Bhagavan Ramana narrates Devotion of Saint Kannappar

Bhagavan began to read out the life of Kannappar,the great devotee saint. He went on reading incidents in his early life, and how he went to the forest and found Kudumi Devar, the Sivalinga, his Lord, up the Kalahasti Hill in the Chitoor district (of Andhra state). Then he told how Kannappar worshipped the Sivalinga with water carried in his own mouth, flowers taken from his own hair, and the well-cooked and tasted beef prepared for his own meal — knowing no better and having no better to offer his beloved Lord. The way in which the ordained priest, Siva Gochariar, resented the intruding defiler of the sacred Sivalinga was so characteristically brought out by Bhagavan, with His own explanations of the rites and the meanings of the mantras used in the worship, that it
enriched the recital greatly to the benefit and admiration of the devotees.

Then came the scene of scenes, when the Lord in that Sivalinga tested Kannappar and incidentally revealed to Siva Gochariar the intensity of the forest hunter’s worship from a place of hiding. He saw the unexpected trickling of blood from one of the eyes on that Sivalinga;he saw Kannappar running to and fro for herbs, and
treating the Lord’s eye with them. Then he saw how,finding them all useless, Kannappar plucked out one of his own eyes and applied it to that in the Sivalinga; then,seeing the treatment was effective, he ran into ecstasies of joyful dance.

When Bhagavan came to the story of how Kannappar was plucking out his second eye to heal the second of the Lord, and of how the Sivalinga extended a hand to stop him, saying “Stop, Kannappar!” Bhagavan’s voice choked, His body perspired profusely, His hairs stood on end,tears gushed out from His eyes; He could hardly utter a word, and there was silence, pin-drop silence in the Hall.
All were dumbfounded that this great Jnani could be so overpowered by emotion and ecstasy at the great hunter saint’s
devotion. After a while Sri Bhagavan quietly closed the book, dried the tears in His eyes with the ends of His towel, and laid aside the book, saying, “No, I can’t go on any further.”

Then we could realise the import of His words in Aksharamanamalai: “Having become silent, if one remains
like a stone, can that be called real silence?” His blossomed
Heart had in it the perfect warmth of devotion, no less than the supreme light of Knowledge.

- 'At the Feet of Bhagavan', TKS

Devotion has found so many forms of expression - Sadhguru on Akka Mahadevi

Devotion has found so many forms of expression – from subtle and gentle, to fierce and extreme. Devotion essentially means you are making an effort not to have a will of your own, so that you arrive at the doorstep of the Creator absolutely willingly. You are making an effort to allow the dimension of energy that is the basis of your making within you to find its ultimate possibility.

Akka Mahadevi was a very beautiful woman, so the king married her. But in her mind, in her consciousness, she was already married to Shiva. After a few years of frustration, the king became so exasperated that he brought her to court and accused her of adultery. Then Mahadevi said, “You fool! I am not your wife. You think so because of a social event, but that is not so. Everything in me is already given.” The king lost his cool and said, “Everything that you have is mine. The jewels that you wear, the clothes, so what are you talking about your life being somebody else’s!” So she threw down all her jewels and clothes in the court and from that day onward, she refused to wear clothing and walked naked. Naked – not only of clothing – but naked of ego, naked of shame, naked even of herself. And she produced the most fabulous poetry that you can think of; her devotion and her love found expression in such fierce ways.

Here at iii, we are in the final weeks of Anaadhi. The devotion and focus that the participants have displayed in all that they do is remarkable, and for some participants, their devotion has found expression in poetry.
Devotion is that which is devoid of you.

The Flies of Mahima

The flies of Mahima love to play
On my toes and my nose they frolic all day
I used to try to swat them away
Now I bow down and hope they will stay

– Anonymous

Still

He came this morning –
silently in
silently out

You could have missed him
if you were not aware

But when he left
he was still there

- Pat M.

Mystic Slumber

Like a midnight cowboy
he works tirelessly through the night
so that I awake from my slumber
all shiny and new

He’s my lullaby in the evening
and my alarm bell at dawn

He’s a demolition crew of one
that blows my creation strewn
and for that I greet each day
with a whole lot of gratitude

- Christy

In Devotion.,