Bhakti yoga
Bhakti is a Sanskrit term that signifies an attitude of love/intense devotion and supreme attachment to God and it also emphasises religious devotion and sentiment above ritual and orthopraxy
Bhakti yoga is also known as an art of worship.
It explains how to achieve the self-realization through Bhakti and what steps are to be taken.
A person needs to have the following four qualities to practice Bhakti yoga.
Viveka
Viragya
Shat Sampatti (6 other qualities)
Mumukshutva
1. Viveka
The ability to discriminate between the real and unreal. In other words, viveka is the ability to understand the difference
between worldly things and the things which are eternal.
2. Viragya
The detachment from worldly pleasures. It has three stages
- Kaaya Viragya – Physical detachment
- Citta Viragya – Mental withdrawal
- Upadhi viragya – Detachment from the root of suffering.
3. Shat Sampatti (6 other qualities)
- Shama – Good control over mind
- Dama – Control over sensual organs such as eyes, mouth, tongue etc.
- Uparati – Interest in spiritual knowledge and no taste in sensual pleasures
- Titiksha – Power of endurance – has capability to treat pairs of opposites such as heat and cold; pleasure and pain; happy and sadness etc.
- Shraddha – Intense faith in the words of Guru, scriptures and above all in one’s own self.
- Samadhana – Putting mind always on Soul.
4. Mumukshutva
Mumukshutva is the intense desire for self-realization. Without a strong and constant desire to achieve self-realization, one cannot progress in the spiritual path. This strong desire for self-realization or Mumukshutva drives the person for intense practice which ever path he or she chooses.