Whatever is your favourite name hold fast to it. No need for any doubt or worry. (BSS Part II, p. 93)
The senses say, ‘Why struggle? Eat, drink and be merry, while you can’, but, the Guru says, ‘Death lands on you without notice: overcome its fear now, before its calls’. ‘Now - is the true friend; yesterday has deceived you and gone; tomorrow is a doubtful visitor. Today is the fastest friend; hold fast to it’. (SSS Vol.4, p. 24)
Hold fast - that must be your vow. Whoever is your Ishta Devata, Vishnu or Rama or Shiva or Venkateswara, hold fast. Do not lose the contact and the company; for, it is only when the coal is in contact with live embers that it can also become live ember.
Cultivate nearness with Me in the heart and you will be rewarded. Then you too will acquire a fraction of the supreme prema. This is a great chance. This chance will not come your way again, beware of that. If you cannot, if you do not cross the sea of grief now, taking hold of this chance, when again can you get such a chance? Really you are the fortunate few; out of the millions of people you have come, though no one specially invited you to be present here. That is what I call the mark of destiny. (SSS Vol.4, p. 89)
A person driving a car concentrates on the road for he is anxious to save himself and others from accident. Fear is what induces single-mindedness in this case. Love is a greater force for achieving concentration. If you have steady and resolute love, your concentration becomes intense and unshakeable. Faith develops into love and love results in concentration. Prayer begins to yield fruit under such conditions. Pray using the Name as a symbol of the Lord, by keeping all the waves of the mind still. Let the performance of a duty be the only justification for your coming into the world. Hold fast to the Lord. The bhakta (devotee) should never retract. Never give way to doubt or despair. (SSS Vol.2, p. 73)
Namasmarana