SMITTEN

Smitten means overwhelmed or struck by something, usually love. It can also mean overwhelmed or struck by the love we have for God, as in being in love.  In this state, all of our other activities fall short, seem irrelevant, feel inconsequential and, well, boring. 

It is an obsessive kind of love, like teenagers have, to where we cannot get it out of our minds, are unable to escape it.  The object of the love, God, is practically lost in the surge of emotion.  We say to ourselves, "I know that God loves me, but how is it that I also love God?  Where did that come from?" 

It comes from the Atman that is Brahman.  The Atman beholds Brahman, its source, through a "portal."  By whatever means, meditation, contemplation, prayer, or all of the above, this opening is where the contact is made, and once it occurs the course of our lives changes forever.