bhakti (Sanskrit), in Hindu theistic thought systems, devotion. Bhakti includes the ideas of faith, surrender, love, affection, and attachment. Its most common form of expression is worship by means of offerings, puja. Theistic thinkers such as Ramanuja and Madhva argue that devotion is the key element that solves the human predicament. As a result the deity responds with grace or kindness (prasadam) and thereby causes the devotee to prosper or attain moksha. The Bhakti Sutras (twelfth century A.D.) distinguish ‘lower bhakti,’ i.e., devotion with personal goals in mind, from ‘higher bhakti,’ i.e., selfless devotion practiced only to please the deity. The latter is liberation. Modern Hindu philosophers, following Shankara and the modern Hindu apologist Swami Vivekananda (1862–1902), often relegate bhakti to a lower path than knowledge (jnana) for those who are unable to follow philosophy, but in the philosophical systems of many theists it is defended as the highest path with the main obstacle as unbelief, not ignorance. See also HINDUIS. R.N.Mi.