Prof. Anil Kumar: Swami! What should we do to receive God’s Grace?
Bhagavan: Bhagavan: There is no way other than devotion. Your wealth, scholarship, authority and physical personality cannot please God. It is only your devotion that He looks into.
Don’t you know Guha in the Ramayana? What scholarship had he to please Rama? Nothing. He was not even educated. You also must have heard of Sabari, an ardent devotee of Lord Rama. How rich was she to be close to Rama? Nothing. She was in rags at that time, the poorest of the poor. What made the bird, Jatayu, receive the special blessings of Rama so as to deserve performance of the last rites at the Divine Hands of Rama?
Even Rama’s father, Dasaratha, was not as fortunate as this bird Jatayu, because he died when Rama was in the forest, far away from Ayodhya. How about Hanuman, a monkey? By implicit faith in and total surrender to Rama he could be successful not only in the task assigned to him, but also came to be worshipped by the devotees of the Lord, and his worship has been continuing since the days of the Ramavatara.
The Mahabharata clearly portrays Draupadi, the queen of the Pandavas, as Lord Krishna’s devotee of the highest order, always, in times of success or failure, pleasure or pain, calm or turmoil, anywhere, either on the throne in Hastinapura, or in the forest.
The Pandavas are known for their deep devotion and abounding love for Krishna. They are the best examples of equanimity and total surrender to God such that Krishna identified Himself completely with them by saying that Dharmaja (Yudhisthira) was His head, Arjuna His heart, Bhima His shoulders, and the two youngest brothers, Nakula and Sahadeva, equal to His two feet. This is true devotion. This is the ideal stature of a devotee.
In the Bhagavata, you come across the Gopis (the cowherd girls who were rustic, innocent, and unlettered) whose madhura bhakti, total attachment to God, was backed by unconditional love and surrender. Their devotion was noble, pure, nectarine, and exemplary. They saw Krishna in bushes, thorns, leaves, branches, and flowers. Is theirs not tadatmyabhava, total identification? Isn’t theirs the advaitabhava, non-dualistic state? They could not bear the pangs of separation from Krishna, even for a split second. This is the level of their devotion.
Have you not heard about Tyagaraja, the South Indian saint-singer and composer, who had put the question: “nidhi cala sukhama? ramuni sannidhi seva sukhama?” Is it wealth that gives you happiness or proximity to God? Ramadas, Surdas, Kabir, Tulasidas, Jayadev, Tukaram, Mira, and others were the very personifications of devotion. They are remembered to this day. By reading about them, you will not only be the recipient of God’s Grace, but even have a claim on God’s Grace.
You know, the moment you marry, your wife will have a claim on your property. This is due to the mangala sutra, the sacred knot tied at the time of the wedding. Similarly, devotion is bhakti sutra, the knot of devotion, which empowers the devotee to claim from God His Grace. Therefore, for everything, devotion is most important. For most people, it is the proper and noble approach to Divinity.
Source: ‘Satyopanisad’ by Prof. Anil Kumar Kamaraju