ONLY DEVOTION AND LOVE
by
Sant Ajaib Singh Ji
June 1, 1977
Kirpal Ashram
Calais, Vermont
In the Court of the Lord only devotion and love are counted;
Only devotion and love: the Lord is pleased by devotion.
Paltu Sahib was a famous Mahatma in the place called Ayudhya. He was
a merchant. His family pundit's name was Jankidas, and he was a very
spiritually-minded person. Paltu Sahib had the yearning to realize God
right from his childhood, so once he asked Jankidas, "What you have
learned from the Vedas and Shastras and what you are preaching to
others, are you doing that? Have you realized that God?" Paltu Sahib
thought that since this man is talking about God, it means that he has
known God or has realized God.
Jankidas was a very good soul. He was born in a pundit family but still
he did not feel good about doing the business of a pundit, because it was
a deceiving business. So he told Paltu Sahib, "Truly speaking, I am not
impressed by this family business, because I am very much confused;
what I am telling people to do, I am not doing; and I also have a yearning
to realize God." So he joined Paltu Sahib and they both started searching
for a man who would help them to realize God.
Once they heard that a famous Mahatma, Gobind Das, had come.
Both of them went to see him thinking that he was a very good Mahatma
- people were coming to him - that meant he would have realized God.
But when they approached Gobind Das he said, "I only have initiation
of Two Words, and that is not the complete goal. God is not there, God
is still ahead. I am still searching,. I am visiting one village after
another." He also wanted to realize God even though he was a Mahatma
of a lower stage.
So now there were three people who had the yearning to realize God.
They decided that they should go in different directions, and whoever
found anyone who could help them realize God, that one would learn
from him. Then whoever got that knowledge would come back and
teach the other two people also. So they all began to search for God.
Our Master used to say, "Demand and supply is the law of Nature.
There is food for the hungry and water for the thirsty." Nature always
quenches the thirst of the thirsty and always supplies food for the
hungry. At that time there was no living Master in the body, so Bhika
Sahib was ordered from Sach Khand - although He was not then in the
body - to go and give initiation to one of them. He appeared as a man
and initiated Gobind Das, who was taken right up to Sach Khand; in that
way He became a Saint from the very beginning of His initiation. Then
He initiated Paltu Sahib and Jankidas.
So Paltu Sahib's Guru was Gobind Das, and after his initiation he
meditated and he also became a perfect Saint and started preaching
Naam.
At that time in India there was the Varagi sect, which believed in idol
worship. Many people followed them because they were teaching people
to go into the temples and do the worship of God. Paltu Sahib spoke
fearlessly about God and He was giving the knowledge of Naam; many
people were attracted to Him. He feared no one. When people became
attracted to Him, the Varagi people were afraid: "Now he is going to
stop our business." They opposed Him so much that they burnt Him
alive - because they were envious of Him.
In this small hymn Paltu Sahib explains to us, by giving very beautiful
examples, that in the Court of God only he receives a place who has
devotion and love for God. In that court there is only love and devotion.
God is pleased with him who loves Him and is devoted to Him.
Now the question arises: how can we have love and devotion for
Someone Whom we have never seen? We can love only that person
whom we can see and feel something for. We have never seen God; how
can we claim we are loving God when we have not even seen Him? We
are not loving our fellow beings whom we daily see and with whom we
deal; if we cannot maintain that love, how can we have love for that God
Whom we have never seen?
He [Lord] didn't accept delicious food, but gladly ate the poor
food of the servant.
Now Paltu Sahib says that God loves only devotion. When He comes
into this world assuming the body of a Saint, He never looks to people's
caste, He never looks to people's social position, whether someone is a
king or a beggar.
In ancient times the town of Delhi was called Mastinapur, and the
Pandavas and Kauravas were ruling there. When they started fighting
with each other, Lord Krishna wanted to go there, to mediate between
them and stop the war. They were cousins, and Lord Krishna thought
that if they fight, the world will experience a great loss, because they
were the entire ruling family of India. Duryodhana was king at that time
and he was very proud of his kingship. He thought, "I am a very impor-
tant person so Lord Krishna will come directly to my house." But there
was one servant or Shudra named Vidur. He was a devotee of Lord
Krishna, and he also had the desire that Lord Krishna should come to his
house. And even though Duryodhana was proud and thought, "Lord Krishna
will come to my house," Krishna didn't go to his house; instead he went
to the house of Vidur.
Vidur was not at home when he arrived. Vidur's wife was there, but
she was bathing. When Lord Krishna called the name Vidur from outside
the house, she was mad in the love of Lord Krishna, so much so that
she even forgot to put clothes on her body; she came out of the bath
completely naked. She was not even aware of her body. Lord Krishna
told her, "Crazy woman! You are not even aware that you are naked!
Go and put on your clothes."
Lord Krishna came into the house and sat there, waiting for Vidur to
come. Vidur's wife wanted to serve Lord Krishna by giving him food.
But there was nothing in the house except one banana. She took that
banana out from the cupboard and peeled it; but instead of giving the
fruit to Lord Krishna, she gave him the skin and threw away the fruit.
