In plain words
One cannot separate the paper from the picture printed on it, can one? In the same way, the Gopīs printed Kṛṣṇa's form on their hearts. Only as the fruit of the merit of many births does such firm faith in God arise.
“Raso vai saḥ”: God is the very form of rasa. There is no rasa greater than the rasa of Prema. In Prema there are tastes of many kinds. Not one taste: there are many tastes we do not know. There is a taste that brings absorption, a taste that brings purity, a taste that makes people intoxicated. That is why Nārada, describing the principle of God's Prema, said, “Yallabdhvā pumān icchārāmo bhavati, tṛpto bhavati, matto bhavati, ātmārāmo bhavati...” Only the birth of the man who has gained such Prema is a birth worthy of the name. To gain this Prema, develop within you the magnetic power called Prema. Then whatever you study will at once cling to your heart. If there is no magnetic power in you, however hard you study day and night, it is of no use; you will give in to the goddess of sleep; Kumbhakarṇa will come, call you, “Come, brother,” take you along and drown you in sleep. If there is magnetic power in you, neither the goddess of sleep nor Kumbhakarṇa will so much as look your way.
I have read the books, I have looked fully into all the śāstras, I have mastered peerless arts of learning, you say: why such pride? Your two hands it cannot fold to worship the Paramātma with Bhakti, this present learning, all of it, is worthless learning, see, O man!
If you forget God, what use is any amount of study? Remember God at least once a day. Pay no heed to the words of fools. If anyone says there is no God, question him at once: “Whose God? Your God? My God? For you, your God may well not exist. But what authority have you to say that my God does not exist?”