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The Bhagavata defines bhakti formally in two ways. On one hand, it is said to be a mental state; specifically, one of loving concentration on God. This idea is put forward at 3.29.11-12, as follows: The uninterrupted flow of the mind toward Me who am seated in the hearts of all, which arises from the mere hearing of My glories and is like the flow of the waters of the Ganges toward the ocean--this is declared to be the definition of the unqualified yoga of devotion. 22 Except, of course, for the nature of the object specified here, the understanding of bhakti that is given is strikingly similar to Samkara's notion of upasana. What might be called an essential definition, this description of bhakti as a particular mental state will be analyzed more closely in chapter five when we look at the explanation of devotion given by Madhusudana in the Bhakti-rasayana In another place, the Bhagavata provides the rough equivalent of an operational definition of bhakti, describing it as a "nine-fold" (navadha) discipline consisting of such practices as hearing from the scriptures of the Lord's glories, singing His name, worship, prostration, self-surrender, and so on. 23 Accepted by all Krsnaite schools, this formula specifies what must be done to experience devotion. The text of the purana contains descriptions of many devotional practices that in fact correspond to those in this list of nine, and it frequently speaks of them as bhakti or bhaktiyoga.24

103 How are these two ideas of bhakti related? The Bhagavata itself suggests that the "nine-fold" devotion of practice is the means to cultivate the higher bhakti which is the final goal. 25 We thus have, at least implicitly, the distinction between devotion as means (sadhanabhakti) and devotion as end (phala- or sadhya-bhakti) that is formulated explicitly in various ways by the later bhakti theoreticians, beginning with Sandilya (tenth century) in his Bhaktisutras.26