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Re: Sincerity in Worship is most important

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mohan R Sagar • July 21, 1999 


Sri Mani has very clearly presented some very
important aspects of our satsampradAyam that I
feel should be highlighted.  The first is from a
paragraph his posting on Sri Bhattar's commentary
on Sri Vishnu Sahasranamam:



> 

> Bhattar tells us not to constantly fret about our inability to
> do elaborate worship; he in fact implies that elaborate worship
> is unnecessary, as in the end everything is dependent purely on
> God's grace, and God only cares about the sincerity and purity
> in th mind.
> 
> Let's do what we can with a pure heart, and God will take care of
> the rest. This is the message of Bhattar.

The second is from today's response to Sri
Madhavakannan's posting:


> 
>  All our worship is to be done
> absolutely selflessly, out of love, with the idea that Narayana
> will take care of us as he sees fit.  He is not a machine who
> gives more for every pradakshina, or for every sandhyAvandana.
> (Recall Bhattar's words? It's the attitude that's important,
> not the elaborateness of the worship.) Once we see
> any of our worship as being result-driven and not service-driven,
> our ego gains prominence, which certainly is not the message
> of our acharyas.
> 

Both these paragraphs convey the profound idea,
unique to SriVaishnavam, that pure love for the
Lord, and the desire to serve Him that results
from it, are vital - if not the only things
necessary - to following the spiritual path
exemplified by our AzhwArs and AchAryans.   Sri
Sudarshan raised the question this evening as to
why Swamy Desikan chose to live the
"third-worldly" life that he did, particularly
since he had a family to take and was well aware
of the accolades that were readily available to
him.   May I be so bold to suggest that perhaps
his motivations were driven by this pure love for
the Lord that made all else seem trite?   Could
his exemplary life of strict adherance to vEdic
injunctions have stemmed from his desire to
fulfill the Lord's commands as an expression of
love, rather than out of the fear that not
following them could bring the risk of being
tempted by material life?   The attitude suggested
by Mani in his postings, to cultivate the mood of
loving and selfless servitude to Sriman Narayana
Alone, seems to suggest so.

Now, while I personally do not believe that any
one of us can even come close to the level of one
such as Swamy Desikan, I do not feel that we
should wallow in guilt or self-pity because of
it.  In my unqualified opinion, we are where we
are, we are who we are, because Perumal believes
that this is the best place for us. So who are we
to question this?  Ours is just to cultivate the
mood expressed by Sri Mani above, a mood of love
and servitude to One who has nothing but Love and
Compassion for us.  All that lies ahead, both
spiritually and materially, is due to only to His
Kindness and is meant only for His Service.

emperumAnAr thiruvaDigalE SaraNam,

Mohan