Devotion Is The Easiest Path To Attain God

24 April 1996, Sai Shruti, Kodaikanal, TN

Published English.

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The Outpouring Of Is One may be the master of all forms of knowledge, One may vanquish one’s adversaries in debate, One may fight with valour and courage in the battlefield, One may be an emperor reigning over vast kingdoms, One may offer cows and gold as an act of charity, One may count the countless stars in the sky, One may tell the names of different living creatures on the earth, One may be an expert in eight steps of Yoga, One may reach even the moon, But, is there anyone who can control the body, mind and senses, turn the vision inward and achieve the supreme state of equanimity of the mind?

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Lord declares in the :

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(Oh ! Whenever there is a decline in and rise in , I incarnate on earth.)

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God incarnates to teach (righteousness) to man and to raise him to the divine level. itself therefore takes human form.

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Where There Is , There Is Victory Devotion is most important in the life of man. Unflinching love for God is true (devotion). But people waste their life by their love for external worldly objects. Worldly love is not true love. This is sheer attachment, not love. Only love for God is true love. Intense love for God is real devotion. The outpouring of is . One who understands will foster . A person who develops love for God can follow easily. and are twins. But man today has lost both these qualities. Life without and is barren like a waste land.

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At the time of war, went to his mother , prostrated at her feet and beseeched her blessings for victory in the war. But knew that did not follow the path of in his life. So, she did not give him her blessings for victory in the war in spite of ’s pleadings for it. Her only blessing was: “Where there is , there shall be victory.” She did not say that he would be victorious. Later, went to his preceptor to seek his blessings. also said: Where there is , there is God; where there is God, there is victory.

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God loves the devotee who follows the dictates of . When man has love and righteousness, the Divinity latent in him becomes patent. There is nothing higher than love for God. Man can realise God only through (love for God). No amount of power and wealth can help man to attain the Divine. and had enormous wealth and power, but they could not get the support of . Similarly, and relied on their physical strength rather than on the Divine strength. So, they were ultimately destroyed. Take the case of and . They possessed enormous strength and wealth. was endowed with great capabilities. He was highly learned and affluent. But wealth and learning could not help him to get liberation. God can be attained only by devotion and love.

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Man Can Attain God Through Love And Devotion was a childhood friend of Lord . He had a large family but he was mired in poverty. Therefore, his wife advised him to go to and seek the help of . The moment saw his old friend, He got down from the throne, ran towards him and hugged him with intense love. was overwhelmed by the love and attention given to him by . When went back home, his wife asked him as to what happened in . said, “The moment saw me, He came running to me, He held my hands, looked at me with love from top to toe and embraced me tightly. What should I say and how should I say? He took the dried beaten rice from me and ate them, saying it tasted like nectar. How can I describe the love of in words”?

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Though did not ask for any help, gave enormous wealth to him to remove his poverty. God showers His grace on those who contemplate on Him with intense devotion. and did not ask for anything. They worshipped Him with great devotion. performed the last rites of unasked. He went to the hut of and showered His grace on her.

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The word (devotion) is derived from the root ‘Bhaja’ which means worship and service of God. It is the path which ensures total bliss. experienced bliss even when she was being put to physical suffering. She prayed, “, how long will I have to undergo suffering? Is there no justice? Don’t You have compassion? Am I not Your servant”? What was the suffering did undergo? She was suffering because she could not attain the proximity of God. There were many devotees like , and who all suffered for God.

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prayed to , “Oh Lord! I am Yours. Why are You keeping distance from me? Have I done any wrong? I spent all the money collected by me to build a temple for You. O , I got special jewels made for You. But did not understand this. He punished me and put me in prison. I blamed You because I could not withstand the thrashing of ’s soldiers. Kindly excuse me”. Immediately, and came in the form of servants and offered to the amount of money that was due from . When asked who they were, they replied, “We are and . We are the servants of ”. When realised the truth, he went to and prostrated before him. He understood what a noble person was. It is the sincere devotion of a devotee that moves the Lord.

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God Manifests When You Pray With Pure Heart Thousands of people attained God through devotion. The path of and is quite difficult, because it is not easy to control the mind. So, do not give up this simple path of devotion. It may appear to be difficult in the beginning. In fact, any new venture is difficult in the beginning. For example, when you learn riding a bicycle or motorbike, it appears to be difficult in the beginning. But it becomes easy when you continue the practice. You can get rid of your bad qualities by constant practice of righteous deeds. Then you can easily contemplate on God. This is the true wealth.

