Bhakti yoga has been defined as yoga of devotion in common parlance. It is not the yoga of devotion, it is the yoga of emotion. There are a few rishis, sages, who have written treatises on bhakti yoga, mainly Sage Narada and Sage Shandilya.
Sage Narada states that bhakti is leaving behind the material glasses and wearing the spiritual glasses. He describes bhakti as awareness of the transcendental quality under whose influence we all live. The fish live in water, and if you remove the water they will die. In the same manner, Narada says that people survive in the water of the transcendental nature. People survive because of hope: ‘I hope I get food tomorrow’, ‘I hope I get my payment soon since I have to pay my mortgage’, ‘I hope I can accumulate enough funds, as I wish to go on a vacation with my family’.
It is hope that makes human beings survive, not their ability. If there is no hope, you will never use your ability. If there is some hope to do something or achieve something, then only will you go to do it.

When that hope is connected with the divine, it is bhakti. When connected with material life, it is desire: ‘I wish to acquire money. I wish to have a nice home. I wish to have a nice car’. Hope is turning into desire: ‘This is my need, this is what I want. One day I hope to have it’. Something that I had hoped for has now become a desire, and that desire is now the inspiration to achieve what you desire to achieve.
This hope has to be removed from the material dimension and connected with the transcendental dimension. When hope connects with the transcendental, the divine, then it becomes bhakti.

 

The Christian saints have also reflected the same view: “Let Thy will be done,” not “Let my will be done.” In the state of material desires, it is: “Let my will be done. This is what I want and you have to help me achieve this.”
In the state of bhakti, where hope is connected with the divine, it is: “Let Thy will be done.” I am making every effort, yet I don’t have any personal longing, desire, connection or bond with anything that is material or that takes me away from my inner luminosity.
Bhakti begins with hope, not with mantra and not with an understanding of God. Whenever you identify with hope in life, that is the beginning of bhakti. When that hope is for the material, it leads to creation of desires and when it is for the spiritual, it leads to elimination of desires. As desires are eliminated, the mind becomes more tranquil and peaceful, and less distracted and fragmented. When the mind becomes quiet and still, then it begins to come together and focus on that which has given you the feeling of completeness, peace, joy and harmony. And that which has given you all this is known as God.

Yoga Chakra 7 – Raja Yoga Complements Bhakti Yoga , Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati

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Beginning of bhakti: hope

Bhakti yoga has been defined as yoga of devotion in common parlance. It is not the yoga of devotion, it is the yoga of emotion. There are a few rishis, sages, who have written treatises on bhakti yoga, mainly Sage Narada and Sage Shandilya.
Sage Narada states that bhakti is leaving behind the material glasses and wearing the spiritual glasses. He describes bhakti as awareness of the transcendental quality under whose influence we all live. The fish live in water, and if you remove the water they will die. In the same manner, Narada says that people survive in the water of the transcendental nature. People survive because of hope: ‘I hope I get food tomorrow’, ‘I hope I get my payment soon since I have to pay my mortgage’, ‘I hope I can accumulate enough funds, as I wish to go on a vacation with my family’.
It is hope that makes human beings survive, not their ability. If there is no hope, you will never use your ability. If there is some hope to do something or achieve something, then only will you go to do it.

When that hope is connected with the divine, it is bhakti. When connected with material life, it is desire: ‘I wish to acquire money. I wish to have a nice home. I wish to have a nice car’. Hope is turning into desire: ‘This is my need, this is what I want. One day I hope to have it’. Something that I had hoped for has now become a desire, and that desire is now the inspiration to achieve what you desire to achieve.
This hope has to be removed from the material dimension and connected with the transcendental dimension. When hope connects with the transcendental, the divine, then it becomes bhakti.

 

The Christian saints have also reflected the same view: “Let Thy will be done,” not “Let my will be done.” In the state of material desires, it is: “Let my will be done. This is what I want and you have to help me achieve this.”
In the state of bhakti, where hope is connected with the divine, it is: “Let Thy will be done.” I am making every effort, yet I don’t have any personal longing, desire, connection or bond with anything that is material or that takes me away from my inner luminosity.
Bhakti begins with hope, not with mantra and not with an understanding of God. Whenever you identify with hope in life, that is the beginning of bhakti. When that hope is for the material, it leads to creation of desires and when it is for the spiritual, it leads to elimination of desires. As desires are eliminated, the mind becomes more tranquil and peaceful, and less distracted and fragmented. When the mind becomes quiet and still, then it begins to come together and focus on that which has given you the feeling of completeness, peace, joy and harmony. And that which has given you all this is known as God.

Yoga Chakra 7 - Raja Yoga Complements Bhakti Yoga , Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati