343. Ardent Devotees

Man generally thinks of work to be done. If he prays, he prays in the time allotted to prayer. To think of God often or always is not a normal human behaviour. "God will save me" is a phrase commonly heard. It means man often faces problems and his faith in God will see him through. There are devout people. For them, God is not the idol in the temple but a reality to their feelings. To relate to God on the merest pretext is a way of life to them. It is a source of joy to them. Such people will hear Krishna's flute, venuganam, if they take to some yogic discipline or even ordinary worship seriously. To go in and feel joy and a security in His clasp is an emotional activity they cherish. These are rare souls. Society does not take notice of them or their endowment. Nor do they generally speak of that side of their life.

At the other end, there are very clever people. To them, normal function is not known. They would have told different stories to different people about themselves. Their memory will be alert and resourceful in the extreme. No difficult situation finds them wanting in resources. A story will readily spring to their lips. Whether it will pass through their minds, one does not know. These are people who rely entirely on their resourcefulness. They rarely trust another person. They scrupulously avoid worship of any God. They believe that if they pray to God, God will punish them for their wickedness. They too resort to prayer at times of crisis - an illness in the family, an intractable partner who asks for all the proceeds, etc. If any such prayer is answered, for any reason, they gradually become ardent devotees. They have their right sides. Their prayer is reserved for the activities of their right sides.

Their prayer will be intense and particularly non-stop. On seeing some of them, one is tempted to say absolute rogues are ardent devotees. As they have too many irons in their evil fire, they constantly need protection. Their constant need of protection makes constant remembrance possible. For whatever reason they think of God, their intensity as well as constancy one day transforms them. If they are with a Guru, they succeed him. As life works through good as well as evil, God too does not discriminate. He is above good and evil and receives human souls through good as well as evil.