Life without devotion is a waste

Synopsis: Most of people have discovered the art of living life happily and are indulging into it. But sadly they have overlooked its repercussions in afterlife and therefore have not equipped themselves for it.

We all must have heard a story / folk tale – One learned man while crossing a river in a boat was showing off his knowledge to a boatman. The learned man said to the boatman that you have not studied and are uneducated, therefore your one-forth life has been wasted. You do not possess the knowledge of such and such thing, therefore you have wasted half of your life. You are unaware of such and such thing, therefore your three-quarter life have been wasted. Suddenly it started raining heavily, the boat was filled with rain water and the river started overflowing dreadfully. Until now the boatman was been compelled to listen and was therefore keeping mum. Now came his turn to speak. He asked the learned man – Did you learn to swim? The learned man replied in negative to which to boatman commented – Now your total life is a waste. Saying so the boatman dived from the sinking boat into the river to save his life. The learned man didn’t know to swim and therefore sank to death with the sinking boat.

We must try to understand this story in a spiritual manner. In modern times, a caper named Mouji, wallowing in earthly pleasures asks a simple hearted devotee engaged in pietism that- Have you jaunted abroad? The devotee answered in negative to which Mouji commented that you have wasted one- fourth of your life. Mouji asks the next question to devotee – Did you indulge in spree and enjoyed the luxuries of life? The devotee again replies in negative to which Mouji again comments that you have wasted half of your life. Mouji tosses the third question to devotee- Did you save enough wealth and assets thus making provision for your future generations? The devotee said – No. Mouji commented that by not doing so you have wasted three-quarter of your precious life.

Mouji laments the devotee that just living with sheer devotion, he has missed the opportunity of wallowing in earthly pleasure, has missed the opportunity to spree and enjoy luxuries of life, has also missed the opportunity to save wealth & assets for his descents. Since Mouji has done all these in abundance, therefore he took great pride for his achievements.

Suddenly at that very moment, death knocked the door of Mouji. He fell terribly sick and came to death bed. The devotee was standing next to him but was not required to toss the ultimate question. Because Mouji’s inner conscious tossed up the question- Did you generated devotion towards LORD and practiced pietism to sail through the afterlife ? Heavily perplexed and with terribly shaken voice Mouji replied – No. His inner conscious severely lamented him that by not doing so you he has wasted his total life. Like the learned man who met his miserable end by not been able to tide over the river, Mouji also had a severely miserable end by not been able to tide over his afterlife. Both drowned dreadfully.

The travesty for majority of people is that they have learnt the art of living life merrily and are indulging themselves into it. But they have forgotten the consequences of afterlife and therefore have not prepared themselves for it.


Even animals know very well, the art of living the present life . But to prepare for afterlife , to unshackle the cycle of births & rebirths, to take solace & shelter in ALMIGHTY’s feet for once & forever, to achieve the state of divine elated ecstasy is only & only possible with “efforts” made in human life. These are the efforts of devotion, these are the efforts to unite with the ALMIGHTY, these are the efforts to be of the ALMIGHTY, and these are the efforts to make ALMIGHTY all ours.

Therefore in present life, efforts for achieving earthly pleasures, efforts made for enjoying the luxuries of life, efforts made for accumulating wealth & asset for future generations are very inferior & secondary efforts. The highest & topmost effort should be towards achieving pure devotion, thus becoming dear to ALMIGHTY by virtue of which to salvage our afterlife.


ALMIGHTY GOD has blessed us with this golden opportunity by giving us human birth and therefore it should not be wasted. If wasted now, after millions & millions of birth in different bodies, and after bearing miseries of all misdeeds done in those births, will we be presented with next opportunity of human life. Remembering this fact, without any further delay, we should utilize this present human life in devotion towards ALMIGHTY GOD, thus utilizing the opportunity in topmost & best possible manner. 
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Author's Bio:
Ultimate solace only comes from total devotion towards GOD.  Sandeep R Karwa under pen name ChandraShekhar writes articles on devotion to GOD. 
Author's website http://www.devotionalthoughts.in contains thoughts that will lead one closer to Almighty GOD. 

