Bhakti or devotion to God is the only royal road which directly leads to liberation.

You can please the Lord easily by Bhakti (Devotion). You may either know Vedic mantras or Vedic rituals or Upanishadic (Higher knowledge of Vedas.) knowledge or Karamayoga (Good actions-,offered at the feet of Lord.)-the teachings of Gita or you may not know any one of these but if your heart is full of love for the Lord it would be easy to realize him. It is He who takes care of everything else.

You must have heard the name of Swami Ramadasa,the revered Guru of Shivaji Maharaj.

Once upon a time he was going out for some work. He called his disciple Shri Bainda(literary meaning crooked.) and told him to perform all the puja-Worship to shrine of Rama-Lakshman, Janaki and Hanuman.Bainda knew nothing. So to teach him in brief his gurudev Swami Ramadas said:

"Yatha Nar Tatha Narayan"-whatever treatment you give to a human being you should give same to your God i.e. Give him bath, milk, fruit, clothing etc.

Swami Ramadas departed for work, the next day Bainda woke up. He thought as he was going to the toilet, his God must go for the same.

So he went to the shrine of Rama and put Lota (jar) full of water and requested him to go to the toilet in the forest.

In the beginning there was no response. He became adamant and sat there for Satyagrah (revolt for the cause of truth.).He announced that he would not leave that place till the Lord started his daily activities.

God had to submit to his demand and like Bainda God also went to the toilet in the forest, cutting a piece of a branch of a Babul tree, cleaning his teeth, washing his mouth, taking his bath, wearing his clothes and then putting a garland, tilak etc. And then he was allowed to sit on throne by Bainda.

Once some saints came to his Ashram. It was the tradition of the Ashram to provide hospitality to visitor's especially saints were supposed to be treated with great respect and love.

Bainda, the crooked one by nature, started preparing food etc for those saints. Unfortunately the saints were many in numbers. Bainda thought that he would not be able to serve food them in time. What to do was a problem before him. He thought Hanumanji, the real servant of God Rama, was sitting without work, He should be employed for some work. He requested Hanumnaji to fetch water from the well. Now he was in need to cut the wood. He, without any hesitation requested Lakshman to cut the wood. He requested Sitaji to cook the food and God Rama himself to prepare Pattal( Plates made of leaves). All accepted the work out of respect for the devotion of this simple minded devotee,Bainda.

At that very moment, Swami Ramadas, the Gurudeva of Bainda arrived.He asked about the services of the Ashrama. And Bainda reported the services being rendered by Rama,Laxman,Sita and Hanuman.

His Gurudev was surprised by this.So, Bhakti is the simplest and surest instrument in the hand of anyone who longs for the Lord.