Many who stand at the doorway of spirituality wait for a miracle. They wait for a mystical vision, a sudden awakening, a divine encounter — something extraordinary to happen first, as if that will mark the official beginning of their spiritual life.

There’s an old line: Knowledge wakes devotion. Then devotion brings deeper knowledge. Another line answers it from the other side: Before knowledge, devotion stirs; from devotion, surrender rises. Which one is “right”? Both. The path is not a straight road. It is a spiral. Sometimes knowledge lights the match. Sometimes love does. Either way, when one wakes, it shakes the other awake. And when both are awake, samarpan—surrender—stands up by itself.

Picture a seeker in a forest. Red-blue dhoti. Bare feet on dust. A huge tree behind him. In front: a long track filled with hurdles—hundreds of them—yet he can’t see a single one. That is most of us on the path. Our obstacles are ours, but they are invisible to us. They are Agyan/Avidya—conditioning, habits, fears, identities—so close to our face that we call them “me.” On the side stands the Guru. Calm. Smiling. She can see every hurdle on your track.