Lust obscures wisdom. Born of passion, it enters the senses, shows them all sorts of desires, envelops true knowledge like an insatiable fire and eventually leads to destruction.

Pathways to Divine … (Cont.)

Pada Sevanam – Serving the Lotus feet of the Lord. He must be immersed in the thought of the Lotus feet always. Goddess Mahalaksmi is a good example for this. The Goddess of all wealth wanted only to serve the Lord. She did not want anything else. Her hands always served His Lotus feet. One should hold on to His Lotus feet always. Bharatha was always bearing the thought of the Lotus feet of the Lord in his head and heart. So, Kaushalya acclaimed him saying, “A thousand Ramas will not equal you.” He renounced the Kingdom and lived the life of a renunciate in a small village called Nandigram. He dressed and lived like Rama. Soon, with the power of penance, he became like Rama. Since Bharatha held on to Rama’s feet he became like Rama.

Similarly, Radha’s heart is home to Krishna’s feet. Once when Rukmini gave hot milk to Radha, boils appeared on Krishna’s feet. The hot milk that Radha had taken, affected the feet of Krishna. When one holds on to the feet of the Lord with great faith and devotion, the Lord responds immediately. The response is there externally for us to see.

For example, during the 2002 summer course at Brindavan, we had satsang in a place where I stayed. On whatever topic I spoke about, Swami used to speak about the same in summer course. All were surprised. When I asked Swami about this, he said, “You and I are the same. Your thoughts are reflected in me and My thoughts are reflected in you.” The hot milk that Radha had, caused boils on Krishna’s feet. In the same way, since Swami’s thoughts reflect in me, both of us talk in the same way. This is the glory of pada sevana.