Discuss in 500 words the major facets of Bhakta and Sufism as a reform movement.
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India is known to the world as a birth as well as meeting place of various religions, creeds and faiths.
After them, came Islam in the beginning of the medieval age in India, which in-spite of its principle of universal brotherhood could not associate herself with Hinduism. It was due to the fact that the Islamic people were annoyed with the outer form of Hinduism like elaborate rites and rituals, polytheism and idolatry etc.
Antagonism between the two different sects of people continued to grow day by day. Religious supremacy made the Muslim rulers and people to exhibit mutual hatred and hostility, towards their fellow Hindu Citizens. At this critical hour of human ignorance and mutual hatred and hostility, there appeared a group of serious religious thinkers who by their Sufi and Bhakti movement awakened the People about God and religion. They did everything to establish brotherhood, love and friendship between the Hindus and Muslims.
The Sufi movement was a socio-religious movement of fourteenth to sixteenth century. The exponents of this movement were unorthodox Muslim saints who had a deep study of vedantic philosophy and Buddhism of India. They had gone through various religious text of India and had come in contact with great sages and seers of India. They could see the Indian religion from very near and realized its inner values. Accordingly they developed Islamic Philosophy which at last gave birth to the Sufi Movement.
The Sufi movement therefore was the result of the Hindu influence on Islam. This movement influenced both the Muslims and Hindus and thus, provided a common platform for the two.Though the Sufis were devout Muslims, yet they differed from the orthodox Muslims. While the former believed in inner purity, the latter believed in external conduct. The union of the human soul with God through love and devotion was the essence of the teachings of the Sufi Saints. The method of their realizing God was the renunciation of the World and Worldly pleasures. They lived a secluded life.
They were called Sufis as they wore garments of Wool (suf) as their budge of poverty. Thus the name ‘Sufi’ is derived from the word Suf. They consider love to be the only means of reaching God. Historian Tara Chand says, “Sufism indeed was a religion of intense devotion, love was its passion; poetry, song and dance, its worship and passing away in God its ideal”.
The Sufis did not attach importance to namaz, hajj and celibacy. That is why they were misunderstood by orthodox muslims. They regarded Singing and dancing as methods of inducing a state of ecstasy which brought one nearer to realisation of God. There were some leading Sufi saints like Khwaja Muinuddin Chisti, Fariuddin Ganj-i-Shakar, Nizam-ud-din Auliya etc.
The Bhakti movement was another glorious religious movement in the history of India. It was purely based on devotion to God and nothing else. Devotion means Bhakti through which one can realize God. The chief exponents of this cult were Ramanuja, Nimbarka, Ramananda, Vallabhacharya, Kabir, Nanak and Sri Chaityana. They preached the doctrine of love and devotion to realize God. Therefore the movement came to be known as Bhakti Movement.
The concept of Bhakti or devotion to God was not new to Indians. It is very much present in the Vedas, but it was not emphasized during the early period. Much later during the Gupta period, when the worship of Lord Vishnu developed, many holy books including the Ramayan and the Mahabharata were composed depicting the love and mystical union of the individual with God. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata, though written earlier were re-written during the Gupta times. Therefore Bhakti was accepted, along with Jnana and Karma, as one of the recognized roads to salvation. But this way (Marga) was not popularized till the end of fourteenth century in India.
However, the development of Bhakti started in South India between the seventh and the twelfth century. During this period the Shaiva Nayanars and the Vaishnavite disregarded the austerities preached by the Jains and the Buddhists and preached personal devotion to God as a means of Salvation. They also disregarded the rigidities of the caste system and unnecessary rites and rituals of Hindu religion.
They carried their message of love and personal devotion to God to various parts of South India by using the local languages. Although there were many points of contact between south and north India, the transmission of the ideas of Bhakti Saints from South to north India was a slow and long drawn-out process.
It was mainly due to the fact that Shaiva Nayanars and the Vaishnavite alvars preached in the Local Languages. And use of Sanskrit language was still less. However the ideas of Bhakti were carried to the north by scholars as well as by saints. Among these mention may be made of Namadeva, Ramananda, Ramanuja, Nimbarka, Vallabhacharya etc.