Consciousness to serve!


Gangā after narrating story of Vasus left Sāntanu, taking her son with her & the King returned broken hearted


Once Sāntanu came to banks of Gangā & noticed the river becoming unnaturally shallow. He found a handsome youth checking flow of river with help of a celestial weapon. Although Sāntanu couldn’t identify his son, but the boy recognized his father & soon vanished from his vision


Sāntanu intuitively perceived him to be his son & petitioned Gangā to give back his son so that his dynasty will continue. Gangā appeared carrying her son & said-This boy is named Devavrata & is our 8th child. He is already conversant with all celestial weapons, all Vedic knowledge & well acquainted with duties of king. Take him & protect him carefully. Sāntanu returned & nominated Devavrata as successor to throne

 

Few years later, the King met on banks of Yamuna, a beautiful girl who had enchantingly sweet smell. She was Satyavati, daughter of a fisherman. With desire to have her as his wife, he approached her father, who agreed to King’s proposal but only on condition that his daughter’s son would become successor to royal throne

 

The desire to have Satyavati as his wife was strong in King’s heart, but he couldn’t accept the condition due to his staunch affection for his son Devavrata. With a heavy heart, he returned disappointed, but his mind continually dwelled upon Satyavati

 

Seeing his father moroseness, Devavrata asked him reason of losing all enthusiasm for life. The King didn't divulge his heart & so Devavrata asked the minister about it. He was informed about his father's desire to marry Satyavati but with a condition that her son would become future king

 

To relieve his father’s pain, Devavrata went to see fisherman to beg for his daughter & took a solemn vow that he would never accept royal throne. He gave assurance that only his daughter’s son will be next King & also vowed of unbroken Brahmacharya to never beget a child throughout his life so that his daughter’s son & grandson will rule kingdom. The fisherman was delighted & agreed for Satyavati’s marriage to Sāntanu

 

Demigods showered profuse flowers on Devavrata & called him Bhishma (the terrible) as he took such severe vow for his father's sake. Satyavati was escorted to Hastinapur & Bhishma described to his father about what transpired. Sāntanu was pleased & granted benediction to his son of never having to die against his will

 

Sacrifice & Serving others selflessly is a hallmark of great souls. The consciousness to serve must have a deeper & substantial motivation. Otherwise, the service would be shallow without substance. If appreciation, acceptance & respect etc are goals to serve then it may not be the case always, due to unpredictable nature of the world, that what we desire is achieved. We would then be disappointed or even embarrassed in our service

 

Elevation of mind & intelligence to serve others comes from our devotional service to Supreme Lord

 

Thoughts? #gameoflfe

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