Thank you to everyone who replied to my query about bhakti. There is a lot to think about and continue reading.

All the best,

Patrick McCartney, PhD
Fellow
School of Culture, History & Language
College of the Asia-Pacific
The Australian National University
Canberra, Australia, 0200


Skype - psdmccartney
Phone + Whatsapp:  +61 414 954 748
Twitter - @psdmccartney




On Fri, Nov 4, 2016 at 12:39 PM, patrick mccartney <psdmccartney@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Friends, 

Is this the first mention of the term 'bhakti' ? 

yasya deve parā bhaktir yathā deve tathā gurau /
tasyaite kathitā hy arthāḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ prakāśante mahātmanaḥ // SvetUp_6.23 //


 I ask this question as I'm trying to understand the following statement:   


GEV is based on the sacred Vedic principles of bhakti-yoga. 

http://www.ecovillage.org.in/our-projects#_VEC 


While 'bhakti' is mentioned at least in the above upanishad, I thought 'bhakti yoga' was quite clearly a post-vedic development, and that the bhakti movement developed from the 6th century CE. To the devotee this statement might seem unproblematic, but to the scholar it appears to conceptually and temporally conflate disparate things. 


As I am certainly not an expert on bhakti I would appreciate clarification. 


I am interested in how organisations operationalise the 'vedic' sign in their marketing and promotional material to generate 'authenticity' and legitimacy. 




All the best,

Patrick McCartney, PhD
Fellow