Now many people, many devotees, many aspirants wonder how they can judge where they are and how much they have advanced, how much they are advancing towards God.
When you are traveling in the world there are milestones that you come across. You see milestones that tell you exactly how much you have advanced on your path.
Similarly, on the path of God-realization there are milestones in the spiritual realm as well. Looking at these milestones we can judge for ourselves whether we are on the right path, if we are on the right path, and how much we have advanced on our path.
The very first milestone you will see in the practice of devotion is the presence of tears. It is said that the day we begin to shed tears for Shri Krishna is in fact, the very first day of our sadhana. Whatever we did before that was just in preparation for this sadhana. So shedding tears should be our aim in the practice of devotion.
The great sage Narad ji has defined devotion in the following terms.
तद् विस्मराने परम व्याकुलता
Tad vismarane param vyākulatā.
“Practicing devotion to Shri Krishna means developing an intense desire for Him, such an intense desire that makes it difficult for you to live without Him.”
Each and every pore of our being should cry out for Him. There should be a stream of tears flowing from the eyes. This is called devotion.
