Bhagavad Gita Chapter 9 - Rajavidya Rajaguhya Yoga - Sloka 25

The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of Bhagavad Gita , published by Ramakrishna Mission

Man Gets What He Seeks 22-25

1 Gita Sloka  every day - Chapter 9 - Rajavidya Rajaguhya Yoga - Sloka 25

Lotus feet of Rama

Yanti deva vratah devan pitrun yanti pitru vratah I

Bhutani yanti bhutejyah yanti matd yajinah api mam II sloka 25

यान्ति देव व्रताः देवान् पितृन् यान्ति पितृव्रुताः I 

भूतानी यान्ति भूतेज्याः यान्ति मद्याजिनः अपि मां  I I  श्लोक 25

Votaries of the devas go to the devas; the votaries of the pitrus go to the pitrus; to the bhutas go to the bhuta worshippers; my votaries come to me.

The water in the pipe can rise to the level of the reservoir to which it is connected. Likewise, the mind of the man rises to the level of the deity whom he adores. The sadhaka should therefore be able to distinguish between the minor deities at various cosmic levels and Iswara, the Ultimate Reality.

The devas are more evolved than men. Their span of embodied life being great, they are called the immortals. But they are also subject to birth and death. BY worshipping them, men may gain longevity and supernatural powers which are all hindrances to bhakti, jnana and mukti.

The pitrus are the manes who form a region of their own. sending holy thoughts for the welfare of the departed ancestors is good; but drifting into ancestor worship is not desirable. Priest craft usually encourages  this weakness and credulity in man. The ancestors necessarily get changed with every new birth that man takes. Undue concern therefore for the pitrus is purposeless and detrimental to spiritual growth; it only adds to earthly attachment and bondage.

The bhutas are in the scale of evolution, intermediate between men and devas. By worshipping them the votaries may at best get some psychic powers,  leading to vanity and greater bondage to mundane life. 

It is the worship of Narayana that is beneficial. It leads to prosperity, perfection and emancipation.

A dyer once had a unique method of colouring clothes. He had a solitary dye tub into which he would dip the clothes brought to him by customers adn give whatever colour they wanted. Red, yellow, blue, green, purple - all these and more colours were produced from the same tub. An intelligent customer who watched these miracles entrusted his cloth to the dyer and requested him to dye it as he liked.

Our mind is the cloth. Narayana is the dyer and the dyeing tub. He gives us what we pray for. The best that we can do is not to ask him for anything but give ourselves over to him. He in his turn gives himself to us.

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa