BHAKTI YOGA :5 - 1.a
5. NAVA-VIDHA-BHAKTI -1.a.
Sravana is hearing of Lord's Lilas.
Sravana includes hearing of God's virtues, glories, sports and stories connected with His divine Name and Form.
The devotee gets absorbed in the hearing of Divine stories and his mind merges in the thought of divinity; it cannot think of undivine things.
The mind loses, as it were, its charm for the world.
The devotee remembers God only even in dream.
The devotee should sit before a learned teacher who is a great saint and hear Divine stories.
He should hear them with a sincere heart devoid of the sense of criticism or fault-finding.
The devotee should try his best to live in the ideals preached in the scriptures.
One cannot attain Sravana-Bhakti without the company of saints or wise men.
Mere reading for oneself is not of much use.
Doubts will crop up. They cannot be solved by oneself easily.
An experienced man is necessary to instruct the devotee in the right path.
Swami Sivananda
To be continued ....
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