How to Move Deeply Into the Now Through Devotion

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Last Updated: December 8, 2025

“Many spiritual pathways exist, including wisdom (gyana), inward control of the mind (yoga), faith, and serving mankind (service). While these paths are valid, devotional love (bhakti) is the sweetest and most direct method to attain me.” — Lord Krishna speaking from his essence identity. So to move deeply into the stillness or now, feel the love and devotion for the sacred light or presence within. When you feel the love and awe for the formless and colorless light within, it deepens and takes you to the unmanifested — the source, the ocean of pure stillness.

Method 1

Method 1 of 4:

Recognize the Stillness Within

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1
Recognize the dimension of Stillness within you. There is a dimension within us which is unconditional and always accessible in the Now. It’s more joyful and peaceful than anything the world can offer. This dimension makes it possible to experience the world. Without it, there would be no world. It’s the warmth and aliveness of conscious space. The same background spaciousness or stillness — through which all things came into existence, are sustained and dissolve back into. Stillness is who you are in essence.
- This is the stillness that dissolves the accumulation of pain and past patterns, transmutes anxiety, unhappiness, and dissolves blockages that feed egoic identity.
2
Feel the energy or shakti flowing upward through each chakra. That’s the still and alive river flowing back to the source. For a God realized person, it’s very strong sometimes, while other times it’s like a distant melody. It’s infinitely more loving and joyful than anything this world can provide. It’s uncaused, and no achievement of the world can attain it. When you abide in that state, the cosmic energy responds to situations, people and challenges with its infinite intelligence rather than the limited reactive Ego.
- Pleasures of the world are bound by the laws of impermanence and polar opposites. Which means any pleasure or experience is subject to time, so they eventually dissolve or end and their absence or when it’s not enough anymore, may cause pain. While dimension of stillness is unconditional and always present within you. The still dimension, contentless and timeless, is always accessible in the Now; buried underneath the clouds of mind. It’s beyond any conditions and natural laws and yet the most natural.
- “The Tao is dark and unfathomable. How can it make it radiant? Because she lets it. Since before time and space were, the Tao is. It is beyond is and is not.” — Tao Te Ching

Method 2

Method 2 of 4:

Bring Devotion in your spiritual practices

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1
Bring devotion into your spiritual practices. If you want to go deep within, then come from true love for God or Being. Otherwise, relying on techniques, methods, practices, and even knowledge, you will likely end up struggling. What is true love for God? Feeling the oneness with formless presence that flows within — it comes with the realization that you are the background awareness, and only devotion and/or love for the light of awareness within can truly take you beyond.
- ““You go often into the silence, but have you developed anubhava?" He was reminding me to love God more than meditation. "Do not mistake the technique for the goal."” Paramhansa Yogananda in Autobiography of a Yogi.
- As you are going through the spiritual journey, one of the paths may be more predominant in your life. For example: For some people, knowledge could be a predominant path. But as you go deeper into spirituality, you will realize that devotion is indeed the most effective and direct.
2
Talk to God or stillness in the language of your heart. Talk as if you would talk to a parent or a beloved, with great devotion and love^{[1]
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Research source
Yogananda, Paramahansa. <i>Autobiography of a Yogi.</i> New York, NY: The Philosophical Library, 1946. Page 66}. Feel the awe. When the light of presence is shining through or you’d like to call upon the light, just talk to that light intuitively through inner space. You can use words or chants, but they are secondary. It’s the sincerity and love for the light within that is primary. Which is the true meaning of praying. You express your love through intuition, for the beautiful divine light, which is in essence who you are and at the same time infinitely greater than you.
- "Can you cleanse you inner vision until you see nothing but the light" Tao Te Ching.
- You may even demand as if demanding from a parent. However be aware that your demanding doesn’t become a mental concept. Mind may come and try to obscure the light through compulsive thinking, emotions and blockages, but as you go deeper into the light; spaciousness within, mental noise becomes distant, as you glide into the vast emptiness of inner-space. You realize that it’s the true liberation.
3
Trace the river to its source. As the flux of presence or cosmic energy^{[2]
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Auto page 364} deepens, you merge into the ocean of pure stillness, like a river merging into the sea. Devotional chanting helps you feel love for light and trace the river to its source. Devotion also implies voluntary surrender because you are looking for nothing else but the light within, and you let everything else take care of itself.
- “He simply reminds people of who they have always been. He cares about nothing but the Tao. Thus he can care for all things.” Tao Te Ching.
- In other words, you are in complete acceptance. This naturally helps remediate the struggles you face to become present, when you truly understand the meaning of devotion.
4
Feel the power of presence. The more you devote to the light within, faith or trust in the light naturally deepens, and the compulsion to “make” things happen through effort, will and resistance — which are ultimately of the ego and self serving — dissolve. You no longer worry about the past or future and worldly desires and fears lose power over you. You trust life itself, as life knows better.
- “Life has more to give us than we can take for ourselves.” — Michael Singer.
- If an action or words are required, they arise from inner space. Presence runs your life. This is not a belief but a divine realization through constant intuitive connectedness with the cosmos.
- ”Spontaneous action arises through you and you are not doing it.” Eckhart Tolle.
5
Recognize the world as a game. The invisible light dissolves the seriousness of roles, identities, concepts, craving for more etc., which are mind created. You recognize the world as a divine play — not to be taken too seriously. That’s when your actions and words become non-reactive, infinitely intelligent and the fear of loss fades. Everything is honored but nothing really matters. Universe experiences itself through you.
- ”Only one thing is of absolute importance. That is your connectedness with being” Eckhart Tolle.

