Hearing and learning from the friends of our Lord and Lady washes away our sin, karma, and offenses. Scripture teaches that just one moment’s association with a pure Teacher, by their words and presence, establishes irrevocable transcendent love in the heart. This kind of love has a side-effect called nistha, or steadiness in faith, and it is this steadiness which carries us from the ocean of sense enjoyment and suffering, into Eternal Reality. All of the effects of our passion and ignorance are destroyed by this mercy and grace, and it is due to this, that God continuously sends His representatives into this world. To re-establish the clear path we are to follow. To call us Home.

The truth is, we are all imprisoned by sadness, grief, loneliness, anger, lust, wanting, craving, fear and ignorance. The test of our advancement in spirituality is in the depth of attachment we have to our daily practices like rosary, chanting of holy name, meditation, prayer etc. Those who connect with Divinity in a practical devoted way, find holy name to be a great solace. To say you love someone, yet not make an effort to get to know them, is to live a superficial existence, and this same truth can be applied to our relationship with God. The degree to which we dedicate time to a prayerful life, is the degree of love for God we have attained. Everything else is an illusion, driven by the self-absorbed pleasure seeking ego. For it is under the heavy clouds of our selfishness, that we remain separate from love, separate from bliss, and separate from God, Who is the sole Owner of these two ingredients.