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From the Bhakti List Archives

Mani Varadarajan • March 12, 1997 


Sumanth and Vijayaraghavan have posted thoughtful replies
to my questions.  If I am not mistaken, their essential point
is that it is not out of character for us to ask God for
material goods and material welfare. Please correct me if
I have misstated the position.

>From a purely psychological perspective, is this really
ok? Can we trust ourselves to keep this to limit? Sudama (Kuchela)
asked for a tiny bit of assistance and got an entire palace;
he remained concerned that he would lose his self-control over
it.  So there is precedence in the Puranas for this view;
God will of course bless us, as He responds in some way or
another to our request. But do we realize the consequences
of what we request? Do we have as much self-control as Sudama?

The Brahma-sutras say that before beginning an inquiry
into the Absolute, the aspirant should have realized the
inconsequence of material pursuits (whether through asking
God or otherwise) and should devote himself exclusively
to brahma-vidya. A lofty ideal, no doubt, but should a 
prapanna aspire for no less? Krishna remarks in the Gita
that ``that great soul who thinks that Vasudeva is his
all'', and that he looks for nothing else, is the true
jnAni.  How literally are we to take this? Is this something
to strive for?

I await more of the group's reactions.

adiyEn
Mani