The Path of Devotion
God's love is unconditional. Acknowledging that love and reflecting it back is devotion. The blossoming of devotion towards God is the sweetest experience one can have.
Devotion means being in a state of complete surrender to God. It is the desire to serve God, accompanied by love and gratitude. A devotee sees Divinity everywhere and yet has an intense longing for the Divine. Bhakti Yoga is one of the types of yoga mentioned in the ancient Indian scripts which denotes the spiritual practice of lovingly devoting oneself to a personal form of God. Bhakti is a Sanskrit term for devotion.
Love towards God can take many forms with many different feelings
- A true friendship with God
- Being a faithful servant to God
- Being a beloved of God
- Being a child of God
- Being a parent to God
Devotion
In devotion, one can experience total freedom from fear and worry. A devotee transcends worldly sorrows and pains.
A true devotee has no selfish desires, including the desire for liberation. Devotion in one's heart is kindled by the grace of the Guru, by being in the company of other devotees and by reading and listening to the stories of other devotees.
“When the river meets the ocean, it recognizes it is the ocean from the beginning to the end. In the same way, the moment a devotee surrenders to the Divine, the devotee becomes Divine.”
~ Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar