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94
BHAKTI-YOGA.
should be avoided (anuddharsha). Excessive mirth makes us unfit for serious thought. It also fritters away the energies of the mind. The stronger the will, the less the yielding to the sway of the emotions. Excessive hilarity is quite as objectionable as too much of sad seriousness, and all religious realisation is possible only where the mind is in a steady, peaceful condition of harmonious equilibrium.
It is thus that one may begin to learn to love the Lord, and this is what is known as the preparatory bhakti ( itu-ufa).
