Devotion

Preface

Nothing in the world is more powerful than love. The noblest kind of love is the kind that flows towards God, which is called devotion. Saints and sages affirm that deep within our heart lies an infinite source of love, with no beginning and no end. While loving people, ideas, and objects we are in fact, endlessly searching for this infinite love. How to cultivate devotion, so that we can rediscover the permanent source of love and bliss within ourselves, is the topic of this book.

    Part One describes the nature of devotion. We are most familiar with love for things and beings around us but that love, being limited, cannot satisfy us for long. However devotion—love of God—leads to a greater and more expansive vision of life that brings total fulfillment.

      Cultivating divine virtues such as kindness and compassion brings us closer to God and helps our love for Him to grow. This is the topic of Part Two. In this section the authors describe the importance of prayer, faith, meditation, repetition of the Lord’s name, and selfless service. Devotional practices, when performed with sincerity, purify the mind and we thus come to radiate love and goodwill to all.

      The ultimate in the development of devotion is surrender, which is the topic of Part Three. The authors indicate that continuous remembrance of God and realization that He is the One doing everything, and that everything comes from Him, constitutes surrender. Stories of great devotees inspire us to greater heights and strengthen our faith. It is the intensity of love and faith that help us surrender and we begin to listen to the Divine voice of love within our hearts.