To recapitulate: <ul> <li>Merit from the good deeds performed in earlier births, yields good results in this birth.</li> <li>Harming others in other births leads to suffering in this birth.</li> <li>Engaging in philanthropic deeds bestows immense merit (punya).</li> <li>Emergence of such a desire in the mind reflects a certain degree of merit (punya) within the individual.</li> </ul> He should then convert this desire into actions. Only then it will transform into a meritorious holy tree. <ul> <li>In the absence of such merit a person will not even get the thought of offering service to the Lord.</li> </ul> The presence of all these above-mentioned traits brings greatness to a person. Only then will he acquire the required eligibility and competence (yogyata).  This eligibility will bestow the title ‘devotee’ upon the person.

It is not so simple to be addressed as a ‘devotee’. Very often people complain, “For the past few weeks I had feelings of great devotion towards God. Suddenly such feelings seem to have disappeared.” Such a person will not be addressed as a true and great devotee. A sea difference exists between the feelings of a true devotee and such a person. The difference is visible in the speech itself. Regarding such a person, others may at most say, “Oh, that person was a regular visitor to the temple. Of late he is not to be seen. Perhaps he is unwell”. They too will never address him as a great devotee.

<strong><em>Only he, who participates without fail in daily activities of the Lord, is addressed as a great devotee.</em></strong> Reaching such a state is a hard task. Such a state should be maintained as well. Due to such deeds, the balance of merit to one’s credit should also be increased.

<strong><em>It is the good deeds, good traits and good sincere devotion of a person that fetch him a good name. </em></strong>The power, fame and wealth that one enjoys today may not remain tomorrow.  The power also brings with it a lot of ego and self-pride. Contrary to this, <strong>the good traits and good habits acquired by the person remain eternally with him.</strong>

People often speak about a true devotee in the following manner- “God only knows, in which birth this person would have performed which meritorious deed to have been blessed with such intense devotion” or “This is the result of some meritorious deed of an earlier birth” or “It is due to the merit earned in many births that he is blessed with undisrupted devotion to the Guru in this birth”. Thus, even when being clueless about earlier births, we often speak in this manner. Should we not aim to scale this level in terms of our devotion and good traits? Our good habits also protect us.

Troubling and harming others is a sinful deed. <strong><em>Increase in bad habits only lead to increase in the balance of sins of the individual. </em></strong>No one will even want to think about such an individual.

<strong><em>Only thoughts about his chosen deity circulate within the intellect of a true devotee.</em></strong> They speak solely about their deity and the traits of their deity. A devotee of a Guru will speak only about his Guru, the form of his Guru, the essence behind the Guru principle, and so on. Starting from the inner being (atma), the devotee will wonderfully praise even the physical form of his/her Guru. His glories are sung at all times. This turns out to be an endless obsession.

Likewise, only thoughts about Hanuman will flow in the intellect (buddhi) of the ardent devotees of Hanuman. They speak about Hanuman at all times. Hanuman transforms his devotees to become like Him. Every deity transforms the ardent devotee, who constantly reflects and thinks about Him, into Himself. Hanuman blesses such devotees with devotion towards Rama. This is exactly what happened to Vanara Shatabali.

 

Om Namo Hanumate Namaha.