TRUE DEVOTION

In Vedanta, there are three ways of salvation: the Way of Works (Karma Marga), the Way of Knowledge (Jnana Marga), and the Way of Devotion (Bhakti Marga).  Concerning the latter, Swami Prabhavananda said, "Anyone who says he has devotion or thinks he has devotion doesn't have it.  People come to me every week and talk about their devotion to God.  And I don't believe them."

Why would the swami say this?  The reason is because true devotion is not something that the egoic mind, in which most of us function most of the time, accomplishes.  True devotion is not something that one wills to happen.

Devotion is remembering God, but the remembering is done by the heart.  It is not incense and chants and rituals and scriptures, but that intuitive, spiritual state that comes when one surrenders him or herself to God.  Surrendering is an emptying which in turn permits God to come in.  Remembering, surrendering, is true devotion.