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There was a devotee in who spent all her time in the contemplation of God. She said:

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constantly chanted the Name of . When his brother threw in the river the idol of which used to worship, he went in search of it. He constantly prayed, “Where can I search You, Oh ? When can I see Your smiling face? Why are You punishing me like this? What sin did I commit”?

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Some pure-hearted pilgrims carried in a palanquin. Noticing this, some robbers decided to rob him considering him to be a rich man. Immediately, and , armed with bows and arrows, manifested there and drove the robbers away. was not aware of this impending attack by robbers and did not call out for help. Instantly, the robbers fell at ’s feet. When he asked them why they were doing so, the robbers told him that two warriors with bows and arrows attacked them to save him. was surprised but he understood the truth and prayed, “O ! You protected me from the robbers. The robbers got the boon of seeing You, but I did not”. The robbers saw and but did not recognise them. However, ’s conviction that and were always with him got strengthened by this incident. went to the river for taking bath. There he found the idol of which had been thrown in the river. Then sang, “O ! Come, home. I will worship You. O son of ! I can no longer bear the separation from You”. Then he experienced the vision of .

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Only A True Devotee Attains God’s Vision Out of all the people in the whole world, only the devotee of God can attain His vision. Many learned persons have thorough knowledge of the scriptures, but mere learning does not help a person to have the vision of the Lord. It is pure love that makes God manifest before a devotee. The entire universe is contained in the word . Except , nothing else of value exists in the universe. The path of love is the supreme path for attaining God. The unbroken flood of love bestows happiness on all. This is the easiest path to attain God for the entire mankind. There are three main principles of love: don’t ask, always give and do not take, and be happy. Man’s happiness depends upon following the path of love. God too will be happy when you follow the path of love. He will then make you dance in the ecstasy of love.

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Everything is contained in the Name, . Chanting of the Name of removes all bad qualities and burns all sins. The word consists of three letters: Ra, A, Ma. Ra stands for fire, which has the potency to burn all sins, A stands for the sun which dispels all darkness and Ma stands for the moon which cools and pacifies the mind. So, chant the Divine Name of wholeheartedly. It is the greatest for man’s liberation.

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Man Can Experience Divinity By His Divine Feelings Many devotees like , and attained the grace of God by chanting His Name. was another great devotee and scholar who composed the in Telugu. Though his brother-in-law asked him to dedicate his to the king, refused to do so as he had dedicated it to . In his anger, put the house of on fire. Everything in the house was burnt except the composed by . At that time, had gone out and his son was ploughing the field. When passed that way, ’s son enquired about his well-being. To this, replied that there was no dearth of his well-being and it was sufficient if he looked after the welfare of his father’s family.

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When desired to write the , he was not able to complete the first stanza of the book though he had composed the last part of the book which read “ is everything”. left the book open in its incomplete form and went to take bath in the river. When he returned, the incomplete stanza left by him was completed by . This is how God helps His devotees unasked. Do you need a lamp to see the moon on a full moon night? No, you can see the moon by the light of the moon itself. Similarly, man experiences Divinity by his own divine feelings. The relative who does not help in need, a companion who is ignorant and unlettered and a horse that cannot run should be left immediately. But people do not follow these principles and suffer in life. They miss the correct path because of their distorted vision. Here is a small example. Once a teacher was teaching mathematics, but a student in the class was looking elsewhere. When the teacher asked him how much he had got, meaning how much he had grasped, the student replied that only the tail was left because he was looking at a rat entering a hole in the ceiling. This is the state of man today who does not pay attention even if he is made aware of the straightforward path.

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Forty years ago, the of , , , , the mother-in-law of the and some others came to Swami. All of them then visited Temple. The mother-in-law of the was seventy years old, but she had never visited the temple earlier. She did not realise the importance of the temple because it was very close to her house. When something is close to us, we do not understand its value. We do not recognise the value of our eye. But we realise it when we lose our eyesight. Many people come to Swami. But they do not realise the value of Swami’s grace when they get everything from Him. Such type of people cannot be called human beings at all.

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brought His Discourse to a close with the “ Ram”.