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Sincerity in Worship.

From the Bhakti List Archives

Narasimhan Krishnamachari • July 22, 1999 


Dear Bhakta-s:

SrI Mani's article reminding us of the significance, simplicity, and
importance of nAma samkIrtanam is a welcome refresher to me on the
effort He made me start a couple of years back.  As Bhakta-s in this
list know, this effort is moving at snail's pace to the point that the
real purpose of BhIshma giving us this great stotram through vyAsa is
not in the forefront of my mind constantly, as it should be.  The
importance of sincerity in our offerings to Him can be seen by how the
gopi-s had kRshNa under their sway, even though their "knowledge-level"
was such that "they did not know the difference between their right
hand and left hand".  The story of prahlAda is an illustration of the
power of sincerity in the worship we offer to Him.

Simple nAma samkIrtanam which requires essentially no effort other than
sincerity, even without knowing the meanings of the nAma-s, will over
time give the devotee the mental maturity to perform prapatti.  svAmi
deSikan refers to the efficacy and power of nAma samkIrtana in acyuta
Satakam which we covered a few days back.  The significance of looking
into the meanaings of the nAma-s just adds another dimension to the
anubhavam of bhagavAn's guNa-s, which is what we are doing when we look
into what each of His nAma-s say about Him.  Often I have referred to
how svAmi deSikan feels when he has the darSanam of the arcA mUrti of
devarAjap perumAl, varadarAjap perumAL, Lord ra'nganAtha, etc. (He only
thinks of the Lord's compassion towards His devotee
as in the case of prahlAda, His protecting His devotees by destroying
the evil asura-s such as rAvaNa, His being the Master of all including
the Sun, the moon, etc., and his excitements knows no bounds when He is
in presence of the arcA mUrti).  I see this as equivalent to the
anubhavam of a devotee who chants bhagavAn's nAma-s while feeling the
significance of the nAma.  On the other side, hre I am who goes to the
temple and stands in front of bhagavAn's arcA tirumeni, and all I can
do is ask for more pleasures, more comfort, etc.  What is precisely
lacking in me is the sincerity while offering the worship.  Being
constantly reminded of bhagavAn's guNa-s, I hope, can over time help
develop this sincerity that is essential. This is the spirit in which I
am learning the meanings.

The first three or four write-ups I submitted delve a bit deeper into
some of the above thoughts.  Thanks again to SrI Mani for reminding us
of the "trivial" things such as nAma samkIrtanam, through which our
PerumAL just immediately gets pleased, and gives us moksham in return
as if we have given Him something too valuable and precious. 

-dAsan       

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