The Majesty of Devotion

SYNOPSIS: The majesty of devotion is so big that it makes us perform noble acts, it stops sinning and it brings the resolution of seeking atonement for past sins committed. READ THE FULL ARTICLE BELOW -

Once GOD was settling the accounts of two devotees. The GODDESS was sitting nearby.

The first devotee had one noble deed in his account. The second devotee had 10 evil deeds.

When GOD sat to settle the account of the first devotee who has one noble deed, GOD wrote 1 and then wrote 0 (zero) in front of it. It became 10. The GODDESS asked how good this accounting is. GOD said that he has 1 noble deed. I (GOD) gave a zero to it. GOD said that I haven’t given anything more but had given only a zero. But the zero given by GOD when inscribed after 1 noble deed made it ten times. See GOD’s kindness of zero that it converts one into ten. This is the first principle that we must remember that GOD always increases the reward of noble deeds for His devotees.

The second devotee with 10 evil deeds was waiting for his turn. He was wondering what would happen to him. He thought that he has no noble deed and instead has 10 evil deeds. GOD sat to settle his accounts. GOD said to the GODDESS that since he is my devotee therefore I will remove 1 evil from his 10 evil deeds. GOD removed 1 from 10. What remained was zero and he became devoid of any evil deeds. The GODDESS smiled on seeing this. See the mercy of GOD that the devotee becomes evil free. An immortal hymn from Sundarkandji of Shri RamCharitManasji is a testimony to this fact in which GOD says to Shri Vibhishanji that - "when a soul surrenders to Me, I (GOD) forgive his past accumulated sins of million births". It is the pledge of GOD that He forgives millions and millions of sins in a moment when with devotion we seek the shelter of GOD. This is the second principle that we must remember that GOD always undoes the evil fruits of evil deeds of His devotees.

How good is the accounting of GOD for His devotees. Why so ? Why does a devotee get special treatment ?

The devotee who performs noble deeds gets special treatment because he does all his acts for GOD and surrenders all his acts to GOD. The noble deed done for GOD and the noble deed surrendered to GOD increase the nobleness of the deed.

The devotee who had done evil also gets special treatment because devotion has come into his life and therefore the evil has stopped happening. A true devotee does not indulge in new evils (if evil/ sins/ wrong deeds have stopped happening, then only we must assume that our devotion is real). When new evils stop happening, GOD immediately forgives the old evils of the devotee. It is because due to devotion the devotee has sought atonement for his evils. The resolve not to commit new evils and sincere atonement from the bottom of the heart for past evils makes GOD forgo the accumulated sins in a split second. Whose sins are not forgone is not a real devotee because a real devotee will have real atonement and due to atonement GOD will forgive his sins without any delay. The act of not committing new evils and to have the real atonement of past sins is the sign of true devotion. When this happens the old evil/ sins are sure to be forgiven because GOD forgives old evil/ sins in a split second.

In both situations, the devotee gets special treatment and only because of devotion it is possible. The majesty of devotion is so big that it makes us perform noble acts, it stops sinning and it brings the resolution of seeking atonement for past sins committed. Devotion only has the power for making these three things happen.

Therefore devotion assumes the highest pedestal. No other means is capable of matching the majesty of devotion. It is due to this that the praise of devotion is sung in all Holy Texts and devotion is placed on the highest pedestal in all eras. Devotion is the greatest among all means.

It is so because all other paths like Karmyog, Gyanyog, Dhyanyog are not capable of performing these three things simultaneously. It is only the majesty of Bhaktiyog (devotion) that makes all these three things happen simultaneously. Firstly, devotion makes us perform noble acts. It prompts us for doing noble deeds. The moment we gain closeness with GOD due to devotion we are prompted from inside to do noble acts. Noble acts start appealing to us. Secondly, devotion stops us from committing sins. We are enlightened from the inside with the resolve not to indulge in sins. Sins appear evil to us and we are prompted not to adhere to it. Sins appear to us like a lump of burning coal and as we have a resolve not to touch it else we would burn our hands, likewise, we have a resolve not to indulge in sins. Thirdly, devotion brings real atonement for our past sins. Because now we hate indulging in sin, therefore we develop real atonement from the bottom of our heart for past sins committed by us knowingly or unknowingly. The tears of real atonement bring in GOD’s mercy which destroys the sins.

Therefore in life, we must sow the seeds of devotion without delay because GOD’s way of settling devotee’s accounts is unique. To increase the counts of noble needs and decrease the fruits of sins is only possible with devotion and by no other means.

English Translation vetted by Sheelnidhi Gupta