What is Bhakti?

Bhakti means 'devotional service.'

Bhakti is derived from the Sanskrit word bhaj, which means - loving service. Yoga in Sanskrit means - connection. Bhakti yoga means to connect to the supreme by means of loving pure devotional service.

Devotional Service (Bhakti Yoga) - Devotional service means trying to please the Lord. It is meant to give Krishna happiness, not to give happiness to ourselves. Devotional service is the soul’s eternal constitutional propensity, the living entity’s natural characteristic. The soul has no other constitutional duty than to offer service to the Lord. Activities performed for the pleasure of Lord Krishna, with devotion, and ultimately not mixed with any desire for personal pleasure.

There’s much more to loving God than just saying, “I love God.” We attain pure love for Krishna through a gradual process that takes us through progressively higher realms of Bhakti. The steps are described here.

In the 12th chapter of Bhagavad-gita, Lord Krishna says that even offering a little water, a fruit, or a flower with love to him constitutes devotional service. So does prayer; specifically, chanting the Hare Krishna mantra is devotional service, and will clean personal desire from the heart and allow you to focus on just rendering loving service to Krishna:

Some practical advise

The best way to begin devotional service is to try to offer everything you do, or some portion of everything you do, to Krishna. For example, if you cook, offer the food to Lord Krishna before eating. If you work, then take some of the results of your work and offer it at the temple for the seva of Lord Krishna. If you have some skills, offer to help at a temple and use your skills for the benefit of the Deity, the temple, and the devotees.

In this age, the two most effective processes of devotional service recommended are hearing and chanting. Chant the Maha-mantra “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama Hare Hare” and hear about Lord Krishna through his authorized representative, the spiritual master, and you will always be happy.