No Preconditions for Devotion
Devotion to God is accessible to all, regardless of their current state of perceived separation, and serves as a path to overcome the sense of 'me-ness' rather than requiring its prior dissolution.
So, I mean, for the first time I sort of heard of—I mean, I was quite surprised at how prescriptive this was. That, you know, if you're doing devotion and you're praying to the Lord as a separate entity, it said, you know, it actually kind of seemed like a strict upadesa not to do so. I just—I mean, I'm just surfacing it, what I heard, and because it surprised me. I thought that all paths were all good, equally good, and you know, it was good enough to just sort of say that, okay, I'm the person and I'm praying to the Lord, rather than having to kind of stay in the, you know, as the heart and dissolve the sense of personhood as a falsehood. So I just wanted to lay that at your feet and get your feedback and what we should be aspiring for in our meditations.
So let's suppose that this framing is true. Let's suppose that this framing is true, which is that if there is a sense of distinction felt between the Lord and myself, then in a way there's no point even praying to him. Let's suppose it's true like that. Then how would anyone ever start? Then the path of spirituality will be completely closed for everyone because nobody starts off feeling truly one with God. You don't start off having let go of the attachment to this body-mind and the idea that 'I am this person whose center is this body-mind.' So I feel like something may have got lost in translation, or maybe because we are at a particular place, then that framing seems dominant in terms of how we hear what is being said. But I want to just tell everyone that the point is to turn towards God. No preconditions are needed. You don't have to have achieved a sense of non-duality already to worship. In fact, to worship is to work on our sense of separation, you see? And if there is a prerequisite like 'you cannot worship God unless you know that you are completely one with him,' then who is to worship God? Who can worship God then? I can't worship God. None of us in this room can worship God. And in fact, nobody that I ever met could worship God because nobody has got rid of that 'me' completely.
Key Teachings
- Devotion to God requires no preconditions of non-duality or complete egolessness.
- Worship is a means to work on and dissolve the sense of separation from God.
- If non-duality were a prerequisite, no one could ever begin the spiritual path.
- The primary point is to turn towards God, regardless of one's current state of understanding or 'me-ness'.
From: Who Does Your Heart Belong to In This Moment? - 18 September 2024