Narayanasramam

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Pure Devotion by Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha

 

" Lord Hari is pleased only by pure devotion. All the other things are

mere display, mere ostentation. " When I read this line for the first

time from Sreemad Bhaagavatam, it became my possession, and it continues to be

so even today. What is the focus here? " The Supreme Lord is pleased only by

guileless devotion. All the other things are mere ostentation, display " . This

guileless devotion is a trait or quality of your mind.

 

The emphasis is to make your devotion guileless. Your devotion. That

is why I say that in the whole picture, in the whole devotional

development, you, the devotee, alone count. I don't think God has

any place in devotion. He doesn't have to do anything. You don't have to beg

anything from him.

 

The whole devotion rests upon your mind, your heart, your intelligence. Make

them such that, they will start expressing uncorrupted wholesome devotion. As

long as you have the mind, and also you have the vision and will to cultivate

devotion, what else do you look for? Nothing else is needed. This is how the

focus develops, and a constant effort as saadhana also takes place.

 

So first of all you should know what the right saadhana is. There after you

should practice it assiduously. The first question is answered by " mind is the

focus " . Secondly recognize that, the mind has got the potential and possibility

to be improved, sublimated and purified throughout your life. In whatever you

speak, think or do, have this change of attitude, view. After you change the

point of view, your new outlook should become wholesome. Nothing should stand

excluded from your devotion. In this new view of devotion and spirituality,

everything should stand included.

 

The mind is the focus, and every day is an opportunity. The crying day, the

laughing day, the smiling day, the disappointed day, the tormented day – every

day is an opportunity for touching and improving the mind. If only this lesson

is learnt, I think the saadhana is almost begun as well as complete. These two

items – tell me, my dear saadhakas – to master them, is it so very difficult?