<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=522450" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>What Is True Devotion?</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0">What is true devotion? </div><div style="margin:10px 0"> </div><div style="margin:10px 0">He is a farmer-<br> <br>His means may not be much; </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Not highly literate</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To know by heart<br> <br>The hymns and compositions </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Of great seers and sages</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Or of religious poets<br> <br>To roll out in animated devotion</div><div style="margin:10px 0">In front of deities in temples</div><div style="margin:10px 0">To exhibit his borrowed arrogance<br> <br>And assume a halo </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Demanding attention-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He is not in saintly attire<br> <br>Nor with a flowing beard</div><div style="margin:10px 0">That brings respect in its wake-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Humbly dressed<br> <br>Crowded by his family-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">He knows not the names </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Of the many deities installed-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">His only purpose is </div><div style="margin:10px 0">To worship god<br> <br>And to fulfill the vow</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Taken on a crisis-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Shaving heads of all dear ones<br> <br>And applying sandal paste liberally </div><div style="margin:10px 0">And sacred ash all over forehead</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Or other religious markings-<br> <br>Lighting camphor cakes in plenty</div><div style="margin:10px 0">At the courtyard of deities -<br> <br>Simply praying with all devotion</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Raising his closed palms heavenwards</div><div style="margin:10px 0">With no demands made to to god<br> <br>Worrying the least huge expenditure</div><div style="margin:10px 0">That may befall his meagre income-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Facing all the hostile conditions of travel, <br> <br>Wait, push, rush and neglect-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Resting and sleeping in inhuman conditions-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All with a matchless patience; <br> <br>Cursing none and complaining to none</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thinking only of the sole purpose of pilgrimage! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">While I, calculating every coin spent</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And devotion taking a back-seat, </div><div style="margin:10px 0">With my bloated ego<br> <br>Of my might of learning</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And memory of hymns</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Stand speechless and wonder-struck<br> <br>And clearly defeated by the intensity</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And purity of devotion of simple souls</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Sans songs and hymns on Gods<br> <br>Soulfully addressing, </div><div style="margin:10px 0">'' O God, O Mother, O Father! '</div><div style="margin:10px 0">And nothing else beyond him! <br> <br>O God what use then </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Of all my borrowed masterly prayers</div><div style="margin:10px 0">When I realize with all my heart </div><div style="margin:10px 0">True devotion requires none </div><div style="margin:10px 0">Of borrowed mastery of language </div><div style="margin:10px 0">To curry favour God<br> <br>But only a deep-longing </div><div style="margin:10px 0">And a burning faith sans anything<br> <br>That reduces to ashes</div><div style="margin:10px 0">All our rotting egos! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">I held my head in shame </div><div style="margin:10px 0">And set free all the hymns</div><div style="margin:10px 0">I held captive in my mind by rote-</div><div style="margin:10px 0">Thrashed the mean thought </div><div style="margin:10px 0">That God could be bought</div><div style="margin:10px 0">For glowing and glittering phrases! </div><div style="margin:10px 0">-S.Chandra Kalaadhar</div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><br />poem by <a href="http://en.citatepedia.ro/by.php?a=Sundaram+Chandrakalaadhar">Sundaram Chandrakalaadhar</a><div class=q> <img src="https://www.citatepedia.ro/g/32share.png" style="float:left" alt="Share"> <script type="text/javascript" src="//s7.addthis.com/js/300/addthis_widget.js#pubid=citatepedia" async="async"></script><div style="display:inline-block" class="addthis_sharing_toolbox" data-url="http://en.citatepedia.ro/comments.php?id=522450" data-title="What Is True Devotion? de Sundaram Chandrakalaadhar" data-description="What is true devotion? He is a farmer- His means may not be much; Not highly literate To know by heart The hymns and compositions Of great seers and sages Or of religious poets To roll out in animated devotion In front of deities..."></div> </div> </div>

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