Bhagavan

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Bhagavan

Bhagavan, also written Bhagwan or Bhagawan, from the Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Sanskrit is a historical Indo-Aryan language, one of the liturgical languages of Hinduism and Buddhism, and one of the 22 official languages of India....
nt-stem (nominative/vocative ) literally means "possessing fortune, blessed, prosperous" (from the noun , meaning "fortune, wealth", cognate to Slavic "god

Bog (disambiguation)

Bog or bogs can refer to any of the following:...
"), and hence "illustrious, divine, venerable, holy", etc.

In some traditions of Hinduism

Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
it is used to indicate the Supreme Being or Absolute Truth, but with specific reference to that Supreme Being as possessing a personality (a personal God

God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
).

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Bhagavan, also written Bhagwan or Bhagawan, from the Sanskrit

Sanskrit

Bog (disambiguation)

Bog or bogs can refer to any of the following:...
"), and hence "illustrious, divine, venerable, holy", etc.

In some traditions of Hinduism

Hinduism

God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
). This personal feature indicated in Bhagavan differentiates its usage from other similar terms such as Brahman

Brahman

Brahman is a concept of Hinduism. Brahman is the unchanging, infinite, Immanence, and transcendence reality which is the Divine Ground of all matter, energy, time, space, being, and everything beyond in this Universe....
, the "Supreme Spirit" or "spirit", and thus, in this usage, Bhagavan is in many ways analogous to the general Christian

Christianity

Christianity is a Monotheistic religion #Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus as New Testament view on Jesus' life....
conception of God

God

God is a deity in theism and deism religions and other belief systems, representing either the sole deity in monotheism, or a principal deity in polytheism....
.

Bhagavan used as a title of veneration

Veneration

In Christianity, veneration , or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: a dead person who has been identified as singular in the traditions of the religion....
is often translated as "Lord", as in "Bhagavan Krishna

Krishna

Krishna is a deity worshiped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of different perspectives. While many Vaishnava groups recognize him as an avatar of Vishnu, other traditions within Krishnaism consider Krishna to be svayam bhagavan, or the supreme being....
", "Bhagavan Shiva

Shiva

Shiva: is a major Hinduism god, and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the supreme God. In the Smarta tradition, he is one of panchadeva....
", "Bhagavan Swaminarayan", etc. In Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a family of beliefs and practices considered by most to be a religionand is based on the teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as "The Buddha" , who was born in what is today Nepal....
and Jainism

Jainism

Jainism is one of the oldest Indian religions that originated in India. Jains believe that every soul is divine and has the potential to achieve God-consciousness....
, Gautama Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Siddhartha Gautama was a Spirituality teacher in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent who founded Buddhism. He is generally seen by Buddhists as the Supreme Buddhahood of our age....
, Mahavira

Mahavira

Mahavira is the name most commonly used to refer to the Indian sage Vardhamana who established what are today considered to be the central tenets of Jainism....
and other Tirthankar

Tirthankar

In Jainism, a Tirthankar is a human being who achieves Enlightenment through asceticism and who then becomes a role-model teacher for those seeking spiritual guidance....
as, Buddhas and bodhisattva

Bodhisattva

In the Buddhist context, a bodhisattva means either "enlightened existence " or "enlightenment-being" or, given the variant Sanskrit spelling satva rather than sattva, "heroic-minded one for enlightenment "....
s are also venerated with this title. The feminine of Bhagavat is Bhagawati and is an epithet of Durga

Durga

In Hinduism, the goddess Durga or Maa Durga "one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress". Durga is a form of Devi, the supremely radiant goddess, depicted as having ten arms, riding a lion or a tiger, carrying weapons , maintaining a meditative smile, and practicing mudras, or symbolic hand gestures....
and other goddesses.

The title is also used as a respectful form of address for a number of contemporary spiritual teachers in India

India

India, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and outlying territories by total area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the most populous liberal democracy in the world....
.

Definitions

The Srimad Bhagavatam (1.2.11) clearly states the meaning of Bhagavan to mean the supreme most being:

The Learned Know the Absolute Truth call this nondual substance Brahman

Brahman

In the Vishnu Purana

Vishnu Purana

The Vishnu Purana is a religious Hindu text and one of eighteen Puranas. It is considered one of the most important Puranas and has been given the name Puranaratna ....
(6.5.79) the personality named Parashara Rishi

Parashara

is a Rigveda Maharsi and author of many ancient Indian texts. Parasara was the grandson of Vasishtha, the son of Shakti-muni, and the father of Vyasa....
defines six bhagas as follows:

Jiva Gosvami explains the verse in his Gopala Champu

Jiva Goswami

Jiva Goswami is one of the most prolific and important philosopher and saint from the Gaudiya Vaishnava school of Vedanta Tradition, producing a great number of philosophical works on the theology and practice of Bhakti yoga, Vaishnava Vedanta and associated disciplines....
(Purva 15.73) and Bhagavata Sandarbha

Jiva Goswami

"The substantives of the word bhagavat are unlimited knowledge (jñana), energies (sakti), strength (bala), opulence (aisvarya), heroism (virya), splendor (tejas), without (vina) objectionable (heyair) qualities ."

