People have a natural capacity to love. Affection requires an object and when that object is God, it gets the appellation Bhakti or devotion. Narada defines Bhakti as extreme love of God. He who attains such devotion no longer longs for anything and is ever fully satiated and happy. While attachment to wife, wealth, etc., causes bondage, attachment to God liberates. A sense object sometimes gives joy and sometimes sorrow. It is not always available and has several faults. On the other hand, God is ever captivating, constantly available and totally free from blemishes. Further, what or who can be as loveable as God who is the repository of all good qualities? So bewitching are his glories that even sages who have realized the Truth and have nothing to achieve go into raptures on thinking of Him.

Though intrinsically formless, the kind Lord does appear in various forms to grace His devotees and to enable people to easily contemplate on Him. The scriptures describe several marvelous forms of the Supreme. We read in the Devi Mahatmyam of the Markandeya Purana, “You are gorgeous, lovelier than all that is beautiful and absolutely stunning. Greatest of the great, You are verily the Supreme Goddess”.

A devotee wanted to pray, “O Bhavani, please bestow on me, Your serf, a compassionate glance”. So, he began with the words “Bhavani tvam”. So eager was the Goddess to fulfil her devotee’s wish that she did not realize that the devotee’s pause after “tvam”, meaning “You”, was only the interval between successive words. Taking the request as complete, She immediately granted him “Bhavani-tvam” or the state of being Bhavani; that is, She made him one with Herself. Sankara has stated this in His Soundaryalahari.

The Lord’s mercy extends to all. Did not Rama tell Sugriva when the latter voiced concern about accepting Vibhishana, “ To anyone who seeks refuge in Me but once, saying, ‘I am Yours’, I grant fearlessness”? A sincere devotee has no cause for any worry for he has surrendered his body and mind to God and left everything in God’s hands. Overpowered by love for devotees who have surrendered, Krishna declared to Uddhava, “With a view to purifying Myself by the dust of the feet of the sage who longs for nothing, bears enmity to none and is equanimous, I always follow him”. What a remarkable proclamation by the perfect Lord of the cosmos!

While it is said that a true devotee is under God’s loving care, it would be wrong to infer that a devotee ought not to have any hardship. The Lord, is after all, not only most compassionate but also perfectly just. If a person had committed major transgressions in earlier births, allowing him to go scot-free, without any punishment in the form of suffering, would be a travesty to justice. A judge who refuses to penalise murderers on the ground of kindness would be doing a great disservice to society. He can, of course take mitigating circumstances and repentance into consideration to reduce the punishment awarded to a person found guilty of a crime. Likewise, God, being just, does award punishment even to devotees, but, being kind, reduces the penalty to the extent possible. Just because a mother scolds her child, does it mean that she does not dearly love her offspring?

God is omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent and an ocean of mercy. Hence, there is just nothing that the devotee has to make known to God which is not already known to Him. Further, if the devotee says, “I want this; I want that”, how can he be said to have full faith in the gracious dispensation of the Divine One? This apart, even when faith is inadequate, it would be appropriate to avoid praying for anything. It goes without saying that the will of God is infallible. It is also well known that people feel happy when they obtain what they desire and unhappy when they do not. So, he who attunes his will to that of God can never have any reason for dissatisfaction. How can suffering make a devotee grieve and lament if he cultivates the attitude that the pain too is in his best interests as it has been ordained by his dear God? At any rate, grief and lamentation do not reduce suffering; they only make it worse.

The path of devotion is special in that one begins to experience peace and joy even prior to one’s having made much headway. Further, sharpness of the intellect, scholarliness, prowess, age, physique, social status, occupation, wealth, etc., are not of consequence. God, being most loveable, there is no reason why anyone cannot cultivate devotion. By associating with and thinking in positive terms about a person, another develops a liking for him. Likewise, devotion to God can be developed by repeatedly thinking of God and His glories. To think of Him is not difficult, for one can mentally keep chanting His name and dedicate all actions and thoughts to Him. The company of holy devotees is highly helpful in developing devotion, for in them, we see surrender and peace. On the contrary, bad company produces the opposite effect and turns one’s mind away from God and towards sense objects.

