Bhakti

Bhakti in Hinduism is devotional worship directed towards, a deity or the supreme God.

The word is derived from the word Bhakta, which means united in Sanskrit and is anonymous to Vibhakta, which in Sanskrit means disunited or divided.

Thus Bhakti means all the actions of a person that shows one's status of being united with the God. A person does not attain the status of a Bhakta until one does not attain such Bahakti or devotion. Any other person who has not attained such a status is not a Bhakta but simply a striver in the path of Bhakti.

Following a path of Bhakti is thus simplest form of devotion but to attain the status of a Bhakta seems to be far difficult.

We find in Tulsidasa's Ramcharitmanas an episode in Aranya Kand which is related to Shabari. Lord Ram told Shabari about Navadha Bhakti.

According to this Navadha Bhakti there are nine forms of devotion:

1. The fellowship with the saints.
2. Fondness for stories related to the God
3. Humble service of one's preceptor
4. Singing prayers to the God, and praises with a guileless purpose.
5. Muttering name of the God with unwavering faith
6. Practice of self-control and virtue
7. Desisting from manifold activities and ever pursuing the course of conduct prescribed for saints. Such a Bhakta sees the world full of the God without distinction and even reckons the saints as even greater than the God.
8. Remaining content with whatever one gets and never think of detecting other's faults.
9. One should be guileless and straight in one's dealings with everybody, and should in one's heart cherish implicit faith in the God without either exultation or depression.

Lord Ram (the God) says, whoever possesses any one of these nine forms of devotion, be he man or woman or any other creature - sentient or insentient - is most dear to me.