Within the vision presented in *Be As You Are*, devotion (bhakti) is neither dismissed as secondary nor set in opposition to knowledge (jñāna); rather, it is shown as both complementary to, and ultimately convergent with, self-enquiry. Devotional practices such as prayer, repetition of the divine name, worship, and surrender to God or guru are acknowledged as legitimate means that purify the heart and orient the mind toward the inner reality. As devotion matures, the apparent duality between devotee and God is gradually undermined, and love of a personal deity is interiorized as abidance in the Self. In this sense, perfected devotion is described as indistinguishable from true knowledge, since losing oneself in God is the same as realizing one’s own real nature.

A central emphasis falls on surrender (śaraṇāgati) as the essence of bhakti. Genuine surrender entails relinquishing the sense of individual doership and entrusting one’s life entirely to the higher power, whether named as God or the Self. This surrender is not merely emotional; it directly weakens the ego-sense that self-enquiry seeks to dissolve. When the devotee yields the claim to independent existence, the very structure of separation that sustains bondage is undermined, and the mind becomes still and transparent to the Self.

At the same time, devotion is presented as a highly practical path for many temperaments. For those who find direct self-enquiry too austere or abstract, the cultivation of love for God, guru-bhakti, and the heartfelt repetition of the divine name provide a more accessible entry point. Emotional energy is not suppressed but refined and redirected, thereby purifying the mind of ego-driven desires and attachments. This purified, softened mind is then better able to turn inward and sustain the subtle attention required for the enquiry “Who am I?”.

The relationship between bhakti and self-enquiry is thus one of integration rather than rivalry. Devotion can begin in a dualistic mode—“I, the devotee, love God as other”—yet, when pursued to its end, it reveals that the devotee, the act of devotion, and the object of devotion are all manifestations of the same Self. Conversely, sincere self-enquiry naturally flowers as love and reverence for that Self which is discovered as one’s own essence. In this way, the framework shows that both paths, when followed to their ultimate conclusion, converge in the nondual realization where the separate ego has vanished and only pure consciousness remains.