20-17 EN How to Be Attentive During Sadhana?

Further clarification by Srila Bhakti Nandan Swami Maharaj:

In this Harikatha, when I used the examples of teddy bear or dolls for a child, what I actually wanted to mean was that a neophyte devotee is like a small child; still growing up. Let he/she be more open-hearted with child-like innocence and responsiveness (receptive character) while engaging in the services to the temple deities and alike. Why does a child like a teddy bear or human doll? Because, some sort of image of the real baby bear or the image of the real human in the form of a doll, is found there. Therefore, he/she mostly relates to them with the original images in their imaginations and feel some taste or likings that way… i.e. feeling certain relations…

In a similar way, when a devotee also relates to some beautiful, gracious image of the original God and/or Goddess in his/her loving imaginations while serving Them in deity-forms (idols), then he/she can also find and feel some more taste or happiness in that, beyond any monotonous experience. So the cultivation of the feelings of relationship or sambandha-jnana is most important.