Understanding Bhakti: Hindu Devotion as Sacred Sacrifice

by Jayaram V

Summary: Bhakti represents devotion as sacrificial offering in Hindu tradition, originating from Vedic ritual terminology where bhakta means the sacrificed and bhokta the recipient. True devotion arises from selfless surrender, transforming practitioners through sattvic qualities of wisdom and detachment. Unlike worldly worship seeking material gains, authentic bhakti embodies unconditional offering without expectations, earning God's grace (prasadam) and leading to spiritual freedom (mukti) through the yoga of action and knowledge.

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The most popular meaning of bhakti is spiritual devotion, reverence, attachment, worship, etc. Rakti is a closely related word to bhakti with a similar meaning. However, it has more physical, emotional, and worldly connotations and is usually used in connection with worldly relationships and attachments. In the early Vedic tradition, bhakti was less important than knowledge, duty, and virtue. Bhakti became an important part of the Vedic belief system after the rise of Shaivism and Vaishnavism. These were essentially theistic movements centered around devotion and the worship of their central deities. Indeed, bhakti attained its highest glory in Vaishnavism. Shaivism is less emphatic on devotion and more on knowledge, asceticism, self-purification, and contemplative practices. In the Bhagavadgita, bhakti finds its greatest support. One may even look upon it as the foundational text of the bhakti movement, which became popular subsequently and added a new dimension to Hindu ritual and spiritual practices. Vaishnavism also found its greatest support in bhakti, which led to its phenomenal rise in the medieval period. The Bhagavad Gita stipulates two conditions to practice devotion. One, devotion must be to the highest, supreme Lord. Two, it must be undivided, unwavering, exclusive, and free from the impurities of egoism, desires, and attachments.

Although the Vedic tradition did not give much importance to the practice of bhakti, it may be surprising to know that the concept of bhakti came to us from Vedic sacrifices and is deeply associated with the ritual terminology of the Vedic religion, especially with the offering of sacrificial food. Bhakta means sacrificial food, any cooked or boiled rice or grains, or a portion of food served to the gods. Many compound words are also associated with it. For example, a bhaktakar or bhakti-upasadhak means a cook. A bhakta-abhilashak is someone fond of food. Bhakti-kamsa means a dish of food. Bhakti-chhdam means appetite. Bhakti-rochanam means stimulation for the appetite. Bhakti-shala means a dining hall. A bhakta also means a bound or enslaved servant who serves or works for a master for food or maintenance.

These words amply convey the hidden connection of bhakti with sacrificial food and suggest that bhakti was originally associated with rituals, ritual food, and food-related rituals or service. As time passed by, the idea became more refined and sublimated as the highest expression of love and sacrifice. With ritual offerings and sacrifices giving way to devotional worship, the word became increasingly associated with devotion as an act or expression of giving oneself to God or a deity as food or sacrifice. In the sacred relationship between God and His devotee, the devotee became a sacrifice or sacrificial offering (bhakta) who not only symbolically offered himself to the Deity as a mark of his unconditional surrender and commitment but also dedicated himself to his worship and service.

The bhakti movement gained traction in India in the post-Vedic period with the emergence of Upanishadic literature, internalization of Vedic rituals, the elevation of sacrifice as a yogic practice, and the emergence of new religious movements. Symbolically, it is deeply associated with Vedic rituals and maybe even animal and human sacrifices, and the ascetic practice of self-mortification as the means to escape from the bonds of Nature. Bhakta means food, or what has been sacrificed. Bhakti is an act of sacrifice or an offering of whatever is dearer to you to your dearest Deity. Bhokta refers to the deity who receives the ritual offering or sacrifice and enjoys it. In a ritual sense, a bhakta is the one who offers himself or ends up becoming a sacrifice in a sacrificial ritual. Mostly, animals used to be offered as a sacrifice with the belief that they would attain liberation through it. Bhakta (devotee) also means he who offers sacrificial food (bhakta) as an offering to God, the final recipient, the Enjoyer (bhokta) of all material things, and the devourer of all.

