According to Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of the Art of Living Foundation, “When the river meets the ocean, it recognises that it is the ocean from the beginning to the end. In the same way, the moment a devotee surrenders to the Divine, the devotee becomes divine.” Just as all rivers lead to the ocean, all paths of yoga lead to self-realisation and communion with the Divine, or God: they lead to that expanded state of consciousness in which you can see and recognise the divinity within yourself and within all things.

In the West, many of us think of yoga as a set of physical poses (asanas), and some of us may include meditation, breathing (pranayama) and relaxation in our definition of yoga. However, the ancient scriptures describe many paths of yoga that do not include any of these four aspects.

Though the journey of yoga may begin on any single path, an approach that integrates the many paths is essential for full spiritual blossoming and fulfilment. If you follow only the physical aspect of yoga, you may find that the original love and enthusiasm embodied in your practice — the “juice” of your practice — quickly “dries up”. When you practise yoga asanas in conjunction with the other seven limbs of yoga (as practised in ashtanga yoga, according to The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali), a whole new aspect of yoga opens up to you. When an attitude of joy, love and bhakti (devotion) begins to permeate your practice and then your whole life, your heart has no choice but to open, and spiritual blossoming begins.

Bhakti yoga

Bhakti yoga advocates love and devotion as the path to moksha, or liberation. A bhakta (practitioner of bhakti yoga) might practise meditation by visualising, thinking and feeling that God is sitting or standing before him. The bhakta pours out his or her heart’s love and adoration and shares his or her deepest thoughts and concerns with God. Although God does not always fulfil the bhakta’s immediate desires, the bhakta continues to nurture this devotion and love in the belief that whatever God gives, he gives for the ultimate good of the bhakta.

Derived from the root word “Bhaj”, which means “to worship” or “to serve”, bhakti signifies “to be attached to God”. Bhakti is love for love’s sake: the devotee wants God, and God alone, without either selfish expectation or fear. According to spiritual master Sri Swami Sivananda in his book Easy Steps to Yoga, “Bhakti is the slender thread of love that binds the heart of a devotee with the lotus feet of the Lord.” Through intense devotion and supreme attachment to God, the attraction and attachment the bhakta has for the usual mundane objects of enjoyment are transferred to the dearest object: the Divine, or God.

In the highest form of bhakti — para-bhakti — the devotee sees the Lord, and the Lord alone, everywhere and feels his power manifest as the entire universe. Such a bhakta would automatically offer his food to God before eating, or pass through a garden of flowers and mentally offer all the flowers to the Divine.