Laxmi Narayan Aithal
TWO FORMS
OF DEVOTION.
Offering
a leaf, a
flower, a fruit,
etc. with Love
to God and worshipping
Him through – studying scripture,
chanting hymns of
praise, etc. are
endowed with a
part of love;
therefore, it is
also called devotion.
But, this scripture
doesn’t deal with that devotion;
forgetting all external
objects, if the
excellent love is
established on God,
this Great Love
itself is the
real Devotion. In
order to indicate
this itself characteristic features
of devotion is
told : परमप्रेमरूपा, Form of Supreme
Love.
Devotion
shown through worshipping,
chanting, etc. towards
God is called
the secondary one (गौणभक्ति). The
first aphorism tells : भक्तिं व्याख्यास्यामः, we
clearly explain devotion.
The word ‘devotion’ is
primarily the Supreme One
of the form
of excellent love;
still, as a
king comes with
his retinue, so
this scripture has
also explained the
secondary devotion not
as its main
aim; and the
main aim of
the scripture is
the Supreme Devotion. The
first meaning of
the word भक्ति is the Supreme
Love towards the
Supreme Self, the
God. This, itself,
is the subject
matter of this
scripture.
MEANING OF
THE WORD ‘ तु’
In the
aphorism, सा तु (But
that devotion), the ‘तु ’ (but) word
is employed to
indicate relief to
all probable objections
that may arise
on भक्ति, the
topic of the
scripture. In the
pretext of explaining
the meaning of
the words of
the aphorism, we
have cleared the
already raised such
objections. In the
next aphorism, a relief
will be given
for another objection.
In the
present moment, there
is a profit
to the readers
if they reflect
upon the sublime
meaning of the
four words of
the aphorism : सा त्वस्मिन् परमप्रेमरूपा. An
aphorism means this :-
अल्पाक्षरमसन्दिग्धं सारवद्विश्वतो मुखम् । अस्तोभमनवद्यमं च सूत्रं सूत्रविदो विदुः ।।
According
to this token sentence (लक्षणवाक्य) of
learned men, an
aphorism should have
following characteristics : (1)
It should have
minimum number of
words; (2) regarding meaning
no doubt should raise; (3) there should
be a substance (सार) in the meaning; (4) many meanings
should be indicated
by a single
word; (5) vain or meaningless
words should not be included; (6) and,
there should be
no fault in
the meaning of
a sentence.
Thus
the united meaning
of the two
aphorisms can be
said briefly : Devotion is the Supreme
Love itself in
God; the highest
achievement of life
can be had
through that devotion;
and we explain
that devotion with
all its auxiliaries.
AN OBJECTION
REGARDING DEVOTION
11. It
is said that
there is no defect of
love of external
objects in the
Supreme Love regarding
God. Objects are
not everlasting, therefore
if they are
lost there is
grief either in
acquiring them, or
in protecting them;
and, there is
affliction even in
relieving the difficulty
of the mind. But, the गीता tells
about God as
follows : नित्यः सर्वगतः स्थाणुरचलोsयं सनातनः (गी. 3-34). According
to this- God is
Eternal, all Pervading
one and He
has a steady
Form; and He
doesn’t move from
one place to
another. Therefore the
excellent Love in
Him may yield
Supreme Bliss. But,
is not love a
condition of the
mind ? A condition
remains till the
other one rises;
and there is
no hope of
retaining the same
condition forever, isn’t
it ? This being
the case, how
can a love-condition which
has a beginning
and an end
give everlasting bliss ?
If not, then,
how can be
the highest achievement
of life ?
Even
this objection is
answered by the
word रूपा (form) from
the compound word परमप्रेमरूपा (form of Supreme Love ). This
is told briefly : Though the
devotion is in the
form of love-condition but the
Supreme Love is not a mere
love-condition which is
familiar to us
all. It’s Own
Form itself is
different from the
worldly love-condition. That
is explained in
the next aphorism :-
अमृतस्वरूपा च ।।3।।
And that is
also having an Immortal
Form.
There is
a difference between
worldly famous love
and devotion : In the
world, love is
a mental condition
which originates by
the connection of
objects in the
vicinity of sense-organs.
There arises a
mental condition according
to the form
of an object.
When the sensual objects are known,
the following conditions are formed : Uncertainty (विकल्प) of the
object, doubting it (संशय), certainty
about it (निश्चय) and
egoistically attaching to
it. Similarly – कामः सङ्कल्पो विचिकित्सा श्रद्धाsश्रद्धा धृतिरधृतिर्ह्रीर्भीरित्येतत्सर्वं मन एव ।।बृ. 1-5-3।। Desire (काम), will (संकल्प), doubt (संशय), faith (श्रद्धा), lack of
faith (अश्रद्धा).
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