bhakti | भक्ति
Bhakti (Devanagari: भक्ति ISO15919: bhakti ) means devotion. The very meaning of the word bhakti is "to serve". The word is derived from the root word, bhaj sevayam .
Bhakti is mainly of three kinds:
- sakama bhakti - This is devotion inspired with the desire to attain all material pleasures. It is called rajasi or tamasic bhakti.
- kaivalya kama bhakti or satvic bhakti – desire for union, and
- nirguna bhakti – this bhakti is pure and acceptable. This is also called siddha bhakti .
The means to attain nirguna bhakti is to perform raganuga bhakti .
Bhakti is classified in three more ways:
- aropa siddha bhakti - devotion with some material desire in mind,
- sanga siddha bhakti - When karma or jnana is performed and bhakti is considered to be a part of it .
- svarupa siddha bhakti - selfless devotion accompanied only by the desire to serve Shri Radha Krishna.
Jiva needs to do preliminary devotion called sadhana bhakti in order to attain perfect devotion called Siddha bhakti .
Bhakti of Bhagavan-shri Krishna can be done with one of the four bhava .
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