Hari OM
Application - that is what 'Workings-days' are about!
Reaching verse 28, we are two-thirds of the way through this text. Some of the remaining 14 verses require little input, as themes are repeated or emphasised, so from now, some posts will cover two verses. For example, today, the theme is service.
m¾Nmn> )limd< mxukEqÉare
mtàawRnIy mdnu¢h @v,
Tvd!É&SyÉ&TypircarkÉ&TyÉ&Ty
É&SySyÉ&Ty #it ma< Smr laeknaw.28.
Naawe n> pué;aeÄme iÇjgtamekaixpe cetsa
seVye SvSy pdSy datir sure naray[e it:Qit,
y< kiÂTpué;axm< kitpy¢amezmLpawd<
sevayE m&gyamhe nr< Ahae mUFa vraka vym!.29.
majjanmanaH phalam-idam madhukaitabhaare
Mat-prarthaniiya mad-anugraha esha eva,
Tvad-bhRtya-bhRtya-parichaaraka-bhRtya-bhRtya
bhRtyasya-bhRtya iti maam smara lokanaatha ||28||
Naathe naH purushottame trijagataam-emaadhipe chetasaa
Servye svasya padasya daatari sure naaraayane tishthati,
Yam kangchit-purushaadhamam katipaya-graamasham-alpaarthadam
Sevaayai mRgayaamahe naram aho muudhaa varakaa vayam ||29||
Oh Lord, the enemy of demons Madhu and Kaitabha, the one fulfilment I beg of You in life to grace is only this - Oh Master of the world, kindly remember me as the servant of the servant of the servant of yours!
When we have Lord Naaraayana, the best person, our Master, the ruler of the three worlds, worthy of worship by our mind, who gives His own state, we prefer to serve some low person who is leader of some village who gives paltry little. Alas! What stupid, wretched fools we are!
The bhakta is an emotional being. The jnaani is a logical being. Emotion and logic in balance are the two wings of philosophy which permit us to fly. It is beneficial to let one or the other dominate at different times.
When surrendering ourselves to the Higher Essence, by whatever title, we ennoble ourselves. First, our king-guru begs of the Lord that he might at the very least be permitted to serve the person who serves the person who serves the Lord directly (a pundit or sadhu). In this way, the Lord is still served. In the state of Orissa, East India, the festival held in Jagannaatha Purii finds giant carts being pulled by many devotees hands - they take turns - and the "King" goes before them all, sweeping the roads clean. This lowest of the low job is a noble task because it permits the Lord's chariot to travel unsullied. In this way, the king (nowadays it might be a high-rank politician or in small communities, the 'mayor' or equivalent) demonstrates that in pure service there is no rank and no task is too menial. If we are unable to humble ourselves in this way, where is the value in the word 'service'?
What is more, we too readily will praise and follow our current leaders - or film and pop idols - due to their charisma but what return is there from this? How does this benefit us, really? The basis of this kind of devotion is the enemy of the spirit - desire. We admire such people because we either want to be with them or like them. We allow our imaginations to conjure up all sorts of scenarios, none of which are ever likely to manifest and we waste so much of our time and energy.
Not just the emotional person can be trapped thusly. The person of logic can be trapped in the desire for academic recognition. They start to prize the value of paper over the benefit of spiritual gain. Indeed, we find that persons of intense logic deny any concept of non-material existence. They often will deny the presence of a soul. The idea of a conscious existence separate from all material is anathema to them. Their logic, then, becomes illogical but they cannot see it.
