Different Stages of Bhakthi

In our tradition offering obeisance and performing puja to idol is part of our religious upbringing. Arjuna starts of the chapter asking Krishna as to whether worshipping god with form is superior to worshipping a formless one. The Lord says,” One is the means and another is the goal and there is no comparison”. From then HE patiently explains (Krishna is teacher exemplary for Arjuna is really a dumb student and Krishna explains the same thing a countless times till even he grasps it!!!) and that follows the backbone of this chapter.

Here Bhakthi yoga is seen as a staircase for personal evolution. The objective of a human life is MOKSHA; freedom from wants of any kind. I am free here and now and I am complete and I need nothing to validate my existence is one simple definition of moksha. For example, if I lose my eyes tomorrow, I must have the strength of mind to say,” So what? I will learn to live without sight from now on”. We are talking to this kind of attitude where sorrow can never intrude in my mind. Only a mind soaked in Adwaitha can reach this state of mind.

The 5 different stages of Bhakthi:

1) Karma yoga – level one: I lead a prayerful life and invoke God, the first thing on waking up, even while bathing and eating, working, and at the time of retiring to bed. At this stage, I have a lot of materialistic needs: son to get admitted in IIT, daughter to get married, a sick mother etc and I invoke God for his grace to alleviate me from my problems.

Most of us pray and remember God either for alleviating pain or for seeking prosperity (better car, better job, better pay etc). The primary attitude of a seeker at this stage is: Eeshwara Arpanam; dedicating all the actions to the Lord and Prasada Budhi; I accept any situation that is happening in my life as a GIFT from the lord (particularly the negative ones). The logic is simple. God can never be partial and whenever I suffer in life, it is on account of my prarabdha karma.

2) Karma yoga – level two: Here at this stage, I don’t appeal or beg the Lord to change my worldly situation. Instead I pray to the Lord for mental strength in facing up to my situation.


I will not ask God to change my karma and learn to be dispassionate to either success or failure. I increasingly have the maturity to realize that each experience in life has a lesson for me and my primary goal in life is to STRENGTHEN/TOUGHEN and PURIFY the mind. The mind needs to be nourished and be fit enough to learn the spiritual truths.

We see people take vows: wrapping a coin and praying for relief or fasting or swearing to go to temples if certain things happen. They are all immature behaviour and fall in a lower category. Hinduism is NOT a problem solving or wish fulfilling religion as much a guide for liberation (moksha).

If God were to appear before you and ask,” What do you want?”

Be smart and say,” Jnanam and Vairagyam” and nothing else should come out of the mouth!!!!

3) Saguna Upasana (Meditating on God with form) – Level one

Now, we will ask ourselves this question: what is more real? Body or Mind
The latter obviously for body has an expiry date while the journey of the mind is as old as Shristhi (creation). So, isn’t it important to STRENTHEN and PURIFY the mind?

The first stage of being on the “path” is to reduce our dependence on worldly things and start the “internal journey” of exploring the mind. A human life is at best a hundred years and so it makes sense to LEAN more on God with whom our relationship is endless.

Why can’t the world give lasting pleasure? Because, it is:
- Unpredictable (can you predict how your darling wife today will behave tomorrow!!!)
- Uncontrollable (World is nothing but external events and can anyone control the outcomes?!)
- Unsustainable (Bill Gates despite all his billions will have to die one day!!!)

Our scriptures advices us that for “emotional insurance” only devotion to God is the sole recourse. So, spend quality time and energy in worshipping god in solitude and may you grow stronger in the mind.

4) Nirguna Upasana (meditating on formless God) – Level two

As our dependence on the world decreases and as faith in God increase, there is one immediate benefit – Our bhayam (FEAR) comes down.

The purpose of meditation is to be in PEACE with oneself – find CALM, CHEER, and CONFIDENCE (3 Cs) in oneself.

The “Ishta devata” chosen in the earlier stage is now meditated upon as “Viswa Ishata devata”. Meaning, if you were meditating on Lord Rama, now expand it to Rama in which the entire creation rests.

Learn to see divinity in plants, animals, human beings including our tormentors. The payoff is that you begin to reduce your likes and dislikes (raga – dwesha) as everything emanates from the same Lord and nothing can be bad or superfluous in HIS creation. Quite simply, the mind EXPANDS and one becomes more tolerance of oneself and others.

5) Jnana Yoga

Only such a mind is fit to study Vedanta under a guru. It can easily assimilate,” I am Brahman and in me the whole universe rises, rests and resolves” for essential nature of God and ME is similar.


From a superficial viewpoint, a wave is small, fleeting, short lived while the ocean is infinitely large and almost permanent. But the reality is that the nature of both, the wave and ocean is WATER and from that viewpoint there is no difference between then. Wave is only a name and form (nama and rupa) and does not have separate existence of its own. For isn’t it WATER in another form!!!

For Jnana Yoga to sprout in one’s mind, one must be engaged in Sravanam (consistent and systematic study of scriptures under the guidance of a competent Acharya), Manam (Mental reflection) and Nidhi Dyasanam (assimilate the teaching).

In my next post, I will endeavour to describe the Bhakthi phalam (fruit of bhakti) as the mind struggles in its evolution to find peace and security.