Nine bhakti practices
Practicing Bhakti purifies our consciousness, making us fit to revive our relationship with God. Krishna is all-pure. We are now contaminated by material consciousness and must again become all-pure before we can associate with Him.
The authorized spiritual practices laid out by Krishna are sure to bring success to the sincere practitioner. The Srimad-Bhagavatam lists these nine Bhakti practices:
- Hearing about Krishna.
- Chanting, or speaking about, Krishna's transcendental name, form, qualities, pastimes, paraphernalia, and so on.
- Remembering Krishna.
- Serving Krishna.
- Offering Krishna respectful worship in His Deity form.
- Offering prayers to Krishna.
- Becoming Krishna’s direct servant.
- Considering Krishna one's best friend.
- Surrendering everything to Krishna by serving Him with body, mind, and words.
To bear fruit, these practices must be performed under the guidance of a pure teacher, an advanced devotee of Krishna.