spiritual aspirants should remember that they will have to become completely dedicated to their ideology or ádarsha. More important than this is that they will have to become dedicated to their Iśt́a; they will have to establish a relationship of exclusive devotion to Iśt́a. If there is not intense attachment to one’s Iśt́a in one’s heart, then one cannot do anything. Thus during sádhaná you should think that as you are thinking of Parama Puruśa, He is also thinking of you. This is the proper devotion to one’s Iśt́a. When people do something exclusively for themselves, their mental tendency is called áshakti or attachment, and when they do something not for their personal satisfaction but for the pleasure of Parama Puruśa, their mental tendency is called bhakti or devotion.
Parama prema svarúpa: whatever the Lord does, He does for the welfare of His created beings and not for His own interest. He is inexplicable: no language can properly explain Him. The microcosms on the other hand, have limited intellect. They are goaded into action by trivial self-interest. Once a certain gentleman, a businessman, was asked to laugh. He said, “I am ready to laugh provided it brings me some profit.” Without considering the profit and loss of any action, he could not act. But such a question does not arise in the case of Parama Puruśa. Whatever He does, He does for the welfare of all creatures. He is inexplicable also: but the ways and behaviour of microcosms can be explained. Regarding any individual, we can say that he or she is such-and-such type of person: “She is very frugal… he is good-hearted but sharp-tongued, etc.”
An old definition of verse is vákyaḿ rasátmakaḿ kávyam. When a story is narrated in a lucid manner it is called kávya or poetic verse. Who is a poet? One who knows all the three phases of time – past, present and future. In the modern age, the Saḿskrta word kavi is translated as “poet” in English, but in old Saḿskrta the word did not necessarily mean a poet – it meant a self-realized person.
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