For those who are wandering in the material universe, there is no more auspicious means of

deliverance than what is aimed at in the direct devotional service of Lord Krsna. S.B. 2.2.33

Some five hundred years ago in Prayag (modern-day Allahabad), Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, who
is Krishna Himself appearing as a devotee of Krishna, instructed Rupa Goswami for ten days in the
science of devotional service. Rupa Goswami later compiled those instructions into his classic
work, Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu. Two verses at the beginning of this book present the qualities and
characteristics of pure devotional service:
anyabhilashita-shunyam
jnana-karmady-anavritam
anukulyena krishnanu-
shilanam bhaktir uttama
“When first-class devotional service develops, one must be devoid of all material desires, knowledge
obtained by monistic philosophy, and fruitive action. The devotee must constantly serve Krishna
favorably, as Krishna desires.” (1.1.11)

sarvopadhi-vinirmuktam
tat-paratvena nirmalam
hrishikena hrishikesha-
sevanam bhaktir uchyate
“Bhakti, or devotional service, means engaging all our senses in the service of the Lord, the Supreme
Personality of Godhead, the master of all the senses. When the spirit soul renders service unto the
Supreme, there are two side effects. One is freed from all material designations, and one’s senses
are purified simply by being employed in the service of the Lord.” (1.1.2)

In her prayers, Queen Kunti speaks of attaining the Lord through pure devotion: “Your Lordship can
be easily approached but only by those who are materially exhausted. One who is on the path of
material progress, trying to improve himself with respectable parentage, great opulence, high
education, and bodily beauty, cannot approach You with sincere feeling.” (Srimad-
Bhagavatam 1.8.26) Persons bereft of all material possessions can easily approach Krishna. They
feel that Krishna is their only possession, their only source of riches, their only treasure and fortune:
“Krishna, except for You, I have nothing to claim; I have no possessions. So don’t neglect me,
because You are my only possession.”

(Advantages)In his Bhakti-rasamrita-sindhu Rupa Goswami enumerates six characteristics of pure

devotional service:
(1) Pure devotional service brings immediate relief from all kinds of material distress.
(2) Pure devotional service is the beginning of all auspiciousness.
(3) Pure devotional service automatically puts one in transcendental pleasure.
(4) Pure devotional service is rarely achieved.
(5) Those in pure devotional service deride even the conception of liberation.
(6) Pure devotional service is the only means to attract Krishna.

GOD IS LOVE

God is love. Love is God. God is nectar. God is prem. Bhakti is supreme love towards God.
Bhakti is the greatest power on earth. It gushes from one's pure heart. It redeems and
saves. It purifies the heart. Devotion is the seed. Faith is the root. Service of the saints is
the shower. Communion with the Lord is the fruit.

Bhakti grows gradually just as you grow a flower or a tree in a garden. Cultivate bhakti in the
garden of your heart gradually. Faith is necessary for attaining God-realisation. Faith can work
wonders. Faith can move mountains. Faith can take you to the inner chambers of the Lord
where reason dare not enter.
Japa (repetition of God's name), kirtan (chanting), prayer, service of saints, study of books on
bhakti all are aids to devotion.

INTENSE DEVOTION

Bhakti is the slender silken thread of pure love that binds the heart of the devotee to the
lotus-feet of the Lord. Bhakti is the intense devotion and supreme attachment we feel for God.
It is a spontaneous outpouring of love towards God. It is pure and unselfish.

Bhakti is sacred love. It is a higher emotion, with sublime sentiment, that unites the devotee
with the Lord. It has to be experienced. Human love is hollow; it is mere animal attraction; it
is passion; it is carnal love; it is selfish love. It is ever-changing. It is all show and hypocrisy.

Bhakti is the basis of all religious life. Bhakti destroys vasanas (psychological tendencies) and
egoism. A life without bhakti, faith, love and devotion is a dreary waste. Bhakti softens the
heart and removes jealousy, hatred, lust, anger, egoism, pride and arrogance. Bhakti infuses
joy, divine ecstasy, bliss, peace and knowledge.

All cares, worries, anxieties, fears, mental torment and tribulations vanish entirely. Then the
devotee is freed from the wheel of birth and death. He attains the immortal abode of
everlasting peace, bliss and knowledge.

