Swami Prakashanand on Finding the Love Divine: Dedication & Devotion

Swami Prakashanand, a revered spiritual teacher, illuminates the Vedic path of devotion as the means to experiencing Divine love. In his teachings, he stresses that God cannot be found through intellectual effort alone, but rather through heartfelt dedication. By balancing worldly duties with sincere devotion, seekers can cultivate a deep, unwavering longing for God, drawing closer to Him with every sincere thought and prayer.

According to Swami Prakashanand Saraswati’s..

The Vedas were revealed in the very beginning, even before human civilization. According to our Indian Divine history, the very first people on this earth were all descended Saints. They appeared with the will of God, and they started the human generation. So from those days, the Vedas exist. There are many, many branches of the Vedas.

The Vedas point out two main things, Nayamatma pravachanen labhyha, "You cannot find God with intellectual speculation, intellectual analysis, or intellectual research." But the Ved did not say that you can never find God, it said you cannot find God with your intellect. Then what is the path? Bhakti revenam nayati bhakti revenam darshyati... Ved says 'bhaktihi' If you dedicate yourself, you can find God. Dedication is not the act of your intellect. Dedication is the act of your heart, or you can say your emotional mind.

So through complete dedication, you can find God. Complete dedication means, say for instance you are in the world and you have a family, husband or wife, children you have to support, and you have a job. Don't leave anything but devote some time for God also. It means you are doing fifty-fifty. You are putting half your mind in the world and half your mind in God. Even then it is quite enough.

Suppose you got that great longing for God realization, and you want, "Oh, I must find God right now. Not tomorrow. Not tonight. Why not now?" And you support your thoughts with your understanding. Here comes the right use of your intellect. What was the understanding?

You know through scriptures, through writings of Saints, that He is kind. He is kind, and He can shower His kindness any time. So when He is kind, why can't He shower His kindness on you now?

There's no reason why He can't because He is almighty. He has no dates or appointments for various people. He has no diary because in the Divine world, there is no limitation. We keep our diary because we are limited to 24 hours in the day, limited to about 30 days in the month. We have all the limitations. So we keep a diary and make appointments. But in God's kingdom, there's no limitation of anything, so there's no diary. It is open all the time. Come and receive. The delay is from the soul's side, not from God's side. Giver is giving. It is for the receiver when he's ready to receive it. So that you have to understand intellectually.

Then both things are being properly used, your mind and your heart; your emotion and your intellect. So when you intellectually learn that, "Yes, God is kind, and He can show Himself any time, then why not now?" With this understanding, when your longing goes deeper and deeper, and deeper, He comes closer, and closer, and closer to you.

In conclusion, Swami Prakashanand Saraswati emphasizes that while intellectual analysis alone cannot lead to God; true realization is attained through heartfelt dedication. By balancing worldly responsibilities with spiritual devotion, seekers can deepen their longing for the Divine. When one's intellect affirms God's kindness and ever-present grace, and the heart reaches out with genuine devotion, the distance between the soul and God naturally diminishes, bringing one closer to divine realization.