But Lord Krishna didn't complain, and he ate it. When Vidur came in,
he saw that his wife had given the skin to Lord Krishna and had thrown
away the fruit. He rebuked her: "Have you left your senses? What are
you doing? You have given the skin to God and have thrown away the
fruit." She brought another banana and he peeled it, gave the fruit to
Lord Krishna, and threw away the peel. But Lord Krishna replied,
"Vidur, the sweetness that I had in that peel is not in this fruit."
Then she cooked vegetables for Lord Krishna, but forgot to put salt in
them. Lord Krishna ate that dish, but never complained or anything. But
when Vidur ate that food, he was very upset. He said, "What has
happened to you? Have you gone mad? First of all, you gave the skin to
Lord Krishna, and now you are not putting salt in the vegetables! What's
wrong with you?"
But Lord Krishna told him, the next day, "Oh Vidur, you don't know
the sweetness of that vegetable which she made for me. That vegetable
was more sweet than kheer (rice pudding). She made that vegetable with
so much love, and when I ate that vegetable made with love it was very
helpful to me; I spent all night in meditation. Because of that love and
the sweetness of the vegetable, I was able to meditate for a long time."
On the next morning when Duryodhana came to know that Lord Krishna came
and had stayed overnight at a servant's house, he was very upset.
He spoke with Lord Krishna very sharply: "You don't like our
palaces? I know you went there to eat very sweet delicious food because
they have very sweet things for you. But you did not remember that they
are of low caste. They are not people of our caste." But Namdev says,
"God never looks at the caste. He looks only at the love and devotion."
No matter how much they practiced japa and tapa and were
regular in worship -
Still He ate the berries of Shivri, looking at which
all the Rishis and Munis wept.
Now Paltu Sahib gives a good historical example. Japa means "repetition."
In some religions, people believe that if they repeat some words or
prayers, they are doing the devotion of God. In Hinduism, people get up
in the morning and they recite the Bhagavad-Gita or any other holy
book. The Sikh people believe that only those who recite Jap Ji Sahib in
the morning are Sikhs. They think that people who are not doing that are
not Sikhs. In the Moslem religion, they repeat the words of Namaz, the
fixed prayer, and in that way, they think they are doing the devotion of
God.
Tapas are austerities. Very often I have told how I also did austerities,
including the austerity of the five fires, which starts in the afternoon
when the sun is in full bloom. Sitting in between the four fires and under
the fifth fire of the sun, people repeat some descriptive name of God,
and think that they are doing the devotion of God. But Paltu Sahib says,
"He cannot be achieved or realized by doing these japas and tapas. No
one can please him by doing these things, because they are not doing
anything real."
There is a place named Pampasur in India which was believed in the
Silver Age to be a very good place for meditation. Many yogis and munis
were going there to do their spiritual practices. In that place was also
living one bhilni, a very low-caste woman, was also living. The Yogis living
there came to know that Lord Rama was going to visit that place, and all
of them were very proud of their japas and tapas, because they were
doing these practices daily. They were sure that Lord Rama would come
to their houses.
On the other hand, that bhilni, that low-caste woman, whose name
was Shivri, also had very much love, and she was very devoted to Lord
Rama. She thought, "If God comes to my home I don't have anything to
give Him to eat. I will go and bring some berries from the forest." She
went and she picked some very good-looking berries. But when she came
back home, she thought, "If the berries are not sweet, if they are bitter,
and Lord Rama eats them, that will spoil his taste and will not be good
for him." She thought that she should taste them ahead of time, to make
sure they were sweet. She tasted all the berries; but in her love and
devotion for Lord Rama, she forgot that according to Hindu ritual law, she
was contaminating them. When Lord Rama came there, He didn't go
into the monasteries or the homes of the rishis or munis, but he went to
that bhilni's place - the small broken hut of that bhilni - and he ate that
"contaminated" food.
So here Paltu Sahib says that Lord Rama came to Shivri, to her
broken hut, and he ate those contaminated berries with so much love for
her that all those rishis and munis who were proud of their practices
started weeping because God was not pleased with them.
There was one pond in that place, the water of which was dirty. The
rishis and munis were so proud of their practices that they did not allow
that old lady to take water from there, because they understood her as a
low-caste person. They requested Lord Rama to remove the dirt of that
water by blessing it. [It was thought that if a genuinely holy person put
his feet in contaminated water it would be cleaned up.] Rama wanted to
teach a lesson to them and he wanted to break their egoism. So he told
them, "You are very good Mahatmas, you are doing a lot of practices -
- you should bless that water. You should put your feet in that water."
They did, but still, the dirt was there. Then Lord Rama himself put his
feet into it, but still the dirt was there. So Lord Rama said, "No, I also
cannot do it. But let us try that old lady." So she was invited. And when
she put her feet in the water it became very pure. In that way he taught
them a lesson: that in the court of God, only love and devotion is
counted. And God is pleased only with them who have love for Him and
who are always devoted to Him.
Yudhistra performed yajna, in which he collected many things.
The Lord crushed everybody's pride: without Supach, the bell
didn't ring.
