The external ambience acts like an encouraging factor for our devotional sentiment but its foundation lies in our own keenness to meet Him.

Like all the other realized souls, Swami Vivekananda too has said that we need not try to bind God by languages, dress codes etc rather we need to recognize the Supreme Being by building a personal bond with Him. He is formless but readily takes up various forms as per the notions of His different devotees.

It is our own wishes which disturb us and more than that we expect others to live as per our standards. We must always remember that each individual has its own lot to face and hence there is no need to be over concerned for anybody. Moreover, if we sincerely submit to God's arrangement, every occurrence will progressively lead us towards Him i.e. joureny of life will get enrouted through 'Govind ki Galiyan.'

Just like any other pursuit, spiritual success too has three prerequisites- identifying a goal for the soul, second is to tirelessly endeavor towards it and then patiently waiting for the desired result even if it looks to be getting delayed. He may put our faith to severe tests but we have to remain determined. Moreover, the route of divine love frees us from the customary worshiping as love itself is the supreme form of worship. So if we resolutely aim at attaining God in the present life only, things surely begin to fall in place to take us ahead.

Every word originates from sound and each sound has its echo. So a devotee should practise chanting so fervently that the echo of naam jap/mantra begins to be heard from inside while he is silent outwardly. This is called ajpa- jap i.e. continuous chanting through our sub conscious mind. It happens with the grace of God only but firstly the seeker needs to be desperate for Him. Then only our chants can bring the desired result.

There are said to be five stages of reflecting upon personal form of God- Dhaarna, dhyaan, dhruv smriti, svaroop chintan and samadhi. It starts from taking His form as a particular figure which may be Lord Ram, Lord Krishna, Lord Shiva, Devi Durga and like. Second step is to hold the same figure inside our body and attentively focus on it. 'Naam sankirtan' scientifically helps in strengthening this practice of concentrated inner visualization as the centrifugal force of the sound waves throws the wandering thoughts away and the gravitational force of the devotional words makes our heart feel His touch.

Spirituality basically demands the dissolution of self into its source. In the present times of Kalyuga, Hari naam sankirtan is the most favorable way to immerse ourselves into Lord.

Unlike yogic energy, the cosmic energy moves from top to bottom. A devotee visualizes the personal form of God through his closed eyes and the image gets affixed in his heart. The sound waves of his mantra jaap also move in a downward direction due to which an echo is produced from within.

We all are aware of the heart present in our physical body whose main function is  to circulate the purified blood. Apart from that, a subtle heart is located in the center of our chest which carries the feelings. It is called 4th chakra as per yogic terms. The more we are connected to God through chanting or meditating on Him, stronger this chakra is and greater is its hold on our physical heart. So a devotee expresses gratitude for filling up his subtle heart with the Divine experiences which sustains him against all situational odds. This forms the basis of hypnotherapy too.

Though none of us can escape from the predetermined script of destiny, yet at many hard times, unexpectedly some assistance comes to our aid. Often we are surprisingly saved from commiting a big blunder. Instead of taking such sudden instances just as coincidences, if we start believing them to be the signs of God watching us and holding our hand invisibly, it builds up a personal bond with Him. Then remembrance of the grace received in the past becomes the recurring source of our inner strength. _ Sudaama signifies a faithful devotee who lives by God. He feels himself to be incapable of doing anything and thus He feels himself to be incapable of doing anything and thus attributes all his achievements to the Divine power which acts through him.

