Tears of devotion wash away the impurities of the mind and lead us towards God and help us get closer.
So the practice of devotion, of course, sadhana, is of the utmost importance. As we advance in our practice, we will start having Divine experiences - Divya bhav. Then our mind will be fixed on God. As long as we don’t practice devotion, we waver between surety and doubt. And without this practice of devotion, we can neither benefit from our Guru, nor can we solve our doubts regarding God.
So, tears are of the utmost importance. So we must, in other words, cleanse our heart with tears of love for Shri Krishna. And also bear in mind that whatever I’m telling you about the practice of devotion is all in accordance to the Vedas and the scriptures. All the Saints have also emphasized the need to purify the heart through the practice of devotion. There’s no other means to purify the heart.
We can believe this today and take full advantage of this human form and practice devotion in this way or we can believe it countless lifetimes afterwards, later. But the answer will be the same. The method, the process, will be the same. Without tears, you cannot purify the heart. Without tears, we cannot melt Shri Krishna’s heart, the heart of our Divine beloved. Then how will He shower His grace on us? So tears are absolutely necessary.
If someone comes to you wearing yellow robes and tells you that there’s another means to purify the heart, then do not believe him or her. Many so-called holy people will tell you that it is enough to recite the scriptures, to recite the Hanuman Chalisa, for instance, or to offer rituals and ritualistic prayers, to Mother Durga and so on, and that tears are not necessary. No, do not believe them.
Always bear in mind that we may read the Gita even or the Ramayana as many times as we like, but we cannot attain God without shedding tears for Him.
Our aim is to attain Shri Krishna and there’s only one way to attain Him.
मिलहिं न रघुपति बिनु अनुरागा।
Milahiṇ na raghupati binu anurāgā.- Ramayan 1.7.62
“He cannot be attained without love.”
“And the definition of love is…”
तद विस्मरणेन परम व्याकुलतेति
Tad vismaraṇen param vyākulateti- Narad Bhakti Sutra 19
“...having an intense yearning, developing such an intense yearning for Him.”
And what is the recognition of this yearning? A continuous flow of tears from the eyes.
नयनं गलद्-अश्रु-धारय वदनं गद्गद-रुद्धया गिरा ।
पुलकैर् निचितं वपुः कदा तव नाम-ग्रहणे भविष्यति ।।६।।.
Nayanaṁ galad-aśhru-dhārayāvadanaṁ gadgad-ruddhayā girā.
Pulakair nichitaṁ vapuḥ kadā tav nām-grahaṇe bhaviṣhyati. (verse 6)- Gaurang Mahaprabhu Shikshashtakam
(“O Lord, when will my eyes be decorated with flowing tears, my voice be choked with emotion,
and the hairs of my body stand on end, all as a result of chanting Your Divine name?”)
There are relevant verses, statements and quotes found in Western philosophy as well.
“Cry unto the Lord with a longing and yearning heart, and then you shall see Him.”
“Regularly practice devotion, and you shall see God.”
Practice is absolutely necessary. We never understand until we experience (it). And just to elaborate on that point, we can never experience it until we practice. So, one other final quote,
“Simply listening to explanations and theories will not do.”
So therefore, “Sadhana karu, sadhana karu, sadhana karu piyare!”