Bhakti transmutes man into divinity. It intoxicates the devotee with divine love and gives him
eternal satisfaction. It makes him perfect, weans his mind from sensual objects and makes him
rejoice in God.

Emotional excitement is not devotion to God. Devotion is pure love, Fanaticism is not
devotion, but frenzy, mere excitement. Bhakti is not mere emotionalism, but is the tuning of
the will as well as the intellect towards the divine. It is supreme love of God, and later
blossoms into knowledge of the self. It leads to immortality. Bhakti is the direct approach to
the ideal through the heart. Love is natural to everybody.

Bhakti can be practised under all conditions and by all alike. Study of the Vedas (the revealed
scriptures of the Hindus, containing the Upanishads), learning, austere penance and brilliant
intellect are not needed for the attainment of bhakti or devotion. What is wanted is constant
and loving remembrance of God, coupled with faith. That is the reason why the path of
devotion is available for everyone.

Bhakti is easier than any other way of approach to God. In jnana (self-knowledge) and yoga,
there is the risk of a fall. In the path of devotion, there is no risk as the devotee receives full
support and help from God.

BHAKTI AND JNANA

Those who tread the path of jnana and yoga are liable to become proud of their powers and
wisdom. Bhaktas are humble, humility being the foundation of bhakti yoga.

Jnana yoga is the yoga of wisdom. It is the path of analysis and rejection. It is the path of
endless negation, a very difficult path.

Raja yoga also is difficult. It is like stilling the waves of the ocean. You will have to still all the
thought-waves. Karma yoga is also difficult. It is like climbing to the highest peak and
tremendous will-power is needed. Bhakti yoga alone is easy. The Lord is stretching his hands to
lift you up from the mire of births and deaths, but you will have to grasp his hands firmly. One
thing is absolutely essential here; you should not have any other thought than that of God and
God alone.

A devotee contracts, while a vedantin expands. The former contracts and enters the Lord
through self-surrender, while the latter expands and becomes one with Brahman through
assertion and identification.

The fruit of bhakti is jnana. Jnana intensifies bhakti. Even sages like Sankara, Madhusudana
and Sukadev took to bhakti after realisation to enjoy the sweetness of loving relationship with
God.

Knowledge or wisdom will dawn by itself when you practise bhakti yoga. Bhakti is the pleasant,
smooth, direct road to God. Bhakti is sweet in the beginning, in the middle and in the end. It
gives the highest, everlasting bliss.

http://sivanandaonline.org/public_html/?cmd=displaysection&section_id=1095

Importance of Bhakti Yoga

by Swami Sivananda

Purushah sa parah Partha bhaktyaa labhyastvananyayaa;

Yasyantahsthani bhutani yena sarvamidam tatam.

"He, the Highest Spirit, O Partha, may be reached by unswerving devotion to Him alone, in
Whom all beings abide, by Whom all this is pervaded. " (Gita: VIII-22. )

Bhaktya tvananyaya sakya ahamevamvidhorjuna;

Jnatum drashtum cha tattvena praveshtum cha Parantapa.

"But by devotion to Me alone I may thus be perceived, Arjuna, and known and seen in essence,
and entered, O Parantapa. " (Gita: XI-54. )

Mayyavesya mano ye mam nityayukta upasate;

Sraddhaya parayopetaste me yuktatama matah.

"Those who, fixing their mind on Me, worship Me, ever steadfast and endowed with supreme
faith, are the best in Yoga in My opinion. " (Gita: XII-2. )

Yoginamapi sarvesham madgatenantaratmana;

Sraddhavan bhajate yo mam sa me yuktatamo matah.

"And among all the Yogins, he who, full of faith, with the inner self abiding in Me, worships Me,
he is considered by Me to be the most completely harmonised. " (Gita: VI-47. )

