Ishwara. He also established four monasteries in the four corners of India to preserve and propagate his philosophy. These monasteries have continued to flourish and uphold his philosophy in spite of the many political upheavals India had undergone in the past thousand odd years.

Sankara’s philosophy, however, had failed to satisfy the fervor of the devotees whose

intensity of devotion only continued to rise. It s not very clear if thoughts of Christianity and Islam that had reached India around this time have had an influence on this rise of Bhakti movement. Sri Rāmanuja, a11^th century philosopher from the South, offered a variant to Advaita philosophy called Vishishta Advaita (Qualified non-dualism). He accepted the existence of many individual souls as real and postulated a merger of the individual soul with Iswara through intense devotion. However, for Ramanuja Vishnu was the only God. Sri Ramanuja wrote his commentary on all the major Vedānta texts including the Brahma Sutra, substantiating with logic his argument for a God who was absolute but at same time possessed qualities like omniscience and benvolence. Ramanuja’s philosophy has continued to attract many and the Sri Vaishnava School he established continues even today as a dominant section of Hindu religion.

Two centuries later, another brilliant philosopher from the south, Sri Mādhvachārya, went one more step farther than Sri Rāmanuja and argued for a purely theistic interpretation of Vedānta. His philosophy, Dvaita Vāda (Dualism), does not profess a merger of the individual soul with God (Vishnu) but a permanent residence in God’s abode through the merits of intense devotion. Unlike Sri Rāmānuja who had mostly chosen to stay in the south, Sri Mādhvachārya traveled extensively through India, challenging and defeating in debates many Vedānta scholars who held alternate views. Under Sri Mādhvachārya’s influence, Vaishnavism and Dvaita philosophy took strong roots in the regions of Karnataka and Konkan coast.

Meera Bhai

Chaitanya Mahaprabhu

Sant Tukka Ram

However, the strongest proponents of the Bhakti movement were not the philosophers but the many poet Saints who were living examples of ideal devotees. They also managed to bring the Hindu religion to the ordinary humans, thus relieving it from the tight clutches of scholarly knowledge and philosophy. These great poet saints appeared in all parts of India during the ascent of the Bhakti movement. Most notable among them are Sant Surdas and Meera Bhai (in the north and north-west), Sant Tulsi Das (in central India), Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (in the east), Sant Tukka Ram (in the west), Avvayar, Kodhai and the many Alvars and Nāyanārs (in the south). Their poetry and music have continued to spread devotion, peace and tranquility through India for many centuries.Through the Bhakti movement, faith more than reason took the central stage in India and idol worship became the most visible aspect of Hindu religion.

Bhakti movement and its emphasis on unquestionable faith also had an undesirable effect of superstitious beliefs spreading in the society. Uncertainty, insecurity and suffering that had gripped the psyche of the Indian society during the period of Islamic and colonial rules further fanned this. During this time, many God-men and God-women who claimed to perform miracles became the pallbearers of Hindu religion, casting a huge shadow on the religion’s

Swami Vivekananda

philosophical roots. This sad state of affairs continued until late19^th century until few learned western scholars happened to discover India’s rich philosophy that had continued to stay alive like an under current. The educated Indians had initially ignored the rich legacy they had inherited until they noticed that the western scholars had started to appreciate them. Thanks to the awareness that started developing among the more educated, India once again rediscovered its past glory through the many great ambassadors of knowledge it produced. Most notable among these great ambassadors of Hindu religion was Swami Vivenkānanda who traveled to America and Europe taking the authentic message of Advaita Vedānta to the west. Over this last century, the Hindu religion has once again returned to its original mission of empowering dedicated students with knowledge, enabling them on thier 'wlak over the razor blade' to realize ultimate truth. for their benefit, the modern saints of India, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, and Sri Ramana Maharshi have lived exemplary lives on how both Bhakti(devotion) and Gnana (philosophical knowledge) could be effectively reconciled to live a complete spiritual life.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

Sri Ramana Mahrshi

Being and Becoming: The Hindu philosophy of living

Civilizations and cultures all over the world, including the Egyptians, Babylonians, Mayans, Chinese and Indians, have celebrated the winter solstice from time immemorial. In India, the starting of Sun's 'journey from the south to the north' has also been used as a symbol of ascension for the soul in a spiritual journey. One of the Hindu Gods celebrated during this time of the year is Sri Dharma Sāstha, more popularly known as Lord Ayyappa of Kerala. Millions of devotees observe ascetic living during the weeks leading up to the winter solstice and then make an arduous journey to the temple of Lord Ayyappa which is located deep inside a thick forest. The last leg of this journey requiring a barefooted  climb of the mountain on a gravel road is a great test of faith as well as endurance for the devotee. What makes a devotee to take on such personal sacrifices in order to get a mere glimpse of an idol? The obvious answer is faith. However, this fete is also an enactment of the core Hindu philosophy of living, of being and becoming.

The Hindu God trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva represent creation, sustenance and dissolution of everything in the universe as well as that of the universe itself. Brahma causes existence - time, space, matter, energy - to be. Vishnu oversees the 'being' of existence, its sustenance. Siva causes the dissolution or the process of 'becoming' by which things transform from one form to another. Hence, life or human existence, which is a continuous interplay of 'being' and 'becoming' can be metaphorically said to be a dance of Siva and Vishnu. The purāna story behind the origins of Sri Dharma Sāstha appears to have been developed with this philosophical insight.

