Bhakti- Division, Partition, Separation, Devotion
bhaktyudrekād viraktasya yādṛśī jāyate matiḥ |
sā śaktiḥ śāṅkarī nityam bhavayet tāṃ tataḥ śivaḥ || 121 ||
Bhakti is generally translated as “devotion to God.”
The full definition of bhakti weaves a wonderful melody, singing of the relation of the part to the whole, the river to the ocean, the play and interplay of separation and union.
Just roll with me on this, it’s worth it.
Bhakti:
- distribution, partition, separation
- a division, portion, share
- a streak, line, variegated decoration
- a row, series, succession, order
- being a part of
- belonging to
- that which belongs to or is contained in anything else, an attribute
- attachment, devotion, fondness for, devotion to,
- trust, homage, worship, piety, faith or love or devotion (as a religious principle or means of salvation)
To get all poetic, we could say, Bhakti is the song the river sings as it flows toward union with the ocean.
bhakti
| (H2) | bhaktí [p= 743,1] [L=147660]f. |
| [p= | 743,1] [L=147661]a division , portion , share |
| [p= | 743,2] [p= 743,1] [L=147662]a division of a |
| [p= | 743,2] [L=147663]division by streaks or lines |
| [p= | 743,2] [L=147664]a streak , line , variegated decoration |
| [p= | 743,2] [L=147665]a row , series , succession , order ( |
| [p= | 743,2] [L=147666]( |
| [p= | 743,2] [L=147667]that which belongs to or is contained in anything else , an attribute |
| [p= | 743,2] [L=147668]predisposition (of body to any disease) |
| [p= | 743,2] [L=147669]attachment , devotion , fondness for , devotion to (with |
| [p= | 743,2] [L=147670]( |
| [p= | 743,2] [L=147671]often |
| (H2C) | bhaktyā [p= 743,2] [L=147672]ind. |
You can read the Monier-Williams dictionary entry for Bhakti here as a scanned page.
Cologne Digital Sanskrit Lexicon: Search Results
1 | bhakti | f. distribution , partition , separation RV. Ta1n2d2Br. &c. (cf. %{kSetra-} , %{bhaGgI-bh-}) ; a division , portion , share AitBr. ; a division of a Sa1man (also called %{vidhi} , of which 7 or 5 are enumerated) La1t2y. [743,2] Sam2k. ; division by streaks or lines Ragh. ; a streak , line , variegated decoration Hariv. Ka1v. ; a row , series , succession , order (%{-tyA} and %{-ti-tas} ind. in succession) RPra1t. ; (ifc.) the being a part of (%{ajbhakteH} , `" on the part of the vowels "') , belonging to Siddh. &c. ; that which belongs to or is contained in anything else , an attribute Nir. Pra1t. ; predisposition (of body to any disease) Car. ; attachment , devotion , fondness for , devotion to (with loc. , gen. or ifc.) , trust , homage , worship , piety , faith or love or devotion (as a religious principle or means of salvation , together with %{karman} , `" works "' , and %{jJAna} , `" spiritual knowledge "' ; cf. IW. 326 RTL. 97) S3vetUp. Bhag. Ka1v. Pur. &c. ; (ifc.) assumption of the form of Megh. 61 ; often w.r. for %{bhaGgi} or %{bhukti} ; (%{-tyA}) ind. not in the regular sense , figuratively S3am2k. |

Spoken Sanskrit Dictionary
Bhakti, written in Devanagari:
भक्ति
You can learn to recognize Devanagari one letter at a time.
भ = bha.
vibhakti
| (H2) | ví-bhakti [L=198197]f. |
| [L=198198] | part , portion , share of inheritance |
| [L=198199] | (in gram.) inflection of nouns , declension , an affix of declension , case ( |
| [L=198200] | a |
| [L=198201] | a |