DEDICATION (COMMANDMENT 2) - COMMENTARY BY PUJYA K C NARAYANA

 
The second commandment advises us to "Begin your puja with a prayer for your spiritual elevation with a heart full of love and devotion".

This whole commandment is on prayer. We start our meditation, but with a prayer. Prayer is the sign of devotion we have. It makes us feel that we are someone who is less than the Master, we are a serf of Him, a servant available at the feet of the Master. Here Revered Babuji suggests the name of the Great King Bharata, the brother of Lord Rama, for whom nothing mattered except Lord Rama. Revered Babuji says this example must be kept in view for maintaining the relationship, which is the true form of devotion. There is nothing wrong in repeating the same concept for better understanding. We should ensure that our eyes are fixed firmly at the feet of the Master. Whatever other people may say about us, we are not concerned, our attention is only on that. It literally means following the Master forever and ever. Now that particular thing is possible when we are devoted. In the beginning when we start practice, it doesn't mean that we have already achieved it. It is a drama, an attempt, a cry, some sort of managing a situation. But this must be done because it establishes a link with the Master or God.

Revered Babuji, to explain this need for devotion, mentions the example of a telegraph system that if we touch at a place it vibrates in another. Similarly with a bhakta (devotee), if he thinks about the Master, automatically there is a ring there. Many of us are not very sure whether it is heard or not. We are trying to question the cable path and the person who controls it. That's our problem. Of course this particular effort, is the beginning of some sort of signal to Divinity that we have started moving towards Him. The ultimate stage is one of communion. We will be in a position to be with the Divine. That is the path. Articles on prayer have been written both by Revered Babuji Maharaj and Revered Dr.K.C.Varadachari. This state of prayer some how has to become devotion and in turn devotion has to move towards love. The actual process by which this happens is inexplicable. It is just like a seed. We know, it is capable of sprouting. It is sown and we water it constantly, and all of a sudden it sprouts. Similarly this devotion takes on the form of love for the Master. Revered Babuji says there is no fixed time for the prayer as such, because prayer is a state of consciousness. It develops.

The prayer starts as a ritual that we do in the beginning. The form of prayer that we offer is

"O Master, Thou art the real goal of human life. We are yet but slaves of wishes putting bar to our advancement. Thou art the only God and power to bring us up to that stage",

It is in the beginning, a ritual. The words 'Real goal' are uttered as a ritual' in the beginning. The prayer has not got into the stage of seeking, yet at the time of starting Sadhana. But as we progress; we find this is our basic concern. Then we have already come to a state of saying, we are capable of coming to this particular stage. There is nothing else we are to do. If the prayer is properly done, then nothing else remains to be done. That is what Master might say. But it won't apply to an abhyasi who starts meditation today. As is well understood, the Masters when they talk they talk to several people at several wavelengths, and let us accept what is relevant to us and proceed.

Then why should this particular prayer be "Thou art the only God and power to bring us up to that stage". What is that stage we are seeking? It might be understood as the perfect balance and calmness that was at the beginning of creation. That is the Reality, which is beyond time, where it is all calm, that is the serenity, that is the piety. We seek to get back to that hour of calmness, perfect balance. So in other words, Revered Babuji informs us that before creation, perfect balance prevailed all over and when it descended it brought with it the real essence, the condition of both were nearly the same. He says that veils after veils have begun to set in and we ourselves were the doers. The waves of the current rise the huge sea; Numerous drops join together to form a river. The origin was the same drop, the essence that came down. This is the purpose of prayer.

Through prayer we are seeking to get back to that perfect calmness and balance. This leads finally to the pointed attention on the Real. This is what we attain by prayer and that is the real essence of prayer. The pointed attention upon the Real may be taken as the essence of prayer. This is a state of consciousness; prayer is not just the four sentences or four words. No prayer starts like this first, it develops into an attitude of devotion to the Master, it becomes love to him and then finally it merges in a state where we don't know whether we are in prayer or not. It is a state of consciousness continuously maintained, that is how we live it. Great saints said "Tailadhara Avichinnavat", meaning that just as oil when we pour from a container so does prayer flow out of from our heart straight without any interruption. That it is a state of consciousness. We know, this is a gross example, but that is an approximation we are capable of.

The prayer usually starts on an individual level. Of course in a satsangh we naturally offer the same prayer in the plural. Instead of 'I' we use the word 'We', instead of 'me' we use the word 'us' in the form of prayer, given to us by the Master. But this is ordinary and routine that every day we say prayer like that. But there comes a stage in our own development while we offer the prayer we feel like not only to ask for ourselves but ask for whole humanity. That is a natural growth that comes to us when we use the words in the prayer in the plural. But that is not the Ultimate stage. The Ultimate stage is one of absolute balance and calmness, which we get, when we are in the state of prayer but are not aware that we are praying. However it is no small gain when we move in the state of prayer from 'I' to 'we'. It signifies that we have moved from 'Pind' to 'Brahmand'; that is a separate subject. Revered Babuji has also explained in this commandment, how through our action we came down from the Base, we have ourselves got involved in several things in what may be considered as the display of the Prakriti or Maya. By our own action we have come down is a concept that must be ingrained in us very deep. That is why the concept of Karma is brought for elucidation in this Commandment. The Fifth commandment tell us, why we should accept miseries as divine blessings. Rev Babuji links this particular commandment and the theory of karma in the Fifth commandment.

The diversion of the flow of thoughts from the lower levels of physical and vital planes due to our sadhana and the help through Pranahuti offered by the trainer in this system enables us to develop an awareness of our lower level and helps us conform to the instruction given in this commandment.