Devotional Paths To The Divine

 

Exercise

Glossary

                

Word	Meaning	Urdu Meaning
Silsila	Order	سلسلہ
Khanqah	Hospice	خانقہ
Suba	Province	سوبہ
Karkhana	Factory	کارخانہ

Let's Recall

1. Match the following:                 

Column A	Column B
The Buddha	Namghar
Shankaradeva	Worship of Vishnu
Nizamuddin Auliya	Questioned social differences
Nayanars	Sufi Saints
Alvars	Worship of Shiva

Answers:                 

Column A	Column B
The Buddha	Questioned the Social difference
Shankaradeva	Namghar
Nizamuddin Auliya	Sufi Saint
Nayanars	Worship of Shiva
Alvars	Worship of Vishnu

2. Fill in the blanks:
(a) Shankara was an advocate of…………..
(b) Ramanuja was influenced by the ……
(c)  ……., …....  and ……… were advocates of Virashaivism.

(d) ….. was an important centre of the Bhakti tradition in Maharashtra.
(e) Sheik Nur ud Din is known as.......... 
(f) ........... was the last Mughal governor of Kashmir

Answer:
(a) Shankara was an advocate of Advaita
(b) Ramanuja was influenced by the Alvars
(c)  Basavanna, Allama Prabhu,and Akkamahadevi were advocates of Virashaivism.
(d) Pandharpur was an important centre of the Bhakti tradition in Maharashtra.

(e) Sheikh Nur ud Din is known as Nund Rishi. 

(f) Iftikhar Khan was the last Mughal governor of Kashmir. 

3. Describe the beliefs and practices of the Nathpanthis, Siddhas, and Yogis.
Answer: Beliefs and Practices of the Nathpanthis, Siddhas, and Yogis were:

• Criticism of ritual and other aspects of conventional religion.

• Renunciation of the world.

• Path of salvation in meditation on the formless.

• Ultimate reality and realisation of oneness.

• Intense training of mind and body through practices like yogasanas, breathing exercises, and meditation.

4. What were the major ideas expressed by Kabir? How did he express these?
Answer: Major ideas expressed by Kabir and his way of expressing them:

• Rejection of orthodox religion and religious traditions.

• Religion was inaccessible to all.

• Criticism of all external worship of Brahmanical Hinduism and Islam

• No caste system.

• Belief in formless God.

• Bhakti and devotion is the only path of salvation.

Kabir expressed his ideas through couplets in language of spoken Hindi widely understood by ordinary people.

5. Sum up the role of Sufis and Rishis in promoting social harmony in Kashmir. 

Answer: Sufism laid the foundation of communal harmony and peace in Kashmir. It taught the lesson of equality, love and brotherhood. Consequently, this enabled the peaceful co-existence of all communities in Kashmir. The humanistic philosophy of Kashmiri Sufis and Rishis played a prominent role in promoting social harmony in Kashmir. 

Let's Understand

6. What were the major beliefs and practices of the Sufis?

Answer: Sufis were Muslim mystics. They rejected outward religiosity and gave emphasis on love and devotion to God. They inspired people to be compassionate towards all fellow human beings. They rejected idol worship and considerably simplified rituals of worship into collective prayers. They developed elaborate methods of training using zikr, meaning chanting of a name or sacred formula, contemplation, sama (singing) , raqs, (dancing) , discussion of parables, breath control etc. under the guidance of a master called pir.
7. Why do you think many teachers rejected prevalent religious beliefs and practices?

Answer: Many teachers rejected prevalent religious beliefs and practices because they had numerous shortcomings and were promoted division in society.
8. What were the major teachings of Baba Guru Nanak?
Answer: Major Teachings of Baba Guru Nanak were:

• Worship of one God.

• Irrelevance of caste, creed, and gender for attaining liberation.

• The pursuit of active life with a strong sense of social commitment.

• Nam, the dam, is the major essence of his teachings.

• Nam-japna, kirt-kama, and vand Chakhna basis of right belief, and worship, honest living and helping others.

• The idea of equality.

9. What are the important works of Suharawardi saints? 

Answer: The Suharawardis preached the doctrine of love, piety and humanism from village to village in Kashmir. The greatest number of Malfuzat (haviographic literature) was produced by this order. It sufficiently enlighten us about their milieu and are important sources of history in Kashmir. 

Let's Discuss

10. For either the Virashaivas or the saints of Maharashtra, discuss their attitude towards caste.

Answer: Attitude of the Virashaivas towards caste :

• They believed in the equality of all human beings. 

• They were against Brahmanical ideas about caste and the treatment of women. 

• They wished for a society where people of all backgrounds could live in harmony without any feelings of high and low, rich and poor.

11. Why do you think ordinary people preserved the memory of Mirabai?

Answer:  Mirabai was a Rajput princess married into the royal family of Mewar in sixteenth century. She became a disciple of Ravidas, a saint from untouchable caste. She composed innumerable bhajans expressing her intense devotion to Lord Krishna. Her bhajans also openly challenged the norms of the upper castes. That is why ordinary people preserved the memory of Mirabai. 

Let's Do

12. Find out whether in your neighbourhood there are any dargahs, gurudwaras or temples associated with saints of the Bhakti tradition in your neighbourhood. Visit any one of these and describe what you see and hear.
Answer: In Kashmir we can see many Dargahs, but here we will discuss about one of the oldest Darah i.e. Darhah Hazratbal. 

The name of the shrine is a combination of the Arbic word hazrat ('respected') and the Urdu word bal ('Hair'). It contains a relic, Moi-e-Muqqadas, which is widely believed to be the hair of the Prophet Muhammad (SAW).

The Hazratbal Shrine popularly called Dargah Sharif is located in Hazratbal locality of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir. It is situated on the northern bank of the Dal Lake in Srinagar, and is considered to be Kashmir's holiest Muslim shrine.
13. For any of the saint-poets whose compositions have been included in this chapter, find out more about their works, noting down other poems. Find out whether these are sung, how they are sung, and what the poets wrote about. 

Answer:  Kabir Das (1398–1518) was a 15th-century Indian mystic poet and saint whose writings influenced Hinduism's Bhakti Movement and his verses are found in Sikhism's scripture Guru Granth Sahab. He questioned meaningless and unethical practices of all religions primarily the wrong practices in Hindu and Muslim religion. 

Kabir suggested that Truth is with the person who is on the path of righteousness, considered everything, living and non living, as divine, and who is passively detached from the affairs of the world.Kabir's poems were verbally composed in the 15th century and transmitted viva voce through the 17th century. Kabir Bijak was compiled and written down for the first time in the 17th century.

The Dohas Or poetry of Kabir is sung by Jagjit Singh in an Album released by Times Music in 2006 containing 8 tracks.