From the Bhagavata Purana : Narada and Bhakti

The following is an abridged excerpt from the Bhagavata Purana. Please read the introduction.

... Narada said “ Sages, on the banks of the Yamuna, I saw a young woman, seated on the banks of the river. She was young and exquisite, but she was wan as a wilted lotus. She shed tears, she wept without pause, and was inconsolable.

I asked her, 'Lovely one, who are you ?'

She sighed deeply, and said 'I am called Bhakti. I am Devotion.

It was the kali yuga, Narada, which crippled me in all my parts, like a terrible disease. I became an old crone. Muni, I beg you, tell me how this has happened ...'

I looked at my own heart, where the lord puts his wisdom and vision when he chooses, and I said to Bhakti, 'Pure, sinless one, do not be dejected. The Lord Hari will bring bliss into your life again.

This is indeed the kali yuga, when the good suffer endlessly, and the evil are exhilarant. The earth is so full of sin ...

For sure, the kali yuga lacks every other virtue. Yet, this is the only yuga in which the very name of the Lord can set a man free.

Dear Bhakti, don't let anxiety have its way with you. In the krita yuga, the treta and the dwapara, gyana and dhyana conferred nirvana. But in this vile kali, only bhakti can save one's soul. This, more than any other, is your age, Bhakti Devi.

You, Bhakti Devi, shall be worshipped above every other goddess in the Kali yuga. Why, you shall be the only way to salvation.

Those that say the kali yuga is an age of evil forget that this wonderful age is the yuga when moksha is nearest. I say to you, Bhakti, this is the most wonderful of all ages of men!

Who needs vedas and Shastras in the kali yuga? You, Bhakti, alone shall be the way to salvation' ...

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