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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Devotee seeks God as the end

 

CHENNAI, OCT. 2. A true devotee is one who seeks God as the end

and not as a means for attaining something else. Including the

Supreme Being in one's life by orienting all actions towards Him

is the mark of unalloyed devotion. There are two types of

devotees. The first type is one who is devoted to God with form

and invariably devoted to a particular form of God of his choice.

The second is the one who meditates on the formless aspect of

God.

 

It must be understood that both are ``Upasakas'' and hence

devotion is there. While the devotee who worships God with form

has to perform all rituals and practices recommended by the

scriptures and pursue the path to liberation, the one who

worships the formless Absolute is the one who has given up all

actions to devote himself exclusively to realise the goal.

 

In the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna raised a doubt to Lord Krishna, just

as he did right at the outset when the war was about to commence,

after the Lord's exposition as he was even then confused, ``The

devotees exclusively and constantly devoted to you adore You as

possessed of form and attributes, and those who adore as the

Supreme Reality only the indestructible unmanifest Brahman - of

these two types of worshippers who are the best knowers of

Yoga?''

 

In his discourse, Sri C. G. Vasudevan said that though for the

sake of practice they were treated as different both ultimately

reach the Lord. The path to God is one though for the sake of

different types of spiritual aspirants the same technique has to

be modified to suit their level and inclination. In this case it

is not possible to compare the two types of devotees or the

relative merits of meditating on God with form and without form.

Each one has its own merits and hence there is no need to compare

them. What is more important is that both lead to the same end -

liberation.

 

For the lay people and those in the initial stages of spiritual

life it is easier and practical to adore God in His personal

aspect as it is easy for the mind which has not yet become

steadfast to concentrate on a form. It is also easy to relate to

God as a person who has to be realised. Devotion is thus a mental

process, an expression of one's love for the Supreme Being who is

adored as the end to be attained.

 

The aspirant who has evolved spiritually by embarking on

scriptural study under a spiritual teacher and progressed through

the stages of listening to the exposition of the scriptures,

committing the teachings to memory and meditating on them, is

ready to give up actions and meditate on the abstract aspect of

the Supreme.

 

 

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