Whatever
duties there are, e.g., cultivation of devotion to God, worship of the
celestials, service of the parents and other elders, performance of sacrifices,
charities and austerities, maintenance of the household through the earning of
livelihood by means of works assigned according to the Varnasrama system, and
taking of food and drink, etc., for the body - in the performance of these,
indolence and every form of desire should be renounced
(A)
Renunciation of Indolence in the practice of Devotion to God.
Regarding
it as the supreme duty of one's life, one should hear, reflect on, read and
discourse on the mysterious stories of the virtue, glory and Love of God, who
is extremely compassionate, friend of all, the best of lovers, the knower of
the heart, and renouncing idleness practice consist japa, together with
meditation, of His extremely hallowed Name.
(B)
Renunciation of Desire in the Practice of Devotion to God.
Regarding
all enjoyments of this world and the next as transient and perishable and
hindrances in the path of Devotion to God, no prayer should be offered to God
for obtaining any object whatsoever, nor should any desire be entertained in
the mind for the same. Also, prayer should not be offered to God for the
removal of any trouble even when one is overtaken by it; in other words, the
thought should be cultivated in the mind that to sacrifice life is preferable
to bringing stain on the purity of Bhakti for the sake of this false existence.
For instance, Prahlada, even though intensely persecuted by his father, never
offered any prayer to God for the removal of his distress.
Curse
with harsh expressions, such as, "Let the chastisement of God on
You", etc., should not be pronounced even against the persecutor, or one
who does any injury, and no thought of counter-injury should be entertained
against him.
Out
of pride of attainment in the path of Devotion, benedictions should not be
pronounced in words, such as. "May God restore you to health",
"May God remove your distress", May God grant you a long life",
etc.
In
correspondence also, words of worldly interest should not be written. in
Marawari society, there is a general custom of writing such words of worldly is
a general custom of writing such words of worldly import in the form of prayer
to God for obtaining worldly objects e.g., "God is our helper here and
elsewhere", "God will advance our sales", "God will bring a
good monsoon", God will remove the ailment", etc. Instead of this,
auspicious, disinterested words, such as "God in His state of Bliss exists
everywhere", "Performance of Bhajana is the essence of
everything", etc., should be written and other than these no word of worldly
interest should be written our uttered.
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