Hello friends!
Our topic of discussion today is the quality of devotion and it's one of my top favourites,
You might say,
From the 52 affirmations from the Affirmations for Self-Healing by Swami Kriyananda and so let's read first of all what Swamiji has to say about devotion.
Swamiji writes,
In the form of deep devotion is the prime requisite for success.
Without devotion not a single step can be taken towards Him.
Devotion is no sentiment.
It is the deep longing to commune with and know the only reality there is.
I remember a quote I read once by Mozart and he said,
Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both put together go to the making of genius.
Love,
Love,
Love.
That is the soul of genius.
Isn't that beautiful,
Friends,
That Mozart,
Who was such a master at his art,
Went on to say that it's not intelligence,
It's not imagination and neither is it both of them put together.
What makes a genius is love.
Even Einstein mentioned that the secret is a sense of a mystical awe toward the universe and I am paraphrasing that for I don't remember the exact quotation but even Einstein,
You see,
His field was scientific,
Very intellectual but he was in love with it.
He was in love with the mysteries of the universe and he beheld them in awe and that is what creates genius and that is what Swami Kriyananda often says in this reading also that no good end is ever reached without devotion.
We often hear that what distinguishes successful people from the unsuccessful ones is their passion,
Is how badly they want something,
Is how badly they want to be successful and their passion,
Their desire,
In other words,
Is what brings that fulfillment,
Is what drives them toward making that effort.
They are devoted to their work and that is the quality of devotion which serves us equally well whether we are working in the world or whether we are talking about the spiritual life.
Yoganandaji defined willpower as desire plus energy directed toward fulfillment.
So we use our willpower to achieve something because we really want it and unless we really want it,
Then people could push us as much as they want but we are not going to put out the energy to really work at it.
And where are these desires?
These desires rest in the heart,
The yogis tell us and these desires are not resting in our physical heart but they rest in the energy center behind the heart in the spine and it's a part of our feeling nature and without a deep feeling for what we are doing,
It's really not possible to be successful,
It's not possible to have any fulfillment of any sort without being devoted to what we are doing.
And when we talk about the quest for God,
The spiritual life,
Then it's even more important because again,
One cannot take even a step on the path unless the heart's natural love is awakened.
This was the statement of Swami Sri Yukteswar and those of you who have read the autobiography or have read about Swami Sri Yukteswar would know that he was a Jnanavatar,
An incarnation of wisdom and so he on one level perhaps would be the last person to make such a statement.
Outwardly one might think that he would say the assimilation of wisdom or knowledge is what brings one to enlightenment but he clearly states that without love you can't even begin to walk the path of self-realization and that's how important it is.
Often devotion is the thing that keeps us on the spiritual path year after year,
Decade after decade.
You know we have very long lives and to sustain and persevere on the spiritual path,
One needs a deep sense of longing,
A deep sense of devotion to what it is that one is doing and that is what devotion is.
It's not an emotion,
It's not someone dancing wildly in order to praise God and while that might be an outward expression of devotion,
Yoganandaji often advised us to take our devotion inward.
He wouldn't really encourage such outward displays of devotion because he feared that it's very easy for devotion to be converted into emotion and emotions take us outward but devotion is not a sentiment.
It's a deep longing for God.
As Swamiji says that devotion is the deep longing to commune with and know the only reality that exists.
So without devotion spiritual progress is just impossible.
Yoganandaji would also often say and this is one of the sweetest statements I believe that he mentioned to his disciples is that God has everything in this world.
God created,
God became the world himself.
God is in every atom of creation but there is one thing that he doesn't have and that is our love and that love only we can choose to give him and the truth of the matter is friends that until we give that love,
Even we are not going to be satisfied.
Saint Augustine said that our hearts are restless until they find rest in Thee.
So until our hearts can offer love to the divine completely unconditionally completely surrendering our love at his feet we can never find true fulfillment.
The other aspect of devotion and the other aspect of our feeling nature has to do with meditation also because to be on the path for a longer period of time and not get distracted or get discouraged by the obstacles that come and that is why Yoganandaji often urged his disciples get devotion and how do we get devotion?
By chanting.
Yoganandaji said chanting is half the battle because once the feelings of the heart are uplifted then half the battle is won.
Then think of God as the divine mother.
Pray to God as your divine mother.
Do not hide anything from her because she already knows what you are feeling,
What you are going through and she is already watching your heart.
So the more you give of yourself to God in the form of divine mother the more devotion also you will find yourself developing.
And finally Swami Kriyananda and Master Yoganandaji also say is that if all else fails pray for devotion.
Ask God to bless you with devotion and if you pray for devotion in the act of praying itself you are affirming that devotion and that is how God is going to pull you out out of delusion with your devotion,
Your longing,
Your self-effort and his infinite grace that shines upon you all the time.
So with all that said let's practice the affirmation on devotion together.
Let's sit up straight,
Close our eyes,
Gaze deeply at the point between the eyebrows and repeat after me in a loud energetic voice.
With the sword of devotion I sever the heart strings that tie me to delusion.
With the deepest love I lay my heart at the feet of omnipresence.
With the sword of devotion I sever the heart strings that tie me to delusion.
With the deepest love I lay my heart at the feet of omnipresence.
Now in a whisper taking it deeper into the subconscious mind with the sword of devotion I sever the heart strings that tie me to delusion.
With the deepest love I lay my heart at the feet of omnipresence.
With the sword of devotion I sever the heart strings that tie me to delusion.
With the deepest love I lay my heart at the feet of omnipresence.
And now mentally only gazing deeply at the point between the eyebrows and the eyebrows.
Let this affirmation sink deeply into your superconscious mind and repeat mentally as I say these words out loud.
With the sword of devotion I sever the heart strings that tie me to delusion.
With the deepest love I lay my heart at the feet of omnipresence.
With the sword of devotion I sever the heart strings that tie me to delusion.
With the deepest love I lay my heart at the feet of omnipresence.
With the sword of devotion I sever the heart strings that tie me to delusion.
With the deepest love I lay my heart at the feet of omnipresence.
With the deepest love I lay my heart at the feet of omnipresence.
Let that thought sink in deeply into your mind,
Your consciousness.
And now silently pray with me also.
Beloved Father,
Mother,
God,
I am thine alone.
Through all life's trials,
My prayer is this alone.
Reveal thyself.
Reveal thyself.
Joy to you,
My friend.
