Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti Yoga is the path of devotion — the channelling of the full force of human emotion toward the divine. Where Jnana Yoga works through the intellect and Karma Yoga works through action, Bhakti Yoga works through the heart. It is considered by many traditional teachers to be the most accessible of the yoga paths because every human being already knows how to love — Bhakti Yoga simply redirects that love toward what is permanent rather than what is transient.

The Narada Bhakti Sutras

The classical text of Bhakti Yoga is the Narada Bhakti Sutras, a collection of 84 aphorisms attributed to the sage Narada. Narada defines Bhakti as “the highest love for God” and describes it as a thing unto itself — not a means to liberation but liberation itself expressed as love. This is a radical claim: that love, when it becomes sufficiently pure and total, is not different from realisation.

The Bhagavata Purana is the other central text of the Bhakti tradition, containing the Bhakti Rasamrita Sindhu by Rupa Goswami, which systematises the nine forms of devotional practice.

The Nine Forms of Bhakti

The Bhagavata Purana describes nine forms of Bhakti practice (Navavidha Bhakti):

1. Shravana — Hearing stories of the divine. Listening to scriptures, talks, and the names of God.
2. Kirtana — Singing the praises of God. This includes call-and-response chanting (kirtan) and devotional music.
3. Smarana — Constant remembrance of God. Keeping the divine in mind throughout all activities.
4. Pada-sevana — Service at the feet of God, expressed as service to humanity and to one’s teacher.
5. Archana — Ritual worship, including puja and offerings of flowers, incense, and light.
6. Vandana — Prayer and prostration.
7. Dasya — Cultivating the attitude of a servant of God.
8. Sakhya — Friendship with God — the intimate relationship exemplified by Arjuna and Krishna.
9. Atma-nivedana — Total surrender of the self to God.

Kirtan as a Living Practice

Of all Bhakti practices, kirtan — the group chanting of divine names — has perhaps the most direct and immediate effect on the practitioner’s state. Chanting in a group creates a resonance that calms the nervous system, opens the chest, and generates genuine joy. Traditional kirtan uses the call-and-response form: a leader sings a phrase and the group echoes it. The repetition builds over time and can produce states of deep absorption.

At Medhya Laya, kirtan is part of the daily schedule during teacher training programs. Students who arrive sceptical often find themselves moved in ways they did not anticipate. The chanting of Sanskrit names and mantras, regardless of whether the practitioner understands the meaning, consistently produces a measurable shift in mental state.

Bhakti and Other Traditions

Bhakti Yoga has significant parallels with devotional practices in other traditions. Christian mysticism, Sufi Islam, Jewish Kabbalah, and Buddhist devotional practices all share the understanding that love directed toward the transcendent purifies and ultimately transforms the one who loves. These parallels are not coincidences — they reflect a common human capacity that all contemplative traditions have found and worked with.

Bhakti in Daily Life

A dedicated Bhakti practitioner finds ways to maintain a current of devotion throughout the day. This might mean chanting a mantra silently while working, keeping a simple altar at home and offering a flower each morning, reading a chapter from a devotional text each evening, or practising the specific discipline of seeing the divine in every person one encounters. The last — seeing the divine everywhere — is considered the most advanced form of Bhakti and the point at which it merges with Jnana.