Who Worships You

 

**Who Worships You**

**Ṛgveda 1.14.5**

*īḷate tvām avasyavaḥ kaṇvāso vṛktabarhiṣaḥ |

haviṣmanto araṃkṛtaḥ ||*

**Meaning:**

O Supreme Lord! Those who seek Your protection (*avasyavaḥ*); the wise and discerning (*kaṇvāsaḥ*), who praise You and acquire knowledge of every particle; those who have cleared the undergrowth of their hearts—cutting away desires—and prepared the throne of the heart for You (*vṛktabarhiṣaḥ*); those whose lives have become pure like a sacred oblation (*haviṣmantaḥ*); and those who are adorned by the observance of yama and niyama, or who have renounced worldly indulgences (*araṃkṛtaḥ*)—such people alone worship (*īḷate*) You.

Many people worship the Supreme according to their respective beliefs. Even thieves and robbers vow offerings to deities for success in their misdeeds. The *Bhagavad Gītā* classifies devotees into four categories:

“Four kinds of virtuous people worship Me, O Arjuna—the distressed, the inquisitive, the seeker of worldly gain, and the wise. Of these, the wise person, ever united with Me and endowed with single-pointed devotion, is the most excellent.”

—*Gītā* 7.16–17

Those afflicted by suffering, the inquisitive (those eager to know), seekers of worldly prosperity, and the wise—all worship God. Among them, the wise devotee, whose love and devotion to the Supreme is exclusive, is the shrestha. (best.

First, it is the suffering who most readily remember God—“In sorrow all remember God; in happiness none do.” When a person finds themselves surrounded by troubles on all sides and sees no other remedy, they take refuge in God.

The second category remembers God out of curiosity—“Let us see what God is like and whether devotion yields any benefit.”

The third category consists of those who engage in chanting, austerities, and rituals with the aim of gaining wealth, success in undertakings, or positions. Their outlook is purely transactional.

The fourth category is that of the wise, who seek neither relief from suffering, nor mere curiosity, nor worldly objects. With exclusive love, faith, and devotion, they remain absorbed in Him alone.

Exclusive love for the Supreme is devotion. This Vedic mantra offers guidance by explaining who truly worships God:

1. **Avasyavaḥ** — Those who see death before them and seek deliverance, finding no other refuge secure, recognize the Lord’s shelter as supreme and surrender to Him.

2. **Kaṇvāsaḥ** — Only the intelligent can properly practice bhakti-yoga. God cannot be perceived by the senses; He is experienced only through the inner eye of knowledge—the purified inner instrument—much like hunger or thirst is felt. Devotion is not blind faith; it is total absorption in God with understanding. This requires wisdom, not ignorance.

3. **Vṛktabarhiṣaḥ** — Just as in a sacrifice weeds and stones are cleared to level the ground and prepare a fine seat for the priests, so too, to invoke the Supreme, one must remove the weeds of lust and anger and the thorns of attachment and aversion from the altar of the heart, spreading the seat of faith. Only then does the Supreme Deity come and dwell there.

4. **Haviṣmantaḥ** — In sacrifice, offerings are first purified and then duly offered into the fire. Likewise, the Lord bestows His grace only upon those whose lives have become pure. *Ataptatanūr na tad āmo aśnute*—one who has not been refined in the furnace of austerity remains unripe; as water does not stay in an unbaked pot, so too does the vision of God not abide in such a person.

5. **Araṃkṛtaḥ** — When a guest arrives, the host dresses cleanly, withdraws from other tasks, and waits attentively at the door. Similarly, to make the Lord one’s guest, one must be adorned with yama and niyama, detached from worldly entanglements, and wait eagerly with complete readiness. When the intoxication of devotion becomes so intense that even a moment’s separation from the Lord is painful, then His grace descends. Upon beholding Him, no desire remains to know or see anything else.

Reproduced by Dr. Vivek Arya