Bhakti Yoga is about surrendering the self to God through love and remembrance. It is based on the belief that God accepts whatever is offered with love, whether it is a meal, a piece of clothing, a chant (mantra), a thought, or the soul (jiva). More commonly, it involves love towards a personal form of God. Once a seeker falls in love, which has an exceptional potential to transform, all types of attachments and desires vanish; ego and all associated impurities evaporate on their own. All philosophical concepts become secondary for the devotees who learn to surrender everything, including their path, to God.

Devotees who are submerged in the love of God never expect anything higher than love in return because for them, nothing higher exists. God takes care of the seekers who expect his care. Furthermore, once we develop or are awarded bhakti (love of God) by him, we are all set in our path towards God with such a momentum that we become unstoppable; we become destined for realization and knowledge. The greatest advantage from the devotees’ point of view is that travel itself on this route to God is blissful. The quality and number of saints it has given India shows that it has had the highest success rate in the last few hundred years.

Excerpted from Devotional Hinduism by M.S. Goel (2008), p. 10.