Serving Him
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A person with bhakti is not swayed by worldly attractions. Power holds no charm for him. Wealth is immaterial to him. Fame is not sought by him. All he aches for is to serve the Lord.

Lakshmana did not hesitate for a second before deciding to accompany Rama to the forest. He refused to pay heed to Rama’s words for, his mind was made up. He would be by Rama’s side, serving Him and Sita. Later, Rama told him to go back, in case Sumitra and Kausalya suffer at the hands of Kaikeyi. Who will take care of them should this happen, asked Rama. But Lakshmana refused to go back to Ayodhya, because to him his foremost duty was to serve Lord Rama.

Andal in her Tiruppavai prays that she should have the good fortune of serving Him always and that He should help her get rid of all other desires. That kind of attitude doesn’t come naturally to all and is difficult to cultivate too. One way to make a beginning is to stop putting requests before Him, asking Him for something or the other. We must pray that we should have bhakti towards Him always, said Akkarakkani Srinidhi, in a discourse.

Azhvars and Acharyas have shown us their bhakti through the way they served Him. In Srirangam, when prasada prepared in the temple kitchen was taken every day to be offered to the Lord, Ramanujacharya would wait till the priest came out of the sanctum sanctorum. Ramanuja would then look at the prasada to check if the Lord’s fingers had left an impression in the food!

Seeing the absence of finger marks, he would say that Lord had not touched the food for lack of bhakti! That kind of involvement is needed in serving the Lord.