Ananya Bhakti

 Week 26, Chapter 9, Shloka 15-28

“And others worship me, and work for me with the sacrifice of spiritual vision, they worship as one and as many. Because they see that all is in me.”

“For I am the sacrifice and the offering, the sacred gift and the sacred plant. I am the holy words, the holy food, the holy fire, and the offering that is made in the fire.”

“I am the Father of this Universe and even the source of the father. I am the Mother of this universe and the creator of all. I am the Highest to be known, the path of purification, the holy OM, the three Vedas.”

“I am the Way, and the Master who watches in silence. Thy friend and thy shelter, and thy abode of peace. I am the beginning and the middle and the end of all things; their seed of eternity, their treasure supreme.”

“The heat of the sun comes from me, and I send and withhold the rain. I am life immortal and death; I am what is and I am what is not.”

 (Again, I give up summarising /interpreting the words I encounter next. For the beauty of these words brings some kind of silence, and I feel a sincere need to share all that I feel in this journey and that includes the beauty I witness right now.)

“There are men who know the Three Vedas, who drink the Somas, who are pure from sin. They worship and pray for heaven. They reach indeed the heaven of Indra, the king of the Gods, and there they enjoy royal pleasures.”

“They enjoy that vast world of Heaven, but the reward of their work comes to an end; they return to the world of death. They follow the words of the Three Vedas, they lust for the pleasures that pass away. And in truth they attain the pleasures that pass away.”

“But to those who adore me with the pure oneness of soul, to those who are ever in harmony. I increase what they have, and I give them what they have not.”

“Even those who in faith worship other Gods, because of their love they worship me, although not in the right way.”

“For I accept every sacrifice, and I am their lord supreme. But they know not my pure being, and because of this they fall.”

“For those who worship the Gods go to the Gods, and those who worship the Fathers will go to the Fathers. Those who worship the lower spirits go to the lower spirits; but those who worship me come unto me.”

“He who offers to me with devotion only a leaf, or a flower, or a fruit, or even a little water, this I accept from that yearning soul, because with a pure heart it was offered with love.”

“Whatever you do, or eat, or give, or offer in adoration, let it be an offering to me; and whatever you suffer, suffer it for me.”

“Thus thou shalt be free from the bonds of karma which yields fruits that are evil and good; and with thy soul, one in renunciation thou shalt be free and come to me.”