WE hear in common parlance the terms mother, father, preceptor and God being used in that order. This has a significance of its own. It is the mother that a child sees as soon as it is born. The mother shows the child to the father. The father leads him to the preceptor and the preceptor leads him to God. Everyone should understand the inner significance of the four terms. We hear from spiritual aspirants the four terms · Bhakti (devotion), Jnana (wisdom), Vairagya (renunciation), and Tatwam (reality) in the same order. There is a significance in the order in which these terms are mentioned. Devotion awakens wisdom, wisdom promotes renunciation and renunciation confers the knowledge of Reality. We can reach the mansion of Mukti (liberation) if we walk on the stepping stones of devotion, wisdom, renunciation and the knowledge of Reality.
The Bhagavatam in its very title testifies to this truth. The term Bhagavatamu in Telugu is made up of five letters: Bha, ga, va, ta, mu....
Vedaham etham Purusham MahanthamAdithyavarnam thamsah parasthath (Purusha Shuktham).
IN ANCIENT days the sages, who were doing Thapas and finally had a vision of the Reality, declared that they had realised the Divine, whose effulgence was that of the sun, beyond the darkness of ignorance. They also taught that God is the embodiment of Truth and had to be experienced as such. They declared that one who does not see this truth is akin to an animal. That is why there is the saying that one who is revelling in untruth is only an animal. Truth issues from Prema. In this world there is nothing greater than prema. The more you love, the more blissful you become. Divinity is the embodiment of love. Love shines as the eternal truth in every one's heart. However, it will be dormant in the heart of the selfish. Prema shines only in the heart of the person who is selfless. Love cannot co-exist with ego and pomp. Love is the royal path that can take you to the highest state of the Divine. Thi...
Pundarika was the one who was devoted to the service of his aged parents. In doing so he was adhering to a self-imposed rule. He would not take any food until the parents had gone to sleep. Once he was massaging the feet of the parents. To test Pundarika's love for his parents, Lord Panduranga came to his residence in a disguise and stood behind him. Pundarika went on with his service to his parents who had not gone to sleep. The new-comer asked Pundarika to look at him. Pundarika said, that he was seeing the visitor. The latter asked him: "In what form are you seeing me?" Pundarika said'" I am seeing you as my mother." Meanwhile Pundarika's Guru came there and told Pundarika that the visitor was none other than the Lord Himself. Pundarika said that the parents whom he was serving were also God.
Every man is prone to commit mistakes either wittingly or unwittingly. But one mistake he should not commit in any circumstance, that is, to forget what he owes to his mother. Love of a mother can redeem a man's life, whatever his other lapses may be. The greatest gift of the parents is the body, with all its powers. Although the Lord rules over all lives, it is the parents who have endowed the body to the child. Clay and water are the gifts of Nature. But it is the potter who makes the pots out of them. Hence gratitude to the parents is a primary obligation.
