Charecteristics of a Devotee

January 24, 2005

Pranam to all Vaishnavas,

Characteristics of a devotee

Taste for spiritual life must be acquired early in life contrary to the common notion that it can be relegated to the twilight years. There are two reasons why the scriptures advise human beings to pursue the spiritual goal along with their worldly pursuits.

First, there is no guarantee about an individual's lifespan. Human life has been compared to the bubbles that arise in the water which drift along in the current for a while and burst at any moment.

Moreover, man is a creature of habit and what he does not cultivate in his youth cannot be acquired in his old age especially when his faculties start failing. So a person who is convinced that human birth is meant for realising Lord Krishna must constantly remember Krishna and work for his salvation without any delay. Devotion to Krishna thus becomes the means and the end of human life in the world.

After discoursing on the glory of the Lord in His various manifestations, Sage Suka advised Parikshit, ``Day after day, by force of the all-powerful Time, righteousness, veracity, purity of mind and body, forgiveness, compassion, length of life, bodily strength and keeness of memory will decline... Therefore, with all your being install Lord Sri Krishna in your heart thinking of Him with a concentrated mind while dying ; you will thereby attain the supreme goal.''

A devotee who had totally dedicated his life to Krishna developed certain characteristic traits which distinguishes him from those who pursues material pleasures for gratification. He accepts the vagaries of life with equanimity of mind and his devotion gives him the strength of mind to do so. He knows that all worldly attainments are relative in nature and hence does not get elated by his successes and dejected when he loses position and power.

Another distinct trait a devotee exhibits is the way he treats everyone in the same manner. He does not favour anyone and gives everybody equal respect as he sees only Lord Krishna in every being.

Krishna in His incarnation as Kapila said of His devotee, ``I find no living being higher than the man who has no sense of doership and regards all with the same eye. Treating all living beings with equal respect under the belief that it is the Almighty Lord who has entered their body as the inner controller of the soul tenanting it, one should mentally bow to them.''

When such an attitude of treating everyone alike becomes second nature to a devotee he naturally becomes a friend to all beings and he is compassionate towards all creatures also.

Total detachment from worldly bonds is the mark of a spiritually evolved person. Detachment is the fruit of austerities and contemplation performed in the course of several lives that the soul has undergone. But even an adept who has devoted his life entirely to Krishna must be wary of impediments that will disturb his one-pointedness of mind due to latent tendencies of the mind which will without his conscious knowledge develop worldly attachments. So one who is intent on realising Krishna must be always

alert to distractions which will thwart his progress.

This truth has been portrayed in the Bhagavata Purana with the example of King Bharata. His lineage as son of Rishabhadeva and grandson of Nabhi, naturally disposed him to spiritual life though he was born in the royal family. Handing over his kingdom to his sons after ruling over it in an exemplary way for long as he was bent on realising the spiritual goal, Bharata retired to the hermitage of Sage Pulaha on the bank of the river, Gandhaki, and devoted all his time to contemplation on Lord Narayana .

He had reached the acme of devotion as he was always immersed in bliss having been fortunate to envision the Lord and was totally oblivious to the world. Even such a man of wisdom, who had renounced material riches and his family, and leading a life of a recluse, succumbed to attachment as he developed fondness for a fawn.

One day as Bharata was performing his ablutions in the river, a pregnant deer appeared and started drinking water. Hearing the roar of a lion from the depths of the forest, the frightened deer leapt across the river terribly frightened and the trauma resulted in the premature delivery of the young one which fell into the water. The royal sage who was witnessing all this was moved by pity for the helpless tiny fawn and rescued it and took it to the hermitage.

Entertaining the notion that he was responsible for the fawn he started lavishing all his attention to its creature comforts by providing nourishment and protecting it from other animals and this preoccupation made him neglect his spiritual practices. He consoled himself with the thought that pious people ignored their interests for the sake of such helpless creatures oblivious to the fact that his love for the deer was blinding him to the objective he had in life.

Bharata's obsession with it made him worry about it when his end came instead of fixing his mind on the Lord and hence he had to be reborn as a deer in his next birth.

Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita (Chapter 9, Sloka 29 ) :

samo 'ham sarva-bhutesu / na me dvesyo 'sti na priyahye bhajanti tu mam bhaktya / mayi te tesu capy aham

( I am equal to all living beings and am neither inimical nor partial to anyone. But as those who serve Me with bhakti are attached to Me, so too am I bound by affection for them. )

OM NAMO BHAGAVATE VASUDEVAYA!!!

Krishna’s Dasi, Jayamma

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