CHAPTER V TRUE DEVOTION

A disciple took his Puja box with him and showed it to His Holiness. The latter after carefully scanning the several Lingas and Salagramas there picked out one Salagrama and put it aside. It was later learnt that it was a broken one and unfit for Puja. While returning the box to the disciple, His Holiness asked :

I suppose you are performing the daily Puja yourself?

D. Yes, I do not know much of Vedic Mantras. I know Purusha-Sukta and Sri Rudra somewhat and with my scanty equipment I am doing the Puja myself, not in strict accordance with the requirements of the Sastras but only so-so.

H. H. I am very glad to hear it. If we are hungry, it will not do at all to ask a man who can eat well to eat; we must ourselves eat though we may not be conversant with the rules of eating I know that some rich people think it beneath their dignity to perform their daily Puja themselves but engage Vaidika Sastris to do it for them for a small monthly remuneration. As the Sastri performs the Puja in return for the remuneration, no spiritual merit can possibly accrue to him from the Puja. As the rich man does not perform the Puja at all, he also cannot get any spiritual benefit. Thus such a kind of Puja helps neither spiritually. At the best, it is but a harmless way of getting his money distributed to the poor. There are certainly some complex religious ceremonies which require the assistance of others and where it is permitted to have substitutes. But the daily Puja is not of that sort. It must be done by the person desiring to benefit by it, even though by reason of his scanty equipment he may have to do it only so-so.

One evening a disciple brought a big green Mahalinga and placed it before His Holiness.

H. H. What is the matter ?

D. This Mahalinga has been in my family for generations together. But we are now unable to offer proper worship to it owing to our present straitened circumstances. So I, have brought it here for your Holiness, acceptance.

H. H. What do you mean by “ unable to offer proper worship ” ? Have you all stopped eating anything ?

D. No.

H. H. Then where is the difficulty in worshipping it ? God never eats anything nor is He ever hungry. You cook your food; but before taking it yourself you just offer it to Him in grateful remembrance of His gracious blessings and then take the food yourself, sanctified as it then would be by having been offered to Him. He does not want anything from you. Except in the case of very special Murtis, anything that you eat and is not prohibited by the Sastras is just the thing you have to offer to God. It involves no special labour or any special expense at all. Why then do you feel that you are “unable to worship ” ? However impoverished you may be, you cannot possibly pronounce yourself “unable” unless you give up eating altogether. Let it be a fruit, a cup of milk or even a cup of water. If you are taking it, it is equally enough for your God. Unless you have other reasons, you must take the Mahalinga back with you home.

D. I have been feeling for some time past that the presence of this Mahalinga in my house is responsible for my increasing troubles.

H. H. Is it even so? I suppose the Mahalinga was in the house during the time of your father and his ancestors when they were in affluent circumstances ?

D. Yes.

H. H. They then thought they were so affluent because of the presence of this sacred Murti in their house ?

D. It was so.

H. H. Now you think it responsible for your woes ?

D. Yes.

H. H. The Mahalinga remains the same. When it was considered a blessing, blessings followed ; when it is considered a curse, curses follow. The fault is not therefore attributable to it at all. But when you have once got such an absurd idea into your head that it is the cause of your ills, you will be committing sacrilege every moment you have it in your custody. You may leave it, therefore here. But have you any other Murti at home?

D. Yes, I have.

H. H. Offer your daily food at least to it before sitting down to dine. Do not think that now that you are rid of this Mahalinga you can have your food immediately without the need to remember God at all. That is a daily duty which you can never neglect to do, however poor you may be. After all, we are not giving Him anything ; we only offer Him what is already His. It comes back to us quite undiminished but laden with His gracious blessings.

A disciple went to Sringeri and paid his respects to His Holiness.

H. H. Are you coming here straight from your place or after breaking your journey somewhere on the way ?

D. I am coming straight.

H. H. You must have started from your home the day before yesterday after your morning breakfast; you might have foregone your night meal that day. But what did you do yesterday ?

