BHAKTI YOGA: LOVE FOR THE DIVINE MOTHER *Swami Yatiswarananda *

*How to Seek God*

*Swami Yatiswarananda*

Chapter # 7

BHAKTI YOGA: LOVE FOR THE DIVINE MOTHER

Page: 65-66

We are surrounded by vibrations of the Reality. We do not have to create them. If you are pure and sincere, you can experience them. It is through the will of the deity that the devotee worships the deity. The great philosopher Spinoza said: 'The love with which we love God is given by God. ' A little of that love comes to us, but we pollute it. Water may become filthy but you can purify it by distillation. This is the secret and necessity of all sadhana. It is from the Cosmic Source that we get to love and faith. With that we worship Him. Once Raja Ram Mohan Roy criticised a devotee: 'You are plucking flowers from the Lord's garden and offering to Him His own flowers --- how very ludicrous! ' But the devotee replied that he felt an inexpressible joy in offering something to the Lord. The mind is thereby uplifted to a higher plane. The same devotion and love appear as a terrible attachment on the lower plane. Behind everything is the unbelievable Lila, the sport of the Lord. He is the deity and He is the devotee. He alone knows the secret of His Lila. Sri Sankara's prayer to the Mother runs thus: *O Mother, You have, for the sake of sport, divided the One Spirit into two, namely,  Siva and jiva,  and then given the characteristics of a jiva to Siva; and again you convert the jiva into Siva*. This is the sport of God. The impure mind cannot know the I behind 'I am doing', 'I am saying' etc. When you progress in sadhana you will realize that the power and love flowing through the individual are a reflection,  apart,  of the power and love of God. When we worship God,  it is God worshipping Himself.