Ardent Devotees
By Karmayogi
Man generally thinks of work to be
done. If he prays, he prays in the time allotted to prayer. To think of God
often or always is not a normal human behaviour. ‘‘God will save
me'' is a phrase commonly heard. It means man often faces problems
and his faith in God will see him through. There are devout people. For them,
God is not the idol in the temple but a reality to their feelings. To relate to
God on the merest pretext is a way of life to them. It is a source of joy to
them. Such people will hear Krishna's
flute, venuganam, if they take to some yogic discipline or even ordinary
worship seriously. To go within and feel joy and a security in His clasp is an
emotional activity they cherish. These are rare souls. Society does not take notice
of them or their endowment. Nor do they generally speak of that side of their
life.
At the other end, there are very clever people. To them, normal function is not
known. They would have told different stories to different people about
themselves. Their memory will be alert and resourceful in the extreme. No
difficult situation finds them wanting in resources. A story will readily
spring to their lips. Whether it will pass through their minds, one does not
know. These are people who rely entirely on their resourcefulness. They rarely
trust another person. They scrupulously avoid worship of any God. They believe
that if they pray to God, God will punish them for their wickedness. They too
resort to prayer at times of crisis – an illness in the family, an intractable
partner who asks for all the proceeds, etc. If any such prayer is answered, for
any reason, they gradually become ardent devotees. They have their right sides.
Their prayer is reserved for the activities of their right sides.
Their prayer will be intense and particularly non-stop. On seeing some of them,
one is tempted to say absolute rogues are ardent devotees. As they have too
many irons in their evil fire, they constantly need protection. Their constant
need of protection makes constant remembrance possible. For whatever reason
they think of God, their intensity as well as constancy one day transforms
them. If they are with a Guru, they succeed him. As life works through good as
well as evil, God too does not discriminate. He is above good and evil and
receives human souls through good as well as evil.