Let me remind you, devotion is the most intimate, the most personal power of God. In fact, the most personal, antarang shakti, internal potency of God, as you know, is called surup shakti or chit shakti. And the most intimate aspect of God's personal power, surup shakti, is known as haladini shakti.
And this haladini shakti is the bliss-giving, bliss-imparting power of God. It is through this haladini shakti that God himself remains ever blissful, in spite of noting down all the impure thoughts, actions, desires of each and every individual soul residing in this creation, residing in each and every universe existing in this creation. And it is through this haladini shakti that not only does God himself remain ever blissful, but he grants the same bliss to the surrendered soul as well.
And when you extract the essence of this haladini shakti, the essence is what is called bhakti, devotion, prem, love. And it is this bhakti, this devotion, for which Lord Krishna himself tells us, in the Bhagavatam,
अहं भक्तपराधीनो ह्यस्वतन्त्र इव द्विज । साधुभिर्ग्रस्तहृदयो भक्तैर्भक्तजनप्रिय: ॥
śrī-bhagavān uvāca ahaṁ bhakta-parādhīnohy asvatantra iva dvija. sādhubhir grasta-hṛdayo bhaktair bhakta-jana-priyaḥ.- Bhagvatam 9.4.63
Lord Krishna says that I am absolutely independent. Of course, he's independent. There's nothing beyond him. He is the ultimate, the limit, he is the ultimate limit.
That is a definition of God, that he is infinite, anant. So there's nothing beyond him.He's absolutely independent. And yet, he says, I'm absolutely independent, yet the magic word known as bhakti, devotion, binds me. It makes me dance in the same way as a puppeteer makes a puppet dance.
Literally, the shloka means that these saints, in other words, the devotee, has devoured my heart. In other words, conquered me. He governs my heart.
Such is a magical spell of God's own divine power, the uniqueness of God's own divine power, called bhakti.
In the Bhagavat, Lord Krishna, as God says, that he walks behind his devotees, not to protect them, no, but to be blessed by the dust of their feet.
So this is the reason why God is very reluctant in granting devotion to the individual soul, because once he grants it, he himself becomes the eternal servant, the eternal servitor of his own devotee. Such is the uniqueness of God's own divine power, called bhakti
