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According to the Bhagavadgita, contrary to the popular opinion, the
path of devotion is a serious practice and perhaps
the most difficult of all spiritual paths because pure devotion arises with the
predominance of sattva, the cultivation of which demands
character, integrity, discipline, moral purity and unwavering
faith. Going to a few temples, worshipping God in the house,
visiting a few sacred places, participating in religious
gatherings and devotional singing constitute the early
phases of devotional practice, which does not mature into a deep
devotional fervor and feverish longing for the divine, without
corresponding inner transformation and practice of virtue. In the heart and mind of a true devotee, there is no
place anything other than God. He is not devoted to God because
He want to make use of Him for his personal or selfish desires.
He does not want to organize a public puja because he wants to
showoff his power or wealth.
He worships God because he loves Him and cannot live without
the thought of Him. He is devoted to Him because he cannot think of anything
else other than God. His surrender is so pure and complete that
he does not do anything on his own except
as as an offering to God. His devotion expresses itself in his
words and actions. His identification with God is so complete
that his life does not belong to him but to God and he cares for no opinion or belief other than what he
believes to be the word of God.
The lives of Hanuman, the Alvars and Nayanars of southern
India, Chaitanya, Vallabhacharya, Meera Bai,
Kabir, Tulsi Das, Tukaram, Sri Ramakrishna are a few examples of
perfect devotion. Their lives prove that with effort, faith and
discipline, man can transcend his own limitations and reach out
to God through his own character, expressing his devotion
through acts of self-negation and self-surrender and
obliterating all mental and emotional barriers induced by his
ego and his desire to perpetuate himself. In other religions
like Christianity also, in the lives of exemplary people like
Saint Therese of Lisieux, we see the true power of devotion and
its healing, transforming and transcendental quality when it is
wrought in the furnace of virtue and faith.
True devotion is a straight and
simple practice which ordinary people cannot practice without
adequate effort and preparation. The Bhagavadgita enumerates the
various qualities of a true devotee in Chapter 12 and 18
which are reproduced below. The verses are
self-explanatory and hence no explanatory note is provided.
Chapter 12
"Without any hatred towards all beings, friendly and compassionate, without any sense of possessiveness, without any egoism, equal in pleasure and pain and forgiving." (12.13)
"The Yogi who is always contended, self-controlled, strongly determined, his mind and intelligence offered to Me, that devotee is dear to Me." (12.14)
"He who neither disturbs the world nor is disturbed by it, who is free from joy, envy, fear and excitement - he is dear to me." (12.15)
"He who is without expectations, pure, dexterous, impartial, undisturbed, renouncing all effort in undertakings - that devotee is dear to Me." (12.16)
"He who neither likes nor dislikes, neither bemoans nor desires, who has renounced both the auspicious and inauspicious and who is full of devotion to me- he is dear to ME." (12.17)
"Equal to friend and foe, in honor and dishonor, heat and cold , pleasure and pain and equally free from all attachment." (12.18)
"Equal to being criticized or praised,silent, contended with whatever he has, without a fixed abode, stable minded, engaged in devotion- that devotee is dear to Me." (12.19)
"But who follows completely the immortal dharma (righteousness) as ordained, with faith, holding Me as the Supreme, such devotees are exceedingly dearer to Me." (12.20)
Chapter 18
"Fix your mind on Me. Be My dear devotee and My worshipper. Offer your obeisance to Me. and certainly you will come to Me only. Truly I promise so (as ) you are dear to Me." (18.65)
"Whoever preaches this most secret knowledge among My devotees, with supreme devotion shall come to Me only. Of this there is no doubt." (18.68)
"Never among men there is any one who is dearer than him, nor in future will there ever be, in this world" (18.69)
Suggested Further Reading
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