In today’s society everyone wants a very easy and quick method to attain success but sadly there are no short cuts to success, at least spiritual success, though it is possible that due to the causeless mercy of Bhagavan one can get siddhi (perfection) & moksha in a very short time.
But it is not suggested to just sit and wait lazily for the mercy of Bhagvan, we have to perform some sort of Sadhana to please Bhagvan and get rid of one’s sin and the tendency to perform sins.
So everyone has a question that what is the minimum amount of sadhana that everyone shall perform to save oneself from hellish planets and attain the grace of Bhagvan.
So first of all you have to understand that Bhagvan is free to do anything thus he is also free to distribute his mercy to anyone without any reason, thus it is also possible that even after performing penances for many lifetimes one may not attain Bhagvan.
Hearing this many people disrespect sadhana-marg and call it weak and rely on Bhagvan’s desire lazily.
But we have to understand that even though Bhagvan may not choose to give siddhi (perfection) to a sadhak (practitioner) in just one life-time, still the sadhak will be freed of his sins as having performed sadhana and thus will not attain hellish planets or body of lower creatures.
He will be protected by Bhagvan and ultimately sooner or later he will be graced by Bhagvan thus it is preferable to perform sadhana.
Now what is the minimum amount of sadhana that everyone shall perform?
So first of all everyone shall be situated in their varna-ashram dharma and follow the kula-dharma (family rituals/rules), doing so saves one from pitra-kopa (anger of the forefathers), Kuladeva-kopa (anger of Kul-devta {family-deity}), Gramdeva-kopa (anger of the village deity), sin occurring out of disrespect to the Veda, Brahmin, cows and sannyasis.
Thus following the varna-ashram and kula dharma properly solves more than half of the problem and on top of that just like cherry on the cake, if one performs the bhakti (devotion) towards one’s Ishta devata then he is surely blessed.
To perform bhakti of one’s Ishta one shall chant his names regularly and get initiation with his Ishta’s mantra and chant it too, worship the Vigrah of Ishta devta and visit the places connected to his Ishta Dev.
Also one shall understand that if one follows varna-ashram and kula dharma then automatically one will be situated in sadacar (etiquettes) and other punya (pious activities) such as daan (donation), tapa (austerity) etc. thus they are not mentioned separately.