Devotion and theSpiritual Life.^87
And here I take occasion to read to you
words that came only a day or two ago from
an Indian Disciple, which will give you the
meaningof devotion farbetter thananywords
of mine. Hewrote:
DevotiontotheBlessed Onesisasinequanon of
allspiritualprogressandspiritualknowledge. Itgives
you theproperattitudeinwhichtoworkon all the
planes oflife. It createstheproper atmospherefor
thesoulto grow andflower in love and beauty, in
wisdomandpower. Ittunes theharpof theheart,
andthusmakesitpossibleforthemusiciantoplaythe
correctnotes. Thatisthefunctionof devotion. But
youmustknowthenotesyouhavetoplay,yourfingers
mustlearnhow tosweep alongthestrings, andyou
musthaveamusicalear,orbetterstill,amusicalheart.... Whatisproper tuningtothemusicalinstru-
mentthatdevotionistothehumanMonad. Butother
facultiesareneededfortheproductionofvarioussweet
strams.Thereyouhavethemeaningofdevotionma
few words. It is the tuning of the heart.
Knowledge may be needed for the different
strains thatarewanted,but devotiontunes theheart and the soul, so that every strain may
come out in perfect harmony. Then is the
growthinlove,thenisthegrowthinknowledge,
thenisthe growthin spiritual purity: then all
the forces of the spiritual spheres are helping