Bhakti Marga (organisation)

Bhakti Marga is a spiritual organisation founded by Vishwananda. It views itself standing in the tradition of the Sri Vaishnava sampradaya, into which Vishwananda has been initiated.[1] It represents vishishtadvaita philosophy, translated as "qualified monism". According to it, all souls are a part of God and can reflect him, but are not identical with him.[2] By the end of 2022 Bhakti Marga had around 10,000 followers[3] and between 30 and 50 ashrams worldwide.[4]

Ashrams
Narasimha
Narasimha, a fierce avatar of Vishnu, is prominently worshipped in Bhakti Marga ashrams

Every Bhakti Marga ashram has at least one temple, which in turn often contains several idols representing deities. In addition to various Hindu deities, Vaishnava and non-vaishnava, Babaji and Ramanuja are worshipped as gurus in the main temple in Springen.[4] The main deities in Sri Vaishnava are Narayana and Lakshmi,[5][6] who are also worshiped in the Bhakti Marga temples.[7] However, many other deities are also worshiped, some of which belong to the Vaishnava pantheon (Radha and Krishna), but some of them do not. This worship of non-vaishnava gurus and deities, like Shiva and Durga,[8] distinguishes Bhakti Marga from other Vaishnava religions, like Shri Vaishnava, or Gaudiya Vaishnava, which is known in western countries mainly through the Hare Krishna movement.[9]

In addition, the ashram in Springen contains a Russian Orthodox chapel, in which there are also relics of Christian saints.[1] It is not uncommon in the syncretistic system of Hinduism for Christ to be viewed as the avatar of Vishnu. However, there are currently no liturgical services in the chapel. Building of the temple has cost more than one million euros. The movement claims to have between 30 and 50 centres or temples worldwide, some of them rather small.[4]

In November 2020 it became known that Bhakti Marga in Kirchheim in the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district of Hesse wants to set up its Hindu Germany center in the area of the Seepark Kirchheim holiday complex, which includes its own lake.[10]

In January 2022 Bhakti Marga purchased a former Catholic Church in West Elmira, New York, the former Our Lady of Lourdes parish, to become its first ashram and temple in America.[11] According to Swami Tulsidas, Bhakti Marga's representative in North America, the main deity in the new ashram will be that of Narasimha, the Hindu man-lion, an Avatar of Vishnu.[12]

Just Love Festival

Since 2015, Bhakti Marga has held a large, multi-day festival in Germany every year, the Just Love Festival, which attracts up to 3,000 visitors. The duration of the festival varies between three and ten days. During the festival, various spiritual music bands from different countries play, mainly bhajans and kirtans, but these can be interpreted differently, so Sanskrit hymns are also being rapped. The event is usually in the summer, the focus of the festival is Guru Purnima, a Hindu festival held every year in honor of the guru, spiritual or academic, on a full moon day. As a supporting program there are exhibitions of arts and crafts, a bazaar, a vegan restaurant, and various teaching lectures and workshops by Bhakti Marga teachers.[4] "Just Love" is also the slogan of Bhakti Marga. It is meant to express the ideal of the movement, which places love at the center of life, love for God, but also love for the guru or the community.

Controversial activities

On December 10, 2016, Bhakti Marga carried out a group chanting at the Mauthausen concentration camp in Austria. Critics accused Bhakti Marga of exploitation and relativization of the holocaust.[13][14]

On March 17, 2018, Bhakti Marga carried out a group chanting at the Buchenwald concentration camp, which led to protests.[13][14]

See also

References
  1. Eißler, Friedmann (January 2020). "Bhakti Marga in der Kritik" [Bhakti Marga in criticism]. Zeitschrift für Religion und Weltanschauung [Journal of Religion and Worldview] (in German).
  2. Stafford, Betty (2010). "Dvaita, Advaita, and Viśiṣṭādvaita: Contrasting Views of Mokṣa". Asian Philosophy. 20 (2): 215–224. doi:10.1080/09552367.2010.484955. S2CID 144372321.
  3. Focus-Online staff (19 August 2023). "Mitten im Taunus baut Hindu-Guru via Tiktok seine Sekte auf" [In the middle of the Taunus, the Hindu guru is building up his sect via Tiktok]. Focus-Online. Retrieved August 27, 2023.
  4. Maus, Robert (10 September 2018). "Der Ashram im Taunus" [Ashram in Taunus]. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (in German).
  5. Tapasyananda, Svami (1990). Bhakti Schools of Vedanta. Mylapore, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math. pp. 31–33. ISBN 81-7120-226-8.
  6. Tapasyananda, Svami (1991). "Introduction". Sri Ramanuja Gita Bhasya. Translated by Svami Adidevanand. Mylapore, Madras: Sri Ramakrishna Math. pp. 9–40. ISBN 81-7823-290-1.
  7. Shree Peetha Nilaya staff (August 2023). "Serve a deity program". Shree Peetha Nilaya. Retrieved 2023-08-26.
  8. Vasconcelos, Catarina Maldonado (20 April 2021). ""Ele é um avatar de amor." A comunidade hindu do Porto que adora o guru de Rui Patrício como deus" ["He is an avatar of love." The Hindu community in Porto that worships Rui Patrício's guru as a god]. TSF (in Portuguese).
  9. Dimock, Edward C. Jr. (2000). "Adi Lila, Chapter 17, verses 33 ff". In Steward, Tony K. (ed.). Caitanya caritamrta of Krsnadasa Kaviraja: a translation and commentary. Harvard Oriental Series. Vol. 65. ISBN 0-674-00285-7.
  10. Löwenberger, Bernd (18 November 2020). "Seepark Kirchheim verkauft: Aus für das Hotel, Hindu-Religionszentrum geplant" [Seepark Kirchheim sold: Planned out for the hotel, Hindu religious center]. Hersfelder Zeitung.
  11. Aldinger, Carl (September 7, 2022). "Hindu spiritual group moves into former West Elmira Catholic Church". MyTwinTiers.com.
  12. ELMIRA: New Ashram and Mandir Announcement, YouTube Video
  13. Niewendick, Martin (3 March 2018). "Spirituelle Gruppe will KZ-Gedenkstätte mit Ritual "heilen"" [Spiritual group wants to heal concentration camp]. Die Welt (in German).
  14. Sommer, Philipp (2 March 2018). "Dieser Kult will in Konzentrationslagern meditieren" [This cult wants to meditate at concentration camps]. Vice (in German).

Further reading
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