Bhakti is a Tamil or Sanskrit term from Hinduism that means intense devotion expressed by action (service). A person who practices bhakti is called Bhakta. The concept of devotion is more or less the same in all religions. In Hinduism, as Professor Klostermeier comments in The Survey of Hinduism, the path of devotion is a path of salvation in its own right, whereby none of the scriptural codes such as the caste system are followed and scriptures were disregarded. In the 12th to 17th centuries in India there was a surge of this movement where the proponents merely sang and formed congregations of people many from the lower classes. The movement is by nature rebellious because of its egalitarian stance, since few of its most charismatic proponents were women. There are some subtleties of the Bhakti movement. These are : the One Reality versus many ‘Gods’ of worship; deity worship through ‘icons’ and ‘images’; the freedom to choose one’s own ‘favourite deity’, at the same time not being exclusive; and the interactive ramifications of God’s grace, fate and free will. Although some element of Bhakti was present even in the Vedic times, it is over the last six or seven centuries that Bhakti has taken the modern shape. The Bhakti movement started in Tamil Nadu and spread slowly northwards, becoming eventually a pervasive feature of Hinduism. The Alvars and Nayanars initiated the concept of Bhakti as a means of attaining salvation. However with time, the rebellious nature was subdued as the influences of the orthodoxy were incorporated which made it comparatively more complicated. In ISKCON, women can conduct pujas and lectures, however the scripures which refer to the subdued position of women is studied as part of the bhakti path.