Sakha (“companion”) Bhava
The third of the five modes of devotion
to the Supreme Being that were most
prominently expressed by Rupa Goswami.
Rupa used different types of human
relationships as models for the possi-
ble relationships between deity and
devotee (bhakta). These five models
increased in emotional intensity from
the peaceful (shanta) sense that comes
from realizing one’s complete identity
with Brahman, or Supreme Reality, to
conceiving of God as one’s master,
friend, child, or lover. In the sakha
bhava, devotees consider themselves
as God’s friends and companions and
thus as taking part in his regular, every-
day activities.
Sakhi
(“friend,” “companion”) The motif of
friendship as a religious ideal was well
developed by the devotees (bhakta) of
the god Krishna, and to a lesser extent
by devotees of the god Rama. Both of
these deitiesare avatars(incarnations)
of the god Vishnu, and Vaishnava
devotion tends to stress not only wor-
shipof the chosen deity, but also the
notions of relationship and commu-
nion—both between the deity and
devotee, and among devotees them-
selves. Vaishnava religious practice
often involved elaborate visualization
exercises, in which devotees would
envision the deity’s daily activities—for
Krishna, the simple life of a village
cowherd, and for Rama, the life of a
prince. Some devotional manuals give
detailed daily schedules of the deity’s
activities to facilitate this process of
visualization. Such elaborate visualiza-
tion allowed the devotees to symboli-
cally enter the deity’s world and take
part in the deity’s divine play (lila) on
earth, building a relationship with God
through sharing the mundane ele-
ments of everyday life. In this sort of
visualization, devotees commonly con-
sidered themselves to be the deity’s
sakhis or companions—in some cases
male companions, and in other cases
female companions of the deity’s con-
sorts, Radhaand Sita. Taking on the
persona of a sakhi provided a devotee
with a concrete place in the divine
world, in which he or she could both
observe and participate in the god’s
earthly activity.Sakshin
(“witness”) The perceiving conscious-
ness believed to be the inner Self
(atman), which observes changes going
on around it but is utterly unaffected by
them. It is described in a primitive way
as early as the Upanishads, the specula-
tive texts that form the final layer of the
Ve d a s, the most authoritative Hindu
religious texts. The Katha Upanishad
describes the Self as a thumb-sized per-
son inside the head. The Samkhya
philosophical school develops this
notion in a more subtle and sophisticated
way: of its two fundamental first
principles, one is the purusha, which is
the conscious but inert witness to the
transformations of prakrti, or nature.
Later philosophical schools such as
Vedantareject the Samkhya school’s
dualism by collapsing all reality into a
single ultimate principle known as
Brahman. Vedanta’s conception of
Brahman as “being-consciousness-
bliss” (sacchidananda) also conceives of
the Self as the conscious and unchang-
ing witness to the material flux sur-
rounding it.Sala
In Hindi, “wife’s brother.” The term can
be used as a serious insult if applied to
someone who is not related in this way.
Calling someone “sala” implies that the
other is in a position of relative sub-
servience, since he is a member of the
family that “gives” the bride. It also
implies that one is having sexual rela-
tions with that person’s sister, an allega-
tion that is an insult to a family’s honor,
whether or not it is true.Sakha (“companion”) Bhava