Early epigraphical evidence

Bhagavat

The Bhagavat religion of early Hinduism

Hinduism

'Hinduism' is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as , a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal dharma", by its practitioners....
is documented epigraphically from around 100 BCE, such as in the inscriptions of the Heliodorus pillar

Heliodorus pillar

The Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 110 BCE in central India in Vidisha near modern Besnagar, by Heliodorus , a Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to the court of the Sunga king Bhagabhadra....
, in which Heliodorus, an Indo-Greek ambassador from Taxila

Taxila

Taxila is an important archaeological site in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It dates back to the Ancient Indian period and contains the ruins of the Gandhara city of Takshashila an important Vedanta/Hinduism and Buddhist centre of learning from the 6th century BCE...
to the court of a Sunga king, describes himself as a Bhagavata ("Heliodorena bhagavatena"):

"Devadevasa Va [sude]vasa Garudadhvajo ayam

karito i[a] Heliodorena bhaga-

vatena Diyasa putrena Takhasilakena

Yonadatena agatena maharajasa

Amtalikitasa upa[m]ta samkasam-rano

Kasiput[r]asa [Bh]agabhadrasa tratarasa

vasena [chatu]dasena rajena vadhamanasa"

"This Garuda

Garuda

The Garuda is a large mythical bird or bird-like creature that appears in both Hinduism and Buddhism mythology.Garuda is the Hindu name for the constellation Aquila and the Brahminy kite is considered to be the contemporary representation of Garuda...
-standard of Vasudeva (Vishnu

Vishnu

Vishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of panchadeva, and his supreme status is declared in the Hindu sacred texts like Yajurveda, the Rigveda and the Bhagavad Gita....
), the God of Gods

was erected here by the Bhagavata

Bhagavata

Bhagavata, with the literal meaning of that which comes from Bhagavan or the Lord, signifies in the context of Hinduism. In this context bhakti has the primary meaning of 'adoration', while Bhagavat means 'the Adorable One', and Bhagavata is a worshiper of the Adorable One....
Heliodoros,

the son of Dion, a man of Taxila

Taxila

sent by the Great Greek (Yona

Yona

"Yona" is a Pali word used in ancient India to designate Greek language speakers. Its equivalent in Sanskrit and Tamil language is the word "Yavana"....
) King

Antialcidas

Antialcidas Nikephoros "the Victorious" was a Western Indo-Greek king of the Eucratid Dynasty, who reigned from his capital at Taxila. Bopearachchi has suggested that he ruled from ca 115 to 95 BCE in the western parts of the Indo-Greek realms, whereas RC Senior places him around 130 to 120 BCE and also in eastern Punjab region ....
, as ambassador to

King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior

son of the princess from Benares, in the fourteenth year of his reign."

)

In Buddhism

The word "Bhagava" has also been used to describe the Buddha

Gautama Buddha

Anussati

Anussati means "recollection," "contemplation," "remembrance," "meditation" and "mindfulness." In Buddhism, anussati refers to either:* specific Buddhist meditation or devotional practices, such as recollecting the sublime qualities of the Buddha, which lead to Samatha and Piti; or,...
or recollections as one of the terms that describes the "Tathagatha".

In the Buddha anusati, Bhagavan is defined the following way:

Iti pi so Bhagavan

Thus is God (Buddha),

1) Arham - deserving worship.

2) Sammasambuddho - all knowing.

3) Vijja carana sampanno - at whose feet knowledge is completed.

4) Sugato - well gone (to Nibbana)

5) Lokvidu - knower of the world

6) Anuttaro - the highest

7) Purisa damma sarathi - charioteer of heroes.

8) Satta deva manusanam - counselar of gods and men

9) Buddho - knowing one.

10) Bhagavan - God.

In the Itivuttaka, Buddha clearly states he is the supreme object of verified faith and confidence:

§ 90.

"Among whatever beings there may be — footless, two-footed, four-footed, many footed; with form or formless; percipient, non-percipient, neither percipient nor non-:percipient — the Tathagata, worthy & rightly self-awakened, is considered supreme.

with confidence in the supreme, supreme is the result.

Itivuttaka 100 goes even further, describing the Buddha as the supreme father and creator of the world:

You are my children, my sons, born from my mouth, born of the Dhamma, created by

the "Dhamma, heirs to the Dhamma, not heirs in material things.

Furthermore, AN 3.70 Muluposatha Sutta, the recollection of the Buddha is akin to observing the Brahma uposotha, i.e. living with the Supreme Brahman.

As he is recollecting the Tathagata, his mind is cleansed, and joy arises; the

defilements of his mind are abandoned. He is thus called a disciple of the noble ones

undertaking the Brahma-Uposatha. He lives with Brahma [= the Buddha].

Similarly, in the Mahaparinibbana sutta the Buddha recollection constitute "The mirror of the Dhamma" and thus constitutes the first step in "right view" of the "Noble Eightfold Path." Verified confidence and faith in the Buddha as "Bhagavan" constitutes the "Four Factors of Stream Entry" (AN 10.92 Vera Sutta,Animosity), with the stream being the Noble Eightfold Path (SN 55.5).

(Sakamunisa bhagavato), is recorded in the kharoshthi dedication of a vase placed in a Buddhist stupa

Stupa

A stupa is a mound-like structure containing Buddhist relics, once thought to be places of Buddhist worship, typically the remains of a Buddha or saint....
by the Greek meridarch

Meridarch

A meridarch was the civil governor of a province in the Hellenistic world , and could be translated as "Divisional Commissioner". Only two mentions of Meridrarchs are known from ancient sources, one from Palestine, and the other from the Indo-Greek kingdom in India....
(civil governor of a province) named Theodorus

Theodorus (meridarch)

Theodorus was a "meridarch" in the Swat province of the Indo-Greek kingdom in the northern Indian sub-continent, probably sometime between 100 BCE and the end of Greek rule in Gandhara in 55 BCE....
(Tarn, p391):

"Theudorena meridarkhena pratithavida ime sarira sakamunisa bhagavato bahu-jana-stitiye":

"The meridarch Theodorus has enshrined relics of Lord Shakyamuni, for the welfare of the mass of the people"

Bhagavan

Definitions

Early epigraphical evidence

Bhagavat

In Buddhism

See also