Devotion is stated to be the mode of drawing upon the vast pool of spiritual power that pervades the entire universe and beyond it. That power is the almighty creator. Ancient Hindu philosophy regards devotion to god as the contrivance to achieve success in human endeavours. It is essential that we understand what devotion connotes and denotes.
Devotion to any cause, temporal or spiritual, means total dedication of a person to such cause. That dedication is selfless and altruistic. Such devotion, when practised by a person in the context of another person, means a commitment to the latter’s welfare. It implies a commitment to serve the latter’s interests and work for his well-being.
What does devotion to god imply?
God as the supreme creator and regulator of all worlds facilitates the development and progress of all human beings created by him by giving them the retributive fruits of their qualitative actions. He has also provided them with compendiums of eternal knowledge in the form of four Vedas. Human beings are supposed to take guidance from the Vedas and perform their karmas to achieve their mundane and spiritual goals. The same divine texts called Vedas to enjoin humans to work with utmost devotion to the creator and dedication to His cause.
What is His cause? It is the facilitation of the progress of all humans and even lesser sentient beings. And this progress can be helped by humans, who are the most intelligent species, by assiduously following the injunctions of Vedas—the prime texts provided by Him for their guidance. And Vedas say a person who is devoted to god will work continually in sync with sat, the divine laws of dharma. The divine order rit will continually make such dedicated human actions to fructify, producing the best results, which will be in the nature of peace, progress and prosperity of all sentient beings.
Devotion to god, therefore, means a lot. A person who is devoted will have his mental and intellectual faculties working always in a positive and progressive direction. He will perform selfless karmas that will benefit the entire ecosphere, including his own self. This mode of living will enable him to tap the ennobling divine nectar from that infinite reservoir of spiritual power, thus purifying his senses and subtle faculties.
Persons in such a mode are seen working relentlessly for social, charitable and, above all, humanistic causes, without any selfish motives or interests. Their view of the world is not narrow and individualistic, but liberal and broad-based. They are the ones who truly live in tune with the divine order pervading the universe and the immanent principles of dharma or righteousness.
Devotion to the creator is not a show of mechanical rituals.
It is a mental fixation for the welfare of all. And that fixation ensures noble karmas that ultimately benefit and uplift all subjects of the almighty creator. The Samveda text is full of hymns that describe the channelisation of the ‘divine nectar’ from god to devoted human subjects in their meditative state. This ‘divine nectar’ possesses the sublime qualities of purifying, uplifting and immortalising the human being.
When human beings understand and appreciate these core truths of life, they fall in line with the divine currents of the creator and end up contributing bountifully to the peace and multifaceted progress of all. They become the true instruments of happiness and bliss that every sentient being seeks at all times.
It is, therefore, very important for us humans to understand the true meaning of the term devotion or bhakti to make our existence meaningful on this planet where we come on a brief sojourn. The limited time available to us during a lifetime is enough to reach a concrete stage on the way to emancipation if we go with the right understanding, but many such lifetimes will be insufficient for the purpose if
we go with illusion or half-knowledge. Right knowledge makes way for the right action and the right action paves the way for the accomplishment of all our goals.
Devotion to the supreme creator is the veritable key to human progress and development at all times. It is the instrument to tap His infinite divine power and use that to achieve our temporal desires and, beyond that, sublime spiritual objectives. Devotion to god is truly the mighty mantra of worldly success and the spiritual salvation of man.