In certain religions it also means a complete surrender to the deity as the devotee's savior from the swamps of a worldly existence. Even the word devotion, especially in the religious sense, is associated with salvation. In certain religions it means seeking God's benevolence for the liberation of devotees from the cycle of birth to death. Devotion is a common element in most religious cultures, in Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and others. Christianity adds a further dimension to the concept of devotion as essential to the liberation of the soul tainted by desire. Without God's grace it is not possible to free oneself from desires, which is a prerequisite for seeking salvation. In the devotional mysticism that is common in religions but particularly strong in some religions, God is conceived as someone with whom one is deeply in love, and one can unite with the loved one only through complete abandonment to divinity, an unconditional surrender. In the Sufi tradition the mystical element is even stronger. The devotee assumes that he initially thought it was only him who was seeking union with God, but then realized that God was equally interested in union with His devotee. He too, in turn, sought his devotee with equal passion. Such mystical elements are strong in other sects of Hindus and Vaishnavites in India such as