Paltu Sahib is referring to a beautiful story from the Mahabharata:
When the battle of Mahabharata came to an end, Yudhistra and the
other Pandavas thought, "We have made many people orphans and in
that way we have sinned. We should do something to remove our sins."
So Lord Krishna told them to perform the Ashwamedh Yajna, in which
one horse is set free and the army follows it. The owner of that horse
becomes the owner of all the land over which the horse has traveled;
when that is determined, he can perform a certain type of austerity.
After doing all this, when that austerity was performed, Lord Krishna
told the Pandavas to invite all the Sadhus to a feast, and said, "Your
Yajna will be complete when you hear a big bell in the sky. Till then you
should not think that you have performed your Yajna very well." The
Pandavas didn't hear the bell ringing in the sky, so they came to Lord
Krishna and asked him, "Maharaj Ji, what is the reason? We have done
everything, but still we do not hear the big bell in the sky. Why?"
So Lord Krishna said, "This is because one Sadhu didn't come; you
should search for Him." They investigated, but they found that every-
body was invited and everybody had eaten the food. They were confus-
ed, and they asked Lord Krishna to find out which Sadhu had not come
there. Using his yogic powers Lord Krishna saw that there was one
Sadhu named Supach who was of a very low caste. He had not been
invited. He was the only perfect Sadhu of that time.
The Pandavas were very proud that they had won the country and
they were great kings so they sent their servants to invite that Supach
Sadhu. But He refused that invitation. Then the Pandavas went to Him
in person inviting him: "Please Sadhu, will you please come to our home
and have the food? Because until you come and eat our Yajna will not be
complete." So Supach replied, "This is my condition: I only eat food at
a place where I can be given the fruit of one hundred and one
Ashvamedh Yajnas." They replied, "You are talking about one hundred
and one Yajnas, but we can't even finish one of them! How can we
give you the fruit of one hundred and one?" They went back to their
home disappointed.
Again they begged Lord Krishna to find some solution, but he replied,
"I cannot help you in any way." So Draupadi, who was the wife of all
the Pandavas, was very clever and she thought of something. So the next
morning, she bathed and after becoming very clean she walked there to
invite the Sadhu herself. But the Sadhu replied, "You know my condition:
until I get the fruit of one hundred and one Yajnas I will not come
to eat your food." But Draupadi was very clever and she replied,
"Maharaj Ji, I have heard this from another perfect Mahatma: that if
you go to have the darshan of any perfect Saint, you get the fruit of a
hundred Ashvamedh Yajnas for each of your steps. And I have walked
more than a hundred steps to get here; so you can take the fruit of one
step, and please come to have food." This was a very clever answer and
Supach came to eat that food.
Now Draupadi was an excellent cook and whenever a competition was
held for cooking she always won. She made many types of delicious food
and she gave it all to that Sadhu. But, you know, Sadhus are very simple
and they don't like to eat many kinds of dishes and they don't want to
eat a lot of delicious food. So when all the different food was presented,
Supach took a little bit of food from each dish and he combined it all and
ate it. Draupadi, who was a queen after all, thought, "I have made all
these different kinds of dishes, some sweet, some sour, and some very
good taste-but this Sadhu, because he is low caste, he doesn't have any
appreciation for that!-that's why he has combined all the sweet and
sour things and is eating them that way. If he had been a high-caste man
he would have known better." And when this kind of pride or egoism
came in her mind, it spoiled all the effort she had made; and the result
was, the bell was not heard from the sky.
So again the Pandavas asked Lord Krishna, "Now what is the reason
why the bell is not rung in the sky?" Lord Krishna told them to ask
Draupadi. And Draupadi, who always told the truth, realized her
mistake and that, in her mind, she had insulted the Sadhu. So she again
made the food and again she served it. And this time when that Sadhu
Supach ate it, the bell was heard and the Yajna was complete.
So Paltu Sahib says, "In His home only love, faith and devotion is
counted." Looking at the love, faith and devotion of Draupadi, that
Sadhu decided to come and have food. And looking at the repentance of
Draupadi, and the love and devotion of God in the Sadhu, the Yajna of
the Pandavas was completed.
Paltu! No one should be proud of his high caste.
Only love and devotion are counted in the court of the Lord.
Now Paltu Sahib says, "If you have this thought in your mind: that you
are of very high caste, or you are a rich man, and that's why you will get
God; or if anyone has this thought: that he is a low one and not a wealthy
one, so he cannot do the devotion of God; they should not think like
that. Because God is pleased by love and devotion only."
Guru Nanak says, "The place where the accounts of our deeds are
going to be checked - at that place, neither our body, nor our caste, nor
our name or fame will go."
Bulleh Shah says, "Your caste and your name and fame will remain in
this world and only your deeds will be counted there." Nobody is going
to tell you, "You are a Sikh, so you come in the first row," or, "You are
a Christian, so you go back," or, "You are a Moslem, so you come from
the other door." This is not the case because only our actions are going
to be checked there. Kabir Sahib says, "Nobody is going to see your
caste. One who is meditating on the Name of God, only he will get God:
and those who are doing His devotion, they become His Form."
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