[Advaita-l] Baktha kannapa and prahlada.

[V Subrahmanian]

On Wed, Sep 15, 2021 at 4:01 PM Kaushik Chevendra via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> The story of prahalada is quite well known.
> Prahalada was put under utmost danger due to his bakthi. Even when
> prahalada was put into death ending situations, he was constantly engrossed
> in the remembrance of him who is the source of the universe.
> The interesting note here is that, there was no bhavana such as "The Lord
> will protect me". He doesn't care if he is protected by Lord or not. He
> just wants to remember him constantly by worshiping him.
> A similar story is of kannapa.
> While worshiping Lord shiva, the linga starts bleeding, kannapa removes
> both his eyes thinking mahadevas eyes are bleeding.
> Such is true devotion. If a baktha expects something back from the Lord,
> how can it be true devotion?
>

The comparison is beautiful.  The trait of the supreme bhakta is that he
has risen above body-identification.  Shankaracharya says in the Bh.Gita
bhashya that such a one will not be perturbed even if the bare minimum
required for the maintenance of the body is not obtained.  The Upanishad
says: Abhayam vai Janaka praaptosi' = Janaka, you have attained
fearlessness.

regards
subbu



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