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Source: The Hindu

(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/02/19/stories/2002021900370800.htm)

Miscellaneous

-

Religion

 

 

God-love must be pure and natural

 

 

 

CHENNAI

Feb. 19.

 

An exhaustive treatment of the topic on "Devotion" and its further development

in the form of pure "Love" will be found in the scriptural work the

Bhagavatam. Narrated to a group of ardent devotees by Sage Sukha, this glorious

Puranam brings out the significance of God-love, which should be pure, natural

and spontaneous. It is of the nature of direct immediate experience of Divinity,

providing inner light to those who wish to pass through and beyond darkness. Its

study brings God at once into the human heart, keeping Him permanently there. As

against some who hold the view that the acquisition of spiritual knowledge and

thereby removing ignorance will lead them to the goal of salvation, others are

holding the path of Devotion as the practical side of the path of knowledge

(Jnana). The Bhagavatam points out, in brief, that the supreme happiness as the

culmination of all types of spiritual efforts lies in the devotee's love for and

service to Lord Krishna and that He s!

tations Himself in the hearts of virtuous listeners of this Puranam. The

quintessence of all Vedic thinking is found elaborated and systematically

inculcated in it as exemplified in the lives of Incarnations, religious teachers

and other torchbearers. The way to gain "Moksha" is revealed in this Divine

work. The unsophisticated, illiterate cowherd population, more so the women,

poured out their Divine love at the feet of the Supreme Being, who had appeared

in their midst just as a cowherd boy.

 

In a lecture, Sri Agnihotram Ramanuja Thathachariar Swami said the secret of

"Krishnavataram" is presented in the "Sruthi Gita" in the Bhagavatham, clearly

addressing the God in human form. "You have all the six outstanding qualities

indicated by the term Bhagwan power to know, to support, to control,

freedom from fatigue, the capacity to carry out anything and the power to burn

up all the opposition. They are not gifts from anyone but they belong to You by

nature." Nameless and formless nature will not satisfy a common man's thirst. To

enjoy God through the sense organs and especially to recite His name and think

of Him, there ought to be a form. The Upanishads have presented Him in a "Raasa

Roopa" so as to enable devotees to derive enjoyment. The episode of Gopis

approaching Krishna brings out the grief from being kept separated from Him and

the basic idea of Divine, Infinite Beauty, which has its own metaphysical

significance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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