EFFECTS OF BHAKTI

A devotee: Is it necessary. Sir, that one should first get ones senses controlled by right discrimination (Vichara) ?

The Master: Well, that is one path—the path of right discrimination. In the path of Bhakti, self-control comes of itself—and it comes very easily. The more one's love of God increases, the more insipid will become the pleasures of the senses, just as parents cannot think of physical enjoyment on the day they have lost a child.

Devotional practices are necessary only so long as tears of ecstasy do not flow at once on hearing the 4 name of Hari. He needs no devotional practices whose heart is moved to tears at the mere mention of the name of God.

A poet has compared devotion (to God) to a tiger. As the tiger devours animals, devotion also swallows up all the arch-enemies of man, such as lust, passion and the rest. Once the devotion to God is fully awakened, all evil passions like lust and anger are completely destroyed. The Gopis of Brindavan attained that state through their strong devotion to Krishna.

Devotion is compared again to collyrium. Srimati (Radha) once declared, " Lo, friends, I see my Krishna everywhere ! To that the other Gopis replied, ' You have applied the collyrium of Love to your eyes; hence you are seeing like that! "

Q. Why does a Bhakta forsake everything for the sake of God ?

A. The insect flies from darkness as soon as it sees a light; the ant loses its life in the syrup without leaving it. So the Bhakta clings to God for ever and leaves all else.

The Master: Does the moth seek darkness once it has seen a light ?

The doctor (smiling) : Oh! it does not-—it will rather rush into the flame and perish. The Master: But that is not so with the true worshipper of God. The Divine Light to which he is drawn does not burn and cause death. It is like the lustre of a gem, shining yet soft, cool and soothing. It burns not but illumines the heart with peace and joy.

It may be that one does not know the right path and yet has Bhakti for God, the intense desire to know Him. Such a devotee gams Him through the sheer force of that Bhakti. There was a great devotee who started to see Jagannath, but not knowing the way to Puri (where the temple of Jagannath is situated), he went away from the city instead of going towards it. With an anxious heart he asked everybody he met on the way about the road. They all told him, " This is not the way ; take that path." And the devotee reached Puri at last, and had his wish fulfilled. Thus even if one is ignorant of the path, one is sure to get somebody to direct one to it, provided one has the will. One may err at first, but in the end one is set on the right road.

Devotion effloresces into right discrimination, renunciation, love of all creatures, service of pious men, keeping company with the devoted, singing the praises of the Lord, truthfulness and other virtues.

There are signs of God-realisation. Know that there is no more delay for him to realise God, in whom you mark the efflorescence of devotion.

The magnetic rock under the sea attracts the ship sailing over it, draws out all its iron nails, separates plank from plank and sinks the vessel in the deep. In the same way when the human soul is attracted by the magnet that is God, it destroys in a moment man s selfishness and sense of individuality, and plunges the soul into the ocean of God's Infinite love.