Editing Bhakti (section)

=== The Upanishads ===
The last of three epilogue verses of the [[Shvetashvatara Upanishad]] (6.23), dated to be from 1st millennium BCE, uses the word ''Bhakti'' as follows:<ref>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120814684}}, page 326</ref><ref>Max Muller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads02ml#page/266/mode/2up Shvetashvatara Upanishad], The Upanishads, Part II, Oxford University Press, page 267</ref>

{{Blockquote|
<poem>
yasya deve parā '''bhaktiḥ''' yathā deve tathā gurau <nowiki>।
tasyaite kathitā hyarthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ </nowiki><ref>[https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद् Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.23] Wikisource</ref>

He who has highest ''Bhakti'' of ''Deva'' (God), just like his ''Deva'', so for his ''Guru'' (teacher),
To him who is high-minded, these teachings will be illuminating.
</poem>

|}}

This verse is one of the earliest use of the word ''Bhakti'' in ancient Indian literature, and has been translated as "the love of God".<ref name=paulcarus /><ref>WN Brown (1970), Man in the Universe: Some Continuities in Indian Thought, University of California Press, {{ISBN|978-0520017498}}, pages 38-39</ref> Scholars<ref name=pauldeussenintro>Paul Deussen, Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1, Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120814684}}, pages 301-304</ref><ref name=maxmullerinto>Max Muller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads02ml#page/n33/mode/2up The Shvetashvatara Upanishad], Oxford University Press, pages xxxii – xlii</ref> have debated whether this phrase is authentic or later insertion into the Upanishad, and whether the terms "Bhakti" and "Deva" meant the same in this ancient text as they do in the modern era. [[Max Muller]] states that the word ''Bhakti'' appears only once in this Upanishad, that too in one last verse of the epilogue, could have been a later addition and may not be theistic as the word was later used in much later ''Sandilya Sutras''.<ref name=maxmullerbhakti>Max Muller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads02ml#page/n33/mode/2up The Shvetashvatara Upanishad], Oxford University Press, pages xxxiv and xxxvii</ref> Grierson as well as Carus note that the first epilogue verse 6.21 of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad is also notable for its use of the word ''Deva Prasada'' (देवप्रसाद, grace or gift of God), but add that ''Deva'' in the epilogue of the Shvetashvatara Upanishad refers to "pantheistic [[Brahman]]" and the closing credit to sage Shvetashvatara in verse 6.21 can mean "gift or grace of his Soul".<ref name=paulcarus />