We don’t see the full result of bhakti described in the sastras. Therefore we have to understand what blocks the power of bhakti within our heart. If we think that something else is equally important as bhakti, then the power of our bhakti will be very weak. But jnana and karma could be in our life, because we have a gross and subtle body. Jnana and karma, which we do, should be the servants of our bhakti.
If we do some other things, which are subservient to the cultivation of bhakti, like jnana and karma, then our practice is pure. For pure bhakti to start within the heart we first have to be disillusioned with our pursuits of material happiness. Some miseries have to be there in our life, they plough the soil of our heart to make it more receptive to the bhakti-lata-bija. Bhakti-lata-bija means that we get some faith in pure devotional service. Faith in pure devotional service means that only pure devotional service can save me.
There are three kinds of practice that we call bhakti: aropa-siddha-bhakti, sanga-siddha-bhakti, svarupa-siddha-bhakti. Aropa means that this activity has nothing to do with Krisna, but we offer the results of it to Krisna. Aropa-siddha-bhakti can be of three types: 1) prescribed duties, which have nothing to do with Krisna, but we offer it to Him; 2) ordinary activities; 3) activities against the sastras, even this can be offered to Krisna, but our repentance should be there.
Sanga-siddha-bhakti is the activity, which becomes bhakti due to the association with bhakti. We think that for bhakti to become successful we need to do something else (astrology, yoga, etc.) It’s not the highest form of bhakti. In the highest form of bhakti you have a strong belief that you don’t need to do anything else, bhakti itself has the power to bring anything that you need.
Only svarupa-siddha-bhakti is powerful enough to bring anything else, bhakti does not need any help. Svarupa-siddha-bhakti has vastu-sakti, which is called bhakti-posaka, it nourishes your bhakti so that bhakti becomes stronger. For svarupa-siddha-bhakti to be powerful it has to be practiced with very pure motives, only then the process will be very fast.
If by practicing bhakti we become happy it means that our practice is pure. Pure bhakti is very simple, just don’t think about your own happiness. If Krisna is happy you will be happy automatically. If we are not happy, it means that there are some problems in our heart, we should go to the senior devotee and ask him what is wrong, just by asking him we will get his mercy.
