Power of Devotion
Just the other day I went to see one of our devotees who had left the body. After meditating I just did namaskar (salutation with folded hands)to the body with a lot of respect and reverence. One of our devotees asked me, 'Why did you give respect for her? You blessed her, that is beautiful, but why did you pay so much of respect?'
I want all of you to understand the answer which I gave because that will enlighten you with this whole Truth.
In Bhagavatam, there is a beautiful story. Krishna was touching the feet of Radha and painting it with mehendi (henna). The story says that Krishna was applying mehendi to Radha's feet. This was too much! All the rishis and munis are waiting to touch the feet of Krishna and He is touching somebody else's feet! They said 'Have you gone crazy? You may be in love with her, but that does mean you should touch her feet. You are the Ultimate. You are Bhagavān Himself. How can you touch her feet?'
Krishna says beautifully, 'Her devotion is so deep, she is so devoted, I feel that she is more connected to me than my body itself. She is so deeply connected to me than this body itself.'
Understand, this will give you the glimpse of the space in which Masters live. I told the same thing, 'That person is so devoted, she is closer to me than this body itself.' Just because I am living in this body, this body is not close to me.
There is a possibility to get closer. You need to understand what I can say is the psychology of enlightenment or the physiology of enlightenment, whatever word you may use. The Truth about enlightenment is an enlightened being may be using a body, but your devotion can be closer toHis enlightenment thanHis very body itself. This Truth can liberate you, it can guarantee you your enlightenment with just your devotion or feeling connected.
See, to whom you are devoted, whether he is enlightened or not, don't bother. Just you feeling connected, your trust, your surrender itself is more than enough to give you enlightenment. Many people come and ask me, 'Swamiji, if I surrender to a statue, surrender to a murti, surrender to a stone, will I become enlightened?' I tell you, to whom you surrender, whether a stone, a murti or a statue is not important. The surrender, the quality of surrender, that is important.
If the quality happens in you, even a stone can give you enlightenment. The stone itself may not be enlightened. But it can give you enlightenment because you are closer to the idea represented by the stone than the stone itself.
Understand, you are closer to the Truth represented by the stone than the stone itself. This is the Truth. This is the base. This is the reason why we use idols to achieve enlightenment. This is how idols can lead to enlightenment, how statues can lead to enlightenment.
Idol worship is not just an ordinary thing. If you stop with that, it is an ordinary thing. Actually, we don't worship idols, we worship through idols. We worship through idols, not just idols. Your intensity is more than enough to liberate you. Even a statue is enough to liberate you. And if you don't have the intensity, then even if God comes in front of you, you will ask for ID card!
In the life of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, there is a beautiful story:
Ramakrishna himself became enlightened through the help of Kali, the murti (idol) of Kali. It was just a stone statue and he became enlightened through it. When he was talking about this, somebody was sitting in front of him and counting beads or doing some technique, they were doing some traditional ritual like sandhya.
Then Ramakrishna says 'See, in my case because of my trust, even the stone gave me enlightenment. InHis case, I am sitting in front of him and this fellow is closingHis eyes and doing some sandhya. What he is trying to achieve is sitting in front of him, but he is not able to see.'
Many times when you really open up, when you really understand, even an ordinary statue can lead you to the ultimate experience. When you don't open up, even if an enlightened being is sitting in front of you, you will be so closed with your own prejudices, with your own ideas, you will be sitting and doing something on your own inside your mind.