NavBhakti (Devotion)

What is Bhakti? How many types of bhakti are there? What is Navadha Bhakti?

Bhakti or devotion is defined as pure love for God with intense inner feelings to become
beloved of God. Bhakti (devotion) means mind of bhakt (devotte) is completely disengaged
from all worldly enjoyments, and is only engaged in Love for God. Bhakti is expression of our
loving and devotional feelings to God. Devotees practice bhakti with many different emotions.
Mainly nine types of bhakti is described in Vishnu Purana i.e. Shravana, Kirtan, Smarana,
Padasevana, Archana, Vandana, Dasya, Sakhya, Atma Nivedana which is known as Navadha
Bhakti.

adha Bhakti (Nine Types of Bhakti)

1. Shravana Bhakti
Shravana means listening the glories, stories, plays (lila) of incarnations of God with pure
love. Devotees listen these stories so deeply that their mind is merged in loving thoughts of
their beloved God. Devotees listen stories of God with deep faith and without finding criticism
in them. The actual devotee raises his question about God politely after his Guru or a wise
person and listen answers sincerely with heart.
2. Kirtan Bhakti
Kirtan means singing names and beautiful stories of God. Kirtan destroys devotees all sins
and purifies mind and heart of devotee. Kirtan gives divine bliss to devotees and it also
purifies the whole environment. Kirtan is the quickest way to get oneness with God. Kirtan can
be done with or without musical instruments. But kirtan with musical instruments playing
melodious music produces most quick and intense feel of love and oneness with God.
3. Smarana Bhakti
Smarana means remembering God all the time without interruption. The devotees
continuously keep remembering names and stories of God all the time with love. Cowgirls
remembered Lord Krishna all the time with love from their deepest heart. Knowing this, Lord
Krishna is pleased with them and all cowgirls became beloved of Lord Krishna. Shabari (a
women of lower tribe) remembered Lord Ram all the time and Lord Ram gave her eternal love
in his own feet. There is a rule that whatever we remember all the time in our whole life, we
remember the same at the time of death due to our practice. And our next birth depends upon
what we remember at the time of death. If we remember God at the time of death, then cycle
of birth and death stops and we get liberated and become one with God. So remembrance or
Smarana of God is very essential.

4. Padasevaa Bhakti
Meaning of Padasevana is serving the lotus feet of the God. An excellent example of
Padasevana is Bharat, brother and greatest devotee of Lord Ram. When Lord Ram was in
exile (vanvas), Bharat ji borrowed his wooden sandal and placed them on the royal throne
(Rajsinhasana). He did not accepted the kingdom of Ayodhya but he worshipped these
sandals as Lord Ram himself and served for him. As God is not present directly to our eyes
we can worship an idol, picture, mental image etc. and also can serve for whole creation
because it is form of God.
5. Archana Bhakti
Archana is offer beautiful and fragrant flowers in worship of God. God is pleased with
whatever we offer him full of love. Lord Krishna said in Gita, patra (leaves), pushpa (flowers),
jala (water), toyam (fruits) whatever my devotee offers me with deep love and devotion, I
become please with him and I personally come to receive it. No matter how expansive is the
offering, I see only heart and love to me. Rukmini offered only one leaf of Tulsi (basil) against
all the wealth of satyabhama to measure the weight of Lord Krishna. The weighing scale
doesn't moved even any fraction by whole wealth of Satyabhama (a wife of Lord Krishna). But
as soon as Rukmini (the another wife of Lord Krishna) offered a single leaf of Tulsi (Basil) with
deep love and devotion in the feet of Lord Krishna, it took the whole weight of Lord Krishna
and lifted him up. Shabari offered wild plums to Lord Rama, and Lord Ram pleased with her
devotion and love.
6. Vandana Bhakti
Vandana means to pray and to prostrate before God. Lord Krishna adviced devotees to
prostrate all creatures because all is God. Prostration to all destroyed ego in our body and
takes to highest conscious plane. Vandana makes us polite, humble and egoless. As soon as
we become egoless, we feel oneness with whole creation, which is the aim of bhakti. Many
devotees use mental prostraion to whole creation. Great devotee Namdev is very famous for
Vandana Bhakti. Once fire started burning Namdev's hut. Namdev ji was not there. Neighbors
tried to put-off the fire. Suddernly, Namdev ji came there. he saw his hut is burning by fire. He
became very happy. He stopped all people and instruct to not to put off the fire. Then he
bowed down to fire and said, "O God, you are so merciful that you personally came to my
house." God pleased with him and appeared there and said "O Namdev, you recognized me
even in this form". Once, a dog picked Bati (rounded roasted dough bread) from Namdev's
house and ran away. Namdev ji ran after the dog with butter in hand, saying "O dear God!
Please stop. Please put the butter on Bati otherwise your mouth will be injured." God laughed
with love, appeared and said "O Namdev! you recognized me in the form of Dog also. You are
my dear one."
7. Dasya Bhakti
In Dasya Bhakti the devotee considers himself a servant of God. Devotee adopts attitude of
servant, i.e. a servant doesn't have any wishes, the only aim of servant is to fulfill the wishes
of his master. Similarly, devotee give up all wishes for God and wish only to perform the task
given by God. Meera Bai, Sant Kabir, Surdas ji are excellent examples of Dasya bhakti.
8. Dasya Bhakti
In Sakhya bhakti a devotee makes God his friend. The aim of making friend is to be in close
company of God all the time, love him and feel oneness with him. Cowboys of Village Nanda
made Lord Krishna their friend. Lord Krishna praised Sakhya bhakti. He said, "A devotee, who
make me friend, i always walk with him equally in his sorrows and happiness. I help my friend
devotee on every step of his devotional practice."

