of temple devotion. In many cases the saints sing of both God with form (sagun.)
and without or beyond form (nirgun.) and juxtapose the two in a single song that
may consider how the Lord who is the reality behind all that is could come to
play among his devotees as the child Kr.s.n.a does or could be encountered
through a temple image. Nevertheless, movements and saints are often charac-
terized as either practicing nirgun.orsagun.devotion in an oppositional way
(Hawley 1995a). Those who worship the nirgun.Lord have been called sants, a
term which means “one who knows the truth... [or] who has experienced
Ultimate Reality” (Schomer and McLeod 1987: 2–3). The meaning of the term,
however, has been generalized to mean “a good person” or a saint, and thus sant
is often also used to refer to any member of the larger devotional community,
whether his or her orientation is sagun.ornirgun..
These movements did not develop in a vacuum but built on previous tradi-
tions and were in competition with other existing ones. The Na ̄th tradition was
a strong formative influence and continues to be a part of the religious milieu of
India (Briggs 1938; Gold 1992: 35–53). Na ̄th jogislooked back to S ́iva as the
quintessentialjogiascetic and practiced hatha yogawith the aim of controlling
the physical body in an integration of physical and spiritual attainment. Icono-
clasm, a radically nirgun.conception of Ultimate Reality, and a defiance of caste
are hallmarks of this tradition, and Na ̄th jogisare known for their miraculous
powers as well, with Gorakna ̄th being the greatest guru of the sect and an array
of songs and stories attached to him and subsequent gurus.
Tantric streams from Hindu and Buddhist sources flowed into the formation
ofbhaktithrough the Na ̄ths and other sources. The fundamental practices of
tantra involve working through the body to unify opposites and overcome all
duality; elaborate rituals, diagrams, mantras, and visualizations are among the
techniques employed (Hess and Shukdev Singh 1983: 139–40). Other strains of
Buddhism also had their impact, and particularly in the south, bhaktisaints saw
both Buddhists and Jains as their competitors, and their stories and songs reflect
their confrontations.
Muslim traditions were strong in the medieval milieu in which bhaktigrew as
well, Sufis in a very open way and Isma’ilis in more disguised forms (Vaudeville
1974; Khan 1997). The lines between the traditions were fluid with many
Muslims devoted to Hindu saints and many Sufipı ̄rshaving Hindu followers
as well. Low castes converted en masseto Islam in order to move out of the
hierarchy of caste but often without leaving behind all of their previous Hindu
practices and traditions, even as Kabı ̄r’s caste may have. Both the Sufis and the
bhaktisaints taught a path of overwhelming love for God, and many of their
practices were similar.
Bhaktiphilosophy and theology developed in opposition to Hindu advaita
philosophers who argued that Ultimate Reality was an impersonal Oneness to
be realized rather than a supreme God to be loved. The bhaktasarticulated a
desire to experience God rather than to become God, whether their orientation
was nirgun.orsagun.. Into this fecund mix of religious influences must be added
local traditions of worship and manifestations of the divine that played key roles
in the development of various regional sects.
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