Bhakti (devotion) is thus a deeply spiritual and emotive gesture of becoming a sacrificial offering to God, really or symbolically. The result or the fruit of this sacrifice or offering is God’s mercy or grace (prasadam). This is symbolically represented in Hindu rituals by the sacrificial food offered to the deity. The hosts of the rituals share the food with priests, family members, and guests. It is deemed beneficial, since it is believed to have been blessed and purified by God and is infused with His divine power. In Hindu ritual practices, devotees patiently wait until the ritual is completed and the remains of the sacrificial food are distributed as prasadam. They do not leave the place until they receive their share of it. Indeed, in recent times, this sacred tradition has devolved into a commercial practice, where many temples prepare prasadam in large quantities and offer it for a price while distributing a small portion of it during the rituals.

Thus, devotion originally meant a sacrificial act or offering in which devotees earn God’s grace by offering Him their bodies or possessions, including food and other belongings, as a sacrifice. The most popular meaning of bhakti is having and expressing reverence, emotional attachment, and unconditional loyalty to God. The result of that offering is divine grace (prasadam). For the ignorant ones, it means the food they receive at the end of a ritual. Many people attend religious functions for that purpose only. However, knowledgeable ones know what it means and signifies. For them, the food offered in a religious ritual represents the collective devotion of all those who participate in the worship and share the fruit of karma that emerges from it as divine grace. It represents the ideal that one should perform sacrifices as an obligatory duty and make regular offerings to God, who is the source of all, rather than accumulating things for oneself and incurring sin. The sin you accumulate through selfish actions becomes your burden.

In the end, you must account for it because by engaging in desire-ridden actions for worldly possessions and enjoyments, you engage in the sinful conduct of steya, taking what does not truly belong to you. You cannot wash that sin away by visiting a few temples or giving charity. It can be washed away by karma sannyasa only, performing actions without desires and offering the fruit of your actions to God, the source of all. This is the true sacrifice, the mark of true devotion. God’s exclusive devotees engage in this sacrifice persistently. They carry the sacrifice of devotion with them everywhere and into every action and aspect of their lives. They transform their lives into devotional sacrifices and, through that sacrifice, worship God reverently to a point where they can no longer bear any separation or distance from Him.  The most pious ones exhaust their energies in His service and contemplation, like the candles or incense sticks that burn themselves into extinction.

Each offering, therefore, is an unmistakable expression of devotion (bhakti), a sacred action that brings you closer to the doors of immortal heaven, and the best spiritual solution with which you can resolve the problem of karma. As the Bhagavadgita states, God reciprocates your offerings with abundant love and grants you His grace (anugraha) with which you can enter His heaven. Hence, in the Bhagavadgita, Lord Krishna states that when you eat food for yourself without offering to Him, you will eat sin. It will bind you to samsara and limit your spiritual progress. When you offer to God the food you want to eat, it becomes prasadam, the fruit of your devotion, and no matter how impure it may be, by eating it, you will not incur any sin. God’s exclusive devotees worship Him with single-minded devotion as if nothing else matters. Out of unconditional love, they offer to Him whatever they have or what happens to them as God’s grace. Their devotional sacrifice lights their path to liberation as their actions cease to produce karma or impede their progress. Through that sacrifice, they also attain freedom from all karmas arising from their actions (naishkarmya siddhi).

Bhakti is a sattvic feeling whose location is in the heart region, the seat of the Self. True devotion of the exclusive kind, which leads to liberation, arises in those who have discerning wisdom (buddhi vikasam) and disinterest (virakti) in material things and who are free from attachments arising from the impurities induced by the triple modes. The gross body does not experience devotion as much as the subtle bodies since they are more illuminated by the Self. It arises in those whose minds and bodies are filled with the radiance of sattva. Therefore, the practice of devotion is considered an advanced practice of yoga that is not possible for everyone. Bhakti leads to freedom (vimukti) from attachments or liberation (mukti). If you are attached to Nature and passionate about material things or worldly enjoyments, you cannot attain liberation (mukti).