Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Classes of devotees of God


                                            

                          The most Supreme Godhead’s much loved devotees fall into main three categories. The cream of the crop or the first category of God’s dearest devotees are the spiritual aspirants who have transcended the superconscious states and have that unflinching and unwavering devotion with which to worship the most Supreme Godhead. This class of devotees have a very permanent source of devotion towards the most Supreme Godhead and are staunch and extremely devout devotees of God. Absolutely, nothing can waver the deep devout feelings that this class of devotees have towards the most Supreme Godhead. Some living examples of this class of the most devout devotees are someone like Mahaavtaar Baba, Sri Sathya Sai Baba, Sanjaya Sai Baba, Maharshi Mahesh Yogi, His Holiness Brahmaprajapita, Pilot Baba, Shivapuri Baba, Sri Nishargadatta Maharaj, Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo, Paramhansa Yogananada, Sri Yukteshwor Giri, Lahiri Mahasaya, Sri Rama, Sri Krishna, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, J. Krishnamurti, Mr. Dipak Chopra, Mr. Wayne. D. Dyer, Mr. Eckhart Tolle, Sri Sri Ravishanker etc. The second class of devotees are those who believe in the rituals and religion and worship the man-made Gods. This class of devotees are only one step away from God’s Kingdom as they make an effort to know God through rituals and religion by instrumenting the body and mind and not through the meditative growth process. The third category of devotees are those peaceful beings who abstain from violence and are in full control of violent words or deeds.




                   The third dearest and category of devotees of the most Supreme Godhead are those peaceful human beings who totally and completely abstain from violence and aid in magnifying the peace effect on planet earth. Actions that help prevent violence need not be complex and complicated but can be very simple while carrying out one’s worldly duties on the planet. It may be something like training your pet dog and regularly vaccinating him so that your pet dog does not get your neighbour’s knees torn apart by his sabery teeth and the least amount of harm is inflicted even if your pet inflicts his fury over your neighbours knee because your pet is vaccinated. Not wishing for the ill fate of anybody and not making an effort to pull someone’s leg is another aspect to someone that stops himself from violence. Abstaining oneself from using foul and obscene language and refraining from profanity may be another direction to prevent violence. “ Silence is Golden”, as Sri Sathya Sai Baba used to teach his much loved devotees. Therefore, keeping yourself  silent when a heated altercation  sparks off is another way to prevent word propelled violence to get converted to action oriented violence. Being very disciplined in the matters of pornographic and violent literature, movies and company and not getting influenced by them is another way to prevent violence form magnifying and  setting a bad example to the society. Socialising, partying and having get togethers at your own home can prevent  a possible altercation and a heated brawl under the influence of alcohol and drugs at a restaurant,  hotel or a resort. Paramhansa Yogananda has professed that all the rules and regulations laid down by the government are in fact laws enforced by the most Supreme  Godhead, therefore, following the code of conduct executed by the government should be strictly adhered by evey responsible citizen. This is definitely going to help peace prevail more effectively if the citizens are responsible enough to abide by the laws in a more responsible manner. If you are a non-vegetarian, purchasing meat from the local butcher and not sacrificing an animal is another means to curtail a direct form of violence. Not using plastic bags is another  measure to contain violence and planting tree saplings every now and then in return for polluting the environment with the gasolene from your vehicle is another non-violent practice because even polluting the earth is causing violence to the planet. Human beings who are non-meditators do not have purity of thought so normal mortals should take extra care not to propel the thought propelled violence into violence through word or deed. The third category  of devotees of the most Supreme Godhead are very very responsible people who are in complete self-control about their word or deed and every word or deed is measured, evaluated and executed in a non-violent form of execution. A single individual with a non-violent initiative and quite an amount  of tame  individuals can help  create a balance in the society by their sole individual non-violent approaches and can aid to a great extent in establishing peace  in the community. The most basic expectation of the most Supreme Godhead from the citizens of the planet is “Non-Violence”, so in my perspective, if one is a peaceful human being and non-violent, it is not mandatory  to worship and become a devotee of God. Your non-violent life is more than enough to please God and your peace initiative in other terms,  your worship and devotion to God.




                                 The  second most dearest devotees of the most Supreme Godhead are the ones who worship and are devoted to man-made Gods and follow rituals and religion. This class of devotees follow rituals like going on a pilgrimage, going to a Sunday mass at the church, fasting, praying, partaking in satsangs, singing devotional songs, bathing at the confluence of rivers, mantra and scripture chantation, reading the holy Bible, the Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Vedas etc, getting themselves converted to missionaries, making strict religious vows, practicing celibacy   and remaining chaste with their soulmates, donating to religious groups, namasmarana with the rosary beads etc. The great Paramhansa Yoganada has proclaimed that rituals benefit those who practice it and following them reaps fruitful results. This class belong to specific religions and strictly abide by the religious doctrines dictated by the Prophets of that particular religion. The people belonging to such religions worship and are devoted to a man-made God or several man-made Gods and normally have deep devout feelings towards them. In other words these people employ and instrument their body and mind to follow rituals and religion and worship the various man-made Gods. Since this class of devotees instrument impermanent mediums like the body and mind to offer their devotion, they are  only one step away from uniting with the unbounded Spirit or the abode of God. Since they adore and are devoted to man-made Gods they are also only a step away from the realisation and knowledge of the Supreme Self. Violence is inflicted on human beings by atheists who have no fear of God and those who don’t adore and respect the most Supreme Godhead whereas theists or devotees of God abstain from all forms of violence and stay composed and disciplined throughout their lives. This scribe wants to emphasize one more time that the Infinite Will of the most Supreme Godhead for us humans to follow rituals and religion plus worship the man-made Gods is to maintain discipline and contribute to the growth of the peace effect on the planet and the entire manifested Universe. Discipline  like in the former case is extremely essential to maintain balance on the planet and in the entire Universe as well. We have seen how disciplined the staunch devotees of rituals, religion and the various man-made Gods are. 




                 The first category or the most dearest devotees of the most Supreme Godhead are the spiritual seekers who have transcended the superconscious states. This class of devotees have awakened their spirit or have found their abode in God and have maintained a perfect balance of the body, mind and spirit. Since pure devotion can only awaken from the depths of a fully awake soul and not the mind, this class of devotees are very staunch in their devotion to the most Supreme Godhead and have an unflinching and unwavering devotion towards Him. Superficial discipline and balance may be attained by being strong adherents of peace and being devotees of rituals, religion and man-made Gods but genuine synchronisation of peace by maintaining discipline and balance  can only be attained by the spiritual growth process, awakening the soul, abiding in God forever and therefore being authentic devotees of God. In other words, the most genuine and dearest devotees of God are the spiritual seekers. It is because of the purity of devotion that spiritually evolved beings are endowed with that makes them the most dearest devotees of the most Supreme Godhead.




                 The Ultimate objective of all forms of devotion remains the same- To be in total self and Self control, maintain discipline and balance and conribute to the peace of the world and the entire Universe.
                                          (This article is the copyright of Ashwas Thapa)

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