BHAKTI is not religious doctrine. It is not a product of intellect. Bhakti is concerned with your inner personal feelings, which come from the heart. It is constant awareness. Just as you have a deep feeling of terror, passion or enmity, in the same way, there is a deep feeling of true love for God. Instead of directing your emotions towards fear, anger and hatred, you have to direct them towards God. You must direct your emotions totally in the right direction.
When your feeling goes towards God, it is called bhakti. The same feeling from a mother for her child is affection, sneha. When it is directed towards a friend it is friendship. So, you do not have to be told how to develop your feelings because they already exist. You only have to be taught how to channel them. Bhakti is natural for everyone.
Only in bhakti yoga can the human mind stabilize itself easily. Give some time to serving God and the mind automatically becomes one-pointed. There has to be balance in life. You have to have as much devotion to God as you have cravings for enjoyment. Enjoy this world as much as you can, but side by side give as much devotion to God as possible.
The most important thing that you have to understand is that God is the centre of the universe. You can only see God through the eyes of your heart. The heart is free from selfishness. It is the source of sacrifice and selflessness. If you want to have any connection or relationship with God, then intellect is the barrier. You can discuss God through the intellect, but you cannot feel Him. You express your feelings through the heart. Love, hatred, passion, sacrifice and anger are feelings. You feel them; you do not see them. Similarly you cannot see God. God has to be felt.
Swami Satyananda Saraswati
