Types Of Bhakti

Mon, 02/22/2010

Since Bhakti is the path of attaining supreme God through the practice of lifelong devotion, it can be done by various ways by the devotee or bhakta. There cannot be defined any fixed technique of doing this. Each way followed will result in a different type of Bhakti yoga. So there can be perhaps, as many ways or types of Bhakti yogas as there are people themselves. Some classifications have been mentioned in the ancient texts. These are:
 

Sakamya Bhakti

is devotion with the aim of achieving something from God, desire for materialistic or emotional gains. This form is perhaps the most visible almost everywhere. Ancient texts describe this as a beginner’s way of turning his attention towards God. In many cases it is seen that the devotee uses this as a first stage and slowly moves towards the next stage.
 

Nishkamya Bhakti:

This is the Bhakti with no desire or selfish interest involved for the bhakta’s devotion. There is gratitude to the divine for giving him human life and contentment for his family, friends and all that he has. This is the purest form of Bhakti yoga which every devotee should aim for.

One classification defines Bhakti as: Apara and Para-Bhakti;

Apara-Bhakti:

Is a path for the beginner so that he has some task ahead of him to focus his attention on. This type of devotion indulges in a lot of different rituals and ceremonies for performing his prayers. He sincerely believes that without these his prayers will not be accepted. The Bhakta here regards the Lord as a Supreme Person, who is present in that image and who can be propitiated through that form only. He is a sectarian.
 

Para-Bhakti:

Gradually, from Apara-Bhakti, the devotee goes to Para-bhakti, the highest form of Bhakti. He finally has the realization that human consciousness in order to be united with God consciousness is not dependent on ritualistic form of offering prayers. He sees the Lord and Lord alone everywhere and feels His Power manifest as the entire universe. The devotee recognizes the transcendental nature of God.

In the Narada bhakti sutras, two types of bhakti are defined – Mukhya-Bhakti – Supreme or Primary Love and Gauna-Bhakti – Secondary Love. Gauna-Bhakti is the lower Bhakti and Mukhya-Bhakti is the higher type of Bhakti.
 

Gauna-Bhakti: 

Means indirect or “secondary” devotion. The Gauna is secondary because it has got “guna” - “characteristics” or qualities,” to it.  In other words:  devotion which can be classified is called secondary devotion - “he is a wonderful devotee” or “He is not a wonderful devotee!” The gauna bhakti type of worship sometimes utilises God in order to fulfil certain longings. That is, in our adoration of God we have, more often than not, a subtle longing to obtain the blessings of God in the form of varieties of comforts that we would like to have in this world. It is often of a ritualistic type requiring external appurtenances of worship; collecting flowers, waving lights and offering a formal presentation of gifts, etc., to God, as we do in the temples. This is an externalised - gauna - ritualistic type, a secondary type of devotion where we feel the need for something other than our own self in the worship of God.
 

Mukhya-Bhakti:

Means “primary” devotion,   a love which knows no reason, which needs no justification, which is spontaneous, irrepressible, unreasoning. It’s just there, and therefore, it has no characteristic.  It’s a love which cannot be described. As Narada says, “The Nature of of divine love is indescribable.” That is the supreme love that one has in one’s own heart. At that stage, you cannot even say that the devotee loves God. For him, there is no “God,” For him the Love is. The ancient seers advised bhaktas to go from stage to stage, remembering that the enemy of devotion is egoism and desire. Where there is no kama or desire, and no ahamkara ego there alone will liberation be possible. The enemies of peace and devotion are lust, anger and greed.

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