The Five States of the Human Heart To attain that perfect love is a gradual process of evolution.
Swami Sri Yukteswar, guru of Paramahansa Yogananda, describes how the human heart with its
feelings and emotions progresses through five different states. [See The Holy Science (pp. 77-86)
by Swami Sri Yukteswar, published by Self-Realization Fellowship.] (I) The dark state of the heart
Most human beings are in the first state, in which feeling is scattered and diffused outwardly in
desires for material things. This is called the dark state of the heart, in which one's consciousness
is directed solely to the outer creation, in complete obliviousness of the Creator. (II) The propelled
state of the human heart After many incarnations, there comes a time when we grow dissatisfied
with mere things, when the experiences of this world leave us empty. We yearn for a higher truth,
a deeper understanding of life. When we begin to search sincerely for that experience, we have
 entered what Sri Yukteswarji calls the propelled state of the human heart. That is, we are
propelled by our inner dissatisfaction to seek something more than the superficial experiences
and pursuits of the senses. In this state, we eventually find a spiritual teacher or teaching that can
show us the way to the Infinite. (III) The steady state of the human heart As our upward evolution
continues, we enter the third stage: the steady state of the human heart. In the steady state one's
propelled restlessness is gradually transformed, through self-control, into the calm will to
persevere on the path. (IV) The devoted state of the human heart By remaining steadfast in our
spiritual practices, we come to the fourth state, in which God becomes a reality to us through
direct perception. This is called the devoted state of the human heart. (V) The pure state of the
human heart As we deepen that devotional contact with God, the dross, the lower inclinations that
prevent us from being receptive to the presence of God, falls away. We then reach the highest
level, what Sri Yukteswarji refers to as the clean or pure state of the human heart. One feels not
just devotion for God, but true union with Him. As two human beings who are deeply in love can
intuit what each other is thinking and feeling, in divine communion between the soul and God
there is a continuous, infinitely more intimate interchange of love and caring.

The foremost desire and demand should be for God Himself. Having Him, we will have all other
things. ["Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you"—Matthew 6:33.]

Nityananda said, “A person, a real yogi with true devotion can compel, through
the power of their devotion, even God to stay in the room. God wouldn’t leave
the company of a person with true devotion unless he had permission. That true
devotion is so powerful and so precious.”

Devotion, that quality of connectedness, flow, and sweetness, transcends all of our
desires. True devotion transcends all our desires. It transcends all of our agendas,
and all of our attachments to any outcome. Devotion is the the field in which the
purest, most perfect wisdom that is ever resident in the deepest part of you emerges
and begins to express itself in the field of your life. Devotion is the medium in
which true transmission takes place between teacher and student. Devotion is what
makes spiritual work delicious. While devotion isn’t much treasured here on earth,
it is the most treasured thing in heaven. Devotion is the fabric from which heaven
is created.
Power of Devotion: From Devotee to Divinity

The Shiva Purana

by J. L. Shastri | 1970

Chapter 23 - Description of the Power of Devotion

15. Devotion to me is considered as the bestower of worldly pleasures and salvation. It is

achievable only by my grace. It is nine-fold.
16. There is no difference between devotion and perfect knowledge. A person who is
engrossed in devotion enjoys perpetual happiness. Perfect knowledge never descends in a
vicious person averse to devotion.

17. Attracted by devotion and as a result of its influence, O Goddess, I go even to the houses
of the base-born and outcastes. There is no doubt about it.

36. O beloved, thus my devotion with various adjuncts and ancillaries, is contributory to
salvation since it is productive of perfect Knowledge and Detachment. It is the most excellent
path.

37. A true devotion is as endearing to me as to you. It is productive of the fruits of all rites for
ever. He who has it in his mind is a great favourite of mine.

38. There is no other path as easy and pleasing as devotion in the three worlds, O goddess
of devas, in all the four Yugas generally and in the Kaliyuga particularly.

39. Knowledge (Jñāna) and Detachment (Vairāgya) have grown old and have lost their lustre
in the Kali Age. They have become decayed and worn-out as the people who can grasp them
are rare.

40. In the Kali age as in all the four Yugas there is immediate and visible benefit in devotion.
I am subservient to a devotee in view of the power of devotion.

41. I always assist a man endowed with devotion and remove his obstacles. A person devoid
of devotion is worthy of being punished. There is no doubt about it.

42. I am the protector of my devotees. For the protection of a devotee of mine I burnt the God
of death, O goddess, in the fire emerging from my eyes.

43. For the sake of a devotee of mine I became very furious with the sun formerly. I over-
powered him with my trident.

46. Why shall I say more, O Goddess? I am always subservient to a devotee, always under
the control of a person who practises devotion. There is no doubt in this.