Krishna Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Bhakti tradition === {{Main|Bhakti movement|Bhakti yoga}}[[File:Meerabai (crop).jpg|thumb|left|upright|Krishna has been a major part of the [[Bhakti movement]]. One of the key devotees was [[Meera]] (pictured).]] The use of the term bhakti, meaning devotion, is not confined to any one deity. However, Krishna is an important and popular focus of the devotionalism tradition within Hinduism, particularly among the [[Vaishnava]] [[Krishnaism|Krishnaite]] sects.<ref name = McDaniel /><ref name="Klostermaier1974">{{cite journal|author = Klostermaier, K.|year = 1974|title = The Bhaktirasamrtasindhubindu of Visvanatha Cakravartin|journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume = 94|issue = 1|pages = 96–107|doi = 10.2307/599733 |jstor = 599733}}</ref> Devotees of Krishna subscribe to the concept of ''[[lila (divine play)|lila]]'', meaning 'divine play', as the central principle of the universe. It is a form of bhakti yoga, one of three types of yoga discussed by Krishna in the ''Bhagavad Gita''.<ref name="Kennedy1925" /><ref name="Jacobsen">{{cite book |editor-last=Jacobsen |editor-first=Knut A. | year = 2005 | title = Theory And Practice of Yoga: Essays in Honour of Gerald James Larson | page=351 | publisher = Brill Academic Publishers| isbn=978-90-04-14757-7}}</ref><ref name=chapple>Christopher Key Chapple (Editor) and Winthrop Sargeant (Translator), ''The Bhagavad Gita: Twenty-fifth–Anniversary Edition'', State University of New York Press, {{ISBN|978-1438428420}}, pp. 302–303, 318</ref> ==== Indian subcontinent ==== The bhakti movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern India in the 7th to 9th{{nbsp}}centuries CE. The earliest works included those of the [[Alvars|Alvar]] saints of [[Tamil Nadu]].<ref name=Vaudeville1962>{{cite journal|author = Vaudeville, C.|year = 1962|title = Evolution of Love-Symbolism in Bhagavatism|journal = Journal of the American Oriental Society|volume = 82|issue = 1|pages = 31–40|doi = 10.2307/595976|jstor = 595976}}</ref> A major collection of their works is the ''[[Divya Prabandham]]''. Alvar [[Andal]]'s popular collection of songs [[Tiruppavai]], in which she conceives of herself as a gopi, is the most famous of the oldest works in this genre.<ref name="cassel">{{cite book |author=Bowen, Paul |title=Themes and issues in Hinduism |publisher=Cassell |location=London |year=1998 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/themesissuesinhi0000unse/page/64 64–65] |isbn=978-0-304-33851-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/themesissuesinhi0000unse/page/64 }}</ref><ref name=Radhak1975>{{cite book|author = Radhakrisnasarma, C.|year = 1975|title = Landmarks in Telugu Literature: A Short Survey of Telugu Literature|publisher = Lakshminarayana Granthamala}}</ref><ref name=histor>{{cite book|author = Sisir Kumar Das|year = 2005|title = A History of Indian Literature, 500–1399: From Courtly to the Popular|publisher = Sahitya Akademi|page = 49|isbn = 978-81-260-2171-0}}</ref> The movement originated in South India during the 7th century CE, spreading northwards from Tamil Nadu through Karnataka and Maharashtra; by the 15th{{nbsp}}century, it was established in Bengal and northern India.{{sfnp|Schomer|McLeod|1987|pp=1–2|ps=}} Early [[Krishnaism|Krishnaite]] Bhakti pioneers included [[Nimbarkacharya]] (12th or 13th{{nbsp}}century CE),{{sfn|Ramnarace|2014|p=}}<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nimbarka-Indian-philosopher Nimbarka], Encyclopædia Britannica</ref>{{refn|group=note|"The first ''Kṛṣṇaite sampradāya'' was developed by Nimbārka."{{sfn|Hardy|1987|pp=387–392}}}} but most emerged later, including [[Vallabhacharya]] (15th{{nbsp}}century CE) and [[Chaitanya Mahaprabhu]]. They started their own schools, namely [[Nimbarka Sampradaya]], [[Vallabha Sampradaya]], and [[Gaudiya Vaishnavism]], with Krishna and Radha as the supreme gods. In addition, since the 15th century, flourished [[Tantra|Tantric]] variety of Krishnaism, [[Vaishnava-Sahajiya]], is linked to the Bengali poet [[Chandidas]].{{sfn|Basu|1932}} In the [[Deccan Plateau|Deccan]], particularly in [[Maharashtra]], saint poets of the [[Warkari]] sect such as [[Dnyaneshwar]], [[Namdev]], [[Janabai]], [[Eknath]], and [[Tukaram]] promoted the worship of [[Vithoba]],<ref name="vithoba" /> a local form of Krishna, from the 13th to 18th century.<ref name=" Mahony1987" /> Before the Warkari tradition, Krishna devotion became well established in Maharashtra due to the rise of the [[Mahanubhava|Mahanubhava Sampradaya]] founded by Sarvajna [[Chakradhar Swami|Chakradhara]].<ref>''The religious system of the Mahānubhāva sect'', by Anne Feldhaus, Manohar publications: Delhi, 1983.</ref> The [[Pranami|Pranami Sampradaya]] emerged in the 17th century in [[Gujarat]], based on the Krishna-focussed syncretist Hindu-[[Islam]]ic teachings of Devchandra Maharaj and his famous successor, Mahamati Prannath.