And When Devotion is also the bar
Many eyebrows of the Puritans may immediately raise at the very mention of such a topic. And perhaps understandably so; devotion has always been considered one of the basic requisites on the path to any higher pursuit.
Devotion to one’s sect, culture, work, nation, religion, and gods, is one of the basic instincts of man, one of his prime Dharma. In every spiritual or religious tradition, it is an indispensable quality to have, at once a great strength and a dynamic force that is believed to perform miracles. Great feats have been achieved in all ages with this one singular attribute of human nature. Greater still may be awaiting its turn. Always it has believed to have helped, and never hindered in the seeking even after the Highest, not to mention the lesser pursuits. How then can it ever be suggested that devotion can be a bar? Indeed, true devotion can never be a bar; it can only help the devotee. But are all devotions true? It doesn’t quite appear so. True devotion is self-giving, undemanding, unassertive, self-contained, and dispassionate and is an inherent psychic quality of the soul.
But there is another type of devotion that is generated from a secondary source, the emotional being, which is only a dismal distortion of its original. It is also quite the opposite in nature. It doesn’t help but hinder a devotee. By nature, it is egoistic, selfish, belligerent, demanding, obtrusive, divisive, and many other attributes of human nature that usually entrance devotees more with its dazzling power and aggressive posture than any real devotional dispositions. But it promises thousands of means of self-indulgence and self-gratification, which is the main reason behind its huge following. It reigns supreme over the human consciousness quite unchallenged and is perceived to be the only kind of devotion to have, assigning its original pure form to a secondary existence.
And why not? What is the use of such a devotion that doesn’t announce itself with a high drama? How could the world know what a great devotee one is merely in a hushed prayer? Where is the excitement only in a quiet aspiration that gently burns in one’s heart? How can just a silent surrender take the place of the grandeur of an ostentatious show of devotion staged with fitting fanfare?
Such a perilous distortion of the original naturally has its consequences. A devotion that is primarily designed for satisfying the ego and its numerous desires can only have rather grave results. The devotion to one’s own ego, for example. Must start from where it began. If devotion is considered a rightful instrument for egocentric self-gratification, how could one’s own ego be left out of its purview? Once thus admitted into the conscience, such egoistic self-interest then grows unabated without any inhibitions and runs riot steamrolling everything else on its way to establishing its sovereignty. Eventually, it goes on a rampage creating havoc which is one of the main reasons for the pitiable state of the present world. It is all because devotion is practiced by humanity in its distorted and self-gratifying avatar and not in its true form.
In spirituality, such egocentric devotion becomes even more uncompromising, divisive, demanding; obsessed with ostentatious demonstrations of bizarre one-upmanship. With each faith proclaiming its superiority, each sect, and each cult its own greatness, each devotee in competition with others in establishing the quality of his devotion over others, it’s indeed a rather strange war of egos where even this false devotion is also disregarded and assigned to a distant subordinate place.
And the most surprising of them all is perhaps the claim or rather the supposed rights that are acquired by the devotees by virtue of this false devotion, which they try to assert even over their gods, who must give in to their demands, answer all their prayers, grant all their wishes, or else they are gods no more.
But what is the most dangerous is that such perversely distorted devotion confers a sort of license to its loyal devotees to indulge in all kinds of falsities, deceptions, treacheries, and even violence, as the most righteous thing to do, which they carry out unhesitatingly behind the shelter of this supposedly pious virtue. This deceptive devotion has a tremendous, almost mesmerizing power to cast its influence and its frenzied devotees are many. Always it also manages to get several faithful self-appointed ‘agents’ to propagate its regime of falsehood among the ignorant to enlarge its field of authority. Such agents, usually even more dangerous than their master, instigate others to do most terrible deeds, all in the name of such devotion.
And it is this egocentric, distorted, perverse, devious devotion that is the bar to any progress. It may have an unquestionable sway and a gigantic following because of the thousand means of self-gratification that it offers, but that does not bring it anywhere near the power of true, pure, silent, and unpretentious flame of devotion that can move the heaven. But humanity cannot accept anything that at least in some way or the other does not satisfy its ego. In pure devotion, there is nothing really for the ego, and hence it remains mostly shunned by the common human consciousness.
“Ego was the helper; Ego is the bar,” wrote Sri Aurobindo in one of his many enlightening aphorisms. He also mentioned: reason, effort, and desire, as being both ‘helper’ as well as a ‘bar’ in the same maxim but never included ‘devotion’ into it. He could not have, for true devotion can only be a helper on the way to any seeking. But distorted to collaborate and magnify ego and satisfy its endless desires, it is definitely a bar. None can deny it.
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