Develop intense devotion

3 September 1999, Krishna Jayanthi, Prasanthi Nilayam

Published English.

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Where the six noble qualities of (enthusiasm), (determination), (courage), (intelligence), (energy), and (valour) are evident, God’ s protection and grace prevail there. [Sanskrit verse]

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Embodiments of Love! Lord has said that (action) is responsible for man’ s birth as well as death. Man is bound by action in his daily life. Right from birth to death, man spends his time in performing some activity or the other. The path of action () is very dear to God. In fact, He is the very embodiment of action and He is present in every activity.

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It is (action) that is responsible for birth, sustenance, and death of every being in this world. is God for all beings. It is the cause of both pleasure and pain. [Telugu Poem]

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Action is the cause for everything While (action) is responsible for pleasure, pain, birth, death, etc., (time) is also very essential for every . Without these two, man cannot live even for a moment. However, action is the cause for everything. What was the cause for King to become the caretaker of the cremation ground, for the separation of King and his spouse , and for the imprisonment and suffering of ? It was the alone.

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As is the , so is the consequence thereof. These two are inseparable and interrelated. Time acts as a link between these two. A day is one unit of time. Seven days make a week, fifteen days a fortnight, thirty days a month, and twelve months a year. Time is moreover divided into three periods: past, present, and future. Multifarious activities take place in these three periods of time.

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This world is a combination of (time), (action) and (cause). Every action has a reaction. When your finger gets cut with a knife, blood oozes out immediately. Here, the reaction is instantaneous. There is no time gap whatsoever. On the other hand, the food we eat takes at least two hours to be digested. Take the case of a seed. A seed sown today takes three to four days to sprout. Here the time gap between action and reaction is slightly more as compared to the previous instances. On the other extreme, we have a case where it takes years for a sapling to grow into a gigantic tree and yield fruit.

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One has to face the consequences of one’s actions Once the demon challenged King for a duel. killed and, in a fit of rage, threw his battered and bruised body at a distance. It so happened that the bleeding body landed on the Mountain, splashing blood on sage , who was deeply engaged in meditation there. Enraged, cursed thus: “Whoever is responsible for this reprehensible act will have his head splintered into pieces if he were to set his foot on this mountain.” That is why , and others chose to live on Mountain when they were banished from the kingdom of . They were certain that would not dare to come there.

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Who was responsible for all this? It was himself. He could have stopped with the killing of . Instead, he flung the body away, driven by his anger, ego, and hatred. These three evil qualities were responsible for his ruin.

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was a great and diligent teacher. But he was a hard taskmaster, too. He would not permit his students to relax at any point of time. His wife was in the family way. The babe in the womb of his wife questioned his father, “Father, how is it that you go on teaching the students without giving them any break for rest?” To this replied, “Students should never be given free time, for an idle mind is a devil’s workshop. It leads to many perversions.” Furious at the impudence of his son, cursed him, “You have the audacity to question my acts! May you be born as (one with eight bends in the body).” had to blame himself for this unfortunate situation because he questioned the propriety of the acts of his father without understanding the reasons behind them.

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How to earn divine grace King , father of , wanted to marry , daughter of . In order to fulfil the desire of his father, approached and requested him to give in marriage to his father. agreed on the condition that only the one born to would be made the crown prince. Consequently, took a vow that he would remain unmarried. He earned Divine grace by his devotion to his father.

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and were the two wives of sage . While playing a game, they entered into a competition. The terms of the competition were that the loser and her son would serve the winner and her son for the rest of their lives. emerged victorious. As per the terms of the competition, and her son served and her son.

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One day, told , “You are like my sister. I will make you free if you procure the (vessel of nectar) from heaven.” Unable to bear the sufferings of his mother, undertook this stupendous task and brought from heaven, thus freeing himself and his mother from bondage. Pleased with the devotion of , Lord showered His grace on him by making him His vehicle.

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What was the reason behind becoming the vehicle of Lord ? It was (noble resolve) that earned him proximity to the Divine.

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For every happening in this world, , , and (time, action, and cause) are essential. God acts after taking into consideration the three factors of , , and .

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Such noble truths have been expounded in the ancient scriptures of . But alas! Modern students are not making any effort to understand them, let alone practice them.

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Absolute faith is essential for God to manifest Today we are celebrating the birthday of Lord . You attach importance to His body, but not to His teachings. You will be celebrating ’ s birthday in true spirit only when you put His teachings into practice.

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Mysterious are the ways of the Divine. It is difficult to comprehend how the Divine grace works. There are innumerable instances of God coming to the rescue of His devotees in times of need. was a weaver by profession. One day he fell seriously ill and was unable to attend to his duties. The all-merciful Lord, in the form of , wove yarn and thus came to his rescue.

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Similarly, God came in the form of a potter and helped by making pots Himself, when he was in distress.

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, an ardent devotee of Lord , continuously chanted the Lord’s name. One day, she could not perform her daily chores since she was running high temperature. Even under these circumstances, her husband and mother-inlaw would not allow her to take rest. At this juncture, Lord assumed the form of and performed all her duties.

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had to send to forest for fourteen years as a consequence of his promise to . Though unused to any form of hardship, had to endure the difficulties of forest life. But had no obligation to go through such an ordeal. Because of his intense devotion to , he also followed Him like a shadow. He brought fruits, flowers, and tubers from the forest to serve and , and himself fasted. Every moment of his life, he spent in the service of . He put both his body and mind in the service and worship of as a .

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asked to return to , but His efforts did not succeed since refused to return. So, reconciled himself to returning, but stayed outside in . His body was in , but his mind was with . worshipped with body and mind, whereas ’s worship was purely mental since his mind was united with . Since ’s worship was purely mental, he was a .

