Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Dharma Vahini - Post 30

Dear All,

After taking us through the Vedic and the Upanishad eras, Swami goes on to elaborate on the Puranic age thus:-

The Puranic age

The seeds of devotion found scattered in the Vedic texts sprout in the Upanishads and begin to grow with many a blossomful branch in the Puranas.

Well, many are yet confused when it comes to deciding what exactly devotion (bhakthi) is, what the nature of the attitude called devotion is! It is impossible for anyone to demarcate what exactly devotion is and what it is not. 

Devotion has infinite facets. Only pure, tender, tolerant, calm
and loving souls, the very cream of spiritual aspirants (sadhus), the swans (hamsas) sporting ever in the company of kindred devotees, can understand its purity and depth. 

Others will find it as difficult to discover devotion in a person as discovering softness in rock, coldness in fire, or sweetness in the margosa (neem) tree. Devotees hold the Lord dearer to themselves than life, and the Lord is attached to them in equal measure.

Some great people even declare that the devotee is superior to Bhagavan; the farmer loves the clouds more than the ocean, though the clouds only bring the ocean waters to their fields. 

The ocean does not come directly over their crops. This is how Tulsidas describes the relationship between the devotee and God: The clouds bring the mercy, the love, the grandeur of the ocean, and the fragrance of the atmosphere and shower them over the entire land; so, too, devotees carry these great traits wherever they go. Just as gold is dug out of mines, these virtues are part of the divinity in humanity.

The sage Durvasa arrived one day in the court of Ambarisha to test the efficacy of devotion to God. For this purpose, he created out of his anger a demoness, Krithya, for his destruction. 

But the Lord’s discus (chakra), which demolishes the fear in the hearts of devotees, destroyed Krithya and started pursuing Durvasa to the ends of the earth. He fled over hill and dale, lake and stream, and leaped across the seven seas; he tried to take asylum in the heavens, but the foe of a devotee could get asylum nowhere. 


At last, he fell at the feet of God (Narayana) in Vaikunta, an exhausted penitent. However, the Lord declared that He was always on the side of His devotee and that He would never give up the devotee who relies on Him as his only refuge. “I follow the devotee as the calf follows the cow, for the devotee gives up for Me all that is considered desirable by the worldly-minded.”

Continued...

Love.





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