At first, when a person tries to fix his mind on God, he may not find his mind cooperative and he may not derive much joy in doing so. There is no reason, however, for despair. The budding devotee can change the situation to his advantage by giving God a detailed report of the antics of his mind. What difficulty is there in mentally telling God, “ My mind refuses to think of You. See the way it rebels?” Such a conversation with God is itself a way of thinking of Him.

Even when a person is able to briefly fix his mind on God, he experiences peace. This is because, at least for that short duration, he is free from concerns and is like a baby in the arms of its mother. The sense of peace and joy comes rather easily in the presence of great devotees. The nice feeling itself provides an impetus to the budding devotee to think further about God. It is, nonetheless, necessary for him to recognize that in the initial stages there is the danger of the mind forgetting about God for long. Hence, without giving room to inadvertence, he must diligently strive to think of god often.

In a verse in His Sivanandalahari, Sankara has portrayed the stages in the growth of devotion. In the first stage, the devotee somehow approaches God, just as the seed of the Ankola tree manages to get to the tree and attach itself to the trunk. Thereafter, the effect of grace, which was there even earlier, begins to be clearly felt. God holds on to the devotee just as a magnet attracts and holds a needle. The devotee feels the pull of God. In the third stage, the devotee and God are close to each other like a man and his chaste wife. The love is strongly mutual. Next, just as a creeper adds to the beauty of a tree, the devotee adds, as it were, to God’s glory. Indeed, devotees like Prahlada were ornaments of God . In the final stage, the devotee merges with God just as a river flows into and becomes one with the ocean.

Krishna has compassionately taught how devotees of different capabilities should practise devotion. There is nothing in the world that is distinct from God, so, a mature aspirant is advised to fix his mind and intellect on God as the cosmic person; everything is viewed as a part of God’s body, which is the universe. To the aspirant who is unable to view everything as related to God, Krishna teaches repeated fixation of the mind on some chosen form of God. Suppose a person is unable to meditate thus, he is instructed to be intent on works for the Lord. The devotee should engage himself in hearing about God, glorifying Him, worshipping His idol, etc. Finally, even if the aspirant is unable to be absorbed in such tasks, there is an easier option that is available to him.

The Lord says that the aspirant should, with regulated mind, dedicate all his actions to Him and give up desire for the result of the all the acts. Normally, a person acts, motivated by longing for the results. Such functioning is productive of bondage. The spiritual aspirant, motivated by his love of God, acts for the sake of God, without attachment to the results. Just as a fruit can be offered to God during worship, the devotee offers the fruits of actions to God. He acts with the feeling, “I do this for God”; he does not go a step down and hold, “I do this, so that God may be pleased”. He holds success and failure with equanimity; here success includes acquisition of mental purity.

Acting as he does for the sake of God, the devotee abstains from misdeeds. He acts with firmness and enthusiasm. After all, his devotion makes him put forth his best. Treating the scriptures as the directives of God, he faithfully carries out the scripturally-prescribed duties that are pertinent to him. How can one who disobeys the commands of God, and neglects his religious duties be a true devotee? Thus, detachment to the fruits of actions does not imply inefficiency or negligence. On the contrary, the devotee’s performance is superior to that of a worldly man; unlike the latter, the former is not bogged down by anxiety, frustration, etc.

The Lord proclaims, “Fix your mind on Me. Be My devotee. Worship Me. Prostrate before Me and (conducting yourself in this fashion, offering all ends, means and needs to Me), you shall come to Me alone. Truly, do I promise thus to you, for you are dear to Me”. Who indeed would not want to surrender himself to God who is so very loving and loveable!