Great learning brings great humility, for it exposes the extent of one’s ignorance. That is why Krishna extols the vision of a true bhakta who is endowed with the knowledge of the infinite greatness of the Lord and of His all-pervading presence that inheres in the entire creation, pointed out Sri B. Damodhara Dikshitar in a discourse.
There are as many kinds of devotion as there are individuals. The average devotee is generally compassionate and affectionate to all beings, but feels a sense of differentiation between friends, enemies and so on.
The beginner in the path of devotion worships the Lord in the form of a deity or some form, but fails to accept His presence in other beings. But a true bhakta sees the Lord in all beings and also sees all beings in His Self. This vision is the culmination of jnana and bhakti and a bhakta never slips from this awareness.
It is said that once Eknath, when retuning from Kasi Yatra, was moved to see a donkey almost dying of thirst on the way.
Without any hesitation, he opened a vial of Ganga water and poured it into the parched mouth of the donkey. He saw only the Lord in the soulful eyes and not the donkey.
In the case of Saint Namadev, he once chased a dog that had taken away the bread given to him by his wife, only to offer it the sugar and ghee as well which it had left behind. The dog became the Lord in front of him.
When Siva is said to have come in the form of a chandala to grace the yagna of Somasi Mara Nayanar, the Adiyar unhesitatingly offered the same hospitality he would offer others.
The Lord wants to show that in the eyes of a true bhakta, where Truth alone is revealed, there is no need for Him to come disguised.