Visualising GOD in favorable & unfavorable times

Synopsis:  The article focus  on remembering GOD's kindness in times of success & happiness . And GOD's mercy in times of failure & grief. In reality, we seldom remember GOD's kindness in our success & in our happy times. And in reality we seldom fail to blame GOD for our failure & our grief.

Whatever favorable is happening in our life must always be attributed to the kindness of GOD. Similarly whatever unfavorable is happening in our life must always be taken as our self-earned fruits of our misdeeds (fruits of past accumulated misdeeds) which have mercifully been reduced to a great extend by the merciful LORD to enable us to bear with it. It must always be our endeavor at both instances, to be able to see the kindness & mercy of the LORD and to constantly remember such kindness & mercy all through our life. Because he who is able to see the kindness & mercy of the LORD in both situations remains most dear to the LORD.

But the understanding of such unique theorem only unfolds in our life when our life’s vision gets purified. What is this unique theorem? First theorem – Not to forget remembering the kindness of GOD in favorable times. Second theorem- Not to forget remembering the mercy of GOD in unfavorable times (GOD’s mercy in drastically reducing the ill fruits of our past misdeeds).

But we foolish fellows just do the reverse. We attribute our favorable times to be the result of our self-earned good deeds and therefore keep enjoying our good times. But in unfavorable times we instantly attribute it as misery send by GOD and even do not hesitate to hold GOD responsible for it. How foolish of us that instead of visualising the mercy of LORD in unfavorable times, we malign our wisdom & our psyche by blaming GOD. The very thought of holding GOD responsible for our unfavorable times should never surface in our mind because there can’t be any err on part of Almighty GOD. The very thought of blaming GOD is in itself a sin of the greatest magnitude but we do not hesitate to commit such sin in our life.

For example, when a man in young age, who is the only hope of his old-aged parent, who is the only brother of many sisters, passes away in an accident, you will find the family commenting on his pre-mature death by saying that GOD had done gross injustice. Such thoughts are so unholy and such words uttered from our mouth tantamount to a very big sin. Because did we knew the dead young man's tally of debits & credits for good deeds & misdeeds committed by him in past many lives.

During unfavorable times, our sacred thought should only be that the merciful LORD have shown great mercy in reducing the burden many a times of my accumulated misdeeds so as to enable me to bear with it. If my merciful FATHER had not shown the mercy of reducing the burden of my misdeeds, I would have had such misfortune and such unfavorable situation that it would have been next to impossible for me to tide over it. ( In other words, whatever misdeeds were committed by me in past many life are of such magnitude that I couldn’t have bore its consequences and therefore my merciful FATHER has only reduced its consequences to such great extend so as to make it bearable for me). We must also appreciate that the strength to bear in unfavorable times is another great blessing of Almighty GOD. For example on the very day of the death of the young man, there is paramount sorrow in the family but by the 12th day almost everyone in family accepts & adapts to the unfavorable situation. As the saying goes “the passage of time works as a healer”. This time healer (the power of accepting & adapting unfavorable situation) is nothing but another GOD-gift, another master example of MASTER’s mercy.

Similarly during favorable times, our sacred thought should only be that my kind LORD has multiplied many fold the fruits of my past good deeds. We must always cultivate this habit of compulsorily seeing GOD’s kindness in our favorable times, else it will only take a split second for arrogance & vainness to surface and make us falsely believe that the favorable time is due to our destiny by virtue of our self-earned good deeds of past lives.


Always remember a compassionate principle of my Almighty GOD. While giving the fruits of our deeds, HE always multiplies the fruits of our good deeds many fold and HE always reduces the fruits of our misdeeds many fold. If it were not true, then we wouldn’t have been in situation we presently find ourselves in (i.e. If the time is favorable it could not have been so favorable purely on strength of our good deeds without LORD’s kindness of multiplying it many fold. And if time is unfavorable it would have been much worst purely on strength of our misdeeds, had the LORD not shown mercy in reducing it many fold). Therefore howsoever we are today in both situations, is only & purely due to the mercy & kindness of Almighty GOD. Therefore we must cultivate the habit to see the mercy and kindness of Almighty LORD at every moment and during every situation in our life. 


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Author's Bio ::

Ultimate solace only comes from total devotion towards GOD. Sandeep R Karwa under pen name ChandraShekhar writes articles on devotion to GOD.
Author's website www.devotionalthoughts.in contains thoughts that will lead one closer to Almighty GOD.

