A section from the journey

The Nine Forms of Love

How does a person actually love God? A child-saint named Prahlada gave a famous answer: in nine ways. You can hear God's stories. Sing his praises. Remember him. Serve at his feet. Worship him. Bow to him. Be his servant, or his friend. And at last, give him your whole self. Nine doors into one house of love — and you may enter by any of them.

We have heard that God asks only for love. But a fair question follows. How does a person actually love God? What does devotion look like, in real days and real hands?

The tradition has a clear and lovely answer, and it comes from the mouth of a child. In the old tales there is a boy named . His own father hated God and tried every cruelty to turn the boy away. Nothing worked. The child's love held firm, calm as deep water. So when Prahlada is asked what real devotion is, his words are treasured.

He says devotion has nine forms. The tradition calls this the , the "ninefold" love. Let us walk through the nine slowly, for they are simple, and each is a door anyone can open.

shravanam kirtanam vishnoh smaranam pada-sevanam / archanam vandanam dasyam sakhyam atma-nivedanam

Here are the nine, in plain words. First, shravana: hearing — listening to the stories and names of God. Second, kirtana: singing his praises aloud. Third, smarana: remembering him through the day, keeping him in mind.

Fourth, pada-sevana: serving at his feet, the loving care of small tasks. Fifth, archana: worship, the offering of flower and lamp and word. Sixth, vandana: bowing low, the body itself made into reverence.

Seventh, dasya: being God's servant, glad to belong to him. Eighth, sakhya: being God's friend, close and easy as a companion. And ninth, the deepest of all, atma-nivedana: giving him your whole self, holding nothing back at all.

Now stand back and see how wide this door is. The learned and the unlettered, the busy and the still, the bold heart and the shy one — each can find a way in. The singer sings. The quiet one remembers. The worker serves. No one is turned away for want of cleverness or rank.

And here is the gentlest part. You need not master all nine. The tradition says that even one of these, held with a whole and honest heart, is the entire path. One door is enough to enter the whole house. Keep these nine forms close. They will quietly shape every saint we are about to meet.

Of these nine — hearing, singing, remembering, serving, worshipping, bowing, belonging, befriending, self-giving — one will feel more like you than the others. Which one draws you? The tradition says your own door is the right one to walk through.