#3 Who is the greatest devotee in the world? Are you the one? Chances are slim. A devotee is unconditional towards the person, thing, or whatever they are devoted to. I have seen a few remarkable people worth this description. But they still falter here and there.
One of the easiest ways to represent or define devotion is through sports. If you consider why people love some sportsperson without any bounds, you may realize that it is their devotion to the game. It is this quality that makes us love them. Another devotion that most of us have experienced and seen is the devotion a mother has towards a newborn. Nothing is held in between a newborn and a mother. Everything happens without any hesitancy. But I would say that this is not eternal. As the newborn, becomes a toddler, then a child, a teenager, and an adult, somewhere in between, this unconditional affection becomes conditional. This would be the least conditional among all relationships, yet it is conditional. In devotion, there are no conditions. In devotion, a devote ceases to exist. Though a topic that needs to be discussed in detail, I will move on for now.
The question of who is the great devotee arose when I was in the local Shiva temple for Deeparadhana (evening ceremonies). This is also a time of the day when all the regulars and nearby people come to the temple. Everything was silent as the central Sanctorum was closed for it to be opened with full glare. But soon after it was opened, a group of older women was chanting in praise of Shiva. Well, I am no one to complain, but this irritates me. Such acts of devotion are ephemeral for me. I am someone who enjoys the calmness within the temple. This is when I thought of the question. Whatever they are doing is out of their love for Shiva. Nothing wrong here. Can they be called the greatest devotees? No, I don’t think so. For Shiva, Nandi is the greatest devotee. I disregard Nandi here. Then who is it?
Every day lot of people come here. Each of them does something which pleases them. Then I realized who is the one. In our temple, before we enter the Sanctorum, we pay our regards to the banyan tree. It is this banyan tree the greatest devotee here. Day or night, sun or rain, it is always here, probably since the temple existed. For this reason; I think we first pay our regards to the giant and enter the Sanctorum. Everything that the deity has to offer has been imbibed by this devotee all these years. Bowing down to this tree is as much as bowing down to Shiva.