Life’s roadmap towards GOD

Synopsis:  The article focus in comparing the road of illusion with the road that leads towards Almighty GOD.

The Highway connecting the cities consists of two roads. One is the ‘To’ road while the other is the ‘Fro’ road. Vehicles ply To and Fro in opposite direction. There is a road cut after every 15 - 20 kilometers from where we can change / reverse the direction of our vehicles.

Similarly in human life too, there are two directions. One direction leads to illusion  while the other direction leads to GOD. Both directions are opposite to each other (just like the two opposite direction of a highway road for ‘To and Fro’ vehicles.)

The road to illusion is full of glitz & dazzles, just as the highway sparkles & glitters with light when approaching a city. The road to illusion is readily accessible to all and is very easy, comfortable & cozy. The three qualities required to attract – illumination, accessibility and comfort, are all present to deceive us. But if we go down this road of illusion, at the end of the road we find ourselves in a very unfortunate, dismal and difficult state.

The road to GOD does not have any dazzle to attract us, nor is it easily accessible. On the contrary, it is a bit difficult to access but at the end of the road, we find ourselves contiguously connected to GOD and receive bestowment of love & affection from the ALMIGHTY GOD leading to divine elated ecstasy (Paramanand), which is the pinnacle of delight.


We can get worldly luxuries in the road of illusion but there is surely no divine delight or ecstasy, whereas in the road to GOD there is nothing except divine delight  and divine elated ecstasy .

Every person, in his life span, gets 2-3 opportunities to change his life’s direction, just like vehicles get opportunity to change direction with a road cut on a highway. To enable this opportunity of changing life’s direction we are presented with an occurrence / incident like personal loss, physical distress, financial loss etc etc which momentarily undeceives us from the illusive lifestyle and brings us closer to ALMIGHTY GOD. Circumstances like, disunion / bereavement of a dear person, insult by someone close to us, unfold in our life due to GOD’s kindness & spur in order to momentarily undeceive us from illusion. But this undeceiveness is only momentary.

But GOD has blessed us with wisdom, and therefore it is expected from us, to use such opportunities like a Highway road cut, for changing direction of our life’s vehicle from the road of illusion (Maya) towards road to GOD. We must not let go such opportunities in vain.

Take the example of a vehicle plying on a highway which is running out of fuel and finds the refilling pump is on the opposite lane. If the driver forgets to reverse / change lane from the first highway cut, the fuel may not survive till the next highway cut which is 15 - 20 kilometers ahead and the car will come to a standstill. Similarly if one miss out a GOD sent opportunity to turn to GOD, he may not survive to see another opportunity in his lifetime. King Parikshit got an execration to die after 7 days. Though his death was fixed after 7 days, he was sure he had six days of life. Our death is also fixed in any of one of the 7 days (from Monday to Sunday) but since we do not know when, we are not sure even of the very next moment. (In the Holy SriMad Bhagwat Mahapuran, there is a tale of King Parikshit who got an execration from a sage’s son to be bitten to death by a snake on the 7th day. King Parikshit was sure that he had 6 days of life and utilized it auspiciously and aurally to listen about the incarnation  of LORD and by doing so got salvation before death could strike him.)

Therefore, like it is prudent to use the first available highway cut to reverse the lane for refilling the vehicle from the filling pump situated on the opposite direction, it is utterly prudent at the first available opportunity to change our life's direction from the road of illusion to the road towards GOD. Encashing such opportunity in life to change life’s direction is the most prudent decision of one’s life and is truly marked by GOD’s grace (because such opportunity surface in our life purely due to the kindness & mercy of LORD.) It should be considered as LORD’s first lenity that the opportunity to take the "Road to GOD" has come in my life. It should be considered as LORD’s second lenity that HE has blessed my wisdom not be loose such opportunity but to grab it with both hands.


We human being, trapped in whirlpool / vortex of illusiveness should constantly & sincerely pray to the ALMIGHTY GOD that both lenity /mercy of GOD, as referred above, should unfold in our life too.

