Bhakti-yoga means

Expressions researched:
"bhakti-yoga means"

BG Chapters 13 - 18

Bhakti-yoga means that the Lord is there, the devotee is there and the activity of exchange of love between the Lord and the devotee is there.

BG 14.26, Purport:

Bhakti-yoga means that the Lord is there, the devotee is there and the activity of exchange of love between the Lord and the devotee is there.

SB Canto 4

Bhakti-yoga means acting according to the order of the supreme authority.

SB 4.24.78, Purport:

Mukti, or liberation, means becoming free from the results of fruitive activities. As stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (2.10.6): muktir hitvānyathā-rūpam. Mukti means giving up all other activities and being situated in one's constitutional position (svarupeṇa vyavasthitiḥ). In this conditional state, we are entangled by one fruitive activity after another. Karma-bandhana means "the bonds of fruitive activity." As long as one's mind is absorbed in fruitive activities, he has to manufacture plans for happiness. The bhakti-yoga process is different, for bhakti-yoga means acting according to the order of the supreme authority. When we act under the direction of supreme authority, we do not become entangled by fruitive results.

SB Canto 7

Bhakti-yoga means ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam: (CC Madhya 19.167) one should serve Kṛṣṇa very favorably.

SB 7.1.26, Translation and Purport:

Therefore by enmity or by devotional service, by fear, by affection or by lusty desire—by all of these or any one of them—if a conditioned soul somehow or other concentrates his mind upon the Lord, the result is the same, for the Lord, because of His blissful position, is never affected by enmity or friendship.

From this verse one should not conclude that because Kṛṣṇa is unaffected by favorable prayers or unfavorable blasphemy one should therefore blaspheme the Supreme Lord. This is not the regulative principle. Bhakti-yoga means ānukūlyena kṛṣṇānuśīlanam: (CC Madhya 19.167) one should serve Kṛṣṇa very favorably. This is the real injunction. Here it is said that although an enemy thinks of Kṛṣṇa unfavorably, the Lord is unaffected by such antidevotional service.

Bhakti-yoga means vairāgya-vidyā, the art that can help one develop a distaste for material enjoyment.

SB 7.6.9, Purport:

To return home, back to Godhead, one must be completely free from material attachment. Therefore, bhakti-yoga means vairāgya-vidyā, the art that can help one develop a distaste for material enjoyment.

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

Bhakti-yoga means devotional service.

Lecture on BG 2.58-59 -- New York, April 27, 1966:

Bhakti-yoga means devotional service.

Bhakti-yoga means Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

Devotee: We are absorbed in performing bhakti-yoga, devotional service. Now you stated in the lecture that the purport of bhakti-yoga is that our real nature is spirit soul, whereas in jñāna-yoga is of the mind, and karma-yoga is the activities of the body. Now in our service in bhakti-yoga, how... I don't exactly understand if we actually are the spirit soul because...

Prabhupāda: Just give me some practical example. What you are doing?

Devotee: Preparing prasādam.

Prabhupāda: So it is not bhakti-yoga? Why don't you understand? Your prasādam you are not cooking for yourself. You are cooking for Kṛṣṇa.

Devotee: Yeah, well, what I'm getting at is we're performing actions with our body.

Prabhupāda: But first of all try to understand this, this cooking... If you are cooking for Kṛṣṇa, that is bhakti-yoga, and if you are cooking for yourself, for your sense gratification, that is karma. The same process. Why don't you take the example of Arjuna? For himself, he was considering, "Whether I shall fight or not." But as soon as he understood Bhagavad-gītā, he decided, "Oh, Kṛṣṇa wants me to fight." That is bhakti-yoga. So you can perform bhakti-yoga by fighting, by cooking, by going to the office, everything, if that purpose is for Kṛṣṇa. That is bhakti-yoga. Is it clear?

Devotee: And karma-yoga then?

Prabhupāda: Karma means sense gratification and bhakti-yoga means Kṛṣṇa's satisfaction.

Devotee: Well, karma-yoga...

Prabhupāda: Karma-yoga means just to dovetail your karma with yoga principles to arrive to the bhakti-yoga.

Devotee: To eventually arrive.

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is karma. That is not bhakti-yoga. But the aim is to arrive at the bhakti-yoga. Is it clear? That's all. Just try to understand in this way. It is very good.

Devotee (2): Is it the same thing with haṭha-yoga?

Prabhupāda: No, haṭha-yoga is not bhakti-yoga.

Devotee (2): No, but...

