Bhakti Bliss

(Synopsis of a lecture by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj given in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India, on January 9, 2010)

Once there was a temple priest. In his temple there were many different deities of God. This is a very common practice in temples nowadays. Generally deities such as Krishna, Ram, Shiva, Hanuman, Garud and others are installed so that if a devotee of any of these forms of God visits the temple, he’ll give some money as an offering.

As part of his duties, this priest also served food to the deities. It happened that some of his students invited him to their area, which was quite far from the temple. A young boy of 8 years of age used to stay with the priest as a helper. The priest told him, “Son, I have to go away for one month. I want you to continue to serve the deities like I do, alright? Make a nice meal for them, give them a bath, then close the temple at the right time so God may sleep.” The boy said, “Yes, I will do it.”

After the priest left, the the boy served his first meal to the deities. He placed the tray before them and then closed a small curtain so God could eat in private. But, really, is a stone deity going to eat? The boy kept on opening and closing the curtain to see if any of the deities had eaten. He saw that the food remained untouched. He thought, “They must be mad because the priest has gone away. Alright, so I won’t eat either.” He took the food away.

The next day he prepared food again and said to them, “You all must be hungry by now. Here – please eat!” Again the food remained uneaten. He also went hungry. Several days passed like this. There was no one he could talk to about this because the priest had gone far away. He told the deities, “I can’t tolerate this hunger any more. Please don’t mind, but now I have to do something drastic.” He picked up a big stick and said strongly, “Alright, let’s see you not eat now!”

This little boy and firm faith that the real Hanuman and Krishna and all the other of forms of God were present there, and that these were not lifeless deities. Brandishing the stick he said, “Eat or else!” Each of the forms of God represented by the deities came out and immediately started to eat. They ate so much that the boy said, “Alright, stop! Save some for me!” Unfortunately no food was left so again he remained hungry.

The next day he made extra food and again it was all eaten up. Any flour that had been left in the house was quickly finished. He was forced to go numerous times to a neighbor to borrow more flour.

Some time after this, the priest returned. When he learned about how much the boy had borrowed, he said, “How did you spend so much money on flour? You were alone!” The boy said, “What could I do? God ate it all up!” The priest said, “What is this nonsense that God ate it! Do the deities eat?” The boy said, “Guru Ji, what are you saying? Do you think I’m lying? Come on, I’ll show you.” He again served the deities, and they all came and ate. The priest saw the food was gone, but he couldn’t see who was eating it. The boy saw that everyone came and ate, but the priest wasn’t able to see anything. At that moment, a voice came from the heavens, “Oh, priest, you didn’t have any faith that we would eat and that is why we didn’t. But this little boy had full and firm faith and that is why we have eaten his food.”

We will be able to benefit from deity worship or visiting pilgrimage places only when our develop our feelings of love and faith. There is no special benefit in just physically visiting these places. As it is, God Himself is seated in our hearts and we are not benefiting in the slightest from this. Then what could we expect to receive from a stone deity?

If someone says, “What you are saying is preposterous!” Then answer this question. After you visited charo dham, the four main pilgrimage places, and you returned to your home, did you become renounced from the world? Did your attachment to your loved ones and wealth go away? “No, it didn’t go away.” In fact, it increased. After returning to your home, when you saw your children and grandchildren, you joyfully gave them big hugs, “I’m back!” What happened? You were fine before you left. “Well, when I was gone, I was remembering them. I kept thinking, ‘I’ve been gone for 12 days. What if my accountant makes a mistake with the books… and my son was sick when I left. He may have gotten worse. My wife is alone, hopefully she hasn’t become unfaithful in my absence…’” Your mind was filled with the world while you sat in the temple. This is the result of going on pilgrimage.

For this reason, understand that God, His name, His form, His virtues, His pastimes, His abode and His Saints are divine. If your mind remains attached among any of these through any kind of feeling you will attain the divine abode, Golok. If your mind remains attached to the world with worldly feelings – you will attain a material result after your death that corresponds to whomever your mind was attached to during your lifetime. But if you love God through any material object, and feel that God is present in that object, you will also attain Golok.

In this way, we can receive the same benefit from a true Saint that we could receive from God Himself. If we aren’t benefited, this is our problem. We have seen Shri Krishna in the past. Even though we saw His actual form, we criticised Him. “He keeps on wandering after girls. Imagine, Sage Durvasa says He is God! He must be crazy, too!” Even Sage Durvasa was included in our criticisms. As a result, we received no benefit.

Thus, the benefit we receive from satsang is millions of times greater than this, because we receive the opportunity to listen to spiritual philosophy, and by understanding this, we benefit. The effect of satsang purifies our mind. Here you are sitting and meditating with closed eyes and imagining that God is close to you while you are chanting His name. Even the person who is exploring the temple at Rameshwaram isn’t receiving as much benefit as you are. While there, a person is troubled because there are so many stairs to climb, he feels tired, he has nothing to drink, and so on.

A person can understand where he receives more benefit. Just think whether the benefit you are receiving here in satsang is more than whatever you received on pilgrimage. Reflect on your own personal experience.

In ancient times, Saints used to live in pilgrimage places. Now only shopkeepers are there. Lots of thieves hang around these places, ready to cut someone’s pockets. Lots of unsavory characters are there to cheat innocent visitors. When a person comes home, he only remembers, “Oh, what a horrible thing happened to me!” The benefit that was received from Saints in these holy places is no longer available. Even if one true Saint resides in such a place, there are fifty more who are impersonating a Saint. How could an ordinary person recognize the true Saint?

Therefore, if a devotee goes to a pilgrimage place with true devotional feelings and he meets a true Saint, and he receives the benefit of that Saint’s satsang, then there is a benefit to visiting that pilgrimage place. Otherwise, you can sit alone in your own home and practice devotion, and that benefit is equivalent to visiting millions of pilgrimage places.

© Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat and Bhakti Bliss, 2009