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Author's Bio ::

Ultimate solace only comes from total devotion towards GOD. Sandeep R Karwa under pen name ChandraShekhar writes articles on devotion to GOD.
Author's website www.devotionalthoughts.in contains thoughts that will lead one closer to Almighty GOD.

DOMINICAL WEALTH

Synopsis:  The article focus comparison between material wealth vs Dominical wealth. The article tries to summarise that beyond livelihood requirement & purpose, material wealth has little value or usage. But we tend to go on accumulating material wealth for generations to come and in doing so forget to earn Dominical wealth, thus wasting our human life. We earn feeble by acquiring material wealth and lose the great opportunity to earn gem in form of Dominical wealth.

What is the definition of a “great wealth” ? Two principles define the greatness of a wealth.


First Principle: A great wealth should have universal acceptance. (For example Euro is accepted in most European countries. Therefore due to better acceptance in Europe, Euro is superior to individual currency of any European country.)


Second Principle: A great wealth should have power to purchase anything & everything.

Worldly wealth, when put to trial on the above two principles will fail miserably on both counts.

When put to test on the first principle (a great wealth should have universal acceptance), we will find that even if we invent a World currency (which is universally accepted all over the world), then too it will not work in other planets. Leave aside planets, it will even not work everywhere on the earth. For example, if one is drowning in an ocean and has all the world currency with him but encounters a hungry crocodile. Can he offer a treasure of world currency to the crocodile and in exchange seek his life and his safety from drowning in the ocean water. Our Worldly wealth is not capable to defend us from the jaws of a crocodile. Worldly wealth is not capable to compensate us in any manner in our next birth. Can our worldly wealth ensure us a rebirth in a human body and a birth in an illustrious & rich family? Not possible at all.

When put to test on the second principle (a great wealth should have power to purchase anything & everything), we will find that from our worldly wealth, be it currency, gold, land & establishment or any other kind of property, we can’t buy a single “breath” – we can’t add a “split second” to our life. Forget about adding a breath, can our worldly wealth guarantee us against any disease, illness, and physical disabilities. Is our worldly wealth capable to give us even a taste of divine delight and beyond that even a feel of divine elated ecstasy ? We can only buy feeble worldly luxuries from our worldly wealth. Divine elated ecstasy  is a pinnacle whereas worldly luxuries are just a lowest stairway leading to the pinnacle.

Having discussed the (de)merits of worldly wealth, we now turn to discuss the topmost wealth, the Dominical wealth. Both the principles discussed above will tilt towards Dominical Wealth to give it a vantage status.

Take the first principle (a great wealth should have universal acceptance) –Dominical wealth works in all corners of the world, even in molecules of the earth. It works indelibly in all planets and all spheres (present world, afterworld) .The earnings of Dominical wealth is available for use in present birth, next birth, birth after births. { In the Holy Srimad BhagawatGeeta, Arjun puts a question to the LORD that if someone were to exhibit devotion towards LORD in the final stage of his life, having not had any religious zeal for the bigger part of his life, and if he dies thereafter does his devotion to LORD goes unrewarded. The All Merciful LORD said in reply that remembering ME and having devotion towards ME (even if it were to be in the last stage of one’s life) do not go in waste for I (THE LORD) treasure it and reward the soul with it in his next birth.}

Now take the second principle (a great wealth should have power to purchase anything & everything) - There is truly nothing anywhere that the Dominical wealth cannot fetch us. It can save us in ocean,and also from the jaws of a hungry crocodile. The brightest example to this is the Holy tale of SriGajendra Moksha. (In the Holy Srimad Bhagwat Katha there is a tale that a elderly elephant once, while drinking water got caught by a crocodile. He called his family of elephants for help. All came to his help but gave up after sometime. Miserable in pain, neck deep in trouble, in hopeless condition, facing death, as a last resort the poor old elephant begged the LORD for mercy. Up came the LORD in a flash and before the poor elephant could complete his prayer, he was rescued by the All powerful, All merciful and Omnipresent GREAT LORD.} We must understand that each and everything in the world, each & everything outside the world is GOD’s creation and therefore rightfully everything is in total control of the LORD. Therefore Dominical wealth works religiously everywhere and at all times, in all era/ epoch. For example with the merits of Dominical wealth of this life, we can wash our deepest & hardest sins which were committed in past many lives. The merits of Dominical wealth can easily change our fortunes.