The purāna story talks about a female demon Mahishi, with a buffalo head and human body, who terrorized the world having obtained a boon from Brahma that no one, self-evolved or born to a male and female couple, be able to kill her. The Devas had no answer to her prowess and had to surrender their rule. Their only hope to overcome Mahishi was in a divine offspring who would emanate from Siva and Vishnu. And, an opportunity for this presented itself when Lord Siva one time wished to see the Mohini (enchantress) form of Lord Vishnu. Lord Vishnu had  earlier adopted this female form to trick the Asurās and recover the pot of nectar they had secured from the churning of the ocean of milk. When Vishnu consented and once again appeared as Mohini, Lord Siva was overcome by the Māya of Vishnu and became enchanted in Mohini. And, from that union was born Lord Sāstha. Since Sāstha was born to a couple who were actually both male, Mahishi's boon didn't constrain him in taking on her and ending the tyranny.

To understand  the metaphorical meaning of Sāstha better, we have to look at the etymology of the name in Sānskrit as well as examine details of the image of the idol. As an offspring of the Gods of 'being' and 'becoming', Sāstha is a metaphorical representation of life itself as well as how one should be in life. The etymological meaning of the Sānskrit word Sāstha is 'one who is established in the injunctions (of Veda)'. In broader terms, this means a person who lives a life that is founded on the spiritual guidance offered by the Vedas. The idol image of Sāstha is that of a person in a squatting position, with a band running across the legs and the back, preventing the person from getting up or moving. What this indicates is a self-restrained soul, who is totally at rest within oneself and not having the need to hanker after anything. To augment this image, Sāstha is said to have two consorts, Purna (Contentment) and Pushkala (Happiness). Combining these together, we are given the picture of how one should be in life: self-restrained, contented and happy! 

Now, let's look at what Sāstha accomplishes. The word Mahishi has two parts to it, Mahi meaning the earth and isha meaning compulsive attraction. Therefore, Mahishi is the compulsive attraction of earthly pleasures and Sāstha, the epitome of self-restraint, is her annihilator. Again, through the story and image of  Sāstha, we are metaphorically given the guidance on how to overcome the irresistible desires that are the root cause of suffering.

To understand how one should deal with 'becoming', let us turn to the story of Lord Ayyappa. This  story is not from the purāna but based off a folklore from Kerala.  A Pandya king who was displaced by the invading army of Malik Kaffer in the 11th century AD found refuge in a small town in Kerala. His tiny kingdom got the name Panthalam, meaning Pandya's grove (Pandya - Alam).  This king who was childless, happened to find an abandoned child in the forest who he adopted. The child was named Manikantan, one with a bell on his neck, since the baby was found with a tiny bell tied to a string on his neck.  Manikantan grew up to be a great warrior and became the chief of the King's army. More popularly, Manikantan was also known as Ayyappan or Ayyappa. The name was coined from the Tamil word 'Ayya' which is a respectful address to a master and another Tamil word 'appan' which, in this context, is a loving address to a very dear person, usually a boy or youth.

The story tells of an incident of envy and court politics which resulted in Ayyappa being dispatched to the forest to fetch the milk of a tigress with new born cubs. Essentially, Ayyappa was thrown the challenge of accomplishing a deed that appeared to be nothing but certain death for a meaningless cause. Some alternate stories talk about Ayyappa being dispatched to face the forces of a marauding chieftain, Udayanan, who repeatedly attacked Panthalam from the forests.  Long story short, Ayyappa vanquishes his enemy and rides back into the town on a tigress. We can take this to mean that Ayyappa proved that he had overcome all fear of death and was successful in the impossible effort given to him. However, having realized the petty politics and power struggle going on in the court, Ayyappa departs permanently to the forest and instructs the King to come and find him later. No one saw Ayyappa after that and the King who went in search of him in repentance found only the idol of Sāstha in Sabari Mala. The King realizes Ayyappa to have been Sāstha himself in human form. A temple is constructed for Lord Ayyappa at this location along with places for paying respects to Ayyappa's trusted associates that included a pair of tribal warriors and a Muslim warrior named Vāvar. Later on the local folklore and the purāna story have been intermixed  to form the legend of Lord Ayyappa of Sabari Mala who is also worshipped as Sri Dharma Sāstha.

Ayyappa's story fits the  pattern of the 'hero' legend that we will find in many cultures across the world. But from a Hindu religion point of view,  Ayyappa offers the image of how one should face the 'becoming' aspect of life. Face it courageously like a hero, overcome all fear of death and do what is right, selflessly and for the sake of society.  By combining Sāstha and Ayyappa into one image, we are given the comprehensive Hindu philosophy of being and becoming in life.

To reach the abode of Lord Ayyappa in the Sabari Mala temple, one has to climb a stair of 18 steps that stand for the five organs of action, five sense organs,  five prāna (energy systems in body) , mind, intellect and Ahamkāra (I-sense). Climbing these eighteen steps, keeping Lord Ayyappa and Lord Sāstha in mind, and watching the Jyothi (flame) that rises up in the sky on Makara Sankrāti evening could very well be the turning point and the only guidance we will need on how to live life!