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BHAKTI-YOGA.
ally at all. It is not true that a high order of intellectual development always goes hand in hand with a proportionate development of the spiritual side in man. In studying books we are sometimes deluded into thinking that thereby we are being spiritually helped ; but if we analyse the effect of the study of books on ourselves, we shall find that at the utmost, it is only our intellect that derived profit from such studies and not our inner spirit. This insufficiency of books to quicken spiritual growth is the reason why, although almost every one of us can speak most wonderfully on spiritual matters, when it comes to action and the living of a truly spiritual life, we find ourselves so awfully deficient. To quicken the spirit, the impulse must come from another soul.
The person, from whose soul such impulse comes, is called the gurun-the teacher, and the person to whose soul the impulse is conveyed is called the sishyam-the student. To