With the sword of devotion I sever the heart-strings that tie me to delusion. With the deepest love, I lay my heart at the feet of Omnipresence.
–Affirmations for Self-Healing by Swami Kriyananda
Dear Friend,
Devotion is a vehicle for love to bring us closer and closer to God. We were created by God from love, and therefore our essence is love. Our love is the only thing that God wants and cannot have unless we choose to give it freely. Through devotion we return God’s love, continuing the cycle of giving and receiving, bringing us more happiness, joy, and bliss. We pledge our devotion by striving to live within spiritual law, to expand our consciousness and expand the light.
Our free will gives us the option to turn towards God or away from Him—all else is driven by past karma. Devotion opens our hearts to experience more love. Self-love and self-involvement restrict that ability. Remember: God’s love is infinite, so use devotion as a stimulus to share His love with others. Start each day with the prayer, “Lord, how can I serve you today?” Then listen for guidance.
There are many ways in which we can increase our devotion: by repeating affirmations, by chanting, praying, meditating, listening to uplifting music, or writing a love-letter to God. We can record each evening all that we are grateful for—remembering that even intense challenges in our lives are special gifts from God, offering greater permanent happiness when overcome. When we count our blessings we are reminded of God’s grace, and we become filled with love and gratitude–devotion overflows.
In divine friendship,
Nayaswami Pushpa for Thank you, God!
The Devotion of a Master
Yogananda never forgot for an instant that the real Doer was God. He was only an instrument. Read “The Devotion of a Master” an article by Swami Kriyananda.
Love is a Magican
Enjoy listening to this deeply devotional song, “Love is a Magician,” written and sung by Swami Kriyanada.
Devotion Revealed
Personal Reflection by Nayaswami Pushpa
The topic for the upcoming Thank You God letter was “Devotion.” I struggled with this topic for weeks as my devotion has been waning somewhat as of late. Also, I wouldn’t normally describe myself as devotional; I lean more towards introspection. The more I affirmed devotion, the less confident I became. I researched many books, videos, and talks on the subject. But when I inserted my findings in the letter, the result was a chaotic mish-mash of other people’s ideas.
So I started over. I started by acknowledging all the things I was grateful for–there turned out to be a lot of them. Based on that, I wrote a Thank You letter to God. Then I went to sleep. I woke up with some new ideas! My monastic sisters prayed with me for clarity and inspiration. After we meditated, more ideas came and I was able to write the Thank You God letter.
An amazing thing happened after I wrote the first draft. When I looked at photos of Master, in each one of them he was smiling at me. I couldn’t help but smile back. I felt such a strong connection. A good friend told me that I sounded like a different person from the day before. I realized that I had been facing away from God, so the first thing I did was turn around and face Him I stopped the negative thinking and the self-absorption. Then I offered myself in service. When I invested my energy in devotion, I felt abundant love flowing through and around me. And I learned from this experience that devotion is very much alive within me!