Sunday 29 September 2013

Devotional friendship


One of the nine ways of expressing your devotion to God is by be-friending Him.

When we talk of be-friending the Lord, the only person I can think of is Sudama. Also known as Kuchelan, he was a poor man who was Lord Krishna’s best friend during his childhood days.

Sudama was the son of Matuka and Rochana Devi. Though he grew up with Krishna, he stayed back in the village, while Krishna rose in stature to become the King of Dwaraka.

Sudama became so poverty-stricken, that he did not have enough to feed his children. His wife, Susheela, suggested that he meet his childhood friend, Krishna and ask for help.

Sudama set out to meet Krishna. He did not know what gift to take and took some beaten rice (known as Aval in Tamil) and reluctantly proceeded to meet Krishna and ask him for help.

Krishna greeted Sudama with love and respect...
On seeing his old friend Krishna was elated and greeted him inside his royal abode. Sudama, on seeing the riches around Krishna was ashamed of giving him the beaten rice and tried to hide the cloth bundle. Krishna, knew what the cloth bundle contained, but asked Sudama what he had brought for his friend after all these years. The mild chide in Krishna’s voice and the naughtiness in His eyes, took Sudama to his childhood days and he eagerly opened the bag and told Krishna, that it was what He liked the most. The lord savoured the gift with heartfelt happiness. Hours passed as the two sat chatting about their past.

It was time for Sudama to leave. The Lord’s company left him with an eternal contentment that he forgot to ask Krishna for any material wealth.

But on reaching his village, a surprise awaited Sudama. His hither-to humble hut had transformed into a palatial house. Sudama could not believe his eyes.

Nevertheless Sudama, by then was a changed man and led a life of austerity till the end.

One interesting point that meets the readers in this story is that, the Lord, who is blessed with everything, yearns for the simple rice from the hands of a poor friend, while the poor friend was so completely satisfied with just the time he spent with the Lord and asks for nothing in return!

Wednesday 25 September 2013

The Importance of Navavidha Bhakti



With the Navarathri fast approaching what better topic to write on than the ‘Nava’s, be it the Navarasa, the Navadhanya, the Navarathri itself or the Navavidha Bhakti.

Bhakti or devotion towards God can be expressed in nine different ways. God is set to be the omnipresent – He is present everywhere, the omnipotent – He has unlimited power and the omniscient – He has total knowledge of everything.

Therefore, it is easy to please Him. He may test us sometimes, but the test itself is to make us realise how strong we are!It does not matter how we pray Him or express our Bhakti towards Him, what matters is that we must seek Him to know ourselves.The nine ways of showing our Bhakti towards Him helps in the process of strengthening our inner self and realising our powers.

The first way to express our devotion is by way of satsang or company. In the company of other devotees we constantly are thinking about God and talking about Him. The second method is to hear the stories of His mighty deeds that reiterate the belief that we have in Him. The third way of showing our Bhakti is through Guru Bhakti or service to one’s Guru.

The fourth way is to sing kirtans in praise of the God. Repeating or chanting the name of God is the fifth way and this is known as Japa. The fifth way of worshipping God is by singing bhajans.

The sixth mode of bhakti is by controlling the senses and practising selfless service, while maintain a high moral character.

The seventh mode of bhakti is by serving the saints who serve God. According to Tamil literature there was an azhwar by the name ‘thondaradipodi'. Thondar means the one who serves God. Adi means the feet. Podi means the dust from the feet of the saints. He would take the dust from the feet of all the devotees of God and put it on his head. This, in itself, is an expression of Bhakti.

The eight, and by far the most difficult to practise is to find no fault in anyone or anything, as everything is created by God. Being contented with what you have and not desire for more is the true form of expression of Bhakti.

The ninth way of bhakti is the total surrender to God. The phrase ‘chummairuppade shivam’ which when translated means, not getting involved in anything is God. Just being one with God, in thoughts is the toughest state to be in. 

This Navavidha bhakti is explained by God, in his Ram avatar to Shabari.
For each of the nine fold manifestation of Bhakti there is a supporting story, which will follow this introduction.
Lord Rama explains the nine ways of expressing devotion to Shabari...


Wednesday 18 September 2013

The height of ego!



Mount Vindhyachal was once irked by the comments passed by Narad Muni. Narada praised Mount Meru and told the Vindhyachal that the sun God circled around Mount Meru.The jealous Vidhyachal decided to grow as tall as Mount Meru and started growing in height day by day. The Gods in heaven feared that he may grow piercing the heavens. 

The Gods approached Sage Agasthya. Agasthya was known to be the first Siddhar. Sage Agasthya was well known and is even considered the father of Siddha medicine.On hearing the story of the Gods, the sage decided to help them. He approached the Vindhya Mountain and in order to temper his vanity asked him to stop growing. Agasthya was very short in stature and needed to cross over the mountain in order to reach the south of India. 

The mountain was in mood to relent and stood firm in his decision. The sage too stood firm. Finally the sage requested the mountain to shorten his height till he went across to the other side. The mountain obliged.

After crossing over, Agasthya told the mountain to stay short in height until he returned. After crossing over to south of India, from the north, the sage and his family never crossed the mountain and go to the other side. 

Outwitted, the Vindhyas remain short to this day. Though the Gods were happy that the Vindhyas obeyed the sage, the sage drew attention to the great mountain’s benevolent act.

Tuesday 17 September 2013

The greater fool wins the race!



One day a horse trader came to the Kingdom of Vijayanagara to meet King Krishnadevaraya.The trader showed the king a very beautifully groomed horse and sold the idea of buying 100 more such horses from the man. The king had a weakness for well-groomed horses and gave a 5000 gold coins as an advance payment for the horses that the merchant promised to deliver within two weeks.

For a few days after the merchant had left the king was impatient, but elated. One day he was pacing up and down in the palace gardens. Tenali Raman was sitting in one corner of the garden and was busy writing something. After a couple of hours, the king walked up to Raman and wanted to know what he had been writing all the while.
Raman stopped writing and looked up at the king, with a gentle smile on his lips. “Your Majesty, I was engaged in the task of compiling a list that contained the names of the fools in our kingdom. The top most name is that of the greatest fool and then the second and so on” explained Tenali Raman.

The King became curious and wanted to know whose name featured on top of the list. He ordered Raman to give the list to him at once. Raman feigned a frightened look as he reluctantly handed over the list to the King.On seeing the list the King was angered and turned red on his face. 

Image belongs to:http://goo.gl/OxI9W1 




“How dare you write my name on the top? Do I look like a fool to you” thundered Krishnadevaraya. Tenali Raman bowed in front of the King and began to explain. “My Lord, I did not mean to hurt you. I only wanted you to know that handing over 5000 gold coins to a stranger in the hope that he will bring you the horses was rather a foolish act.” The king cooled down a bit and turned towards Raman and asked him if he would remove his name from the list, if the horse trader delivered the horses on time, and as promised.

“Most willingly, Your Honour. In that case I will put the horse trader’s name on top of the list” said Tenali.
The King could never be angry for too long when Tenali Raman was around!

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