Method 3

Method 3 of 4:

Detect the subtle patterns

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1
Become aware of subtle patterns. As light of presence deepens, you are able to detect even the subtlest unconscious patterns, amidst engagement in complex tasks. As disidentification with mind frees up vast amounts of consciousness. Egoic patterns like suppression, subtle physical tension or resistance in brain, chest, neck, and face muscles, or anywhere in the body—— rooted in longing to become free or dissolve the underlying pain — are detected, brought into awareness and you just let go of them.
- This also includes dead end world of subtle thoughts, concepts and emotions in which you have been unconsciously seeking yourself. For example: many people have unconscious or subconscious thoughts expecting spiritual fireworks, and transformation quickly. Which is usually not the case for most people on spiritual path. As, for most people, the transformation is gradual and requires cooperation. Thoughts like these can be detected more easily and then let go of.
2
Recognize the deeply conditioned urges to always do something. The compulsive impersonal urges to do something imply that you don’t want to be in the present moment or you are not comfortable with not-doing or this moment is not good enough, so the mind is always looking for some kind of mental stimulus or activity. These urges are backed by entrenched egoic structures based on a dysfunctional relationship with the Now. These urges lead to you look for stimulus, which could be personal preferences of the mind on the basis of it conditioning. However, the common denominator is that it wants to chase one high or stimulus after another, which eventually leads to the intensification of pain as this cycle becomes repetitive and more frustrating, when the chase is unconscious.
- Once you recognize this, you can bypass the inner and outer drama(urges, resistance, compulsive thinking etc.) and just follow and merge with light within with devotion. Stay within the inner-space, and the joy and peace become more intense and joyful than any other pleasures or experience of the world, so naturally they lose significance. That’s the power that transcends you beyond your urges — biological, sexual, etc. — that keep you trapped and make you seek fulfillment outside in the world; which it can't give.
  - This, of course, doesn't mean to not enjoy the pleasures of this world but unconscious seeking for long last fulfillment dissolves.
- However, if the identification with urges is strong then that could work for you too as intense suffering caused by the identification may eventually force you to see the frustrating and dissatisfactory nature of world and accept the now or relinquish resistance. It can help you see for yourself that following egoic urges and desires ultimately cause suffering.
3
Let go of all psychological discomfort. Looking for that perfect environment, situation, person, and so on to feel content — but there’s no end to it. It will never be perfect. Even if it is "perfect", it will change as it's subjected to the law of impermanence. The never-content mind finds excuses to do something or complains when something is not happening according to its rigid expectation. See if you can overcome the limitation internally by simply accepting the Now. Basically, it’s the Egoic thought structure that says “When this or that happens, then I’ll be satisfied and happy” — this keeps you in a state of discomfort and focused on future or dwell on past, if something in the past was according to its desires. Even if the day comes, mind’s satisfaction is short-lived and you look for something “better”. Something to look forward to. That’s the very nature of mind to not be content in the now, except temporarily. Unaware that space of present moment is the most precious thing there is, where there's true contentment.
4
Don’t give the egoic mind time of the day. However, don’t make it an enemy or obstacle or means to an end, considering that the mind is a beautiful and powerful instrument, but at the same time be absolutely alert to not follow it. Notice the waves of egoic energy, however subtle, coming from the left and right sides of your head and heart area.
- Chanting helps to point to the light within and replace compulsive thinking. That’s the true purpose of chanting. Realize that you are not chanting for some human form. Even if chanting is for a human form, it’s for the divine vibrant cosmic light shinning through that human form. This also includes pictures, books, videos, statues etc. of spiritual teachers. Many religious people are stuck at this level as they are worshipping and romanticizing the “form”, books and stories of spiritual teachers.

Method 4

Method 4 of 4:

Stillness is who you are in essence

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1
Make presence or stillness your identity. As you trace the colorless cosmic light to its source, you merge with the one. You become very simple and real. You enjoy and honor the world, but you are not bound to it. You naturally realize the transience and insignificance of forms, your stories, desires, and fears. You recognize that they ultimately cause pain. You are fine without those concepts, labels, titles, roles etc., which are ultimately thoughts. In fact, you are more yourself without them. This does not mean to leave things or not honor them; you honor the world(relationships, work, possessions, knowledge etc.) but you are not bound to it. The attachment and identification with forms, relationships, roles from which you derive your identity, dissolve.
2
Realize that you are not your past or future when you are still. When you are present, you have no future or past, as they are thoughts. You are deep into the vertical dimension; unconditioned dimension of stillness. untouched by time. Just like immense gravity of a black hole warps time, similarly, being deeper in touch with the inner space can cause one’s perception to stretch and become absorbed in an experience of timelessness.
- You are not the content of your mind — its compulsiveness, behavior traits and its magnetic pull. You naturally let go of all the practices, methods, chanting etc.; you become one with the source. When you realize that, you just fall into the void. You have nothing to hold on to. That’s dying before you die.
- “The Master gives himself up to whatever the moment brings. He knows that he is going to die, and he has nothing left to hold on to: no illusions in his mind, no resistances in his body.” Tao Te Ching
- It’s also possible that you may feel intense fear because all meaning so far has been derived from the world and attachments to it. So ego may desperately hold on to the worldly relationships, things, stories, etc in fear. Which is why it is said “Ego is identification with form; primarily thought forms”. However, more you realize that identification with Ego ultimately leads to pain and suffering, and feel the joy and peace of the stillness within, the fear and attachment dissolve.

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Tips

Just focus on the river of presence so the predominant pathway becomes devotion, But at the same time, you are also in touch with other pathways, such as knowledge, service, doing, and so on. As they work hand in hand and compliment each other.

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Sometimes it’s okay to just continue to engage with the mind, especially when the mind’s momentum is high. Which happens automatically anyway as there's no choice because you are identified with it. Suffering created by this disidentification has potential to force you to withdraw from the unhappy self.

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Let go of deadening world of thought, concepts, desires etc. You don't need it.

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