Bhakti as central spiritual path

What it is: Bhakti designates loving devotion, spiritual service, and personal bond with the divine.

How the tradition understands it: In the Hare Krishna movement, bhakti is treated as the highest and most appropriate path for the current era, surpassing readings that prioritize only asceticism, intellectual speculation, or ritual without devotion.

Textual basis and context: This emphasis appears recurrently in the Bhagavad Gita, the Bhagavata Purana, and Gaudiya literature.

Objections and debates: The main debate is not usually about the legitimacy of bhakti, but about its absolute primacy and the relation between devotion, knowledge, moral discipline, and grace.