SEGMENT 4: BHAKTI YOGA- The discipline of love and devotion to the divine

Devotional or Bhakti yogins believe a supreme being transcends their lives. They feel
moved to completely merge with the Supreme Being through the acts of devotion. This
devotion is all embracing love for the divine, which is seen as being present in every
person or thing.


Video of Hindi temples

Bhakti emerged as an independent path approximately in the middle of the 1st millennium
BC. Bhakti was primarily connected with the theistic religions centering on the worship
of Krishna a divine incarnation of Vishnu the creator.


Interview Georg Feurerstein

The path of Bhakti yoga is constant remembrance of the divine. Whether it is Krishna,
Rama, Jaweh or any other name of god or goddess, this remembrance can take many
forms. The forms can be rituals dedicated to the divine such as flower offering, chants of
praise, dancing, to deeply felt attunement in meditating and ecstatic absorption into the
divine. The essence lies in complete unconditional self surrender to the highest being.

Followers of Bhakti yoga know with every fiber of their being that it is greater than
Karma, Jnana, and even greater than yoga, because these others have in their view the
attainment of an object, while Bhakti is a means to its own end.

All genuine yoga is concerned with the highest ideal, enlightenment. In addition to the
supreme ideal, yoga also recognizes a variety of secondary goals, such as physical well
being, moral integrity and social service. According to yogic tradition, enlightenment,
the oneness with god is the ultimate goal of human existence.

By penetrating into different states of consciousness and becoming one with god, the
yogi is said to be able to know his former births, he is said to gain control over nature
and control his body to such an extent that he can become invisible.

Interview with self realization fellowship devotee

The only physical law that cannot be broken is the speed of light. The yogi can travel to
different places on the ether of the air, appearing in more than one place at one time.
They have the ability to cause things to materialize out of air. When one is in god-
consciousness one sees God in everything and every person. God is at the very existence
of all matter. When one is in God-consciousness they are merged with the universe.


Interview with Hara Krishna devotee

Recreation Stories of:
Story of Lahiri Mahasi-Babaji-Sri Yukteswar and Pramhasayogananda
Lahiri Masi working for the Indian railroad was transferred to Banaras
One day he was walking up into the hills and came across an apparently young
man meditating. The young man said at last you have come back to me.
Babaji, the avatar in the form of this young man touches Lahiri Mahasi and his
memory of his many past lives is restored. Babaji relaxes the ancient laws of
Kriya yoga.

Story of New Zealand fellow who met Babaji and Babajis materialization
New Zealand man is walking in Banaras, he runs into Babaji and is stunned.
He tells Babaji of what he has read about him and asks him show him that he
really has these powers so he will become his follower. Babaji says "That sounds
OK", and asks the man to think of something, anything. The man thinks of a
cross that he had lost several years earlier. From Babajis back, he brings forth
the cross the man had lost, the man becomes his follower.

Video of Self realization fellowship;
Interviews with Pramahasayogananda's disciples.

Kriya yoga interviews

 The Hare-Krishnas believe enlightenment can be reached though chanting the name of
the divine lord Hare Krishna.

Video and interview with Hare Krishna devotees and practices.

Video of and interviews touching on:
 Need of a guru, actions of the aspirant and the teacher
The Mantra, Prostration, Universal love

  • Segment 1: Introduction & Patanjalis 8 fold doctrine
  • Segment 2: Hatha Yoga- Cultivating the body
  • Segment 3: Jnana Yoga- The path of wisdom
  • Segment 4: Bhakti Yoga- Cultivating love for the divine
                  Karma Yoga- The path of work
  • Segment 5: Tantric Yoga- The path of ritual and the creative spirit
                 Summation
                 Budget: Yoga Documentary
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