Pleasing Him is most important
Sunday 28 March 2010
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The slOka( declared in brahmAnda purAnam and varAha purAnam ) written in Telugu language that you see in the header of this page transliterated to English is:
which means...
"In this Universe there is no sacred place equivalent to Venkatadri(i.e.,There is no place in the whole Universe which is more auspicious than the hill Venkatachala). There is no God equivalent to Lord Venkateswara neither in the past nor in the future going to be(i.e.,There is no Archa murti (worshippable form) in all the three times (present,past and future) whose glories are comparable to the Lord of Venkatachala)"
We should realise that our atma belongs to the Lord, therefore we should serve Him. To think the atma belongs to anyone else amounts to insulting God.
If a queen begs, it is not so much an insult to the queen herself as it is to her husband, the king. Our aim must be to please God. We should not take pride in our service to the Lord.
The Vaishnavite Acharya Ramanuja once asked those who took food offerings to Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam to show him the vessel of food, after they had placed it before the Lord in His sanctum sanctorum. The priests were puzzled.
Ramanuja's request is a reflection of how we should think of offerings to God. Ramanuja asked them to show him the vessel because he was hoping that the Lord would have taken at least a little bit of what had been offered to Him.
And when the Lord accepted the food offering, Ramanuja would be pleased. That is how we should feel about our offerings to God, said M.A. Venkatakrishnan in a discourse.
We should not offer something simply because that is what we would like to eat. But that is what we often do. There is no point in saying that instead of a sweet, we will offer something else to the Lord, simply because we have been asked by the doctor to avoid sweets.
If the custom is to offer sweets to the Lord, that is what we must offer, for after all, the offering is not to please our palate, but for the Lord's enjoyment.
Seeking enjoyment for ourselves can lead us to unhappiness. We may seek one thing and end up having to face many unforeseen difficulties. We may get sidetracked, and be led into paths not of our choosing.
Our position would be like that of a farmer, who manures his fields and adds fertilizers, in the hope of improving the yield. But while the crops he has planted do not thrive, weeds sprout, thanks to his generous use of fertilizers.
In the same way, we may set out to do something, but the result may be something unexpected. But if we surrender at Lord Narayana's feet, we know that the result will definitely be moksha.
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If a queen begs, it is not so much an insult to the queen herself as it is to her husband, the king. Our aim must be to please God. We should not take pride in our service to the Lord.
The Vaishnavite Acharya Ramanuja once asked those who took food offerings to Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam to show him the vessel of food, after they had placed it before the Lord in His sanctum sanctorum. The priests were puzzled.
Ramanuja's request is a reflection of how we should think of offerings to God. Ramanuja asked them to show him the vessel because he was hoping that the Lord would have taken at least a little bit of what had been offered to Him.
And when the Lord accepted the food offering, Ramanuja would be pleased. That is how we should feel about our offerings to God, said M.A. Venkatakrishnan in a discourse.
We should not offer something simply because that is what we would like to eat. But that is what we often do. There is no point in saying that instead of a sweet, we will offer something else to the Lord, simply because we have been asked by the doctor to avoid sweets.
If the custom is to offer sweets to the Lord, that is what we must offer, for after all, the offering is not to please our palate, but for the Lord's enjoyment.
Seeking enjoyment for ourselves can lead us to unhappiness. We may seek one thing and end up having to face many unforeseen difficulties. We may get sidetracked, and be led into paths not of our choosing.
Our position would be like that of a farmer, who manures his fields and adds fertilizers, in the hope of improving the yield. But while the crops he has planted do not thrive, weeds sprout, thanks to his generous use of fertilizers.
In the same way, we may set out to do something, but the result may be something unexpected. But if we surrender at Lord Narayana's feet, we know that the result will definitely be moksha.
UTSAVA MURTHY OF LORD SRI MALAYAPPA(VENKATESWARA) WITH SRIDEVI AND BHUDEVI
(Click on the image to view full size)
(Click on the image to view full size)
"vEnkatAdri samam sthAnam brahmAndE nAsti kinchana,
vEnkatEsa samO dEvO na bhUtO na bhavishyati"
vEnkatEsa samO dEvO na bhUtO na bhavishyati"
which means...
"In this Universe there is no sacred place equivalent to Venkatadri(i.e.,There is no place in the whole Universe which is more auspicious than the hill Venkatachala). There is no God equivalent to Lord Venkateswara neither in the past nor in the future going to be(i.e.,There is no Archa murti (worshippable form) in all the three times (present,past and future) whose glories are comparable to the Lord of Venkatachala)"
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