Each person, according to their station and calling, must pursue devotion in their own manner. The gentleman, the craftsman and laborer, the servant, the nobility, the widow, the unmarried daughter, and the wife — all of them ought to practice devotion distinctly and separately. More than that, each must undertake their own practice while maintaining their health, their work, and their domestic duties intact.
Must a pious person live in solitude like Jain ascetics? Or is the tendency to accumulate more wealth unbecoming in a married person, compared to monks? Or should craftsmen sit perpetually within temples, as ascetics do? Or should those devoted to the sacred way always refrain from service to their neighbors, when pious people are forever engaged in such service?
Is not such devotional practice absurd, incongruous, and intolerable? Yet this very error is what people commonly commit. Because they cannot discern — or will not discern — the difference between true devotion and false devotion, they voice their discontent and blame devotion itself; and yet devotion bears no responsibility for all this confusion. The fault lies elsewhere entirely.
The truth is this: genuine devotional practice destroys nothing; rather, it perfects all things. And when such devotion does not align with a person's rightful occupation, it may certainly be called false. The bee gathers honey from the flower without leaving a single mark upon it; it preserves the flower exactly as it found it, whole and fresh. True devotion accomplishes even more; not only does it harm no profession or work, but it renders that work far more noble and beautiful.
When honey is spread upon a precious stone, it shines all the brighter — gleaming in its own hue. So too, those who walk the path of devotion undertake their own professions with far greater cheerfulness. As a result, family duties are discharged in peace; love between husband and wife becomes more sincere; the king becomes more vigilant in his obligations; and each person finds joy in all their work — such tasks become a delight to perform.
Many say that those engaged in the work of armies, factories, courts, and households ought to abandon the path of devotion. But this is wrong, indeed contrary to the teachings of faith itself. It is true that one form of devotion belongs entirely to the path of meditation, practiced by monks and ascetics in their monasteries. For people in such worldly occupations, such practice is not feasible. Yet beyond these three kinds of devotional practice, there are many others. For those immersed in the various callings of the world, these other forms serve as aids upon the path to excellence.
We have seen, indeed, that many have failed to achieve perfection in that very solitude which seems so especially suited to spiritual attainment; yet in the midst of clamor and tumult—conditions that appear wholly adverse to such achievement—they have succeeded. There are countless examples of men who conducted themselves with admirable virtue in the marketplace, only to fall into disgrace when they withdrew into solitude. Wherever we may find ourselves, we can endeavor to live a life of integrity and purity, and this endeavor is our duty.