On any spiritual path, including bhakti, there are three factors involved: the practitioner, the practice, and the goal to be achieved. To be successful in one’s spiritual practice, one must have a clear understanding of all three of these factors. Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī calls them sambandha, abhidheya, and prayojana, respectively.

As a practitioner on the path of bhakti, one must know one’s identity and relationship with Kṛṣṇa clearly. To practice bhakti successfully, one should also know what bhakti is and how it is to be practiced. And finally, one must have a clear understanding of the goal one is aspiring for in one’s practice.

Learn more Jiva Tattva!

Unlike prema-bhakti, sādhana-bhakti must be imbibed systematically from scriptural revelation and by aligning the self in full correspondence with realized devotional transcendentalists. Sādhana-bhakti, being the stage in which empirical selfhood is not yet fully transcended, is prompted primarily by the authority of scriptural injunctions.

As the devotee enacts the regulated practice of bhakti, the heart is gradually purified of egoic identification, and as the pure self emerges, it attains fitness to receive the self-revelation of devotion of the nature of love of God.

Only in this sense can it be said that sādhana-bhakti matures into prema-bhakti. But in fact, prema, the inherent potency of Bhagavān, self-manifests in the aspiring devotee’s heart only by the grace of Bhagavān and His pure devotee.

In Bhakti-rasāmṛta-sindhu, Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī states that devotional service, which is enacted through the senses and which matures into bhāva-bhakti, is called sādhana-bhakti:

"Devotion which is enacted through the senses and which leads to the self-manifestation of bhāva-bhakti, is called sādhana-bhakti. The self-manifestation within the heart [of the practitioner] of the eternally existing transcendental affect of devotion (bhāva) is known as the completion stage of devotion." (BRS 1.2.2)

Kādācitkī, is devotion performed by people who are not devotees but may perform an act of devotion because of some circumstances.

It is basically the temporary influence of association on someone, just as if you preach to someone and the person may become inclined towards devotion. The influence is not permanent and as soon as the association is lost, bhakti stops.

Learn more: Sayujya-mukti, Divisions of Bhakti, Subhadra

Āropa-siddhā bhakti consists of activities that are not devotional in themselves but become part of devotion because of contact of bhakti. Primarily that includes offering your actions to Kṛṣṇa, karmārpaṇam. These actions themselves are not devotional but by offering them to Kṛṣṇa, they become part of bhakti.

In āropa-siddhā bhakti, there is no bhakti activity except for the offering of results.

Learn more: Different Kinds of Bhakti, Dharma and Karma

Saṅga-siddhā is a mixed form of devotion. The mixture could be with karma, or jñāna, or both.

Karma-miśrā saṅga-siddhā is of three types, namely, sakāmā (with a desire for material  enjoyment), kaivalya-kāmā (with a desire for liberation), and bhakti-mātra-kāmā (with a desire for bhakti alone).

Jñāna-miśrā saṅga-siddhā is undertaken either with a desire for liberation (kaivalyakāmā) or with a desire for bhakti alone (bhakti-mātra-kāmā).

These types of devotion are tainted with the material guṇas. In contrast, however, svarūpa-siddhā-bhakti, also called akiñcanā, is completely transcendental. It is causeless and unobstructed.

Śrī Jīva Gosvāmī divides bhakti into three classes, namely, āropa-siddhā, referring to the attribution of bhakti to the act of offering prescribed Vedic duties or worldly actions to Bhagavān; saṅga-siddhā, practices that do not belong to bhakti proper but that become so through association with bhakti; and svarūpa-siddhā, actions that are directly constituted of bhakti by their very nature.

These three categories of bhakti have two further divisions of sakaitavā (with ulterior motive) and akaitavā (devoid of ulterior motive). If one executes devotion with the sole purpose of attaining love of God, such devotion is akaitavā. If, however, one harbors some other motive as the goal, it is called sakaitavā.

Bhāva-bhakti is the first sprout of prema, or pure love of Bhagavān. It is the seventh of the eight stages of development of the bhakti-latā, the creeper of devotion.

In this stage of bhakti, śuddha-sattva, or the essence of Bhagavān’s intrinsic potency consisting of consciousness and bliss, is transmitted into the heart of the practicing devotee from the heart of one of Bhagavān’s eternal associates. It softens the heart by different kinds of taste.

Bhāva-bhakti is also said to be the fruit of sādhana-bhakti, not as a causal effect, but rather as the blossoming of the very same potency into an existential state of being and awareness within the receptacle of the heart.

Śrī Sūta states that to fulfill only one’s material desires by the rightful execution of one’s dharma is not the intended purpose of such an undertaking. Rather, one should aim directly at apavarga. This is the real purpose of dharma. Moreover, Śrī Jīva stresses the fact that apavarga should not be taken to mean mukti but bhakti.

In other words, dharma should neither be used for material gain nor for mukti. If the same effort can yield a superior benefit, then why settle for less? Sūta also states that to use dharma merely to secure artha, or “prosperity,” is a misapplication of the intellect.

Dharma’s sole purpose is bhakti. This is confirmed in Padma Purāṇa:

The Supreme Being, Viṣṇu, is worshiped by a human being through adherence to the principles of varṇāśrama-dharma. There is no other path that leads to His satisfaction [i.e., that leads to bhakti, which is the true cause of His satisfaction]. (VP 3.8.9)

Yamarāja says that even great sages (ṛṣis) are unacquainted with the true import of bhāgavata-dharma, or bhakti. He then enumerates twelve exalted beings (mahājanas) who are in full awareness of bhāgavata-dharma, but even they do not ordinarily reveal it to others. The reason for this is that bhakti is highly confidential (guhyam). It is the heart of Bhagavān. Just as a person does
not openly reveal their wealth, the mahājanas have not revealed bhakti in their works such as Manu-smṛti. Their intention is that it should not be disclosed to those who are ineligible to receive it.

Additionally, people in general are prone to follow dharma only to fulfill material desires. Taking this into consideration, the mahājanas outlined the procedures of karma-yoga for the fulfillment of temporal ends. They were mindful that bhakti should not be misused for material purposes.

Bhāgavata-dharma leads to the most intimate association with Kṛṣṇa in the mood of amorous love. For this reason, it is kept confidential.

A single act of devotion will bring perfection once a person is free of offenses.

Therefore, a sincere devotee should avoid offenses very carefully and execute devotion meticulously. Then one can experience the glory of bhakti.

Learn more: Influence of Offenses.