Bhakti Yoga (bhakti-yoga)

Bhakti yoga is the path of loving devotion, in which the self is offered to a personal god rather than dissolved into an impersonal absolute. The Bhagavad Gita makes it the most accessible of the paths, open to anyone regardless of birth, and closes with Krishna's promise to release from all sin whoever takes refuge in him alone. Draupadi's cry in the assembly hall, Gajendra's from the water and Sudama's handful of beaten rice are the epic's working demonstrations of what it looks like.