Speech on Bhakthi by Devima in Tamil – English Transcript Part 2

Link to the original Podcast
Transcript – Part 1

In some aspects we have to be  adamant. in terms of godly things we must show eagerness. So what exactly do we want from God? There’s nothing that we need except for  faith. If we have the faith will get what we need, just don’t have an expectation.  there’s no need for us to have an expectation from God as he will provide us at the right time what we need. 

One thing we need to stop doing as comparing ourselves to others. for example trying to compare one person not fasting vs us fasting,  yet things seem to happen for them. What rights do we have to compare?  we have no rights to compare.  get rid of this comparison period I am myself they are one of themselves. The only relationship please between me and God period for this whatever god wants to do whatever he wants to provide me it’s all up to him. next step after Faith is surrendering ourselves  to God. there is something that we do not have we just simply should not worry about it. You must learn to accept that God will provide us things when we need.

One small story. An old Siddha  carries with him a small wooden bowl. It’s a  damaged old bowl  which he uses for eating. Small child comes and picks up the bowl. The Siddha  tells a child to just leave the bowl as it is. The child then asks the Siddha

“Grandpa… Do you have an attachment towards this old damaged bowl? Its completely gone, why do you need it. You can do without it.”

He thinks hard and then wonders, if he really has an attachment towards it. The Siddha replies

“Child, I do not have an attachment, but it is just the bowl that I use to eat with. That is why I asked to just leave it”

Child then replies playfully- “Ooh is that all. I didn’t think you will have such strong sentiments towards that”.

The Siddha then thinks about the lesson he has just learnt that a small child has asked him if he has an attachment towards the bowl that he uses to eat with. Do I really have an attachment towards it? Then he thinks harder then comes to realise that God has provided him hands which He can use to carry food and then eat. He doesn’t need the bowl anymore, and then decides to break it and throw that away.

We learn from this story how this Siddha realises that a small wooden bowl that he was using for eating was itself a strong attachment and that God had already provided him all that he needed for his every day eating. He didn’t need any extra materials. We on the other hand however are always asking for more. Whatever we have is just never enough. Even with a house and car, we need more and we are never satisfied as the list keeps growing. What we have is a growing desire which we need to get rid of.

These desires we ask towards god and we begin to bribe god to provide us these things. We say that we will do certain fasting, or that we will provide certain things for God if he can provide us what we need.

The question then comes up as to why has it been written in various scriptures that we should follow certain procedures and practices in order to get certain things? The answer to that is that it was done for us to get an attachment towards god. Take an example of us teaching our own children. We tell the child that we will spend time and play with them if they do certain tasks for us. The child then realises they must do the work so that they can get the time to play with the parents. Similarly, the ancient sage’s wrote certain practices and procedures to ask us to follow, so that we can go towards God. If we follow them, we will remember God and we will want to go near him and learn about him. We are the child and God is our parent.

So the question is how to do we get this Bhakthi? Where do we go in search of knowledge (Gyaan). The interesting thing is that we are all born with this knowledge. We are all Gyaanis and that its all there within us. The only thing is that we haven’t researched enough about it and brought it out, but its all there for us to take.  In today’s world, there is lot of talk about doing Yoga, Dhyaan, Meditation, Japa etc and that that will give us true Gyaan. Is that what we need to follow to get it? What I say is that, do not go for those things. Just do the job that you have been provided with and follow it full heartedly. That itself is a form of Dhyaan. So then, once we achieve this Dhyaan, what do we achieve out of it? What are we going to gain? Do we actually need it? No we do not. What we need is true bhakthi.

To show the bhakthi, we do not have to go very far or go deep. Each morning, light a lamp and say thanks to god for giving you the strength to get up in the morning to do your daily activities. Similarly, in the evening, thank God for the day and analyse where you went wrong in the day so that you can correct yourself. During this time, avoid comparing yourself and never feel that you are any better than others. Use this time to reflect on yourself and think about how you can improve. Do not think you are extremely great and similarly do not also down play yourself. You are who you are. We will follow the path which we have provided to us.  When we come to realise in our mind our mistakes and balance our thoughts so it is in a steady state- this is bhakthi. This is a process that will take time but its our duty to slowly keep improving.

Link to the original Podcast
Transcript – Part 1