Bhakti has subsumed different models and integrated them into one flexible system. Some of the models are inherited from Upanishadic musings or from Agamic layouts and some have evolved in the medieval efflorescence of devotional fervor. They go by several names, each having its own significance and yet having the propensity to be merged into some larger whole.
Bhakti is nothing but an emotional conversion of the highest
knowledge. It enhances the capacity of the seeker to ascend greater heights of
truth by motivating him or her emotionally. It also transcends the achievements
of the paths of jnana (knowledge) and karma (action), as it rejects personal
liberation from bondage, personal attainment of highest emancipation, and
personal equation with godhead, for a still higher good. This higher goal is an
eternal churning of the mind until all beings are relieved of pain and misery.
This deep concern of the devotee stirs the unstirred and moves the unmoved,
makes the formless to assume a form and descend into this world of misery. In
other words, the cherished goal of bhakti is divine love, which is love for
all.
It is as erroneous to think of bhakti as a complete negation
of jnana (path of knowledge) as it is to think of bhakti as an escape from
karma (path of action). Yajna is the foundation of all paths. Done in the right
spirit, it evolves into karma, namely, action on behalf of all and for the
benefit of all. It evolves into jnana (path of knowledge) if pursued as knowledge
of the total reality of things, and thereby frees one from self-imposed
limitations. It evolves into bhakti when it accentuates the emotional aspect
and turns all action and knowledge into an abundant joy.
Srimad Bhagavad Gita lays out clearly the fundamental unity
of all these paths. The first six chapters are devoted to karma yoga, the
middle six to jnana yoga and the last six to bhakti yoga. Bhakti does no in any
way replace the path of action; it instead smoothens and sweetens the path of
action, charging every moment of action with a divine purpose, and making every
action into an offering to the Supreme Reality. It is shown that the path of
devotion leads to perfect harmony.