Instead of thanking God, why do we thank only the person who rescues us, and get attached to such persons?

[A satsaṅga took place between Swami and several devotees who visited Him on January 16, 2021. Some of the questions of devotees answered by Swāmi are given below.]

[A question by Kum. Thrylokya]

Swāmi replied: We should be grateful to the person who helped us. But there should be a limit to that gratitude. The energy possessed by that person was given by God and the person’s will to help you was also caused by God’s will. The person only acted as an instrument of God’s will. You should have the discrimination to understand who is more important. If you show complete gratitude to that person, instead of God, then you have slipped from the spiritual path! Sage Jaḍabharata happened to see a pregnant deer in labor, about to give birth to its baby. He helped her in the delivery and later, brought the baby deer to his āśram and raised it as a pet. He got so attached to the deer that he would think about it constantly, including at the time of his death. So, in his next birth, he was born as a deer. He lost the opportunity of human life because of his excessive love towards the deer. We should always have limited love for worldly beings. We should help dharmic (good) people and fight against adharmic people, but never get attached to people.

Some politicians say that ordinary human beings are their gods. This is wrong, and such an idea does not give the highest value to God. The people who give more importance to other people, will never go to Brahma Loka (God’s world). They might at the most reach heaven (Svarga Loka). Once the merit earned by them gets exhausted, they will come back to earth. They serve the public only in order to get appreciation from the public. They do not think about God and hence God also does not care about them. God cares about those who worship Him sincerely. In fact, He tests each devotee who runs after Him. God is not so cheap as to go after someone who does not even think about Him.

You should help the poor, not out of love for the poor, but to please the Lord. You should help the poor out of the love for God. The Divine Father will be happy to see you helping your poor brothers and sisters. The entire emotion of love should only be directed towards God and not even a trace of it should be shared with other souls. That is called eka bhakti. Anjaneya Swami (Hanumān) loves Lord Rāmā alone. Rādha loved Lord Kṛṣṇa alone. If you start loving the poor, you will be born as a beggar in your next birth, just as Jaḍabharata was reborn as a deer. You must do good deeds with an intention to please God.

To be Continuued...

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