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RAMAKRISHNA ANANDA

On Bhakti Yoga

How does love for God lead to enlightenment?

Bhakti yoga (the yoga of love and devotion) is the practice of directing love to the Lord of your heart. Through it the devotee seeks to develop a relationship with Spirit and live in the continual awareness of God’s love. This love grows into spiritual experiences such as bhavas (moods of love) in which you are sublimely aware of the Lord, as well as samadhis (absorptions in Spirit). Bhakti yoga is often the easiest and finest way to live a happy, fulfilling life as a spiritual being in a spiritual world.

Bhakti Yoga

The Easiest and Best Way

Bhakti yoga is the practice of directing your love to the Lord of your heart, to your Creator, the One who gives and sustains life. Begin by loving God from your heart, not your head. If you don’t feel love because of past hurts, direct your feelings — even the negative ones — to God for healing. Just be open to God moving in your feelings. As you grow on the path, yearning develops. Yearning leads to one-pointedness, helping you focus and cultivate an awareness of bhakti (love). Bhakti can give you bhavas (moods of love) and samadhis (absorptions in Spirit).

Bhakti yoga is very often the easiest and finest way to become happy and fulfilled. This is one of the most precious things I can talk about. You can become a yogi — a person who lives in the harmony of body, mind and spirit — and live in a relationship with the Infinite.

  • The great yogi Sri Ramakrishna:  You can attain everything in yoga through bhakti.
  • Bhakti yoga involves focusing your love, thoughts and awareness on the Lord as you chant and meditate
  • Sri Ramakrishna described the stages through which bhakti (love and devotion) develop
  • Ultimately, you begin to live in a flow of love in which you and the Lord continuously relate to one another
  • Bhakti leads to bhavas (moods of love) in which you are wondrously aware of the Lord and your relationship
  • Bhakti also reveals the Infinite as you become absorbed in Spirit (samadhi)

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