There are many ways of worshipping God. One is by listening to His praises being sung. One way is to perform yagas. Another way is through penance. The more knowledgeable person delves deep into the religious texts. But for the ordinary man who cannot read and comprehend religious literature or even listen to discourses or meditate on God, there is an easy way of worship, and that is through visiting temples, and revealing his bhakti by worshipping God in idol form. But is it enough to visit a temple? Does a mere visit to a temple constitute bhakti? For bhakti to take us close to God, it must be bhakti that expects nothing in return from God. The true bhakta seeks no rewards for his bhakti, said Damodara Dikshitar.
Unfortunately, these days, people come to temples, only if they are certain that some worldly reward or relief from suffering awaits them. So if a person goes to a temple, expecting no material rewards, no one is willing to believe that he is a genuine bhakta. He, too, is seen as one who seeks favours from God. That, alas, is the state to which bhakti has been reduced.
The Nayanmaras and the Azhvars came to this earth to show us what true bhakti is. They visited many temples and sang of the deities they saw in the temples. This must have resulted in the people of that village developing bhakti for the deity in their village at least. The Nayanmars and the Azhvars had not thoughts of anything else.
They were focused on their favourite God. In the case of the Nayanmaras, this was Lod Siva and in the case of the Azhvars, it was Lord Narayana. Appayya Dikshitar said that when a man does a karagattam, a folk dance that requires a great sense of balance, he is oblivious of what goes on around him. His mind is only on the dance. So also in the case of bhaktas, they might go about their daily routine, but their mind is always on God. God reciprocates their love. If a person is a true bhakta, then even if he were to make mistakes once in a while, he is forgiven by God, for God knows that these are mere slips, not intentional mistakes. A true devotee will always strive to keep to the path of virtuousness.
