Editing Bhakti movement (section)

=== ''Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad'' ===
[[File: Shiva poet-saint devotee (2).jpg|thumb|A copper alloy sculpture of a Shiva Bhakti practitioner from [[Tamil Nadu]] (11th Century or later).]]
The last of three epilogue verses of the ''[[Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad]]'', 6.23, uses the word [[Bhakti]] as follows,

{{Blockquote|
<poem>
यस्य देवे परा भक्तिः यथा देवे तथा गुरौ <nowiki>।
तस्यैते कथिता ह्यर्थाः प्रकाशन्ते महात्मनः ॥ २३ ॥</nowiki><ref>[https://sa.wikisource.org/wiki/श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषद् Shvetashvatara Upanishad 6.23] Wikisource</ref>

Who has highest Bhakti (love, devotion)<ref name=paulcarus>Paul Carus, {{Google books|96sLAAAAIAAJ|The Monist|PA514}}, pages 514-515</ref> of ''Deva'' (God),
just like his ''Deva'', so for his ''Guru'' (teacher),
To him who is high-minded,
these teachings will be illuminating.<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>
</poem>
}}

This verse is notable for the use of the word ''Bhakti'', and has been widely cited as among the earliest mentions of "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 have debated whether this phrase is authentic or later insertion into the Upanishad, and whether the terms "Bhakti" and "God" meant the same in this ancient text as they do in the medieval and modern era Bhakti traditions found in India.<ref name="maxmullerinto">Max Muller, [https://archive.org/stream/upanishads02ml#page/n33/mode/2up ''The Shvetashvatara Upanishad''], Oxford University Press, pages xxxii – xlii</ref><ref name=pauldeussenintro>Paul Deussen, ''Sixty Upanishads of the Veda, Volume 1'', Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120814684}}, pages 301-304</ref> [[Max Muller]] states that the word ''Bhakti'' appears in only one verse of the epilogue at its end, may have been a later insertion and may not be theistic as the word was later used in much ''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 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 ''Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad'' refers to "pantheistic Brahman" and the closing credit to sage ''Śvetāśvatara'' in verse 6.21 can mean "gift or grace of his Soul".<ref name="paulcarus" />

Doris Srinivasan states that the Upanishad is a treatise on theism, but it creatively embeds a variety of divine images, an inclusive language that allows "three Vedic definitions for a personal deity".<ref name="srinivasan">D Srinivasan (1997), ''Many Heads, Arms, and Eyes'', Brill, {{ISBN|978-9004107588}}, pages 96-97 and Chapter 9</ref> The Upanishad includes verses wherein God can be identified with the Supreme (Brahman-Atman, Self, Soul) in Vedanta monistic theosophy, verses that support the dualistic view of Samkhya doctrines, as well as the synthetic novelty of triple Brahman where a triune exists as the divine soul (Isvara, theistic God), individual soul (self) and nature (Prakrti, matter).<ref name="srinivasan" /><ref>{{cite journal|author= Lee Siegel |title= Commentary: Theism in Indian Thought |journal= Philosophy East and West |volume= 28 |number= 4 |date= October 1978 |pages= 419–423|jstor= 1398646 |doi= 10.2307/1398646 }}</ref> 

Tsuchida writes that the Upanishad syncretically combines monistic ideas of the [[Upanishads]] and the self-development ideas of [[Yoga]] with personification of the deity [[Rudra]].<ref>{{cite journal|author= R Tsuchida |date= 1985 |title= Some Remarks on the Text of the Svetasvatara-Upanisad |journal= Journal of Indian and Buddhist Studies (印度學佛教學研究) |volume= 34 |number= 1 |pages= 460–468 |quote="The Svetasvatara-Upanisad occupies a highly unique position among Vedic Upanisads as a testimony of the meditative and monistic Rudra-cult combined with Samkhya-Yoga doctrines."}}</ref> Hiriyanna interprets the text to be introducing "personal theism" in the form of Shiva Bhakti, with a shift to [[monotheism]] but in the henotheistic context where the individual is encouraged to discover his own definition and sense of God.<ref>M. Hiriyanna (2000), ''The Essentials of Indian Philosophy'', Motilal Banarsidass, {{ISBN|978-8120813304}}, pages 32-36</ref>