9. Atmanivedana Bhakti
Atmanivedana means complete self-surrender to God. Every particle of creation is nothing but
God. Everything is at wish of God. With this knowledge devotee offers himself to God. He
says "Nothing belongs to me, I don't have any wish of anything, everything is you and yours."
The devotee always feels that he is the part of God and God the Whole. By complete
surrender of self to God, Gad takes all responsibility of his devotee. By Atmanivedana devotee
becomes egoless and desire less, experiences oneness with God and merged into God at the
end.

In the Srimad-Bhagavata and the Vishnu Purana it is told that the nine forms of
Bhakti are
Sravana (hearing of God's Lilas and stories), Kirtana (singing of His glories),
Smarana (remembrance of His name and presence), Padasevana (service of His
feet), Archana (worship of God), Vandana (prostration to Lord), Dasya (cultivating
the Bhava of a servant with God), Sakhya (cultivation of the friend-Bhava) and
Atmanivedana (complete surrender of the self).
A devotee can practice any method of Bhakti which suits him best. Through that he
will attain Divine illumination.
1)Sravana ..is hearing of Lord's Lilas. Sravana includes hearing of God's virtues,
glories, sports and stories connected with His divine Name and Form. The devotee
gets absorbed in the hearing of Divine stories and his mind merges in the thought of
divinity; it cannot think of undivine things. The mind loses, as it were, its charm for
the world. The devotee remembers God only even in dream.
The devotee should sit before a learned teacher who is a great saint and hear Divine
stories. He should hear them with a sincere heart devoid of the sense of criticism or
fault-finding. The devotee should try his best to live in the ideals preached in the
scriptures.
One cannot attain Sravana-Bhakti without the company of saints or wise men. Mere
reading for oneself is not of much use. Doubts will crop up. They cannot be solved by
oneself easily. An experienced man is necessary to instruct the devotee in the right
path.
King Parikshit attained Liberation through Sravana. He heard the glories of God from
Suka Maharishi. His heart was purified. He attained the Abode of Lord Vishnu in
Vaikuntha. He became liberated and enjoyed the Supreme Bliss.
2)Kirtana.. is singing of Lord's glories. The devotee is thrilled with Divine Emotion.
He loses himself in the love of God. He gets horripilation in the body due to extreme
love for God. He weeps in the middle when thinking of the glory of God. His voice
becomes choked, and he flies into a state of Divine Bhava. The devotee is ever
engaged in Japa of the Lord's Name and in describing His glories to one and all.
Wherever he goes he begins to sing and praise God. He requests all to join his
Kirtana. He sings and dances in ecstasy. He makes others also dance.
3)Smarana..is remembrance of the Lord at all times. This is unbroken memory of the
Name and Form of the Lord. The mind does not think of any object of the world, but
is ever engrossed in thinking of the glorious Lord alone. The mind meditates on what
is heard about the glories of God and His virtues, Names, etc., and forgets even the
body and contents itself in the remembrance of God, just as Dhruva or Prahlada did.
Even Japa is only remembrance of God and comes under this category of Bhakti.
Remembrance also includes hearing of stories pertaining to God at all times, talking

