You are judged by your spiritual discipline not by the number of temples you go to or the quantity and the cost of the offerings you have made there. Do not calculate the length of time you have spent in the company of the Lord's Name and exult! Calculate rather the length of time you wasted, away from that contact and repent. Have Lord’s Name ever in your thoughts and you can brave any calamity! Remember how Mother Sita braved the taunts, insults and tortures of the aggressors in Lanka; what gave her the mental stamina? It was the Lord’s name (Rama nama) and nothing else. Desire and anger (Kama and krodha) cannot co-exist with true devotion to God. Your devotion to God must be sincere and steady. Bhakti is not a matter of beads and beards nor does worship consist of flowers and camphor! The seedling of devotion must be carefully watered, weeded, manured, and dusted with pesticides, to yield a harvest of love, peace and joy.

– Divine Discourse, Jan 29 1965.