The Four Kinds of Devotee

Self-Inquiry as "Self-Typing" (We all have all four types within us):

(a)Divide 100 points (probably unequally) among the four types of

devotees (as defined below) in proportion to how much of each

type you have in you at this point in your life…

- The World Weary _______%

- Seeker of Happiness _______%

- Seeker of Spiritual Advancement _______%

- The Wise One _______%

(b) How do you want these ratios to change over the next few years,

(c) What are the 3 things you should do to effect this change?

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In the Bhagavad Gita Krishna informs us:

“There are four types of people who seek a relationship with God:

- The World Weary: who worship God to alleviate physical or mental agony, fears and adversity.

- Seekers of Happiness: who use spiritual means to achieve worldly things such as wealth, family, and so forth.

- Spiritual Seekers: who seek knowledge and wisdom for spiritual advancement and Self-realization.

- The Wise Ones: who already know the Atma, that God alone exists, and they want nothing else.

___ 1) The first three types, though ultimately noble, are at this point still attached to their desires.

___ 2) Some people who are seeking to fulfill worldly desires, drift to lesser gods and offer rituals. Getting results from limited deities is quite easy but the rewards are correspondingly small—healing disease, winning litigation, psychic powers, and so forth.

___ 3) And yet, whatever form of God people choose to worship in good faith, it is I the Godhead who makes their faith steady. I do this to help them spiritually evolve stage by stage.

___ 4) Their steady faith brings what they pray for, but the fruits are ephemeral and provide only fleeting satisfaction. (In reality, these fruits are also dispensed by Me. All needs are fulfilled only through Me, the Cosmic Source.)

___ 5) Worshippers of the deities of the senses go to them, My devotees come to Me.

___ 6) Purify all your actions by dedicating all of them to God, then you will gradually grow less influenced by your habits and desires.

___ 7) Overcome your lower self one step at a time through worshipping Me, the Cosmic One who is not separable.

___ 8) True devotees of Me, the Supreme Godhead (Brahman), give no thought to worldly things, the question of other gods does not even arise in them.

___ 9) Again, all four types are noble because any reason for turning Godward will in due time lead you to spiritual transformation.

___10) The Wise (the last category) are the highest because they know My Truth and are devoted to Me. They know that it is I, the Godhead, who presides over the entire cosmos, the physical universe, the deities and the spirits.

___11) These wise ones know Me as the essence within themselves, and are therefore always with Me.

___12) Indeed, after many a long life of meditation on Me, these wise ones (yogis, sthithaprajnas) come to Me and merge into My very Self. As I am supremely dear to them, they are dear to Me.

As fuel thrown into fire becomes fire, the wise ones, absorbed in Me, become Me.” – Krishna

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