Swamiji on Bhakti Yoga

A lot of people think they have devotion towards God, but they do not. Real devotion is when one thinks of God all of the time, whether one eats, sleeps, or works. You cannot qualify yourself as a bhakta or a student on the path of bhakti yoga if you are not devoting your whole mind to God all of the time.

If you are not always thinking of God in this way, then you are not a devotee or bhakti yogi. For some of you, that comes as a shock. But that is devotion! Only thinking of God during six o’clock arti is not devotion. You can call that a sadhana or spiritual practice, but do not call it devotion. Humanity has to understand the rightful definition of devotion: devotion is when one’s mind and thoughts are ceaselessly centered on God, when one is continuously swept away in the thought of one’s Beloved—that and only that is devotion. Until then, you are only practicing to develop devotion, but please do not say you have devotion because that is not devotion.

— Swami Sai Premananda