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Direct and indirect perception In science, there are two modes of perception, direct and indirect ( and ). That which is directly perceived (conscious) is , while that which is indirectly perceived (subconscious) is . This difference between direct and indirect perception is similar to the relation between hypnosis and hypnotism.

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was well versed in this knowledge. The names of and are inseparable. This happens naturally with no special effort as we always say . One hardly ever hears the combination . Though ’ s mind was one with , his body was separated from Him by time and distance.

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Hypnosis and hypnotism are not modern terms. These are found in the . Since people do not know these facts, they find new terms or new words for these concepts. Hypnotism is referred to in the (scriptures) as (power beyond the senses). It means that one having this power can converse with one who is in deep sleep. Even the dead will come and converse with one having such power. Not only this, one can enter the mind of another sitting in front of him.

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One with such powers can perceive a far away object. Hence, the term ateendriya. It is not the object of the senses, since it is beyond them. Our ancients possessed such powers. These powers are obtained by only. Therefore, all our actions should be pure and sacred. For this, purity of mind, heart, and thoughts is absolutely necessary. Only a person with pure body, mind, and intellect can be called a true human being.

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Consider all activities as an offering to God and all work as God’s work. Just as two wings are essential for a bird to soar high in the sky, and two wheels for a bicycle to move, (love) and (service) are essential for man to reach his destination. No benefit accrues from rendering service devoid of love. Do not expect any returns for your acts of service. The satisfaction that you derive from rendering service is itself a reward.

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Be like Today, many people are undertaking rural development activities. They come and tell Me, “, we are doing (service to villagers).” For whose sake are you rendering service? Is it for My sake? No. You are serving for yourself. As long as you have the feeling that you are serving others, you are an egotistic person. It is not service in the true sense of the term, as long as there is the sense of ego in you.

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You think that you are worshipping Me. It is a great mistake to think so. When the same is present in everyone, who is the worshipper and who is worshipped? In the path of spirituality, it is a mistake to think, “I am your devotee, You are my .” True wisdom lies in realising that you and I are one.

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said to : “, you call yourself My devotee. When once you have surrendered to Me, then there is no difference between you and Me. So, there is no separate identity of devotee and God.” “ (visualising the one Spirit in all is true wisdom).” Likewise, if someone were to criticise, you do not get disturbed. Remember that the same Atmic principle is present in both. There will be no room for misunderstanding if you realise this truth. Seeing unity in multiplicity is the principle of and viewing unity as diversity is (delusion). This delusion is the root cause for your suffering.

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True devotion lies in having faith and attaining bliss. If you have no faith, how can you have bliss? Many devotees ask Me, “, I want happiness.” Where is this happiness? Can you buy it in the market? Will any company supply you bliss? No. It is very much in you. You are not able to experience it since you do not have faith in yourself.

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You do not need to enquire into the nature of God or to search for Him. Have total faith in Him. What is the use of living in if your mind is constantly going around the market? Like , whose body and mind were both engaged in the service of . was physically away from ; yet, his mind was always with Him. Consequently, resembled in all respects. You might have seen in photographs of ’s coronation that and have the same blue complexion. ’s mind was totally centred on . Because of such intense concentration, both became one.

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Similar was the case of , who not only served physically but also contemplated on Him day in and day out. ’s love for was so intense that when fainted on the battlefield, lamented, “O , I cannot live without you. I may get another mother like , a wife like , but not a brother like you.” How can God lament! It was only a divine play enacted by to show to the world the nobility and the greatness of . Such sacred love is like a powerful magnet. Such selfless, unattached love transcends action, space, time, cause, and effect.

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People ask Me, “, temples are built for and . Why has no one built a temple for ?” I ask them, “You simpleton, is there a temple for where is not there?” If you realise this fact, such a doubt will never arise.

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At the time of , there were two sisters, and . was a and , a . constantly chanted the name of , while was engrossed in the physical form of . She was extremely sad because had gone away to . She gave up food and drink and said, “, in my heart I have been keeping Your lotus form fresh with my tears. Now even my tears have gone dry. How can I now preserve Your form in my heart? My heart, which is Your gift, I am now returning to You. What else is there that I can offer at Your feet? Accept my salutations and myself.” She surrendered herself to .

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saw this. She had thought that was superior to , but after seeing the total surrender of , she realised the greatness of . After this, she constantly meditated on the name and form of .

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You must have heard this song of : “.” In this song, the hands feet, face, eyes, etc., of the Lord are all compared to the lotus flower. He prays for that lotus to stay in his heart forever. Both and prayed to to dwell permanently in their heart.

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Such intense devotion is rare these days. Today, people merely say, “, ,” as they go round or pass by a temple. Of what value is such part-time devotion? They are (devotees) merely for name’s sake.

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You must strive to earn the great wealth of God’ s love. Only then will you enjoy the experience of unity. (with hands, feet, eyes, head, mouth and ears pervading everything, God permeates the entire universe).

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also had this experience of God’s omnipresence. put him in jail, but he never gave up the name of . “0 ! When all is Your form, how can I be separate from You?” Renounce (desires), attain Devotees today have some form of divinity in their mind, but they perform rituals in a mechanical way without any consistency. All your charity and worship are of no significance to the Lord. Show your charity and wealth to the income tax department. God needs only your love. There is no tax on love. You may face any number of difficulties or hindrances. The Lord Himself may subject you to test. You should not waver because of these. All is for your good only. Do not grieve over any loss or exult over gain. Equal-mindedness in loss and gain is true .

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Some sit in (meditation), but their minds are in the market or in the hair dressing shop. Is this or ? The mind should be immersed in . Instead it is filled with (desires). What is needed is , not . will fulfil all your .

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