THE DEVOTEE BECOMES INVULNERABLE

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

THE DEVOTEE BECOMES INVULNERABLE
It is a common fallacy to suppose that people, who follow the path of devotion, who
cultivate devotion, who take recourse to prayer, surrender and the Name of the Lord become
effeminate, weak and they are not strong like the Vedantins. The Vedantins are always strong; they
bring the picture of a lion, the king of the forest, which fears nothing and is full of strength. Even so,
the lion of Vedanta is supposed to roar like a lion.
The real devotee is also equal to the Vedantin. He fears nothing in this world. His strength is
infinite, because his strength is not the strength of an individual personality. The source of his
strength is infinity, in which he has established himself. The source of strength for a Vedantin and
the source of strength for a devotee are the same. The Vedantin relies upon Atman, but the devotee
relies on the Lord. The Saguna Brahman (Brahman with attributes) and the Nirguna Brahman
(Brahman without attributes) are one. Therefore, if a devotee feels within him a sort of fear or
weakness, then it means that his practice of Bhakti is not correct. There is something lacking in him.

Some error is there. If he is a real devotee, he should be perfectly fearless. He should say, “I have got
the Name of the Lord on my lips. Nothing equals the Name of the Lord in the whole world. To me
no fear from the world can come.” So a real devotee fears nothing. Maya cannot do anything to him.
He who has got the Name of the Lord ever upon his lips, defies the guiles of Maya.
He who has got faith and devotion to the Lord becomes invulnerable. His defences are
impregnable. Nothing can happen to him. It depends upon faith.
Such faith was there in Hanuman, whose glorious personality stands radiant before us in the
pages of Ramayana. He is the ideal of a true devotee, the devotee who is full of strength, full of
courage, full of heroism. True devotion gives strength. Real Prem (love) gives infinite courage and
boldness.
What is the source of all strength that sustains an aspirant in his struggle to overcome Maya?
The strength is the Name of the Lord. That strength is the strength of true love and devotion to the
Lord. That strength is the strength of absolute faith in the Lord, faith in the grace of the Lord, faith in
His Name, to exemplify which the glorious Name of Hanuman stands as an ideal before us.
A devotee fears nothing. No obstacle deters him from pursuing the path that leads to the
blessed union with the Lord. If this real devotion is not there, then timidity and other things come.