7.1.4 What are the primary characteristics of the four generic paths to enlightenment?

7.1.4.1 The path of devotion, known in the East as bhakti yoga, is the most common, and for many the least difficult, way to enlightenment. Calling on humanity’s innate capacity to act out of love of an ideal, the way of devotion leads to enlightenment through the unremitting dedication of every aspect of one’s life to the chosen ideal. This ideal is usually, but not necessarily, God.

Possessed by devotion to the ideal, the individual mind gradually loses its attachment to the external and internal stimuli which normally preoccupy consciousness. Simultaneously, attachment to the ideal grows until it becomes the one-pointed focus of the aspirant’s consciousness. With the arising of the capacity for one-pointed concentration, the individual dwells on the ideal with undistracted alertness.

The sustained experience of undistracted alertness, or samadhi, leads to dissolution of the illusion of individuality and separation. Attraction to and desire for the fruits of material existence fall away, and the mind re-unites with its ideal. Aware of the divine unity of all that exists, the fully realised follower of the path of devotion exists only to dedicate every thought and act, with unremitting perseverance, to the service of the ideal. This ideal is usually God, but it can also be devotion to humanity in general, devotion to a person who embodies realisation of the final stage of enlightenment, or even devotion to an ideal of ethics or beauty.