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The crux of Hindu spirituality is the attainment of salvation or reaching the Supreme. The spiritual texts prescribe two means to attain this: The Gnana Marga (the path of Knowledge) or Bhakti Marga (the path of devotion to God). The latter can also be called as Bhakti Yoga. It is the spiritual practice of nurturing steadfast devotion to God.

There are four forms of Yoga namely Gnana Yoga, Karma Yoga, Raja Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. Though the goal of all these is just one, the attainment of Salvation, the path of Bhakti is the easiest. There are mainly nine different branches of the practice of Bhakti Yoga. They are:

• Hearing about the glory of Lord: Chanting of the Lord’s name, singing in praise of him, listening to stories about the Lord.
• Meditating on the Lord: That is to remember the Lord.
• Providing physical service: Service to mankind can be included in this. This is equal to serving the Lotus feet of the Lord.
• Worshipping the Lord: This is by means of external rituals and practices.
• Offering Prayers to Lord: By means of hymns.
• Preaching about the glory of the Lord.
• Forming an internal communion with the Lord.
• Glorifying the Lord, by discussion of his attributes.
• Total surrender to the Lord. Attributing all activities to His grace.

Bhakti Yoga differs from other types of Yoga, by virtue of the fact that it can be cultivated as a part of life and does not require any special efforts. It comes to a person effortlessly and is best suited to today’s scenario. The practice of Bhakti Yoga also involves many community discussions and societies known as ‘Satsang”. This involves getting together of many people who are of the same wavelength and sharing of knowledge amongst them.