Satyopanisad

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Swami! In spite of a long period of desiring to be devoted to God, devotion

somehow does not grow as intense as it should. What is essential to develop

devotion of the magnitude and intensity expected of a true devotee?

 

Here it is not time that matters. An iron ball in a pond, however long it might

stay there, will never change. It will remain as it is without any change in it.

You should know that it is transformation that is important. It is the goal you

set for yourself that matters most. Until then, you should pursue your goal not

mindful of the time involved.

 

You know a lamp has a container, a wick, and oil. With a wick kept for long in

water, you can never light a lamp even if you use any number of matchsticks.

Impossible! What you should do is, take the wick out of water, keep it in

sunshine for some time and dry it. Then you will be able to light the wick

easily. Here the process of drying the wick in sunlight is renunciation. The

procedure of lighting it with a matchstick is sadhana and the light you get

thereby is devotion or intense Love for God. The lamp is the human body. The

same process is applicable to those who are not devoted, as you have said. The

more they are drenched and drowned in worldly life, the farther they are from

God, the source of all light; they can never light the lamp of their life. Dry

it in the sunshine of detachment so as to be benefited by the light of devotion.

Some people in spite of a prolonged period of stay and association are not

devoted as much as they should be, for the simple reason: They lack detachment

from worldly things. Therefore, intense devotion is not given to everybody.