Bhakti or devotion is one of the ways to merge in God-consciousness. Sri Ramakrishna, an Indian saint who lived in the 1800’s, expressed a deep and powerful devotion to his preferred goddess, Kali. Through his absolute love for her and his total faith, he experienced a vision of the goddess and merged completely in oneness. He went about showering flower petals everywhere and he offered the sacred food that was meant to be used only at the temples to the cat, wrote one of his disciples in The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna. Ramakrishna said that he saw the same divinity in a cat, a prostitute and a beggar.

Devotion can be expressed to the form and name of the Divine that most touches the devotee. It may be a formal, traditional form like the Buddha, Jesus or Mother Mary. Or it may be through the spark of the Divine that you perceive in your child, your pet or your mate. By remembering the Divine name and the Divine Reality, that spark of God within all beings, the act of devotion uplifts and inspires. It brings the devotee to merge in the Divine.

An act of devotion brings the heart to soar. What will be your act of devotion today?

Bio: Debra Moffitt is author of Awake in the World: 108 Practices to Live a Divinely Inspired Life. A visionary and teacher, she’s devoted to nurturing the spiritual in everyday life. She leads workshops on spiritual practices at the Sophia Institute and other venues in the U.S. and Europe. Her mind/body/spirit articles, essays and stories appear in publications around the globe and were broadcast by BBC World Services Radio. She has spent over fifteen years practicing meditation, working with dreams and doing spiritual practices. Visit her online at http://www.awakeintheworld.com.