Devotion cannot be learned or taught like mathematics or geography. Love is not acquired by practicing a technique, nor is it the result of sadhana. Rather, it lies concealed and dormant in the depths of all beings. Therefore, it is important to understand the true place and value of spiritual practice.
Through sadhana, we create the necessary conditions for awakening devotion in our hearts and we prepare circumstances in which love manifests itself in all its glory.
Even a sentimental attachment between two human beings needs propitious circumstances. Couples seek romantic restaurants and places that offer favorable situations for enhancing emotional attraction. A young man is not likely to propose to his girlfriend in a smelly garbage dump. In the same way, as long as our mental activity contaminates us with envy, jealousy, resentment, material ambitions, and so on, the emergence of devotion will remain very doubtful. As long as the mind persists with its requirements and demands, trying to control and manipulate everything to meet its expectations, we will continue to confuse love with mundane emotional addiction.
The sadhana recommended by our spiritual master acts like a powerful purifier in devotees and liberates them from all impurities. Sadhana enables us to become vessels of grace, since God can be with us only to the extent that we are able to be with him.
