Neither a ‘MODI-BHAKT’ nor a ‘FAMILY-LOYALIST’

 

Loyalty is behaviour in which one stays firm in one’s friendship or support for someone or something. Loyalties are feelings of friendship, support, allegiance or duty.

I am loyal to my country and to my family. I neither need nor seek anyone’s certification for my loyalty.

BHAKTI literally means "attachment, state of mind where the devotees surrender himself or herself unquestioningly to God.

Bhakti in Indian culture is "emotional devotion" particularly to a personal God or to spiritual ideas. Thus, bhakti requires a relationship between the devotee and the deity. The term also refers to a movement, pioneered by Alvars and Nayanars, which developed around the gods Vishnu (Vaishnavism), Brahma (Brahmanism), Shiva (Shaivism) and Devi (Shaktism) in the second half of the 1st millennium CE. The union of the human soul with a supreme God, man's love and devotion for God are some of the concepts, which were dwelt upon by the saints. In ancient texts, such as the SHVETASHVATARA UPANISHAD, the term simply means participation, devotion and love for any endeavour, while in the BHAGAVAD GITA; it connotes ‘Bhakti Marg’ one of the possible paths of spirituality and towards moksha.

Bhakti is also found in other religions practiced in India. Nirguni bhakti (devotion to the divine without attributes) is found in Sikhism, as well as Hinduism. Outside India, emotional devotion is found in some Southeast Asian and East Asian Buddhist traditions. 

It grew rapidly in India after the 12th century in the various Hindu traditions, possibly in response to the arrival of Islam in India.

Loyalty other than the loyalty to one’s country and one’s family is slavery; slavery enforced upon someone or accepted by someone due to that one’s weakness. Loyalty is otherwise a trait found in some animals. Such loyalty in those animals is appreciated and acknowledged. Dogs are thought to be the most loyal to their MASTERS. Horses are also loyal to their MASTERS. The expression MASTERS is not about ownership; it is more akin to as in RINGMASTER in a circus.

I do not intend to make judgments about my friends or strangers, many of whom are completely at ease being a MODI-BHAKT or a GANDHI-NEHRU-FAMILY-LOYALIST. I merely wish to say that BHAKTI and LOYALTY are not the two poles of the same characteristic but two entirely different characteristics.

For me, Loyalty to my country comes first, followed by loyalty to my family. Then comes Bhakti to my God and religion. All other kinds of Loyalty and Bhakti is redundant and a mere reflection of my weaknesses. A caveat though, all other kinds of loyalty or Bhakti to any other being or any other object is the same thing.

 

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First published 17 Feb 2021

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