True Devotion

The essence of bhakti (devotion) is love and not formal exercises in japa (recitation) or worship of various kinds. Worship should be offered to the Divine who resides in all beings. Love is God. Live in love. Love is the means of realizing the bliss of the Self, which is centered in ourselves. It need not be sought elsewhere.

It can be found within oneself when all thoughts are controlled and the mind is turned inwards. Dedicate all actions to the Lord. This is the highest knowledge. It is the summum bonum of existence. Love should become a way of life. That alone is true devotion.

Baba

We have to see it in our own life. How do we do that? If nothing is coming to my mind I just write down thoughts until I begin to get into it. Sometimes we have to write us into it or like when we begin to read a book, we have to read ourselves into it, before it gets more interesting and we get that absorbed that we forget time and space around us.

That is the inner level which has to be reached.

Therefore, that level cannot be compared to a meditation technique or just an exercise of Japa, but we can use it still to calm down the mind, to keep the focus as Sadhana, that is spiritual practice, only to get to the essence we need another exercise, we need not to sit silently and just keep silent and listen to the silence of our heart, just calming the mind down, we have to listen to Baba’s words, think it over and absorb.

We have to get in his wisdom; we have to be able to dive deep into that ocean of love and wisdom.

If we see the divine in all beings, we see him present in everyone, but for me it means always potentially present, because we meet with others also the mind.

That sounds good, doesn’t it that we should realize the bliss which is centered in our own self.

Love is the means of realizing the bliss of the Self, which is centered in ourselves.

We should not try to find him outside of our own self anymore. We should write or do more study circles, we should keep silent and listen in the heart, we can meditate, but it is on our own self and not outside of us.

No matter how, we have to turn inwards.

Love should become a way of life. That alone is true devotion.