Once an affluent trader prayed to Lord, “I know you are there but I wish to experience You more closely.” Lord gave His silent consent. Next morning when that devotee went for a walk on sea-shore he saw four footsteps on sand as he walked on. He immediately understood that Lord was making him feel His presence. He was elated. Soon his business got into a financial dump and many of his associates left him but the man cared for none because he was confident of God's presence with him. As the conditioned worsened he was taken aback to see that sand was now getting the imprint of only two footsteps. This caused him much disappointment that God also left him. Anyhow days of depression passed by and the normality began to return in his life. Now again, four foot-steps became visible. The trader argued with God to know why He abandoned him in the hour of distress. His heart got the answer as if Lord was saying “I did not go away rather i was carrying you in my lap due to which you could see only two foot-steps. As you are now capable of moving on your own I have lifted you down.” In this way He invisibly holds the devotees during their hard times. The situations reamin tough but His grace lets them pass by easily. this way devotees directly experience Him in their hearts, talk to Him and get response too.

He is certainly present everywhere but it is our zeal to see Him which makes Him actually apparent outside and within.

It is only our conviction in His existence that makes us actually feel Him. It is well corroborated by the story of Hiranyakashipu asking his son Prahlad “where is your Narayan?” The boy says that He is omnipresent. The father is not convinced and asks him specifically if Lord is there in a sizzling pillar standing in front of them. As the son replies yes he is asked to touch it. Prahald ji spontaneously embraces the hot pillar but nothing hurts him. This convinces Hiranyakashipu that Narayan is surely present in the pillar due to which Prahalad is unharmed. So he strikes on it with a motive to hit Narayan and then lord Narsimha indeed appears. Hence it can be said that Lord appeared out of his conviction.

In the field of spirituality, a yogi is compared to a baby monkey whereas a bhakta is seen as a baby cat. Just like infants clasping their mother tightly while jumping from one place to another, Gyaanis and Dhyaanis always keep their hold firm on Almighty. On the other hand, kittens are totally dependent on their mother who softly carries them in her mouth and this explains the state of a bhakta too. However, he has to do meaow meaow at least which means calling out His name. In other words, a devotee zealously chants His name, asking Him to come (पुकारना) and tirelessly waits for His appearance. (इंतज़ार करना)

A man took his child to a fair holding him by his finger. Seeing the attractive toys and candies the boy demanded to have them again and again. As a result the man lost him in the crowd. Likewise we get carried away by the alluring colors of Lord’s creation get lost. However a surrendered soul remarks that devotees are like His children, too small for self protection, enjoying the world’s fair with an assurance that their 'Almighty Father' is holding them. So if we go missing any time, it is His carelessness to let us go astray.

Once a man asked Goswami Tulsidas ji that which scene he liked the most out of the four- Lord Rama playing in the palace of Ayaodhya or Lord Rama breaking Shiv dhanush in Janakpuri or Lord Rama spending intimate time with His wife in Chitrakut or Lord Rama sitting at a mountain peak in Lanka. Tulsidas ji replied that the fourth scene is closest to heart. On being inquired about the reason he said that land of Ayodhya is 'Karam bhoomi' where king Dashrath performed Yagya and received Lord as his son. Land of Janankpuri signifies 'Gyaan maarg' of King Janak wherein ego (depicted by dhanush) is smashed by Lord which led to His marriage with Goddess Sita. Land of Chitrakut is filled up with 'Bhakti' being personified by Mata Sita. Tulsidas ji said that he was eligible for none of three paths but his conscience was a ready-made Lanka. So he expected that as Lord Rama forcibly entered into the premises of Ravana He would conquer his conscience also and make it free of all pervert tendencies. This is called Sharnagti (unconditional surrender)- the fourth path to reach God.

Nature provides us an opportunity to visualize the divine rendezvous. Looking at a cloudy sky a devotee feels as if the dark colored Krishna is lying on sky and the greenery spread on Earth seems to be Shri Radha. In response to Kishori ji's call Krishna descends in the form of rain drops to embrace Her.

Darshan (visualising God) is of two types- external (maaya sahit) and internal (maaya rahit). Looking at His statues, pictures etc is the external darshan accompanied by various protocols and other paraphernalia. On the other hand, He stays within us in His natural form and encountering Him that way is absolutely hassle free. So we should all pray for His grace that we can behold Him internally and witness His active presence in the whole nature around us, not just in constructed Temples.