How to Develop Devotion Parts One & Two – 2/19/83
How to Develop Devotion Part One explains what Sri Yukteswar speaks of in his book The Holy Science as the ‘heart’s natural love.’ This natural love of the heart is the principal thing that moves us forward on the spiritual path.
There are two basic ways to perceive things: by reason and by feeling. If we go too much toward reason, we find that this overcomes us and suffocates the feeling of the heart. If we learn to direct our heart toward the reason, if we don’t divorce the two, then it is possible for us to have the balance where each one helps the other. Devotion needs to be kept in a state of reason because it could become fanaticism. We need to have the hearts natural love but not with outpouring of emotions.
What is the difference between feeling and emotion? Feeling, in the context of developing devotion, means being calm as opposed to excited. Excited feeling is emotion. Without the excitement, feeling will automatically aspire upward toward the spiritual eye.
Part Two
Devotion is about nurturing the love of God within you. Make devotion the most important part of your life. You’ll find that understanding is given to you when you need it. You will see clearly what the realities are and what the right direction is.
The heart can express your intuitive faculties. When the heart is calm and uplifted, you’ll find that it is always guided in the right direction. If it makes a mistake, then it is corrected. When you’ve reached a certain point in your devotion, God saves you from your mistakes. You’ve won enough of His attention so that he won’t let you go too far in the wrong direction, he’ll pull you back.
