Monday, July 21, 2008

Sign of the Sattvic state

Exciting oneself in bouncings and pouncings or a little weeping on the impulse of dancing or singing is sometimes taken for devotion. But this is not devotion at all. Momentary excess of emotion and outburst is not the sign of a devotee. There must be some sign of thin ego, sign of faith, signs of honest thought, good behaviour and broadness etc. in the character and conduct of a devotee; otherwise, devotion has not come. If there is not faith, there can be no adherence, and without adherence there can be no devotion! Vacilating, excessive ecstasy sometimes appears as devotion. Constancy is not there, and there is no telling sign of devotion He in whose heart there lies devotion cannot know he is a devotee. He whose heart is weak, inconstant and only emotional, thinks with great pride, “I am a great devotee.”It is not that devotion has appeared wherever tears, thrills of joy, perspiration and tremors have come. Along with these, devotion must have it own characteristic signs. Tears, thrills of ecstasy, perspiration, tremors etc. are signs of emotion that can be of many types. If, along with these signs of devotion, appear the characteristic ones of that state, then only is it a sign of the ‘sattvic’ state – the state of divine life and good feelings.

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