Vivekananda Mailing List-10/22/03

[Guest guest]

This is indeed the most poetical and forcible way in which the theory

of Ishta-Nishtha has ever been put. This Eka-Nishtha or devotion to one

ideal is absolutely necessary for the beginner in the practice of

religious devotion. He must say with Hanuman in the Râmâyana, " Though I

know that the Lord of Shri and the Lord of Jânaki are both

manifestations of the same Supreme Being, yet my all in all is the

lotus-eyed Râma. " Or, as was said by the sage Tulasidâsa, he must say,

" Take the sweetness of all, sit with all, take the name of all, say

yea, yea, but keep your seat firm. " Then, if the devotional aspirant is

sincere, out of this little seed will come a gigantic tree like the

Indian banyan, sending out branch after branch and root after root to

all sides, till it covers the entire field of religion. Thus will the

true devotee realise that He who was his own ideal in life is

worshipped in all ideals by all sects, under all names, and through all

forms.