The tantalising laddus!

Her eyes scanned the place before returning to the laddu. Once her eyeballs spotted the golden brown cashew, they behaved more like a flat surface than like a ball.

They stopped rolling any further!

After a few seconds they got back to scanning the surroundings. But the tantalising invitation of the ghee fried cashews was overpowering and her poor eyeballs were forced to return to it. If the power of two eyeballs was not sufficient, how could a single tongue fight the temptation alone?

Her tongue started responding to the cashew-nut’s unwitting invitation!

What her pair of hands then did was simply completing the formality.

“There you go again! What’s wrong with you? I told you not to touch the laddus until the Pooja was over!” screamed a lady’s voice from behind.

But little Meera had learnt to ignore her grandmother’s warnings and carry on with the dictum of her temptation.

Once the last granule of the yellow sweet found its way through the little girl’s alimentary canal, her legs were bestowed with the extra power needed to escape the old woman’s anger laden hands!

But that day, somehow, turned out to be different. The power of laddu failed before the anger of the old woman and Meera was caught stealing laddus!

Meera stood still in front of the small idol of Lord Krishna, her grandmother holding her by her arm.

Suddenly the little girl folded her hands in prayer.

“Oh Lord,” she began, “forgive my old grandmother, for she knows not the power of the gastronomic juices. I am sure you will not only empathise with me, but also thank me. Please call your mother Yashodha and let us both try and explain the concept to both the women.

In your case, you can continue eating butter while I can make do with one more laddu,” Meera pleaded with the lord.

Her grandmother hugged her little granddaughter.

She took her on her laps and gave her one more laddu.

Then, as gently as only a grandmother can, she explained the need for self-regulation and how it makes a person strong from within.

Meera listened to her grandmother.

“It is necessary to hold on to your temptation and not yield to it. As every home is a grooming ground, such tests are often conducted in households to make the children stronger and more resilient,” concluded the wise lady.

Devotional friendship

One of the nine ways of expressing your devotion to God is by be-friending Him.

When we talk of be-friending the Lord, the only person I can think of is Sudama. Also known as Kuchelan, he was a poor man who was Lord Krishna’s best friend during his childhood days.

Sudama was the son of Matuka and Rochana Devi. Though he grew up with Krishna, he stayed back in the village, while Krishna rose in stature to become the King of Dwaraka.

Sudama became so poverty-stricken, that he did not have enough to feed his children. His wife, Susheela, suggested that he meet his childhood friend, Krishna and ask for help.

Sudama set out to meet Krishna. He did not know what gift to take and took some beaten rice (known as Aval in Tamil) and reluctantly proceeded to meet Krishna and ask him for help.

Krishna greeted Sudama with love and respect...

On seeing his old friend Krishna was elated and greeted him inside his royal abode. Sudama, on seeing the riches around Krishna was ashamed of giving him the beaten rice and tried to hide the cloth bundle. Krishna, knew what the cloth bundle contained, but asked Sudama what he had brought for his friend after all these years. The mild chide in Krishna’s voice and the naughtiness in His eyes, took Sudama to his childhood days and he eagerly opened the bag and told Krishna, that it was what He liked the most. The lord savoured the gift with heartfelt happiness. Hours passed as the two sat chatting about their past.

It was time for Sudama to leave. The Lord’s company left him with an eternal contentment that he forgot to ask Krishna for any material wealth.

But on reaching his village, a surprise awaited Sudama. His hither-to humble hut had transformed into a palatial house. Sudama could not believe his eyes.

Nevertheless Sudama, by then was a changed man and led a life of austerity till the end.

One interesting point that meets the readers in this story is that, the Lord, who is blessed with everything, yearns for the simple rice from the hands of a poor friend, while the poor friend was so completely satisfied with just the time he spent with the Lord and asks for nothing in return!

The Importance of Navavidha Bhakti

With the Navarathri fast approaching what better topic to write on than the ‘Nava’s, be it the Navarasa, the Navadhanya, the Navarathri itself or the Navavidha Bhakti.

Bhakti or devotion towards God can be expressed in nine different ways. God is set to be the omnipresent – He is present everywhere, the omnipotent – He has unlimited power and the omniscient – He has total knowledge of everything.

Therefore, it is easy to please Him. He may test us sometimes, but the test itself is to make us realise how strong we are!It does not matter how we pray Him or express our Bhakti towards Him, what matters is that we must seek Him to know ourselves.The nine ways of showing our Bhakti towards Him helps in the process of strengthening our inner self and realising our powers.

The first way to express our devotion is by way of satsang or company. In the company of other devotees we constantly are thinking about God and talking about Him. The second method is to hear the stories of His mighty deeds that reiterate the belief that we have in Him. The third way of showing our Bhakti is through Guru Bhakti or service to one’s Guru.

The fourth way is to sing kirtans in praise of the God. Repeating or chanting the name of God is the fifth way and this is known as Japa. The fifth way of worshipping God is by singing bhajans.

The sixth mode of bhakti is by controlling the senses and practising selfless service, while maintain a high moral character.

The seventh mode of bhakti is by serving the saints who serve God. According to Tamil literature there was an azhwar by the name ‘thondaradipodi'. Thondar means the one who serves God. Adi means the feet. Podi means the dust from the feet of the saints. He would take the dust from the feet of all the devotees of God and put it on his head. This, in itself, is an expression of Bhakti.

The eight, and by far the most difficult to practise is to find no fault in anyone or anything, as everything is created by God. Being contented with what you have and not desire for more is the true form of expression of Bhakti.

The ninth way of bhakti is the total surrender to God. The phrase ‘chummairuppade shivam’ which when translated means, not getting involved in anything is God. Just being one with God, in thoughts is the toughest state to be in. 

This Navavidha bhakti is explained by God, in his Ram avatar to Shabari.

For each of the nine fold manifestation of Bhakti there is a supporting story, which will follow this introduction.

Lord Rama explains the nine ways of expressing devotion to Shabari...