YUGAVANI: WORSHIP (Jun )
By Sri Ramakrishna
Summary
The text discusses three types of joy (ananda): worldly enjoyment, worship, and Brahman. Worldly joy involves attachment to "woman and gold," while the joy of worship arises from chanting God’s name and glories. The highest joy, Brahman, comes from God-vision, leading to transcendence beyond worldly rules. Engaging in rituals like plucking flowers, preparing sandal-paste, and arranging offerings helps focus the mind on God, eliminating negative traits like meanness and anger. Over time, the mind matures, and formal worship becomes unnecessary as meditation and contemplation become constant. Rituals should continue until tears of joy and bodily thrills arise during God’s name repetition, signaling their purpose has been fulfilled. Love of God is the fruit, rendering rituals obsolete once attained. The text emphasizes Mahamaya, God’s illusory power, as the divine energy behind creation, preservation, and destruction, obscuring the eternal truth. Only by propitiating Mahamaya can one transcend this illusion and realize the Absolute (Existence-Knowledge-Bliss). The Puranas highlight deities like Brahma praising Mahamaya for destroying demons, underscoring Her role in divine play.
Conclusion
The exploration of ananda—worldly, devotional, and divine—reveals a transformative journey from transient pleasures to ultimate liberation. The joy of worship, rooted in selfless service and ritual, purifies the mind, dissolving negative traits and fostering divine connection. As ritualistic practices culminate in tears of divine love, they naturally give way to a mature, unwavering union with the Absolute, where meditation becomes the mind's eternal state. This progression underscores the necessity of propitiating Mahamaya, the divine force that veils and reveals truth, to attain God's grace and transcend illusion. Ultimately, the path from ritual to realization mirrors the deeper truth: love of God, once matured, renders formal worship obsolete, as the soul abides in the eternal bliss of Brahman.