Bhakti marga (Hinduism)

The term bhakti implies devotion arising as a result of faith – faith which may have arisen from knowledge or from good works with pure intent and whose results are surrendered to God. In religious terms it thus implies recognition of a supreme deity, and bhakti marga the way of devotion to that deity; it is therefore the preferred way of theistic traditions. Bhakti may be said to arise in five stages – resignation, obedience, friendship, tender fondness and passionate love; and bhakti marga requires constant awareness of its Lord through meditation, prayer and repetition of his name. This way implies that salvation cannot be achieved through efforts of man alone but requires God's grace.

One of the three ways of salvation of orthodox Hinduism, the others being karma marga and jnana marga. No one is said to be complete without some influence of the other two.