Just ponder, what is in existence that cannot be fetched by Dominical wealth. Just ponder, and you will not be able to find a single place where Dominical wealth do not work. This treasure of Dominical wealth works even in Hell because it is due to the earnings/credits of Dominical wealth, that we are freed from the miseries of Hell.

At last, put your hand to your heart and think if our proficiency and predominance in life, is merely towards earning worldly wealth. If it is true, our human birth is most unfortunate. If it were so, we must most promptly change our life’s proficiency and predominance for earning Dominical wealth instead of Worldly wealth. Otherwise our human life will go in waste, just like a qualified Engineer would waste his life if he were to work as a labor or a qualified Surgeon would waste his life if he were to work as a ward boy in a hospital.


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Author's Bio ::

Ultimate solace only comes from total devotion towards GOD. Sandeep R Karwa under pen name ChandraShekhar writes articles on devotion to GOD.
Author's website www.devotionalthoughts.in contains thoughts that will lead one closer to Almighty GOD.

PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE

Synopsis:  The article focus on the very purpose of human life. The article highlights that when born in human body, what should be our priority.  

When we are alone and in tranquil state, did we ever thought or have even made an effort to think why we are blessed with a Human life. After being born in 8.4 million different bodies of aquatic, terrestrial, subaerial and flora, we get a human body. (According to Hindu mythology, soul is immortal but the soul gets a human body after rotation in 8.4 million different bodies). Bestowing HIS kindness & mercy Almighty GOD has blessed us presently with a Human body. Human body is a great and singular opportunity given by our kind and merciful FATHER. It is a platform for us to unshackle ourself once and for all, from the miseries of never-ending cycle of 8.4 million births and rebirths.

But are we working towards achieving this goal or have we over-engaged ourself in unpurposeful worldliness . We must understand that our topmost priority should be to fulfill the essence and purpose of human life. To achieve this goal, we have to keep ourself engaged only in limited worldliness.

We must now understand the meaning of limited worldliness. It means to have equitable and harmonious relationship with all but at the same time avoid over-engagement in unpurposeful worldliness with anyone. If and when necessary we must keep limited worldliness. Because it is much better that full fledged worldliness where we waste a big part of our time, age and energy. It is a pity that with this wastage, we are devoid of time, age & energy for fulfillment of the real purpose of human life, and thus a GOD-gifted golden opportunity goes in vain.


The best way to fulfill the purpose of human life is by unfaltering devotion towards GOD. Pious / Religious zeal  is the essence of human life and should be the ultimate goal , when born in human body. This is because it can unshackle the cycle of births & rebirths. From ordinary luxury, to which we are accustomed, it can lead to divine delight  and then to divine elated ecstasy .

But unfortunately we indulge ourselves in too much worldliness and ordinary luxuries and yet feel satisfied in our human endeavor. Here two adage/proverbs  fit very well.


First adage/proverb: - A frog of a pond enjoys the limited pond water and is unaware of the splendor & versatility of a river or an ocean. Likewise we enjoy the ordinary luxuries of the world and are unaware of the grandeur of Pietism, the river which undergoes a fusion/unification with the ocean, the ALMIGHTY GOD.


Second adage/proverb: - If someone has not eaten a mango in his lifetime, he won’t be able to judge its sweet taste. Unless eaten by self, no one can explain the sweetness. Likewise one has to experience the divine delight  by virtue of practicing Religious zeal  and thereafter with its vigorous persuasion can attain the highest platform of divine elated ecstasy . Unless experienced by self, like sweetness of mango, this cannot be explained.

Therefore we must not be satisfied like a frog in a pond with ordinary luxuries & worldliness, but through Religious zeal try to attain divine delight  and then divine elated ecstasy .


This is the road that will lead to an audience with ALMIGHTY GOD. This is also the road to unification / oneness of an individual soul with the UNIVERSAL SOUL. And most importantly, this is the road that enables fulfillment of the very purpose of human life.


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Author's Bio ::

Ultimate solace only comes from total devotion towards GOD. Sandeep R Karwa under pen name ChandraShekhar writes articles on devotion to GOD.
Author's website www.devotionalthoughts.in contains thoughts that will lead one closer to Almighty GOD.