A small tale of two bees which had great time together, and then one of the bees set out its day for search of its food. The other bee awaits after its own course of work. The bee began to look for a big lotus in a thick pond. It found a very healthy lotus and happily began to feed on the nectar. It lost track of time as the nectar is so sweet and magical. It fell asleep in the flower itself. Sun set and the lotus flower faded, i.e. closed its leaves. The bee woke up and realized that it was too late and it began to count minutes for Sun to shine so that the flower blooms again and then it can fly off to its partner. But, just as it was thinking along these lines, an elephant came to the pond and plucked this lotus and threw it onto the shore! The flower never blossomed again and the bee never went back home!
Not only the bee in this story, but Sri Rama also experienced similar situation where instead of being adorned with the throne of Ayodhya, he was sent to exile for 14 years into forests. So, we know it is not very certain that what we aspire matches with what would happen.
This is exactly what one of the gopikas asked Goda Devi. She expressed her concern that something can come up (as karma) and may stop them from reaching their goal. It could be a result of our bad deeds from earlier on. Another gopika also referred to scriptures and said – ‘we have to reap the benefits or damage of our past deeds, this is certain’. But Goda Devi answers:
When you surrender with no impurity in your heart, God can take away all your past and future sins.What is impurity? Asked another gopika.
Goda Devi answered saying ‘As long as you believe that God is the ONLY means to attain him and submit all your activities as a service to him’, that itself is purity. It does not mean you have to sit in a temple all day long and forget what all you are doing. Whatever your abilities may be, whatever your duties may be – do them in so much fullness and happiness remembering that they are all a means to serve him in that form, remembering that each activity is a step closer to God, remembering that God has the ability to take you to a higher state of bliss.
Another gopika asked, how does God take away all that past sins just like that? Imagine a cave filled with darkness for centuries together, isn’t a small deepam enough to bring light into it? It does not matter how long the cave has been in dark, it does not matter how small the deepam is, there sure is light as soon as you lit it.
An example of how strong your focus could be – There was one time when Einstein was cleaning his room, and after he was done, he placed the broom on his chair and he stood in the corner of his room. He didn’t realize what he had done (reversed the positions of him and the broom) until his wife came into his room and asked why the broom is placed on his chair. His focus was directed ONLY towards his thoughts on his theories – it was neither on the broom, nor on the chair.
Well, that is what Goda Devi also did, her focus was not on deeds but on serving God through her deeds. So, whatever deeds she did never attached her to the karmic bondage and kept her always attached to the Supreme power.
Screaming out a name versus calling out the same name with love has different impacts. The sound has a power that invokes a reaction. Vedic practitioners reveal a beautiful yet powerful secret that this sound when gives out the meaning of God has the power to invoke its strength within you. So, sing along God’s name with love and that power shows up in the form of alleviating you from pain and sorrows and shines within you.
Lit the lamp of love and direct it to the source of creation, Lord Krushna. He, who has come all the way from being a maayaavi, ie: ‘one who has mastery over nature and controls it’ to within you. The Supreme God is now within us (as antharya:mi, God in you who keeps you alive) and with us (as archa mu:rthi, deity). There it is – Supremacy meets Accessibility! Realise it and believe in it!
