Bhakti

Bhakti comes from the Sanskrit root bhaj, "to share," "to partake of," or "to be devoted to." Literally it suggests belonging and participation, and it came to mean loving devotion — a wholehearted turning of the heart toward the divine, in which one gives oneself over in love.

As your short definition says, bhakti is the path of devotion: cultivating love and surrender toward the divine as a form of yoga. It can be expressed through prayer, chanting, ritual, service and remembrance of a chosen form of God. Its essence is relationship — the heart drawn steadily toward what it loves.

The Bhagavad Gītā presents bhakti as one of the great yogic paths, alongside action (karma) and knowledge (jñāna), devoting its twelfth chapter to it; Krishna names loving devotion a direct way to the divine. Later works such as the Nārada Bhakti Sūtra and the Bhāgavata Purāṇa develop it further.

In daily life bhakti appears as chanting a mantra or the divine names, singing kīrtan, keeping a simple altar, offering your actions to God, or simply cultivating gratitude and remembrance. It asks less for special ability than for sincerity — meeting the ordinary day with a devoted heart.

A common misconception is that bhakti is unthinking emotion, or somehow "lesser" than meditative or philosophical paths. Traditionally it is regarded as complete in itself and open to everyone, regardless of learning. Its surrender is not weakness but a mature, deliberate loosening of the ego's grip.