of God, teaching to others what pertains to God, meditation on the attributes of God,
etc. Remembrance has no particular time. God is to be remembered at all times
without break, so long as one has got his consciousness intact.
4)Padasevana is serving the Lord's Feet. Actually this can be done only by Lakshmi
or Parvati. No mortal being has got the fortune to practice this method of Bhakti, for
the Lord is not visible to the physical eyes. But it is possible to serve the image of
God in idols and better still, taking the whole humanity as God. This is Padasevana.
Padasevana is service of the sick. Padasevana is service of the whole humanity at
large. The whole universe is only Virat-Swarupa. Service of the world is service of the
Lord.
5)Archana.. is worship of the Lord. Worship can be done either through an image or
a picture or even a mental form. The image should be one appealing to the mind of
the worshipper.
Worship can be done either with external materials or merely through an internal
Bhava or strong feeling. The latter one is an advanced form of worship which only
men of purified intellect can do. The purpose of worship is to please the Lord, to
purify the heart through surrender of the ego and love of God.
6)Vandana.. is prayer and prostration. Humble prostration touching the earth with
the eight limbs of the body (Sashtanga-Namaskara), with faith and reverence, before
a form of God, or prostration to all beings knowing them to be the forms of the One
God, and getting absorbed in the Divine Love of the Lord is termed prostration to
God or Vandana.
The ego or Ahamkara is effaced out completely through devout prayer and
prostration to God. Divine grace descends upon the devotee and man becomes God.
7)Dasya Bhakti ..is the love of God through servant-sentiment. To serve God and
carry out His wishes, realizing His virtues, nature, mystery and glory, considering
oneself as a slave of God, the Supreme Master, is Dasya Bhakti.
Serving and worshipping the Murtis in temples, sweeping the temple premises,
meditating on God and mentally serving Him like a slave, serving the saints and the
sages, serving the devotees of God, serving poor and sick people who are forms of
God, is also included in Dasya-Bhakti.
To follow the words of the scriptures, to act according to the injunctions of the Vedas,
considering them to be direct words of God, is Dasya Bhakti. Association with and
service of love-intoxicated devotees and service of those who have knowledge of God
is Dasya Bhakti. The purpose behind Dasya Bhakti is to be ever with God in order to
offer service to Him and win His Divine Grace and attain thereby immortality.
8)Sakhya-Bhava.. is the cultivation of the friend-sentiment with God. The inmates of
the family of Nandagopa cultivated this Bhakti. Arjuna cultivated this kind of Bhakti
towards Lord Krishna.
To be always with the Lord, to treat Him as one's own dear relative or a friend
belonging to one's own family, to be in His company at all times, to love Him as one's
own self, is Sakhya-Bhava of Bhakti-Marga. How do friends, real friends, love in this
world ? What an amount of love they possess between one another ? Such a love is
developed towards God instead of towards man; physical love turned into spiritual
love. There is a transformation of the mundane into the Eternal.
9)Atma-Nivedana.. is self-surrender. The devotee offers everything to God, including
his body, mind and soul. He keeps nothing for himself. He loses even his own self. He
has no personal and independent existence. He has given up his self for God. He has
become part and parcel of God. God takes care of him and God treats him as
Himself. Grief and sorrow, pleasure and pain, the devotee treats as gifts sent by God
and does not attach himself to them. He considers himself as a puppet of God and an
instrument in the hands of God.
This self-surrender is Absolute Love for God exclusively. There is nothing but God-

consciousness in the devotee. Even against his own wishes, the devotee shall
become one with God and lose his individuality. This is the law of being. The highest
truth is Absoluteness and the soul rises above through different states of
consciousness until it attains Absolute Perfection when it becomes identical with God.
This is the culmination of all aspiration and love.
The nine modes of Bhakti are the ways in which a devotee attains the Supreme Ideal
of life. A devotee can take up any of these paths and reach the highest state. The
path of Bhakti is the easiest of all and is not very much against the nature of human
inclinations. It slowly and gradually takes the individual to the Supreme without
frustrating his human instincts. It is not direct assertion of God, but a progressive.