Consider the following statements regarding nirguna and saguna tradition of bhakti movement 1 While ...........

Culture of India Religious beliefs and Practises

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Consider the following statements regarding nirguna and saguna tradition of bhakti movement:

1. While nirguna focused on the worship of specific deities, saguna focussed on worship of an abstract form of god.

2. While Kabir belonged to the nirguna tradition, Guru Nanak belonged to the saguna tradition of the bhakti movement.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct:

1 only

2 only

Both 1 and 2

Neither 1 nor 2

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Explanation:

Historians of religion have divided bhakti movement into two broad categories - saguna (with attributes) and nirguna (without attributes). The former included traditions that focused on the worship of specific deities such as Shiva, Vishnu and his avatars (incarnations) and forms of the goddess or Devi, all often conceptualised in anthropomorphic forms. Nirguna bhakti on the other hand was worship of an abstract form of god. Hence, statement 1 is not correct. Nirguna is the concept of a formless God, which has no attributes or quality. Saguna has form, attributes and quality. While nirguni is knowledge focussed, saguna is love-focused. Thus, the nirguna poetry is Gyanshrayi (has roots in knowledge) while saguna poetry is premashrayi (has roots in love). The most common examples of saguna bhakti include Ramananda and Chaitanya who espoused the doctrine of incarnation and worshipped the saguna Ram and Krishna respectively. On the other hand, the most common examples of nirguna bhakti include Kabir, Guru Nanak and Dadu who created a religious school which rejected the scriptural authority and every form of idol worship. They fought against social discrimination and strove for Hindu-Muslim reconciliation. Hence, statement 2 is not correct.