The Bhakti movement of Krishnaism as flashed by me on the f.b on September 4,2010.

Bishwanath Singh: The Bhaki movement is often talked about Krishnaism.Let us ponder over it as what it means to us! Bhakti, meaning devotion, is not confined to any one deity. However Krishna is an important and popular focus of the devotional and ecstatic aspects of Hindu religion, particularly among the Vaishnava sects. The devotees... of Krishna subscribe to the concept of Lila (divine play), as the central principle of the Universe. The lilas(divine plays) of Krishna, with their expressions of personal love that transcend the boundaries of formal reverence, serve as a counterpoint to the actions of another avatar of Vishnu: Rama, known very straight and narrow path of maryada, or rules and regulations based on high traditions of the past based on his wisdom.The Bhakti movements devoted to Krishna became prominent in southern areas where earliest works included those of the Alvar saints of the Tamil country. A major collection of their works is the Divya Prabandham. The 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. Kulasekaraazhvaar's Mukundamala was another famous work of this early stage.The movement spread rapidly from northern India into the south, with the Sanskrit poem Gita Govinda of Jayadeva of 12th century AD proved as a landmark of devotional ethics in Krishna-based literature. It elaborated part of the Krishna legend—his love for one particular gopi, called Radha, a minor character in Bhagavata Purana but a major one in other texts like Brahma Vaivarta Purana. By the influence of Gita Govinda, Radha became inseparable from devotion to Krishna. While the learned sections of the society well versed in Sanskrit could enjoy works like Gita Govinda or Bilvamangala's Krishna-Karnamritam, the masses sang the songs of the devotee-poets, who composed in the regional languages of India. These songs expressing intense personal devotion were written by devotees from all walks of life. The songs of Meera and Surdas became very famous and epitomes of Krishna-devotion in north India.These devotee-poets, like the Alvars before them, were aligned to specific theological schools only loosely, if at all. But by the 11th century AD, Vaishnava Bhakti schools with elaborate theological frameworks around the worship of Krishna were established in north India. Nimbarka (11th century AD), Vallabhacharya (15th century AD) and Chaitanya Mahaprabhu (16th century AD) were the founders of the most influential schools. These schools, namely Nimbarka Sampradaya, Vallabha Sampradaya and Gaudiya Vaishnavism respectively who visualize Krishna as the Supreme God, rather than an avatar, as generally seen.In the Deccan, particularly in Maharashtra, saint poets of the Varkari sect such as Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Janabai, Eknath and Tukaram promoted the worship of Vithoba, a local form of Krishna, from the beginning of the 13th century until the late 18th century. 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 named Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu that stioll continues to be very popular there. Since 1966, the Krishna-Bhakti movement has also spread outside India. This is largely due to the Hare Krishna movement, the largest part of which is the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) and for that the credit goes to His Holiness Swami Prabhupad whose birth anniversaey we had celebrated all over the world especially in Iskcon temples on the 1ST OF September 2010 on the eve of Sri Krishna Janamashtmi in the form of Nandostava.Let us be clear that Krishnology is a term used to highlight parallels between Krishnaism in Vaishnava theology and Christological dogma in Christianity.Such was legacy of Lord Krishna and Goddess Radha rani whom we adore the most.
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Bishwanath Singh: Let us join all to pay our humble obeisance to the lotus feet of Lord Krishna and seek His bliss for well-being of all living -being of this universe and offer our humble prayers to Him to give us strength and wisdom to make 'Global Peace and Universal Brotherhood" a success!

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