Bhakti-yoga

Bhakti-yoga

भक्तियोग, bhaktiyoga

Spiritual practice of devotional service to God (Absolute, Paramatma)  in order to awaken love for Him in the heart and open oneself for His mercy.

In Nath Tradition, bhakti-yoga is divided into two levels: saguna-bhakti and nirguna-bhakti (which, in turn, are divided into separate stages). Such division corresponds to the two categories of Absolute, mentioned in Vedas: Absolut as the transcendental Brahman, or Nirguna Brahman, and Absolut as Saguna, or Purusha. Saguna-bhakti reflects to a greater extent the views of dvaita, nirguna-bhakti – of advaita. Both of these types of bhakti-yoga are necessary and interrelated, they feed and strengthen each other.

Ideally, bhakti, if it is fully realized as a state, gradually spreads over the entire life of a yogi. He begins to be able to see the divine in everything, not conceptually, this reveals his purity of consciousness associated with bhakti.