The Characteristics of a Bhagavata or Devotee

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Namaste all. _/\_

 

Yogindra Hari Instructs in Srimad Bhagavatam,

11th Canto, Chapter 2:44-55

 

King Nimi then asked: "What are the characteristics of a Bhagavata or

devotee? What are the signs by which he is known? How does he behave

towards others? How does he talk? What does he talk? How does he act?

What are all the other characteristics by which he can be distinctly

recognised in this world?"

 

Hari replied: "He is the highest devotee who sees his relation to all

beings as being Brahman and all beings in his Self which is

essentially Brahman. He who sees the Lord's presence and image in

every created object, animate or inanimate and who sees all created

objects as portions of the Lord and himself is the perfect Bhagavata

or the foremost one among the votaries of the Lord. He who beholds in

all beings the Lord as in his own Self and beholds all beings in the

Lord within himself, is the highest devotee.

 

"He who bears love and respect towards the Lord, friendship towards

his dependents and other devotees, kindness towards the ignorant, and

indifference towards his enemies and those who abuse the Lord is a

middle class devotee.

 

"He who worships Lord as present only in the image and not in His

devotees or other creatures is only a beginner. He who worships the

Lord only in the temple but is not tolerant of the devotees of other

forms and is not able to recognise the Lord's presence everywhere is

an elementary devotee.

 

"The highest devotee perceives the objects with his senses but does

not feel either aversion or pleasure. He perceives this universe as

the Maya of Lord.

 

"He is the highest devotee of the Lord who by the strength of his

meditation on Lord is not affected by the changes of life viz., birth,

death, hunger, thirst, fear, difficulties that affect the body, the

organs, the breath, the mind and intellect. The perfect devotee knows

that birth and death pertain to the body which is created by Karma,

that hunger and thirst pertain to the Prana, that the mind creates a

sense of separateness and egoism thereby causing fear and making the

Jiva lose touch with the Lord in himself, that the intellect creates

desire, avarice etc., that the senses create feelings of pleasure and

pain.

 

The perfect devotee dissociates himself from the above and always

remains immersed in the memory of the Lord and recognises his unity

with Him.

 

"He is the highest devotee in whose heart the seeds of desire and

Karma are not found and to whom Lord alone is the sole refuge.

As he does the action as a servant of the Lord without egoism, as his

mind ever abides in the Lord, his actions create no Karma and he is

liberated from births and deaths.

 

"He is the favourite of Lord who has no attachment to the body, and

claims no superiority by birth and deed, by caste, or order, or race.

 

"The highest devotion does not know `mine' and `thine' either in

wealth or in body. He looks upon all beings with equal eyes. His mind

is always tranquil.

 

"He is the highest devotee who will not forget the Lord even for the

sake of the wealth of the three worlds and who will not forget even

for half a minute or half a second the lotus-like feet of the Lord

which are sought after by the gods and others who have not conquered

their mind.

 

"How could any affliction arise in the heart of a devotee from which

it is all removed by the moon-light of the gem-like finger-nails of

the feet of the Lord which measured the universe in three steps? How

could there be the heat of the sun when the moon has risen? Just as

one never remembers the heat of the sun after the moon has risen and

flooded the world with its cool rays, so the devotee who meditates on

the lotus-like feet of the Lord, never again remembers the pains of

Samsara, his desires having vanished never again to return.

 

"He is the greatest of all devotees whose heart is tied to the

lotus-like feet of Lord by the cords of love and devotion. He is never

left by Lord Himself who destroys all his sins even though He is

unconsciously remembered by name.

 

"The name of the Lord, if uttered even unconsciously in pain or

distress, by force of habit even, removes all sins. If such is the

case, it can easily be understood that he is the highest devotee in

whose heart the Lord ever dwells, rooted there by the cord of affection."

 

source: http://www.dlshq.org/download/lordkrishna.htm#_VPID_80

 

Jaya Sri Radhey!

Divine_Lovers/

 

 

 

, "dr. jaya"

<pyari_h> wrote:

 

>

> But this danger exists only in that stage of Bhakti which is

> called the preparatory (Gauni). When Bhakti has become ripe and

> has passed into that form which is called supreme (Para), no

> more is there any fear of these hideous manifestations of

> fanaticism; that soul which is overpowered by this higher form

> of bhakti is too near the God of Love to become an instrument

> for the diffusion of hatred.

>

> Svami Vivekananda's complete works