1

Marvin Ernest Colin Higgins (swamiswayam@yahoo.com.au)

Rosanna Picassia

Devotion to God

Part I
A poem by Ravi Das, a fourteenth- to fifteenth century shoemaker in India, reads in part:

Lord of wealth, if Thou breakest not with me, then I will not break with
Thee.

For if I break with Thee, with whom else shall I join?

If Thou art an earthen lamp, then I am Thy wick.

If Thou art a place of pilgrimage, then I am Thy pilgrim.

This is a saint song, as denoted by its inclusion in the section titled “Songs of the saints” (Fisher &

Bailey, 2012, p. 80). The piece is introduced by stating that, despite Ravi Das’ low caste, “his poetry

reveals the heights of his realization” (2012, p. 81). It was the result of Ravi Das’ spiritual attainment and

one of its uses in ritual is seen by its inclusion in the Guru Granth Sahib, the scripture compiled

by the Sikh Gurus.

The Bhakti movement, out of which Ravi Das came, was established hundreds of years

before him and continues hundreds of years after his death (Fisher, 2011, p. 76). It is the path

held to by most Hindus and involves a relationship of intense love for a personal deity (p. 84).

Transcendence of the ego is not paramount, what matters is surrender of the person’s whole

being to the deity (p. 85).

This movement involved, more than the previous emphasis on recitation of ancient

scriptures, a focus on recitation of one’s personal realization of the Divine, in one’s own
2

language, and drew on both men and women from all classes of society (pp. 80, 81). This

expression of divine experience in the local vernacular, along with the power of love expressed

for the deity in question, attracted the common people and brought an upsurge in devotion to

Hindu deities (p. 81).

The Puranas, Sanskrit poetic texts set down in written form between 500 and 1500 CE

(Fisher &Bailey, p.78), predate the start of the Bhakti movement by 100 years (Fisher, p. 76)

and helped promote it through depiction of deities, their exploits and elaborate descriptions of

the ways in which they should be worshipped (Fisher & Bailey, 2012, pp. 78, 79). Emphasized in

this movement is the idea of “God” taking a human form but remaining pure In the midst of the

material world (Fisher & Bailey, pp. 79, 80).

Part II

Based on this passage, the relationship between the devotee and God is as intimate as it

can be. It is that of a lamp and its wick. Of a pilgrimage place and that which makes it holy and

sacred: a pilgrim. It seems that the act of devotion is its own reward, although one might

imagine that the Lord of wealth is capable of bestowing anything upon the devotee. This wealth

is both material and spiritual. It is the wealth of “God,” who in common parlance is the greatest

of the great, both materially and spiritually.

But Ravi Das, knowing that God needs him in order to shed light and in order to remain the

place of pilgrimage, seems content in his role as co-equal with, and instigator of, God. It is Ravi
3

Das who sets the contract in motion, once God establishes that he/she/it can be trusted. For, if

God will not break the relationship, Ravi Das for his part will not break it.

This aspect of God manifests qualities of a friend, just as Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita looked

upon the incarnate God, Krishna the charioteer, as his friend, according to Hindu belief. We

have two equal partners in a transaction of love.

Liberation and salvation are only relevant here insofar as the poet states that he has no

intention of terminating his relationship with the Lord of wealth. The implication is that God is

the one thing or person worthy of attachment to. God is the one who can supply the “wealth”

of joy, bliss, knowledge and sustenance needed by a low-caste shoemaker. But Ravi Das has all

that he could want already, for he is co-equal with God, he is the wick of the lamp which is God,

he is the pilgrim of the pilgrimage center which is God.

Part III

The religious outlook contained in this text compares perfectly with my own. I stated in my

first essay outlining my religious background that I have been studying and teaching Yoga for

many years, I have been influenced by a Hindu from Kerala in southern India who looked on the

world as his family and God as his friend. He himself was trained by, and spent several years in

the ashram of, Swami Sivananda, quoted twice by Mary Pat Fisher (2011, pp. 83, 87).

Sivananda also looked on the world as his family and God as his friend, much like Ravi Das.

After meeting Swami Vishnudevananda in 1985, having already read his book “The Complete

Illustrated Book of Yoga” while in college during the seventies, the ground was prepared for my
4

eventual joining up with his world-wide mission. I was a regular visitor to his Paradise Island

Yoga Retreat, accessible from a pier two blocks from my newspaper office.

I quit my sub-editor’s position with the Nassau, Bahamas Daily Tribune towards the end of

1987 and joined Swami Vishnudevananda’s International Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers and

Ashrams in January, 1988. I was immersed in a full-time, live-in experience – much like my own

teacher with his teacher – that lasted for four years. Although I left the Yoga Retreat in 1992, I

returned within about year, working at the Tribune newspaper and living at the ashram.

For years thereafter, I spent summers at Swami Vishnudevananda’s Montreal center and his

headquarters in Val Morin, Quebec. I spent much of the rest of the year at his Bahamas ashram

on Paradise Island. I spent several months living and teaching at his Sierra Nevada ashram in

California and vacationed at his New York City center and his Woodbourne ashram in upstate

New York. In other words, I have been immersed for decades in the organization, philosophies

and lifestyle of someone just like Ravi Das, if I might be so bold.

I have stayed true to the teachings of two who, like Ravi Das, believe in a transcendent and

an immanent God, who worshipped God as “Mother,” among many other forms, in the same

way that Ravi Das calls up the varied images of a lamp, wick, pilgrimage place and pilgrim. I look

on Ravi Das’, Swami Vishnudevananda’s and Swami Sivananda’s concept as a mystic’s

projection and the culmination of religion in its highest and best form for one basic reason:
5

The mystic, in my opinion, is friends with all simply because he/she sees God as all. Both as

high (transcendent) and low (immanent). Both as lamp and wick. Pilgrimage place and pilgrim.

This leads to the devotee seeing God/the Divine as both There and Here, in you and in me.

The mystic sees God as “out there” and “in here.” There is nothing but God/the Divine. This

concept leads to acceptance of all: people, experiences, life, science, religion, the mundane, the

sacred, the secular…This is who I am and who I try to be and this is wonderfully outlined in the

Bhagavad Gita and the two autobiographies included in my reference list.

References:

Fisher, Mary Pat & Bailey, Lee W., An Anthology of Living Religions, Laurence King Publishing Ltd, 2012,
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Fisher, Mary Pat, Living Religions, Prentice Hall, 2011, New Jersey.

Sivananda, Swami, Autobiography of Swami Sivananda, The Divine Life Trust Society, 1958, Himalayas.

Yogananda, Paramahansa, Autobiography of a Yogi, Self-Realization Fellowship, 1946, Los Angeles.

Vishnudevananda, Swami, The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga, previously published in 1960 by the
Julian Press, Random House, New York.