| Aspects Of Our Religion |
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THE SPIRITUAL PATH |
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If you meditate on a thing with concentration
you acquire its qualities, and, at last, you become that thing itself. Meditation on God who is omniscient, who is unaffected by
want and unmoved by desire, makes one like God himself. To steady oneself even as
God is steady, one should have devotion to God. Saint Tiruvalluvar says that we
must attach ourselves to him who has no attachments to rid ourselves of all
attachments. Attach yourself to God to be detached from the world.
What really is the core of bhakti? It is the condition of mind, which is continuously drawn to and anchored in the feet of the Lord of all creatures, the Pasupati. Sri Sankara has a verse, which brings out the nature of bhakti by a few beautiful examples from Nature and human relations. Ankolam nijabeejasantatih. It is traditionally believed that there is a tree called the ankola tree. Its seeds fall down from the full-grown tree. By some internal compulsion of its nature, it moves of its own accord towards the foot of the parent tree. Having reached it, it gently ascends clinging to the trunk and eventually becomes one with it.Ayaskaantopalam soochikaa. The needle is drawn to the loadstone gets magnetized by it and becomes-itself a magnet. Saadhvee naijavibhum. A pativrataa woman intensely longs with all her heart and soul -for the company of her lord who is all the world to her. Lataa kshitiruham. A creeper meandering on the ground is on the look out for a tree to twine itself round. Having found it, it envelops it on all sides and cannot be separated from it even with great force. |
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