The Essence of Bhakti Yoga

Bhakti yoga is a form of yoga that emphasizes devotion. This is the essence of bhakti yoga and the path of the heart and spiritual fire. Bhakti yoga can include any one of many different physical yoga practices or none at all. Bhakti yoga is often focused on a personal aspect of God such as the Divine Mother or a particular deity.

Effects of Bhakti Yoga
The effect of bhakti yoga can be explained through the yoga of sound known as “naad” or nada yoga. This includes both chanting and instrumental music. “Naad” is the Sanskrit word for “sound or tone.” The entire universe consists of sound or vibration. Naad can be interpreted as the flow of sound. Nada yoga is the use of sound to unite polarities on one or more levels.

Meaning of Yoga
“Yoga” means “to unite, connect or integrate.” Yoga is the union of polarities or differentiated aspects of life: mind and body; spirit and matter; masculine and feminine. Mantra Yoga unites the practitioner with the intended good whether that is healing, abundance, forgiveness, protection or any other need.

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Bhakti Yoga and Mantras

Singing a melody rather than speaking a prayer integrates the emotional body in the practice of creating sound. According to many religious historians, prayers were always sung in traditional practices and rituals. This includes the Latin Mass in Catholicism, Jewish services of all types, and Hindu and Buddhist festivals, as well as indigenous and tribal rituals. The essence of bhakti yoga is a continuation of this ancient practice of devotional mantras.

Reaching God through Mantras
In the Western tradition, St. Augustine is said to have claimed, “He who sings prays twice.” To engage the heart and the emotions in song may be twice as powerful as a spoken prayer! In addition, Jewish mystics believe that songs reach the realm of the angels and the throne of God. In the Eastern tradition, Hindu deities are believed to grant a “boon” or fulfill the requests of devotees who make mantras a central practice in their spiritual life.

Concentrating the Mind
Singing and chanting help to concentrate the mind, eventually allowing the singer to go beyond the mind. This transcendence is aided by the repetitive nature of the words. The fact that many mantras are in non-familiar languages for Westerners (Sanskrit, Tibetan) can be a benefit rather than a hindrance. Less time is spent focusing on the meaning of the lyrics and more time is available for experiencing the impact of the sound.

Bhakti Yoga and Prayer
In the practice of bhakti yoga, a mantra is a formula, a type of concentrated prayer for blessing or healing or abundance or for pure devotion. Bhakti yoga is a spiritual science that cross all religious boundaries. Many Eastern chants utilize only three of four tones. The emphasis on more complex melodies is present in classical Indian music as well as in Western adaptations of traditional mantras.

Bhakti Yoga Creates a Powerful Energy Flow

From the Author: My personal experience of bhakti yoga is a very physical sensation of connecting with a source of energy. This creates a buzzing feeling like a vibrational humming throughout my entire body. Sometimes this is accompanied by a sensation of burning in my heart or the sensation of energy filling my chest. It is a euphoria a bit like a runner’s high, only more pervasive. Sort of like being intoxicated in every cell.

Sensation of Bhakti Yoga
The energy flow of bhakti yoga may happen quickly or slowly. I find the sensation builds the most when I am chanting the same mantra continuously for a period of time rather than moving from mantra to mantra. However, when and if this happens and how long it takes varies widely.

Developing Energy Flow
Sometimes the energy flow of bhakti yoga begins after only takes ten minutes of chanting mantras. At other times, the feeling is completely elusive even in the course of an hour or two of chanting. Then again, the energy flow may start without any chanting at all when I am merely thinking about chanting.

Connecting to an Energy Source
The sense of buzzing energy can build to the point where I am sure that I must be physically shaking, yet if I open my eyes and look at my arms and legs, they are motionless. Another way to explain this would be feeling like I have been connected to a powerful energy source like being plugged into an electric socket. I feel the current flowing although there are no visible signs that anything has changed.

Bhakti Yoga and Consciousness

The repeated mantras that are often a central feature of bhakti yoga can induce altered states of consciousness. Normal consciousness is defined in scientific circles as the state in which we are monitoring our environments and choosing how to respond. In an altered state of consciousness, our ability to monitor and control our responses is distorted.¹

Creating Altered States through Sound
We may become selectively aware of our environments or completely unaware of our surroundings. Repeating a mantra also helps to calm an area of the brain known as the default mode network.² Calming or deactivating this area of the brain can help to relieve depression, anxiety, and even suicidal tendencies. In these fundamental ways, the practice of mantras in bhakti yoga may help the individual to gain freedom from a limited state of mind.

¹National Research Council, Learning, Remembering, Believing: Enhancing Human Performance. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 1994.

²Susan Moran, “Mantras 101: The Science Behind Finding Your Mantra and How to Practice It,” Yoga Journal, March 20, 2018.

Author Kathleen Karlsen

Kathleen Karlsen is a musician, artist, writer and speaker. She is the author of two books (Flower Symbols and Vocal Medicine) and over 200 articles. Kathleen, her husband Andrew, and their five children live in Bozeman, Montana. More about Kathleen Karlsen.