{{sfn|Toffin|2012|pp=249–254}} In southern India, [[Purandara Dasa]] and [[Kanakadasa]] of [[Karnataka]] composed songs devoted to the Krishna image of [[Udupi]]. [[Rupa Goswami]] of Gaudiya Vaishnavism has compiled a comprehensive summary of bhakti called Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu.<ref name="Klostermaier1974" /> In South India, the acharyas of the [[Sri Vaishnavism|Sri Sampradaya]] have written reverently about Krishna in most of their works, including the [[Thiruppavai|''Tiruppavai'']] by [[Andal]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Thiruppavai|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/tpv/|work=Ibiblio|access-date=2013-05-24}}</ref> and ''[[Gopalavimshati]]'' by [[Vedanta Desika]].<ref>{{cite web|last=Desika|first=Vedanta|title=Gopala Vimshati|url=http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia/ebooks/vdesikan/gopala_vimsati/index.html|work=Ibiblio, Sripedia|access-date=2013-05-23}}</ref> Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala states have many major Krishna temples, and [[Janmashtami]] is one of the widely celebrated festivals in South India.<ref name="Maithily">{{cite book |last1=Jaganathan |first1=Maithily |title=South Indian Hindu festivals and traditions |chapter-url= https://books.google.com/books?id=xcIrkKUJH9QC|edition= 1st |year=2005 |publisher=Abhinav Publication |location=New Delhi |language=en |isbn=978-81-7017-415-8 |pages=104–105 |chapter=Sri Krishna Jayanti }}</ref> ==== Outside Asia ==== [[File:Radhakrishna manor.JPG|thumb|upright|Krishna (left) with Radha at [[Bhaktivedanta Manor]], [[Watford]], England]] By 1965, the ''Krishna-bhakti'' movement had spread outside India after [[Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada]] (as instructed by his [[guru]], [[Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura]]) travelled from his homeland in West Bengal to New York City. A year later, in 1966, after gaining many followers, he was able to form the [[International Society for Krishna Consciousness]] (ISKCON), popularly known as the Hare Krishna movement. The purpose of this movement was to write about Krishna in English and to share the [[Gaudiya Vaishnava]] philosophy with people in the Western world by spreading the teachings of [[Chaitanya Mahaprabhu]]. In the biographies of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, the mantra he received when he was given [[diksha]] or initiation in [[Gaya, India|Gaya]] was the six-word verse of the ''[[Kali-Saṇṭāraṇa Upaniṣad|Kali-Santarana Upanishad]]'', namely "Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna Hare Hare; Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare". In the Gaudiya tradition, it is the ''maha-mantra'', or great mantra, about Krishna [[bhakti]].{{sfn|Bryant|Ekstrand|2004|p=42}}<ref>Alanna Kaivalya (2014), Sacred Sound: Discovering the Myth and Meaning of Mantra and Kirtan, New World, {{ISBN|978-1608682430}}, pp. 153–154</ref> Its chanting was known as ''hari-nama sankirtana''.<ref>''Srila Prabhupada – He Built a House in which the whole world can live in peace'', Satsvarupa Dasa Goswami, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, 1984, {{ISBN|0-89213-133-0}} p. xv</ref> The ''maha-mantra'' gained the attention of [[George Harrison]] and [[John Lennon]] of [[the Beatles]] fame,<ref name=charlesbrooks83 /> and Harrison produced a 1969 recording of the mantra by devotees from the London [[Radha Krishna Temple]].<ref>Peter Lavezzoli (2006), ''The Dawn of Indian Music in the West'', Continuum, {{ISBN|0-8264-2819-3}}, p. 195</ref> Titled "[[Hare Krishna Mantra (song)|Hare Krishna Mantra]]", the song reached the top twenty on the UK music charts and was also successful in West Germany and Czechoslovakia.<ref name=charlesbrooks83 /><ref name=Clarke308>Peter Clarke (2005), ''Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements'', Routledge, {{ISBN|978-0415267076}}, p. 308 Quote: "There they captured the imagination of The Beatles, particularly George Harrison who helped them produce a chart-topping record of the Hare Krishna mantra (1969) and ...".</ref> The mantra of the Upanishad thus helped bring Bhaktivedanta and ISKCON ideas about Krishna into the West.<ref name=charlesbrooks83>Charles Brooks (1989), ''The Hare Krishnas in India'', Princeton University Press, {{ISBN|978-8120809390}}, pp. 83–85</ref> ISCKON has built many Krishna temples in the West, as well as other locations such as South Africa.<ref>{{cite book|author=Brian A. Hatcher|title=Hinduism in the Modern World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IdeoCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA118 |year= 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-04631-6|pages=118–119}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page