God Makes the Rivers to Flow: An Anthology of the World's Sacred Poetry and Prose (Essential Easwaran Library Book 4)

by Eknath Easwaran

RABBI BAHYA IBN PAKUDA Duties of the Heart What is meant by wholehearted devotion to God alone? It means that in every act, public and private, the aim and purpose should be purely work for God’s sake, to please him only, without winning the approval of other people. How achieve wholehearted devotion to God alone? In ten ways. If these are firmly set in your heart and you clearly make them the basis of your actions, then your devotion to God will be complete. Then you will turn to no one else, set your hope on nothing else, and mold your will to none other than God’s. First is wholehearted acceptance that only God fills the universe; Second, that God is the source of all reality and is endlessly good; Third, that your goal is to work for God; Fourth, that you should rely on God alone and not physical beings; Fifth, that you get no ultimate gain or loss from physical beings, but only from the Creator; Sixth, that you should maintain evenness of mind regardless of whether people praise you or blame you; Seventh, that you should not make a show of spiritual