During
worship of God devotion is very much essential. It has been witnessed on some occasions
that people forget about devotion entangled with the rituals. However, truth is
that devotion is the top thing with which God gets pleased. In Mahabharata Lord
Krishna said that He can be pleased with flowers and even with a leaf. The lord
went to the house of Bidur and ate cooked green leaves.
People make
effort to please God in different ways. There are mainly three ways – Satwika,
Rajasika and Tamasika. Amongst these, Satwika is the best. One can even worship
God just by thinking in his mind. It is called ‘manasika puja’ in Hindi.
Devotees also chant names of their cherished Gods. Even singing devotional songs
(bhajans) and dancing in the name of the Lord is part of the Sodasha Upachara
puja. Yet, when executing any type of these aforementioned worships, devotees
shouldn’t forget the Supreme Power, for whom actually he/she is performing the
worship. Practically it is difficult for many people, because our mind is very unstable.
And thus it is hard to keep it on God the whole time. Still, one should try to
recall the idol of God in his memory.
Once Lord
Shree Krishna sent Uddhav to Gopapuri, where He lived His childhood. Gopis are
the top lovers and thus top devotees of Shree Krishna. Their devotion was such
high that they were thinking that Krishna still abodes in Gopapura. Uddhav
reached Gopapur and later tried to console Gopis that Lord Krishna is now
Bridavan. Gopis didn’t believe him and said, “No, He never left us. He is
always with us.” Uddhav was very wise. But gradually he felt the high level of
devotion of the Gopis. He surrendered to himself that Gopi prem is of high
value.
Gopis did
not worship the Lord like we do regularly at our home. But still they could get
closer with the Lord. They played Ras with Him and got opportunity to spend a
lot of time with their cherished one. This became possible because they were
full of devotion. The God was always in their minds. If in today’s world one
can do such level of devotion, he must be admired.
Jay Shree
Krishna.