What is a devotee, his spiritual condition, his relation to the Divine to others?
Theophile reveals the transformation and the new perception of he who has totally surrendered and has realized God within himself.
“He who has realized God
is not only devoid of hatred against all human beings.
He is also friendly and naturally compassionate to all living beings.
He is devoid of any sense of possessiveness and free of egotism.
He is equal-minded when in pain or pleasure.
He is contented in all circumstances.
He is forgiving, patient and engaged in thinking of Me.
He whose mind, senses and body are controlled
and whose will is firm and determined,
that person is My devotee and is thus very dear to Me.”
Bhagavad Gita, Book XII, 13-14
These verses show the high level of virtue of the one who has realized God. He will love God as much as himself, or others, as they are all equal to him.
He is in Union (Yoga), identified with God, identical to Him rather than to his body, his senses or his mind, as he controls them all. Actually, the Spirit has dazzled them. That state of Union with God points toward a great willingness, accompanied with love and compassion. He is so much absorbed in God that he is no longer subject to attraction or to aversion. He makes no difference between pain and pleasure, joy and suffering. He is unified. The devotee’s pure heart is illuminated. He is wise, he neither loves, nor hates. He is consistent, even-tempered. He is devoid of fear and he is oft-forgiving. He manifests God in his life, and he is glad, happy under all circumstances. He is at peace and feels safe, whatever he does, wherever he is. Fear has departed when faced with a love that gives without limit and all around, like a radiant sun.
Where there is a sudden difficulty, or a catastrophe, he readily accepts it. He praises the Lord for the blessing he has been offered. If he is insulted, he does not take the affront for what it is and he is grateful for it, since where others would see a calamity, he sees the sign of God’s hand. He does not only forgive whatever wrongs have been done to him, he practically does not notice them.
Such is the level the devotee will reach through practice and devotion. Thanks to his perceiving God in everything and in every living creature, he bathes in an immutable contentment. Some people say that he forgives, but what is there to be forgiven?
He is free from all possessions because he owns the whole world. Nothing is his own property as it all belongs to God. He has become God’s heir.
He is a perfectly sharp tool. His will looks absolute, of course, since what operates in his heart is God’s will. Then we can understand his bathing within a sweet bliss. The words ‘contentment’ and ‘satisfaction’ look weak when attributed to God’s beloved devotee.
What about his desires? But what desires? The world is his as he belongs to God. He is His and He is his. There is no longer any difference between them now, so that desire has no hold on him. Why should he limit himself specifically to one thing or to one person when everything that exists in this creation is his? There is no scope for desire. His greatest desire was his Lord and Master, and it has been satisfied.
His true nature is luminous. Identically, his intellect has become pure and illuminated. Men would call that ‘wisdom’. But can the fact that he is seeing spontaneously God in every thing and everywhere make him a wise person?
He is constantly absorbed in God’s presence. He has been happy to give everything to God already, and he has received God entirely, in return.
People would say that such a man loves God exclusively. Is it true if, actually, he sees God in everything and in everyone? What has he renounced but himself, in order to get the entire Lord in return? His conscience is in God and it is divine. We say of such a man that he is established in God and that God is established in him and will dwell in him forever. Such a man is called a devotee. What we do know is that he is dear to the Lord, who sees Himself in him. He is no longer God’s creature, for he is God Himself.
Some might say that he is self-centred. Then, what does the ego do when it is centred on the infinite love of a God who is Nothing and All? If his ego still exists, it is awed by God’s love and all his attributes are in tune with nature, his nature. It is Purusha’s and Prakiti’s wedding. The devotee’s human nature has been captivated too; some people might say that he has submitted. But can it be called submission when love is in there? Using the term abandon would put it mildly when there is a fusion with the Beloved, who is nothing more than the very Source of an infinite, eternal and omnipresent love.
The devotee is naturally humble, because everything he has received or is going to receive comes from the Lord Himself. Is he aware of it? We are not sure, because he is pure and innocent, which makes him either humble or powerful without his being aware of it, because such is the Lord’s will. He has totally forgotten himself and found himself in the Lord. Some people will speak of a union and others of a fusion. It does not matter to him, because he is with the Lord and for the Lord. But what is the Lord? Some will say he is God, the friend of all that exists. That’s what they say. It is probably true, but the Lord is far more than that, because he is The Lord. He is at once the Absolute and the relative, and relatively absolute. He will readily see the light side of the situation. Could we say that he has got a good sense of humour? It’s human… and after all, he is spiritual, gosh! Blaspheming, am I? That is just another word that tends to put God away from the created world by isolating Him within what is un-created. Created, un-created… here we have another example of men’s vision. He is both, indeed, or something else, beyond, within. Can you feel what it means?
“The illuminated devotee who is nothing but an exclusive love for God
is steadfastly established in Him.
He is never disconnected.
His spirit is devoted to Him. God is his life, his wealth and his vital breath.
He considers he is but a puppet in His hands.
He has been declared very dear to the Lord.”
Theophile the Elder
An excerpt from Theophile’s journal
Comments on the Bhagavad Gita