Swami Sri Yukteshwar ji talks about Devotion in His book – Holy Science. He clearly says “not a single step can be put on the spiritual path unless the natural love of the heart is awakened”. Indirectly He is saying that don’t even bother about the rest, if your heart is not involved in it 😊.
Yoganandaji said, kriya plus devotion works like mathematics. It works one hundred percent. And He also says chanting is half the battle. So, putting the two things together, we can say at least fifty percent of the success is dependent on how much heart energy we have been able to awaken.
We have to love what we do. This is the crux of it. Are we devoted to something in our lives? Yes absolutely! Many people are devoted to their jobs, to their families, their loved ones, to music. Artists are devoted to art form they are interested in. Ananda’s worldwide spiritual director, Nayaswami Jyotish Ji, is a great painter. That is his one of his expressions of devotion.
Whenever the particular expression is put into action, the flow of energy is put into motion, and that experience is tremendously beautiful.
Why do we love that we love? Because for that entire duration of the activity there is that beautiful flow of energy. We are not concerned about the outcome.
I like chanting. That is one of my expressions of devotion. It doesn’t matter what is going on inside of me, if I am disturbed, if I am agitated, if I am perturbed, if I am happy, when I start chanting, that particular alternative energy gets generated; a beautiful energy; which is a Divine Mother kind of energy, a more loving energy, a more compassionate energy that has the capacity to embrace everything that is happening within me.
Devotion, Ishwara pranidana, which is Devotion to the Supreme God is one of the Niyamas.
Nayaswami Devi ji loves cooking. She spiritualised that act. If that is your thing, you could do it every day in that Bhava. That is our practice. And we start from there and then as the Patanjali Niyama, Ishwar pranidhan suggests, take something in the day which is sort of a repetitive activity. Every day we wake up, we do our daily activities, repeatedly, and we can choose one of those activities. And try to do it with devotion. Try to like it. Try to be interested in it.
Divine Mother is equally present even in the midst of all of our activities. We have the opportunity to make our life an art form. That’s the journey. Start from a few activities to make every activity, in such a way so that it can awaken the same love in our heart.
Whenever there is Devotion the flow is unceasing. As long as there is flow, there won’t be any obstacles. And the healing becomes a natural and inevitable outcome. Not only for us, but also for those surrounding us.
So, feel in your heart that energy of Divine Mother. Even, as we think these thoughts; the words of the masters; open your hearts and feel a sense of gratitude; thank the Masters for loving us; for giving us this opportunity to cultivate this love and their presence in our heart.
Aum Shanti Shanti Shanti
Transcribed from a talk of Acharya Amit Purohit. You can watch the full talk here https://youtu.be/BzNwbf4ab7k