True Nature of Worship by Pt. Shriram Sharma Acharya ... Part -2

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Dear All,

**

*When is *upasana *not pleasurable?

*

 

When a person does not have faith in it or when he considers it as a special

or extra duty different from his regular life style. With such a feeling, in

a short time he begins to find worship unnecessary and useless and so in

place of experiencing elation begins to feel exhausted and soon leaves the

worship altogether.

 

This is a simple human nature that a person experiences annoyance in any

activity that is not assimilated in his daily routine or he is not

accustomed to doing it. Even in his regular routine daily work if some work

increases as a sudden necessity, he would do it as if it is an uncalled for

burden on him.

 

The same principle applies to *upasana *as well. So worship or *upasana *should

not be a special obligation outside the daily routine but should be done as

an integral part of the same. When *upasana *becomes an a natural part of

life then fulfilling that gives as much pleasure as fulfilling any other

need. Once it gets integrated with life then till it is performed the heart

remains as impatient as in anticipation of meeting a beloved.

 

Worship is an inseparable part of human life. This is the form in which it

should be accepted. Taking up worship as a special obligation brings in a

feeling of doing something other than the routine. All along the thought

persists that I am giving effect to some special task and thus concentration

is not achieved, due to which desired leasure is not gained. It is quite

natural that the task that entails distaste and displeasure cannot be

continued for long, and even if continued no great results could be

anticipated.

* Upasana *does not evoke pleasure when it is carried out to fulfill some

profit or greed too. When *upasana *is done with a selfish intent then the

attention of the worshipper is directed towards his wants rather than

towards who is being worshipped. One whose flow of feelings is directed

towards his wants in place of his object of worship gets his greed

fortified. This greed gradually grows unbounded and the process of *upasana

*begins to fructify right in the opposite direction. Man turns fearsome for

himself by transforming into a store of greed, wants, selfishness and

desires. Anything going against his expectations appears to him as a

consequence of 'some mistake' in *upasana *and what not…

 

 

In this manner when such misled worshippers due to their proximity to

eagerness, dissatisfaction, sorrows and unhappiness eventually become their

prey begin to find faults with *upasana *or the object of worship and make

this conception that one who sincerely worships has to bear sorrows,

hardships and poverty. Such conceptions are tremendous mistakes.

 

It can be safely assumed about any worshipper who is miserable, poor or

lowly that greed is active in his *upasana *that his greed, delusions or

wrong approach have led him to this state. Else the immediate fruits of *

upasana*, the divine attributes like brilliance, strength, self-discipline,

sensitivity, etc, should have sprouted in him.

 

Additionally, expectations driven *upasana *also does not continue

uninterrupted for too long. Such a worshipper keeps equating fruits of his

endeavors in this regard with his expectations day by day; and when his

desires do not get fulfilled he gradually gets weary, begins to

consider *upasana

*as a worthless activity and then losing all the interest in the same gives

it up in the end. Such a worshipper leads a tragic life of a coward who is

scared of death and has lost all hope in life.

 

 

..... To Be Coninued ....

 

Author : Pt Shriram Sharma Acharya

Source : www.awgp.org www.awgpsouth.org