5.3.Results of Worship

So called worshipers, who chant mantras without deep love noticed how greatly God Siva esteemed the love freely flowing from Kannapa’s heart and how much superior it was to his formal external worship with all Vedic rites, mantras and ceremonies.

The water given for bath abisheka carried by the hunter in his mouth mixed his saliva was enjoyed as a divine ablution.

The raw flesh, which was previously tested by tasting and offered by the hunter, had been found delicious as newly cooked food.

Well, what cannot devotion achieve? A forest hunter was esteemed as the highest worshiper.

Thus it is the spirit that matters. But when all is said and done, one must recollect that Kannapars are not found everywhere, and every one cannot imitate Kannapa. The ordinary man has to remember that his gentle plant of devotion has to be grown and tended and hedged with considerable care. For that purpose the regular forms of worship and the usual directions for the growth of devotion by attending pujas, Bhajanas and other ceremonies must be followed for a long time before attaining full completion of Bhakthi.

Especially the nine modes of worship mentioned in the Bhagavata and stressed by Sri Sai Baba often have to be attended to and followed. In setting out those nine forms, one can see how the external and internal are inextricably interwoven and combined and how one gradually progresses with lower and external forms till his inner kernel of devotion attains maturity and perfection.

The nine modes are:
Sravana - listening to accounts of the deeds of God, his Avatars and saints.
Kirtana - reciting history of God or repeatedly chant names and praise of God.
Smarana - constantly recalling these, especially uttering God’s names.

Padasevanam – doing pooja to the legs of God and saints.

Archana - formal worship, for example with flowers, water, food, scents and all the 16 upacharas
Vadana - is falling flat on the ground at the feet of God and Saints.
Dasya - for example service, doing every work for God or Saint.
Sakhya - remaining in the company of God or Saint.

Nivedana - that is, surrender of the self that is forgetting oneself entirely into the contemplation of god after formally offering the self as a gift to God.