D. I had just two hours’ interval yesterday morning at Jalarpet Junction. I took a very hasty bath at the station water-tap, had my daily Japas done in an abbreviated form and had time just to take two or three plantains.

H. H. I am glad to hear that you did not find it necessary to give up your daily ablutions. But what about your Puja ?

D. I am sorry. It is a more cumbrous affair and the railway platform is hardly the place for spreading out my Puja ?

H. H. I quite agree. But did you perform Puja also in an abbreviated form ?

D. Where had I the time for it ?

H. H. Why, you found time to take plantains ?

D. But the Puja cannot be done so easily.

H. H. Why not ? Just when you are taking the plantains in your hand for putting them into your mouth, you may offer them to the God in the Puja before you do so. Did you do it ?

D. I did not. But how can I do it when the Murti is in the box and the box is in my bundle ? Before I can offer it to the Murti, I shall have to take It out.

H. H. That is, in your opinion, if the Murti is inside the box or the bundle, It cannot hear your words of offering and will be quite unable to accept it, bundled up as It is itself. Is that your conception of your Deity ?

D. I now realise that I was certainly foolish in thinking that, as I cannot see the Murti inside the bundle, the God in it cannot see beyond the bundle.

H. H. I only want you to bear in mind that, however adverse our surroundings may become, there is still opportunity open to us to remember and worship the ever-present God, though not with elaborate rituals yet with a heart full of gratitude for His gracious blessings which we have ever in abundance.

• • •

An old gentleman came to His Holiness for His blessings.

H. H. How are you managing to earn your livelihood ?

G. I am neither rich in the world’s goods nor in the Vedic lore. I have learnt some catches of devotional songs which enable me to join Bhajana parties. As Bhajana parties are found almost in every village, I meet with a good welcome wherever I go. Thus I find it possible to get my livelihood by means of this Bhajana.

H. H. I am glad to know that you have hit upon such a Satvika mode of getting your livelihood and that you are quite content with it. But it will be well for you if you will just revise your mental attitude.

G. How?

H. H. You know that, when a man traverses the street pronouncing the name of the Lord loudly, women and children go to him with handfuls of rice which fills his pot before long and is more than sufficient for the day’s meal. The pronouncing of the name of the Lord is certainly a very meritorious act but ceases to be so when it is done only with a view to getting a few. handfuls of rice. If there is some delay in the rice coming to him and if the man pronounces the Lord‘s name in a louder key so that it may be heard well by the inmates of the houses in the street, it is proof positive that the name is not pronounced for the Lord to hear but only as a substitute, a paraphrase, for the words, “Bring me rice.” Not being intended for the Lord, the Lord will certainly not listen to it. It is not proper at all to use such a valuable thing as the name of God to get at such a low object. It is tantamount even to an abuse of the name of God. I want you. therefore, to give up the idea that you are getting your livelihood by means of Bhajana, and to substitute in its stead the idea, “I am doing Bhajana and God is taking care of me,” without connecting these two factors as cause and effect. Otherwise the effect of the Bhajana conceived of as the cause of your livelihood will exhaust itself as soon as that livelihood is provided for and will not leave behind any spiritual benefit. Further, this cause-and -effect conception will easily make you lose faith in Bhajana if you do not get your livelihood as comfortable as you want it. In fact, you will sub-consciously feel that God must be thankful to you for worshipping Him and must out of sheer gratitude provide you for your wants. You may sometimes feel even that God is not sufficiently grateful to you for your chanting His praises. Such thoughts will necessarily bring you down in the scale of spirituality. So go on with your Bhajana quite disinterestedly, secure in the firm faith that whatever happens is the best for you in the view of God. Do not make a bargain of it. Do not reduce God or His Bhajana to the level of being the means of securing your livelihood.

A disciple who had not seen Sringeri or His Holiness before went there and paid his respects to Him.

H. H: Your name?

D: Bhujanga.

H. H: Bhujanga-Bhushana (One who has serpents for His ornaments-Lord Siva)? Or Bhujanga-Sayana (One who has a serpent for His bed-Lord Vishnu)?

