Devahuti’s Wifehood : Patient,Unmotivated and Uninterrupted Service

30 Apr , 2015  

In the purport to the verse SB 3.23.8 Srila Prabhupada says that the words nija-dharma-dohān, is very significant. Devahūti, as the wife of Kardama Muni, achieved an invaluable gift from her husband because she was very faithful to him.

In the case of Devahuti, She had formerly been the daughter of a great king and was now serving her husband Kardama Muni just like an ordinary woman. By following the strict vows of a chaste woman she became very skinny, and therefore her husband became compassionate. She had become reduced in health, and her service was so selfless that she did not demand sense gratification even with her husband. She was simply acting to facilitate Kardama Muni’s engagement in spiritual life. Srila Prabhupada writes, “It is the duty of a faithful and chaste wife to help her husband in every respect, especially in Krsna consciousness.”

It is said that for 12 years Kardama muni did not even notice her – this indicates how well she served each and every of his needs that he did not even have to look out for her. However when he did, he rewarded her amply. Kardarma told her, “My dear Devahuti, I have achieved the grace of the Lord in my discharging of my own religious life of austerity, meditation and Krsna consciousness. I shall offer you all these achievements, which are free from lamentation, because you are engaged in my service, although you have not yet experienced these things. Now I am giving you transcendental vision to see how nice they are.” By her husband’s grace, Devahuti was able to feel practical realization simply by serving a great personality. 

Now one may think what about my needs of loving attention from the husband or of companionship and that “relationships are about reciprocation”. In Devahuti’s case she saw her relationship with her husband as a service to Krishna and she served in that capacity. By doing so and properly following the process of Bhakti she had come to the point where she knew she was spirit soul and part of parcel of Krishna. Thus she knew that those needs were not real and the only real need was service to Krishna. So even if she did not recieve instant reciprocation, she received the greatest reciprocation over time- she was awarded with love of God by her husband and he transferred all his spiritual credits to her.

So we by our commitment to bhakti and following our Dharma in Devahuti’s footsteps can also come to that platform. Then we receive the highest reciprocation from Krishna which will fill our hearts . In that state we will not act out of our false identification with this material body but from our real identity of spirit soul , servant of Krishna.Just by following our dharma as ordained by Krishna and following the process of bhakti we can receive the highest perfection of loving service to Krishna and that must be our inspiration from Devahutis story.

Love of God is not an ordinary commodity. Kṛṣṇa-premā, Kṛṣṇa consciousness, is the highest gift which can be bestowed on anyone.By following Devahuti we want to protect ourselves of the distractions of this material world, by removing ourselves from the center and keeping Krishna in the center.Then love of God will be given to us.

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