Asking Lord for Devotion

[dattaswami]

Asking Lord for Devotion

Some people pray God to grant them with eternal devotion. You think that such people are greatest devotees. But I say that they are the cleverest. If the devotion is eternal, the subsequent protection from all the problems is inevitable. They show the climax of intelligence in asking such boon. They like to have the Railway engine which is linked with the whole train. In this boon, I am unable to understand one keen point. The devotion, development and maintenance of the devotion are responsibilities of the devotee only. God can never interfere in that. Will a girl ask a boy “Make me to love you”? It means that the love does not exist. Will the girl say “See that my love on you continues without failure”? It means her love is not real and fears in its failure. A real lover loves God spontaneously and retains it under any circumstances. The love should come from the side of the devotee. God cannot give the devotion so that a soul loves Him. Then it looks like a politician bringing public by paying them to clap during his lecture! God will not put His finger in devotion. Instead, God opposes your devotion to see its strength. God gives knowledge which is the generator of devotion like the fertilizer for the sprout from seed.

 

The knowledge also acts as pesticide to kill the bacteria and worms which are the doubts. But the knowledge given by God is also in the form of general concept only. Satguru will speak about the importance and identification of the human incarnation, but will never say that He is the human incarnation. Devotion is based on personification. Krishna can say that one should find out the real form of God to worship. But He cannot say that He is the real form of the God and that He should be worshipped. He never told like this to anybody in His lifetime. Ofcourse, He revealed Himself to Arjuna, who was an exceptional devotee being His closest associate (Nara) during several previous births. Even to Arjuna, He said this only once, during the time of preaching the Gita, which was a necessary occasion. Even Jesus told that He and His father are one and the same. But He disclosed this to a very few deserving devotees only, who were as good as Arjuna. The devotion should be generated when the knowledge is complete. Similarly the answer in the examination should be generated if the study was perfect. If you are asking devotion from God, it is just like asking the answer from the teacher in the time of examination. If you get devotion and if it is proved real through service, the grace of God falls on you spontaneously. Similarly if your study is perfect, you must get the correct answer and if it is proved correct in the valuation, the degree falls on you.

 

Some people always aim at the attainment of eternal bliss as the final goal of all the spiritual effort. In such case, they are not the real spiritual people. If ordinary human beings are like small thieves, they are the big robbers. An ordinary person desires for a materialistic boon, which is certainly temporary and gives a drop of bliss. But this fellow wants the entire ocean of bliss. The Advaitin wants to be God so that he can enjoy the eternal bliss. He does not mind to leave the Lordship on the world. He knows that anything is only aimed to get bliss. He says that he is simple awareness. But the simple awareness is not having bliss. In the meditation, simple awareness without any thought is possible. Such state is giving peace but not the bliss. Only the service to God is giving the real and eternal bliss. But the service of God is full of sacrifices which are like thorns in the path. In such sacrifice also, the bliss continues in the heart of a real devotee. Such divine service is the aim of all the spiritual efforts and not the bliss which is the climax of selfishness.