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.
