Vanara Gita 57: Even to serve the Lord, His blessings are crucial

Vanara Śatabali says-

Dhanyo asmy-anugrahitosmi punyosmi mahīto asmyaham

Hanuman tva pādāmbhoja sevā vibhava yogataḥ.

Meaning- Oh Hanumanta! By obtaining this chance of serving your lotus feet I have been absolutely blessed. You have favoured me. Due to this grace upon me, I have become meritorious and great.

To be bestowed with an opportunity to serve the lotus feet of Hanuman is an exceedingly great fortune that is very rare to attain. It is a great yoga. When those who obtain this golden opportunity use it wisely, they are rewarded with immense blessedness (dhanyata).

What exactly is dhanyata (blessedness)? It means serving that Supreme Lord who is the root behind this birth of ours. Performing actions towards knowing the Supreme is true blessedness.

While many entertain the desire to serve the Supreme Lord, only a select few actually are blessed with this opportunity. Why is this so? This is because even to serve Him, His blessings and grace are critical pre-requisites. If this is so, how does one obtain ‘His’ blessings and grace? The answer to this is simple- if the person has ever prayed to be blessed with an opportunity to serve His feet, then he will be adequately blessed with it. The devotee should have asked, “O Lord, I seek a birth in which I have an opportunity to serve your lotus feet. Please bless me accordingly”.

It isn’t too late even now. A devotee can pray, “O Lord, please bless me with an opportunity to serve your feet within this birth”. He may or may not be blessed with a chance in this birth. There is no necessity that such a prayer should yield results in this birth itself. In the event that this blessing is not showered in this birth, then it will automatically get transferred to a future birth.

All our scriptures and holy texts decisively state that serving and helping others is greatly meritorious and that harming/troubling others is highly sinful. Even the sincere desire to reach help others is a proof that at least a drop of merit (punya) exists in the person. Just as a seed is nourished such that it grows into an enormous tree, the good thought of assisting others should be nurtured by converting it into action. With an increase in such charitable deeds, this will grow into a gigantic meritorious tree.

Adi Shankara-Bhagavad-pādācharya has declared that the desire to serve the Supreme Lord will not emerge in the person unless and until he has some merit (punya) to his credit. It is only when we have some merit with us that we are attracted towards God.

At times Swamiji says to his devotees- “Your quota is finished” or “Your quota is depleting quickly”. This leaves the devotee confused. However what does this imply? “The merit from the various good deeds that you had performed during your many earlier births has resulted in this friendship between you and Me. From the moment you found your Guru, you have stopped participating in any form of meritorious deeds. Prior to this, every single day you were praying and contemplating about Guru and God.”

Om Namo Hanumate Namaha.