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Devotees Who Have Desires Turn To Dieties They Are Forced By Their Own Nature To Perform Rites

कामैस्तैस्तैर्हृतज्ञाना: प्रपद्यन्तेऽन्यदेवता: |
तं तं नियममास्थाय प्रकृत्या नियता: स्वया ||7. 20||

kāmais tais tair hṛita-jñānāḥ prapadyante ’nya-devatāḥ
taṁ taṁ niyamam āsthāya prakṛityā niyatāḥ svayā|| 7.20||

Shloka Translation
BG – Ch. 7- Ver. 20:

The celestial gods accept those whose knowledge has been distorted by material pursuits. They worship the devats, performing rites to appease these celestial entities, as is their nature.

Explanation

According to Shree Krishna, humans worship the devats (celestial gods) according to established rites in order to earn material wealth. Their understanding has been obscured by material desires. As a result, they overlook the fact that the Supreme Lord is the source of everything, even these celestial gods. As president of a country, appoints officers from several departments. Similarly, these celestial gods play various roles in the operation of God’s creation. They receive their abilities from God and are not self-sufficient.

They can only provide their worshippers material items that they have control over. But they can’t free anyone from Maya’s shackles or the cycle of birth and death because they aren’t free from it themselves. Only God has the ability to do so. The celestial gods, like us, have souls. They have gained these positions in the celestial abodes, however, as a result of their former life’ righteous deeds. They must return to Earth after their holy acts account has been depleted. As a result, even the celestial gods perish; only God is immortal.

Verse & what we can learn

In previous shlokas, Shri Krishna praised the wise devotee’s search for the infinite Ishvara. He then goes on to define the other type of devotee. These believers have a sense of incompleteness. To feel whole, they continue to seek out finite things such as people, objects, and circumstances. According to Shri Krishna, such devotees are bound by their nature to seek refuge in finite deities. They do so because the intensity of their desires has overtaken their discrimination.

Unlike wise devotees, such devotees have not yet transferred their mind to Ishvara, the ultimate objective that will provide them with infinity. They still have desires for earthly things, people, and situations that keep them from reaching out to the limitless. As a result of the strength of their desires, they seek contentment in something finite. To this aim, people pray to deities who will grant them their finite desires.

We may also have to follow certain ceremonies and rituals that are specific to each deity in order to appease them. Even though following limited or finite goals is not the way to progress, Shri Krishna claims that Ishvara will still show compassion to such devotees.

To acquire knowledge and to implement that knowledge in life one needs to be mentally and physically active and healthy and for that daily meditation is a great tool.

There are various types of meditation like Buddhist meditation, heartfulness meditation, mindfulness meditation, meditation for stress, and each meditation benefits are countless. There are also numerous meditation techniques for beginners which help in practicing daily meditation so go ahead and start your journey towards a peaceful and balanced life.

In the Next verse, Shri Krishna tells Arjuna about worship and faith.

Let’s learn to live with “The Gita” via Meditation Affinity…