SINGLE-MINDED DEVOTION
Single-minded Devotion – Craving nothing but God
After the war in Lanka, Ma Sitaji presented Hanumanji with a
beautiful, precious pearl necklace as a gift of gratitude. Hanumanji proceeded
to carefully examine each and every pearl – from top to bottom, from left to
right. Then, he began to take the pearls off the string, one by one, bite them
in half, again examine them thoroughly, and then throw them on the ground. Ma
Sitaji could not watch this. Finally she said, “Hanuman – what are you doing?
That is a very expensive, precious necklace I have bought for you. Why are you
pulling off the pearls and breaking them?” Hanumanji replied, “I am looking for
Rama. You have said these pearls are priceless and precious. If so, they must
have Rama inside them.”
 |
Swami
Chidanandasaraswati |
Pearls (and diamonds and rubies and cars and money) are
only precious if they are filled with God. If God is not there, it doesn’t
matter how expensive the diamond is, it is still empty and useless. God’s
presence in your life can turn stones to diamonds, but without God your
diamonds are as worthless as stones.
- (Swami
Chidanandasaraswati)
Single
minded devotion- Bhagwad Gita
XI:53
NAA HAM
VEDAIR NA TAPASAA NA DAANENA NA CHE JYAYAA SHAKYA EVAMVIDHO DRASHTUM
DRISHTAVAAN ASI MAAM YATHAA
Neither by
the vedas, nor by austerity, nor by gift, nor by sacrifice, can I be seen in
this form as you have seen me.
XI:54
BHAKTYAA TW ANANYAYAA SHAKYAM AHAM EVAMVIDHO RJUNA JNAATUM DRASHTUM CHA
TATTWENA PRAVESHTUM CHA PARANTAPA
But by
single-minded devotion can I, of this form, be known and seen in reality and
also entered into, o Arjuna.
The wise student should endeavor
to read such ideas together, and ponder the real inner meaning.
 |
| Swami Venkatesananda |
Austerity, charity, and
self-sacrifice, are indeed most essential, not for self-realization, but for
self-purification.
With their help, we de-hypnotize
ourselves, and overcome the hallucination of worldly life and
sense-pleasure.
Hence, Krishna wisely warns us
in the eighteenth chapter that even the three purifiers should be performed
without attachment. Dirt on the body is removed by soap but the soap
itself should then be washed away.
Only by single-minded devotion
can god be realized. 'ananya bhakti' means love or devotion in which there
is no other involved.
This devotion is not exclusive
of anything, but all-inclusive. Here 'All' is a synonym for God.
One who sees God, and God
alone, everywhere, 'enters' into the reality, and swims saturated in his
omnipresence.
(Bhagwad Gita commentary by Swami
Venkatesananda)
Dear Ones,
We learnt from the previous
posts on Attraction-Faith-Adoration and Worship that as the devotee engages
himself in worship of his chosen God, the thought patterns get reduced and
focused on the Lord alone.
When the focus on God gets
total and complete, then the whole day, the whole life of a devotee is
saturated with God’s thoughts and in that God filled mind, there can be no impressions
left, out of all the activities undertaken by the devotee as a part of his
artha, kama and dharma, as a house holder, as an office goer, as husband/
wife/father/mother/child etc.
Actions are performed, duties
are discharged but the heart stays unmoved, not perturbed by anything that
happens to a Bhakta!
Mira used to perform her
duties in the palace and apart from her minimum duties, the entire remaining
part of the day she used to be seated in the temple of Krishna, constructed as
per her request by her father in law. She danced and sang- “mein ne leeno,
govind mol mayi re mein ne leeno govind mol” (I gave myself to Krishna and in the
barter, in exchange, I got Govind all to myself).
Actions are performed truly as
an offering to God, obviously without expecting any results, only when
the devotee reaches this single minded devotion.
Love.
However, afterwards, he realized the true identity of the one who came to help him. He then held fast to Krishna, who however, wriggled out and escaped.
