When we develop love for God
and start walking the Divine Path, we need to take care of our bhakti and
faith. Our bhakti is a like a new sapling. If a new sapling is left untended to
in the garden, it will wither and die.
It can be eaten as a snack by a cow or goat or pecked at by birds. Too much
sunshine or too many rains will destroy it. It must be protected from naughty
children who thoughtlessly pull it out for fun of it. So we need to fence the little sapling to
protect it against animals, birds and man.
We must tend to it daily and ensure that it is watered sufficiently but
not too much else it will rot and die. We must ensure that it is protected from
the harshness of the sun, winds and rains.
We have great enemies of bhakti
within us. Our laziness, ego, pride, lack of discipline are all great enemies to the
development of Bhakti. Bhakti is a glorious crop that is cultivated
painstakingly, by day to day sadhana. We must do disciplined japa and dhyan daily.
We cannot afford to be lazy and let go. Once we let go of our practices, there
is a break for a long period of time. Then getting back our practices to the
same level takes a lot of focussed effort and time. It is an inner battle with
our own selves to remain steady in practices. Our expectations, lack of depth
of love for God, lack of surrender to God, lack of knowledge and experience,
long time taken for appreciable results to manifest- all shake our bhakti and
we let go and stop our practices. We not only face internal enemies but also
external enemies – those around us who do not want us to grow and progress in
life and who enjoy destroying our practices and happiness. See this little story:
There was a Brahmin who lived
in a village. He performed pujas and other ceremonies and earned his living.
Once he performed a big puja in a rich man’s house. As a reward, he was given
some money and a young healthy cow. The Brahmin was very happy with the cow. It
would provide him with milk, butter, ghee and curds. His young son would be
able to have good milk and his family would be able to have nourishing food. He
would worship the cow daily and gain spiritual merit. Thinking thus, the
Brahmin walked towards his home leading the cow behind him.
Three men were watching the
Brahmin walking with the cow. They envied the Brahmin for his cow. They wanted it
for themselves. So they hatched a plot to get the cow.
The first man approached the
Brahmin and asked: Are you a washerman, leading a donkey?
The Brahmin glared at him for
being thought of as a washerman but kept walking. He did not answer him back.
After a while, the second man
passed him by and yelled: You are a Brahmin and shame on you for carrying a pig
home!
The Brahmin was confused and
did not refute him. He increased his pace of walking. He wanted to reach home
safe.
After a few yards, the third
man came to the Brahmin and asked: why are you pulling a wild animal? Are you
not afraid?
The Brahmin was confused and
scared. One man can make a mistake, even two. But how could all three of them
be wrong? He thought that he was tricked by the rich man and given a devil animal which
changed shapes and forms. He left the cow behind and ran for his life. The
three men had a hearty laugh and took away the young healthy cow with them.
When our bhakti deepens, there is a transformation in us. Many of those around us – friends, family and
co workers notice the change in us and cannot bear it. How dare we improve when they are still where they were? We dare not be happier
than them! Their Guru is more superior to our Guru. Their techniques are better
than what we do. They will probe and poke and ask questions. Then sneer at us
and make fun of our efforts. ‘This method
is wrong. You are following a Guru!! What is the need for sadhana now? You can
do it when you are retired. You are doing wrong to your family by taking away
time from them. Your Guru and practices have made you selfish!’ A daily
procession of such demeaning attacks will rain on us daily until one day we
simply give up all our practices. Then like the Brahmin, we lose a healthy cow
which will give our child milk to grow on and give us nourishing food for body
and permit us to worship and gain spiritual merit. With the loss of our
practices we grow depressed and live in a state of misery. This loss will
immensely cheer many around us. Misery does love company and will ensure that
others are made miserable to increase the company.
So let us safeguard our bhakti
with regular and disciplined spiritual practices, following of the Guru’s
teachings, being conscious of our thoughts, not talking about our practices and
progress to others except with those who are advanced on the path, reading of
Holy Scriptures, keeping satsang. We must have tremendous faith in God and Guru
and the faith that we will reach the goal. As we keep practising this way, we
will find that we grow stronger by the day and then a time comes when sneers of others makes no difference. Our
bhakti and conviction will help others walk stronger in their path. We become a
living example and inspiration to others. The tiny sapling of our bhakthi would have grown into a huge tree which gives shade and
protection to many birds, animals and man.
