Bhakti Yoga
Vivekananda described Bhakti Yoga as the path of divine love, where the devotee cultivates an intense, personal relationship with God that transcends all ritual and dogma. He taught that true devotion is not born of fear or desire for reward, but springs from the soul's innate longing to reunite with its source, culminating in Para Bhakti — supreme love that sees the Divine in all beings. Drawing on the Narada Bhakti Sutras and the lives of great mystics, he showed that Bhakti is both the easiest and the most natural of the four yogas.
Key Quotes on Bhakti Yoga
“The idea of a Personal God has obtained in almost every religion, except a very few”
— Volume 2, Bhakti or Devotion
“The body is the form, and the mind or the Antahkarana is the name, and sound-symbols are universally associated with Nâma (name) in all beings having the power of speech”
— Volume 3, The Mantra: Om: Word and Wisdom
“CHAPTER VIII WORSHIP OF SUBSTITUTES AND IMAGES The next points to be considered are the worship of Pratikas or of things more or less satisfactory as substitutes for God, and the worship of Pratimâs or images”
— Volume 3, Worship of Substitutes and Images
Works on Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti or Devotion
Bhakti or Devotion
5,795 words
23 min read
The Mantra: Om: Word and Wisdom
Bhakti-Yoga
923 words
4 min read
Worship of Substitutes and Images
Bhakti-Yoga
887 words
4 min read
The Chosen Ideal
Bhakti-Yoga
914 words
4 min read
The Method and the Means
Bhakti-Yoga
1,765 words
7 min read
The Preparatory Renunciation
Para-Bhakti or Supreme Devotion
1,076 words
4 min read
The Bhakta's Renunciation Results from Love
Para-Bhakti or Supreme Devotion
1,358 words
5 min read
The Naturalness of Bhakti-Yoga and its Central Secret
Para-Bhakti or Supreme Devotion
733 words
3 min read
The Forms of Love — Manifestation
Para-Bhakti or Supreme Devotion
658 words
3 min read
Universal Love and How it Leads to Self Surrender
Para-Bhakti or Supreme Devotion
1,479 words
6 min read
The Higher Knowledge and the Higher Love are One to the True Lover
Para-Bhakti or Supreme Devotion
513 words
2 min read
The Triangle of Love
Para-Bhakti or Supreme Devotion
1,481 words
6 min read
Showing 12 of 34 works on this topic