We saw that the bhakta’s path is different, exclusive.

Dharma–Artha–Kama–Moksha, keeping these as the purpose of life, goal of life, is for the common man, ordinary man.

Even among them, there are people who pretend to be following this path which is more of a show, more of an exhibition.
What is called holier than thou attitude, exhibition.
They gain nothing.

This four-fold path is purely a private affair.
Not for the world to watch and give ranking.

The moment you want to show off your spirituality, then you are gone.
Finished.

That is where your progress halts.
Not anymore.

Then you get respect, name, people will shower you with appreciation- what a great soul, what a noble soul, what a knowledgeable person, what a jnani!
But your spiritual life is finished.

This is why Sages advise- keep your spiritual life secret, keep your mantra secret, keep your sadhana secret.

Not for any other reason.
Not because the sky would fall.
It is for your own benefit.

But bhakta is obsessed, obsessed with proximity to the Lord.
Nothing else matters to the bhakta.
His path is different.

So, bhakti as parama-dharma means everything: thought, action, memory, everything is directed towards Sri Hari Paramatma.

When you say bhakti is the essence of all shastras, all teachings, this is what it means.

But what is that the bhakta does, what is it that you have to do as a bhakta?

Mind will keep on pulling you in all different directions.
Your attention will keep on wandering.
It won’t stay in one place.
That’s how the mind is.
That is the nature of the mind.

Don’t think it is only for you.
For everyone, it is like that.

But, then those who are successful, they control the mind.
They will keep on watching the mind.

The moment they realize that it has gone elsewhere, they forcefully bring it back.

Bring it back where?
To the Lord, to Sri Hari.

They will keep on watching their own mind so that it doesn’t drift away from Sri Hari.
Mind will still drift away, every time it drifts away, they bring it back.
Back to the Lord.

But then, what do they do with the mind?

The mind needs some activity, or it will start to drift again.

You have to listen to the glories of the Lord.
The leelas of the Lord.
You have to take the names of the Lord.
You have to keep on chanting the names of the Lord.

You have to enthusiastically tell about the glories of the Lord to others.
You have to sit alone and meditate upon his physical form.

You have to keep your mind steady on his physical form.
You have to do physical worship of his idol.

You will very soon realize that whatever you thought were formidable problems in your life, they are disappearing, on their own,

They disappear in two ways
One: they get solved on their own.

Two: they don’t matter to you anymore.
It will happen both ways.

The priority of life has changed.
The problems that were earlier threatening your very existence, they don’t matter to you anymore.

Once you see this reward, you get more and more immersed in this path.

This is a definite transformation that happens when you listen to his glory, tell it to others, meditate upon Him, and worship Him.

Nobody can stop you from this reward.
It is there for sure.

When this starts happening you will get more and more absorbed into him.