Those who, fixing their minds on Me, worship Me with perpetual devotion, endowed with supreme faith, they, in My opinion, are the best versed in yoga. (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 12 – Verse 2)
Among the different bhaktas (as distinct from the jnanis), those bhaktas are the greatest yogis, who pass their days and nights in constant thought of Me, the omniscient Ruler of the universe, Ishvara, the supreme Bhagavan, the Guru of all gurus. But they must worship Me in My highest Universal Form. And they must be endowed with supreme faith. Shraddha, faith, is very necessary. Otherwise our devotion becomes of a mechanical nature; it becomes lip devotion, a parrot-like repetition of words and phrases and ideas devoid of all soul and feeling.
Shraddha is like the fuel that causes the flame of our devotion to blaze up into a luminous fire. Faith gives flavour and fragrance to our devotions. It makes our practices easy and en joy able and most successful. Practice brings faith and faith helps us in our practices. The more we practise, the stronger will grow our faith, and when our faith is strong, strength, endurance, enthusiasm and success will follow.
Therefore all the scriptures lay great stress on faith. The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination speaks of six graces. Faith is one of these. It is the greatest. With faith all the other graces are easily obtained; they follow in its wake. For when there is faith the mind becomes restful and self-controlled; it withdraws from sense objects. There will then be endurance, and lastly, meditation will easily be attained. And so Sri Krishna says that in His opinion those bhaktas should be regarded as the highest yogis, who with supreme faith adore Him, who always lovingly think of Him, and who practise perpetual devotion to Him. But now comes another question: are not the jnanis, the worshippers of the Unmanifest, greater yogis than the bhaktas.