D: My name is neither. It is simply Bhujanga.

H. H: Is that so? It is usual to give us the names of the Lord, Siva or Vishnu, or of any of their Avataras. Evidently your parents thought it better to give you the name of Bhujanga without committing themselves to any partiality for either Siva or Vishnu. It may also be that they had another more potent reason.

D. What might that be?

H. H: It is well known that, when robbers attack a rich man’s house, they catch him up and try all means, fair or foul, to make him disclose the place where he has secreted his valuables, and the man, if he is really attached to them, will bear any amount of suffering, physical and mental, rather than give them up. He knows that, if he gets wounded, the wounds get healed in due time but that, if the valuables are lost, they are lost for ever. So he will allow his own body to be injured rather than forego the valuables. The Lord, who is certainly rich, being the owner of the entire universe, may well be ascribed the same mentality; He would rather bear any injury to Himself than expose His possessions to injury. Your parents thought therefore that, for ensuring better protection for you at the hands of the Lord, it was more advisable to give you the name of a thing worn or used by Him rather than the name of the Lord Himself. Even at some risk to Himself, He would be prepared to protect you, who bear the name of a valuable possession of His. I see now the wisdom of your parents.

D: I do not know if such ideas ever occurred to my parents when they gave me this name. But I am glad to have your Holiness’ assurance that it has secured me the special protection of the Lord.

H. H: So it has, if you remember always that you bear the name of a sacred object prized highly by the Lord as His own. With this constant thought in your mind, you will before long come to realise that even yourself are His.

A Swamiji who was greatly devoted to His Holiness was given a room on the north bank of the Tunga, where he could have his Puja and meditations and studies quite undisturbed. Every morning, however, soon after his ablutions, he used to cross the river, prostrate at the shrine of the previous Acharya and pay his respects to His Holiness also. One day His Holiness asked:

You are coming here every day. What for?

S: Just to pay my respects.

H. H: You have the Acharya’s sacred sandals in your room?

S: Yes.

H. H: You prostrate before them every morning?

S: Yes, certainly.

H. H: Then, you are afraid that your prostrations will not reach your Acharya on this side of the river?

S: It is not so. When I can prostrate at the feet of the Acharya Himself, I do not want to miss it.

H. H: Then your prostration before the sandals is not prostration to the Acharya?

S: I do not mean to say so. But the sandals are only substitutes. Why should I forego the merit of prostrating before the original itself?

H. H: Then I suppose, whenever you think of coming to this side of the river, you do not prostrate before the sandals in your room?

S: No, No, I do prostrate there also.

H. H: Why do you do so when the sandals are but substitutes?

S: They have a spiritual efficacy of their own.

H. H: Equal to that of the Acharya?

S: Certainly.

H. H: But that efficacy becomes reduced when the Acharya is nearby in person?

S: How can that be? They are ever equally efficient

H. H: If so, you may remain in your room itself and not take the trouble of crossing the river to come this side.

S: I quite realise the logic of your Holiness’ words; but I am not yet above making a distinction between the Acharya and His sandals.

H. H: As you say that you are not yet above that stage, you seem to admit that such a transcendent stage must be attained one day or another in the course of your spiritual progress.

S: Yes. It must be attained sooner or later.

H. H: But nothing is ever attained without persistent effort. How do you hope to attain that stage and what is the effort you are making to attain it?

S: I do not think I am making any effort in that direction.

H. H: Why don‘t you begin it then?

S: By doing what?

H. H: By remaining in your room, sitting before the sandals, trying to visualise the Acharya as standing on them. If you constantly meditate in this way, you will be able to visualise the Acharya wherever you may be, merging the sandals in His personality and forgetting them altogether as any independent adjuncts of His. Begin this practice from tomorrow.

I must mention that for a few days from this the Swami found it very difficult to restrain himself from crossing over to the other side but, thanks to the blessings of His Holiness. began soon to feel the Divine Presence even where he was.