Verses, prayers and quotes of choice. If you come across something you find inspiring, please post it here. You can also start threads on a particular theme and regularly post in something related.
Eternal gifts -
Madhava - Sat, 25 Jun 2005 02:52:22 +0530
Prahlada's words to Bali in Vamana-purana, cited as HBV 8.249:
zraddadhAnair bhakti-parair yAny uddizya janArdanam |
bali-dAnAni dIyante akSayANi vidur budhAH ||
"Whatever the faithful and devoted give to Janardana, they are given undecaying gifts in return - thus know the wise."
Madhava - Sat, 25 Jun 2005 02:59:13 +0530
The magnanimity of the Lord has sometimes been praised for delivering the relatives of the devotee along with him. However, the following verse, cited as HBV 8.264, takes this into a whole new dimension:
visRjya lajjAM yo 'dhIte gAyate nRtyate 'pi ca |
kula-koTi-samayukto labhate mAmakaM padam ||
[In the words of the Lord:] "Abandoning all shyness, one who reads, sings or dances [in my temple] attains my abode, accompanied with ten million relatives."
anuraag - Sat, 25 Jun 2005 03:33:29 +0530
QUOTE
accompanied with ten million relatives."
My understanding is that the relatives here are
not of the transient material body of the seeker.
The devotee's true relatives are actually 'Hari bhaktas' in Divine abode.
anuraag - Sat, 25 Jun 2005 17:37:04 +0530
QUOTE
zraddadhAnair bhakti-parair yAny uddizya janArdanam |
bali-dAnAni dIyante akSayANi vidur budhAH ||
The great devotee Prahlada said to his grand son, Bali Cakravarti:
"The enlightened souls realize that whatever offerings
one gives in faith and with supreme devotion to the Lord,
they keep returning back to one as inexhaustible gifts."
anuraag - Thu, 30 Jun 2005 21:33:06 +0530
QUOTE
zraddadhAnair bhakti-parair yAny uddizya janArdanam |
bali-dAnAni dIyante akSayANi vidur budhAH ||
reminds me another similar verse spoken by Bhakta Prahlada in Bhagavatam -
naivAtmanaH prabhurayaM nijalAbha pUrNo mAnaM janAdaviduSaH karuNo vRNIte,
yad yajjano bhagavate vidadhIta mAnaM taccAtmane pratimukhasya yathA mukhazrIH
"This all-merciful Lord present before me, Who is sated with the realization of His own Blissful Nature,
does not covet honour and worship at the hands of His ignorant devotee for His Own sake.
But He does it for the sake of the devotee himself.
For whatever honour the devotee offers to the almighty Lord redounds upon himself,
even as the decoration of one's face is immediately reflected
on its image in a mirror which cannot be decorated otherwise."