Bhakti Yoga - First Basic Yoga

Each basic form of yoga serves as the way to attain enlightenment.  These are the five basic yogas:

Bhakti Yoga  -  stresses love and devotion
Karma Yoga - selfless work
Jnana Yoga -  knowledge and discernment
Raja Yoga - eight-limbed system of disciplines emphasizing meditation.
Hatha Yoga - purification of the physical to attain purification of the mind.

Bhakti yoga, or devotional yoga, is the path most suitable for people who wants to seek emotional fulfillment and well being.  The "bhakta" employs the practice of meditation where one visualizes, thinks and feels that he or she is always in the presence of the Lord.

The bhakta opens up his heart, gives his love and communicates his innermost views and worries with the Lord until awareness flows through the devotee and the Lord repeatedly. This continual flow of love and life force leads to the superconscious state of awareness which is commonly referred to as mood, or bhava.

Often in bhakti meditation, one is aware of two things: the relationship between the self and Lord and the separation of being - that of the Lord's and of his own. In certain occasions the devotee is no longer aware of the self and becomes aware only of the Lord. At times other times, the bhakta feels that spirit of the Lord fills and dwells in him.

In both situations - twoness and oneness - transformation occurs within the person.  Character markedly improves. The periods of higher consciousness regularly occurs.  With constant practice, the bhakta develops a permanent relationship with the Lord.

This permanent relationship does not imply constancy. It evolves further into one dimension of love to another. These relationships are constantly evolving and frequently bring joy to the bhakti yogi for the rest of his/her life.

Bhakti yoga also enables the yogi to experience the great samadhis or the condition of attaining higher states of awareness which other yogis strive for.