BY Laxmi group 1

BHAKTI Is extreme love for the supreme lord with genuine understanding and knowledge of his greatness There are nine kinds of bhakti When the nine are performed together the ultimate bhakti is achieved known as pativrata bhakti. There is a tenth bhakti known as Prem Laskshna bhakti shown by Tulsidas and Gopis towards Maharaj 2

1. Shravan Bhakti Achieved by listening to Bhagvan’s katha, varta, kirtan, gun, aishvarya and charitra. Achieved by Pariksheet Raja and Prahaladji’s mother. 3

2.Smaran Bhakti Is re-collecting and telling past events or experiences of the Lord. We should remember all that the Lord did, what He experienced, who He met and where He went Good examples are Prahalad who continuously chanted Lord Vishnu's name and Dhruv did Smaran of Lord's name for six months. 4

3.Seva Bhakti Involves physical service to Lord Swaminarayan. Done by helping out in the temple e.g. make Prasad for bhagwan, sweep the floors of the temple, clean up the kitchen of the temple etc. Performed by kachra bhakt 5

4. Kirtan Bhakti is the singing of bhagvan’s murti varnan, mahima or lila charitra with visualisation (yaad) of maharaj’s murti. kirtan bhakti is one of maharaj’s favourite bhakti and in this kalyug this bhakti is the easiest of all. During a kirtan, one can experience happiness and tears of joy. While doing kirtan, a bhakta should not worry about public opinion or be hypocritical. Kirtan purifies sinners, murderers and evil-doers. Muktanand swami, Premananad swami, Mirabai and Narsi Mehta are examples of great kirtankars. 6

5. Poojan/Archan Bhakti Achieved by performing pooja of Maharaj with 16 upchar (things). done by applying chandan on his forehead and also offering flowers in your pooja. You can also shower him with abil, gulal and chandan etc. Usually this type of bhakti is doing Mahapooja. This type of Bhakti was shown by Bharatji when he used to be immersed in the pooja of Maharaj apart from the fact he got destructed because of mruglu. 7

6. Atma -nivedan Bhakti is self-surrender, that is, a state where one involves in all devotions and never gets disturbed with anything. The devotee offers everything to God, including his body, mind and soul. Grief and sorrow, pleasure and pain, the devotee treats as gifts sent by God and does not attach himself to them. In Bhaktinidhi it is defined where one surrenders everything, including his/her soul at the feet of Lord. 8

7. Sakhaa Bhakti Sakhaa Bhakti entail making god our best friend and our relation towards him just like a relation towards our best friends. In friendship, they ask each other for advice, keep no secrets, predict their next move, not hurt each other but correct each other if on the wrong move. Same kind of friendship can be developed with God telling them everything. At this age you can keep him as your imaginary friend. This type of bhakti is shown by Surakhachar, Bhrahmanand Swami and Sudama. 9

8. Daas Bhakti Daas means Servant. Daas bhakti is when one follows the commandments of God, clean temples, cook meals for God and then offering to God, give water to drink, wash his hands and make him sleep on a comfortable bed. Daas bhakti involves doing all kinds of seva like bhog, raag, shringar etc and survive with the prasad. In this bhakti, a devotee dedicates all his actions to God. A daas is a person who has experiences a total loss of freedom in the hands of Bhagvan. (meaning all their freedom is given to God in his seva) It also means that a person also becomes a friend of God. There is a friendship relation between both of them. When performing Daas Bhakti, one should have faith in God, do whatever he asks without hesitation and believe in Him. Question: Daas nu lakshan kone sidhh kari batavyu hatu? 10

9. Namaskar or Vandnam bhakti Achieved by paying obeisance or salutation. Namaskar is done so as to derive both spiritual as well as worldly benefits. Worldly benefits are those that change us for the better. The spiritual benefits include: Reduction of ego – when we do Namaskar, we are bowing down and taking the other person to be superior to us and hence reducing ego and increasing humility. Increasing spiritual emotion of surrender & gratitude – thoughts such as “I do not know anything, grant me a place at your Holy Feet” come to mind, only then, we can be able to increase the spiritual emotion of surrender & gratitude. Gaining sattvic component – by performing acts that increase our sattvikta. From the posture of Namaskar, highest amount of sattvic component is gained. Subtle frequencies gained by doing Namaskar to Deities and Saints, e.g. frequencies of bliss. Finally, doing Namaskar do deities or saints, we receive their blessings in a subtle form, hence quickening the spiritual progress 11