Gita Series – 107: Bhagavad Gita Chapter IX. Verse 25 – 28

“Those who worship gods go to those gods. Those who worship ancestors reach the world of ancestors. Those who worship ghosts, reach those ghosts. But those who worship Me alone, attain Me. Whoever offers Me with utmost devotion and love, a leaf, a flower, a fruit or water, I appear in person and take that offering. Arjuna, whatever actions you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer in sacrifice, whatever you give in charity, whatever austerities you perform, offer them all to Me. If you do this, you will be freed of all your karmas, both good and bad. With your mind fixed on Me by way of renunciation, you will attain Me.”

What one always thinks, he becomes that, is the general principle. Successful men have become successful mainly because of their positive affirmations. Positive thoughts make a person highly successful. This is what Krishna says here. Worship is nothing but one’s faith. If one places his faith on a god, the sheer thought of the god makes him to become one with that god. But, as already discussed, such celestial beings are not empowered to give liberation. Krishna had earlier said that at the time of death, one should fix his consciousness in the place between the two eye brows, thinking only about the Lord. Though it is extremely difficult to do this at the time of death, it is worth doing that as that soul attains liberation. A few seconds of intense concentration liberates a soul. A wise man, who has pursued the right spiritual path not only by practice, but also personally experiencing the bliss of the Lord will be able to do that. His knowledge and experience makes the difference here. A wise man knows that he can be liberated only by the Brahman. Other celestial beings cannot give liberation, though they are capable of granting material prosperity. A wise man knows the difference between the eternal and perishable and he obviously chooses to go with the eternal. An ignorant man develops too many desires and he is not bothered about liberation, basically because he does not have faith either in the Lord or in liberation. The lack of faith makes him to get connected to celestial beings or ancestors who can offer temporary solutions. Only the Brahman can offer eternal liberation.

The Brahman should be worshiped with love and devotion. The Lord does not like grandeur, as grandeur is the greatest distraction. In the midst of grandeur, true devotion gets lost. In the absence of true devotion, the Lord does not even look at that place. He is willing to go to a place where someone offers him a drop of water with unstinted love and devotion. Festivities nowadays have turned into cultural extravaganzas. There can be celebrations, but not spoofed ecstasies. Pure love and devotion do not make noise. Krishna says that in those places where there is profound love for Him, He personally takes the offerings. Importance should be given to devotion alone and not to the associated rituals and offerings.

The next point that Krishna highlights here is the concept of surrender. A wise man understands that whatever he does is nothing but the will of the god. He has surrendered his ego, the deadliest enemy of mankind, as a result of which he does not take credit for his actions. On the other hand, an ignorant man is full of ego and takes credit not only for his actions, but also for others actions. His name and fame is important to him and he fails to realise that such elations are of impermanent nature. If one surrenders to the Lord, he is not affected by accumulation of karmas as the effects of his actions do not belong to him, but to the Lord, who is beyond karmas. Connecting to the Lord is a very simple process. One does not need a separate place to do this. The only requirement is to keep the mind free of other thoughts, and think about the Lord all the time, irrespective of any actions he does. When he smiles, the Lord smiles, when he cries, the Lord cries and when he walks, the Lord walks and when he eats, the Lord eats. Only such a person is liked by the Lord and surely not the one who indulges in vanity and pride. Lord is waiting for him to offer liberation.

Futher Readings:

Bhagavad Gita Chapter IX. 29 - 32

Bhagavad Gita Chapter IX. 33 - 34

Bhagavad Gita Chapter X. 1 - 5