Ever singing my glory and striving with firm resolve, bowing down to Me in devotion, always steadfast, they worship Me. (Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 Verse 14).
They always talk of Me, their Bhagavan. They ever strive subjugating their senses, cultivating virtues such as self-control, kindness and innocence. Firm in their resolves, they worship Me with love, Me who am their very self, abiding in their hearts. These bhaktas are of unswerving faith. They are convinced that their mode of worship is the very best, and they persevere in it to the end. There are different ways of worship, as we shall see in the next verse, but the devotee is true to his own method. Other modes of worship are not evil, for after all it is Bhagavan who is worshipped. Still he regards the form of his Chosen Deity as the best and therefore he is faithful to his own form of worship.
Sri Ramakrishna lays much stress on the necessity of persevering in the path chosen. It matters not which path. But once we set out, we must go to the end. Having put the hand to the plough, we must not look back. He used to say, ‘It matters not whether you believe in God with form or in the formless Brahman. All will see Him if they have faith and perseverance.’ ‘But thou must cry unto Bhagavan,’ he says, ‘with a longing and yearning heart, whether thou believeth that God is with form or without form. Bhgavan is the Ruler of the soul within and He shall grant thy prayer if thy cry goes forth to Him out of the innermost recesses of thy heart.’ And he tells a story to illustrate that changing our view and efforts leads us nowhere.
There was a man who wanted to construct a well. He began to dig, but after going down a few feet, he stopped and began to dig somewhere else, thinking to get water there quicker. Again he dug a few feet and, finding the soil quite dry, changed to another place. So he went on and when night came he had dug many holes a few feet deep, but there was no water anywhere. Had he however persevered in one place he would have gone down many feet and water would have been obtained, whereas now his day’s labour was lost. Fluttering about, now here now there, going to hear this lecture and that, trying a little of this and of that, is only waste of energy and brings no lasting results. First find out what appeals to you as the highest Truth. And having once decided, penetrate to the very depth of that Truth.