Prabhupāda: Haṭha-yoga is a process for making the mind under control if it is properly performed. But generally it is in the name "haṭha-yoga." I have... Several times... In the Bhagavad-gītā it is stated, haṭha-yoga, how it is to be performed, that you have to perform in a sacred place, alone in a secluded place, sitting like this, seeing like this, eating like this. Who is following those regulations? Nobody is following. So they are, simply it is going on under the name of "yoga," but actually, nobody is following the principles. That is difficult. That is not possible in this age. Now suppose if you have to perform haṭha-yoga in a secluded place, in a sanctified place and alone. Who is fulfilling these three conditions? Ekākī yata-cittātmā.

Bhakti-yoga means, as I have repeatedly explained, that you have to forget your identification with the matter, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam.

Lecture on BG 4.9 -- Bombay, March 29, 1974:

So spiritual activities means devotional service. Spiritual activities mean devotional service, activities in relationship with the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga means, as I have repeatedly explained, that you have to forget your identification with the matter, sarvopādhi-vinirmuktam (CC Madhya 19.170). You have to forget your body as American, Indian, brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, śūdra, Hindu, Muslim. That you have to forget. Ahaṁ brahmāsmi, "I am spirit soul." That is real identification. And when the spirit soul is active, sometimes the Māyāvādī philosophers, they think, "Now I've realized that I am not this body, I am not matter, I am spirit soul, so now I have become Nārāyaṇa. I have become the Supreme." But no, that is also mistake. When you realize that "Supreme is the Supreme Brahman, Parabrahman, I am part and parcel of the Supreme, I am also Brahman, but I am not the Supreme Brahman, therefore my business is to serve Parabrahman." That is real spiritual life. That is the beginning of spiritual life.

Bhakti-yoga means, the process is the same, target is the same. One is trying to reach the supreme ultimate goal by philosophical way, one is trying to concentrate his mind on the supreme and the other, the bhaktas, they are simply engaging themselves to serve the Supreme Lord so He reveals.

Lecture on BG 6.13-15 -- Los Angeles, February 16, 1969:

Jñāna-yoga process means to search out the Absolute Truth or to understand the nature of the Absolute Truth by philosophical way. And this is called jñāna-yoga. And our is bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga means, the process is the same, target is the same. One is trying to reach the supreme ultimate goal by philosophical way, one is trying to concentrate his mind on the supreme and the other, the bhaktas, they are simply engaging themselves to serve the Supreme Lord so He reveals. One process is to understand by the ascending process. And another process is the descending process.

Bhakti-yoga means to understand God.

Lecture on BG 6.46-47 -- Los Angeles, February 21, 1969:

Devotee: Prabhupāda? Is it possible for one to engage himself in bhakti-yoga without rendering service to Kṛṣṇa? Let's say someone who...

Prabhupāda: Without Kṛṣṇa, where is bhakti?

Devotee: Well, someone is worshiping Lord Buddha or Lord Jesus...

Prabhupāda: That is not bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga is simply in connection with Kṛṣṇa. Bhakti-yoga cannot be applied to anyone, anything else. How Buddha philosophy can be dovetailed with bhakti-yoga? Bhakti-yoga means to understand God. Bhaktyā mām abhijānāti. You'll find in the Bhagavad-gītā, Eighteenth Chapter. By bhakti-yoga you can understand Lord, the Supreme Lord, God. But in Buddha philosophy there is no God? That you know? So where is bhakti-yoga?

Bhakti-yoga means bhaja jayukti bhaja-sevayā(?). Service. Service means three things: the servitor, the served, and service.

Lecture on BG 6.46-47 -- Los Angeles, February 21, 1969:

Devotee: In the case of Christians, some of them worship Jesus Christ.

Prabhupāda: That is bhakti-yoga. Because they accept God. Unless you accept God there is no question of bhakti-yoga. So Christian religion is also Vaiṣṇavism because they accept God. Maybe in the, some stage different from this. There are different stages of God realization also. The Christian religion says "God is great." Accept! That is very good. But just how great God is, that you can understand from Bhagavad-gītā and Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam. But there is acceptance that God is great. That is therefore that is beginning of bhakti. You can apply that bhakti. Even the Mohammedan religion. That is also bhakti-yoga. Any religion where God is the target, that is applied in bhakti. But when there is no God or impersonalism, there is no question of bhakti-yoga. Bhakti-yoga means bhaja jayukti bhaja-sevayā(?). Service. Service means three things: the servitor, the served, and service. One must be present who will accept service. And one must be present to render service. And in the via media, the process of service.

Hakti-yoga means service.

Lecture on BG 6.46-47 -- Los Angeles, February 21, 1969:

So bhakti-yoga means service. If there is nobody to accept the service, then where is the bhakti-yoga? So any philosophy or religious principle where there is no acceptance of God, the Supreme, there is no application of bhakti.