What we have seen in the world is just the reflection of the moon in the well. What we have seen in the world is just a reflection of the divine. We have not yet raised our eyes to the divine. We don’t even know how to raise our eyes. In all the religions of the world, people raise their eyes towards the sky when they pray. This is symbolic. The divine is not in the sky, but we must rise up, we must look up. The divine is somewhere beyond us, above us, but we have no idea of how to look upwards, beyond ourselves. We are so used to looking down. That is much easier.

Whenever you look at someone with physical desire, you are looking down. And when you look at someone with eyes full of prayer, you are looking upwards. This looking upwards is devotion, and that looking downward is love. The two are related. Both are connected, it is the same energy: when it goes down it becomes love, when it goes up it becomes devotion.

And the heart burns in devotion in exactly the same way that it burns in love. There is a difference – they are certainly different kinds of burning. There is a kind of fever in the burning of love and there is a kind of coolness in the burning of devotion – a cool fire. In the burning of love there is only burning: as though someone is sprinkling acid on a wound. In the burning of devotion, yes, the burning is there – the pain, the writhing of separation – but it is very cool, very calming.

My heart is on fire, Shefta,
Perhaps this is what they call love.

Love burns, devotion burns too. But there is a great difference between them. The fire of love burns you, the fire of devotion not only burns you, it also wakes you up. The fire of love puts you to sleep, the fire of devotion pulls you out of your sleep, it awakens you. In the fire of love you remain only your body, in the fire of devotion your body is lost and only the waking consciousness remains.

Devotion means:

I search for my maker;
I want to meet the one from whom I came.
I search for my source,
As hidden there
Is my final destiny.
I search for the ultimate,
For when that is found
No other search remains.

The learned person searches just as the devotee does, but the learned person’s search depends only on himself. The devotee says, “How can I accomplish the search by myself? You must help me.” He tells God, “I don’t have your address, but you must have mine. I may not know you, but you must know me. I may not have seen you, but you must have seen me. So when I search for you my search is one-sided, because I will be groping in the dark like a blind person. Please take my hand, please hold my hand in your hand.”

The learned person relies on himself. The path of the learned person is determination, will. The path of the devotee is surrender. The devotee says, “I will search, I will search with my whole life; but one thing is certain – that our meeting will only happen when you allow it. So please take care of this, don’t leave it to my searching alone.”