The Four Paths

Hinduism offers four paths to liberation, recognizing that different temperaments need different approaches:

• Jnana yoga — the path of knowledge, understanding reality through philosophical inquiry.
• Bhakti yoga — devotion, loving surrender to the divine.
• Karma yoga — selfless action, performing duty without attachment to results.
• Raja yoga — meditation, disciplined mental practice leading to direct experience of Brahman.

Each path is equally valid, and most practitioners combine several. Rather than insisting on one correct approach, Hinduism accepts that humans differ and offers many roads to the same destination.