Miscellaneous - Religion   

Practice of devotion

CHENNAI: Those caught in the materialistic way of life experience a restlessness of spirit since nothing is permanent in this world. Life becomes meaningful only when one probes the purpose of life and seeks to understand it. By acquainting oneself with the glories of the Lord as evinced in His various incarnations, one can gain peace of mind to counter such restlessness of spirit. The Bhagavata Purana extols the greatness of the Lord and His devotees to highlight the essence of Bhagavata Dharma, and Prahlada’s unflinching devotion to the Lord is an inspiring model to those wishing to tread the path to salvation, pointed out Sri B. Sundarkumar in a lecture.

Hiranyakasipu and Prahlada provide a study in contrast, where the former is a self styled sovereign who imagines himself to be greater than the Lord after he had won a boon of invincibility from Brahma, while the latter is the embodiment of absolute devotion to the Lord. The irony of the situation is accentuated in the fact that while the father is antagonistic towards the Lord, the son is totally aligned to Lord Narayana. This is because knowledge of the Lord’s Superiority and Absoluteness is so ingrained in Prahlada that no matter what his teachers instructed, he continued to be steeped in the worship of the Lord.

He propagated the nine forms of worship, namely, hearing, singing, remembering Vishnu, attending to His feet, offering worship and prayers, becoming a servant, being a friend and surrendering one’s soul to the Supreme Being. Prahlada also spoke words of wisdom and insisted that one should start the practice of righteous living right from childhood and remain devoted to God. Since the Lord is the ultimate succour to all beings, one should not waste one’s life in material pursuits. This is the essence of child Prahlada’s teachings and he acknowledges that it is very difficult to gain this spiritual knowledge of the absolute truth and its practical use and considers himself fortunate to have received instruction in this regard from Sage Narada who is himself a great devotee.

An inner awareness of God’s Supreme Nature alone can kindle devotion and bring about true realisation.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Cartoonscape
The Hindu Crossword 9302
Solution to Puzzle 9301
Practice of devotion
dated August 14, 1958: U.N. peace force
dated August 14, 1958: National bibliography
dated August 14, 1958: Seva Samajam
dated August 14, 1958: Permanent member
Weather

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu