The Devotee

Love is eternally within us. We feel its presence; we know it exists in us; we realize its power; yet we are unable to express it in words. Who has ever succeeded in giving the fullest expression of love in words? None. Love is transmitted from heart to heart, from soul to soul. Love is manifested only through heart and soul. In love we become silent. In the fullness of love, we are speechless. In love, our whole being vibrates in the rhythm of joy. Love needs no words to express itself. The moment we attempt to express love in words, it loses its charm, its magnetism is gone. Truly did the poet realize: “When words are spoken, Love’s accent is soon forgot.” Do not inquire about love, find it, live in it, and be immersed in the sweetness of joy. Love cannot be understood by intellect. Love dies when we try to analyze it. Love is a quality of soul, it is realized in soul alone.

To a devotee, every individual is a medium through which he beholds God. His father, mother, friends, and all are such media. He receives his friend, not with the thought that he is a human being, but with the realization that God has come to him as a friend. His attitude is the same towards all who come into his life. Whatever he perceives, he sees God in it. To him, a flower is not a flower, but the expression of divine beauty. The little veins on the leaves are not ordinary marks; they are the blessed names of the Lord written thereon. He listens to the song of the bird. To him it is not the bird that sings, but the Lord who sings to him songs of love and joy. Thus, the whole life of the devotee and the universe around him are spiritualized in the twinkling of an eye. That state which the Raja Yogi realizes only by years of rigid practice, the Jnana Yogi after lives of discrimination, and the Karma Yogi after many reincarnations of service, the Bhakta attains in an instant.

The Magnetic Power of Love (Bhakti Yoga)
Swami Premananda