Bhakti (devotion) occupies pride of place in Bharathiya culture. Devotion does
not only mean performing rituals, undertaking pilgrimages, or visiting temples. These are actions merely indicative of devotion. There is a power which provides the
impulse for these actions and that is the love of God. Bhakti means Paripurna
Prema(complete love). This love is motiveless; love based on a reason cannot be
real love. As a river seeks to join the ocean by a natural impulse, as a creeper
winds itself naturally around a tree to climb upwards, the devotee's love is
a spontaneous expression of the yearning to realise God. It is free from worldly
desires of any kind. To experience the presence of the Divine, your love
should flow as a pure selfless stream. You should regard the Divine as the One
that pervades everything. Practise seeing God in every object in the cosmos
and firmly believe that all names and forms are derived from God.
- Divine Discourse, Sep 15, 1988.