Devotion...a way of life or an illusion...

Nachiketa asked his father, 'Father,whom are you giving me ?' His father did not reply.Again and again he asked till his father out of repeated irritation replied."I will give you to Yamraj'(God of death)...Says Kathopanishad...Read years back.

            Why am I writing on this? Like many contemporary believers not long ago I was also going to places of prayer,getting pooja at my home sometimes and standing in queques to deliver my prayer and an illusive coconut to offer... But a question came to mind 'Are these real devotion ?' Few years back we wanted to have Satyanarayan Pooja at my place as done in many households in Maharashtra and the person who had to come to do the pooja could not come and instead sent someone who was his colleague to do the pooja.The list of the things and necessities for the pooja (so called pooja samagri) as enlisted by the gentleman pujari was exhaustive.I used my logic and bought only the  necessities which seemed ethical even at that point.At the end of the pooja I marked that the so called poojari almost weighed the rice,the lentils,checked each bit of the clothes and was not looking happy at all and to say the least he never used any of those packets for any use in pooja! I further marked he packed everything leaving only the Sthapana place and the Satyanarayan photo for me to handle later.When I offered him the Dakshina 'He told,'Madam,what should I ask you,I am giving you some concession as I work in the department whom you serve as a doctor,but I charge for the hours I spend for the pooja'.Taking note of his devotion to God,I replied,'No pujariji,you can take your full charge and I do not need any concession ''and handed over to him few more 500 rupee notes to keep his devotion in right spirit..and decided not to fall prey to such devotional illusions in future..Started seeing God in every morning sun and evening star..There after never thought of ever needing any pooja...

                              Recently got the great fortune to understand the Indian spiritual and real concept of devotion and got the glimpse of the illusions we are surrounded with..Am going to elaborate further below.That made me to review and recollect Nachiketa's story in Kathopanishad..The story to flow first in nutshell for those who have not read it and as a metaphor for the ones who are aware of it..The story goes like this in brief.. 

                            When Gautam,father of Nachikata and the son of great  Vajashrava (who was famous for distributing food in charity) desirous of heaven performs a yajna named Viswajit and does intend to give away all that he possess,Nachiketa then a 9 year old child witnesses his father giving away  money to food to herd of cattle and he is not able to reach the sacred meaning of his father's actions.He is anxious that his father who is performing the yajna with desire should attain its fulfillment. But in his knowledge of shastras he knew that the sacrifice called Viswajita will be fully potent only when the performer sacrifices everything that he posseses.Kathopanishad translation says 'But somehow, due to some sense of attachment and delusory feeling of proprietorship,the old man has decided to make small compromise between injunctions of the shastras and his own promoted impulses' so thought Nachiketa in his immaturity. In this inner conflict of Vajashravas ,so clearly indicated by his external actions, Nachiketa reads a sure tragedy in store for his father in future. Being the great son and disciple of his father he thinks it is his primary duty to let his father attain heaven what he drsired and goes and asks his father..'Father,to whom will thou give me?" Initially the father ignores his question. But Nachiketa,the true seeker repeats and hearing the question third time ,from the father a harmless curse bursts out in disgust.. 'Unto Death do I give thee'..equivalent to any angry Englishman's 'Go to hell'!...

                        Matured soul as that of Nachiketa thinks , not actually sacrificing all his possessions, he is actually doing "adharma in the name of dharma'.Then he hints to his father that as we are born again and again , life must necessarily end after a period of existence and that,compared to the Endless Time,the life span of an individual ego living on this globe is but momentary.The general import suggested is that when life is so fleeting why should one stoop down to perpetrate Adharma, temped by one's own delusion and false attachment? Nachiketa comforting his father and persuading him to allow him to act up to the high ideals in which the true Aryans ever walked in the past,left his home and entered the domain of Death.There he arrived at the Portico of Death and the boy had to wait for three days and nights,since Lord Death was then 'out of station'.When Yamraj,the Lord of Death comes back home and sees a bhramana guest ( The word bhrahmana in this connection means not The one who has come to claim it as an accidental privilege of birth,but it means one who has the necessary cultural purity and mental and intellectual powers manifested in him as an individual) standing on his door  unfed for 3 days waiting to meet him,bows down to Nachiketa and asks for forgiveness and requests him to ask for any 3 boons he desires. As a matter of fact ,it is surprising that such a Godly Power as Lord Death Himself should bow down in modesty in front of his guest,a boy merely nine years old,and beg of him to pardon the host's inevitable lapses. Those were the days when governors themselves courageously step over their own laws ! So the principled soul,the great disciple Nachiketa who denounces all the worldly wealth and pleasure willingly being gifted to him by none other than Dharmaraj,the God of Death and want Him to bless with the knowledge to know 'what happens to the soul after death?..and finally passes all the tests given by God of Death..

That's what Kathopanishad elaborates further. On this background and metaphor now I want to discuss our contemporary understanding of devotion and what we generally practice is  merely an illusion and not true devotion I suppose.The analysis goes as follows...

  

                       In recent past a wealthy businessman ,a so called devotee of Mahavir prays 'O God,if my this 10000 crore businesses is successful I will build a marble temple for u'..What a misconception/misunderstanding/illusions he carries...Mahavir Jain ,such a liberated soul who had left his palace and dynasty for salvation and didn't even bother for a piece of cloth on his Body is offered a price of a marble temple in lieu of granting successful businesses..!!! The story repeats for Hindu,Muslim,Christian and many more faiths across. We the devotees of Vishnu,Maheshwar,Ram,Krishna, Mohammed, Christ,Sai Baba really really don't understand them and hardly follow the values they really symbolized and established on Earth and merely say we are so and so devotee and never leave a chance to go round and round their so called dwelling places and beg what not.. and allure/ bribe a coconut,, a flower basket,a fire sacrifice ,feed 10 undeserving people and donate Gold,silver,Diamond , currency and what not as if Ram went 14 years to Jungle not to establish the devotion of a son to father,love for his brothers and no attachment to the kingdom or be the king..and we fight and bribe to get undue favour from him..what a loss of path !! So also for Krishna,who in each step guarded Dharma,the right path and action and smilingly accepted Gandhari's curse to lose his family.. So also Neelakantha Shiva gulped the poison unhindered and Mohd everyday smiled at the old lady throwing garbage on him.Christ,the divine soul as he was,prays for forgiveness for the perpetrators putting him on the cross and Nanak ,when his father sends him to the field was so kind to think at the age of 7 that the bird and the field both are God's creation and who am I to drive the bird away from eating the wheat?..And when most of our contemporary devotion plays role,it is nothing beyond seeking good material fortune or not to have to face any trouble without any appropriate karma and bribing our so called Gods or ideals in life.. We may intend to allure and bribe the great enlightened souls anything material which infact none belongs to us but we will not take an iota of efforts to follow their footsteps...What a tragic and ironical misinterpretation of devotion !!! 

          God or any enlightened soul to my small little mind is nothing but goodness,truth,justice and divine karma...and if we plant an apple tree sooner or later,in this life or that life the fruit is going to be an apple and never a neem and the vice versa.And who can we depend more than the creater,the nature,the God whatever we may wish it to name ,to give us justice than Him? This is just our illusion to please Him in our own way and ask for favours in return. I think we only can surrender if at all as humans and rest justice will surely follow in its own time,place,pace and way.. And He will surely grant us what we need really may not be what we desire and misinterprete.That's the Divine power..I believe.. And devotion is best lived as a way of life .... God bless one and all...