aé•›A ›4za <é4 ••fr* rs*•= • I

They receive mediocre rewards who stand at the portals of lesser gods, day in and day ou$ falling at their feet for favours. Oh Lord with complexion resembling the far-reaching blueocean, how many are indeed wise enough to seek Your Feet instead?

Azhwar expresses his anguish and amazement at the irony of the way of the world where the countless many hasten after demigods for evanescent rewards, instead of seeking the lotus feet of Sriman Narayana, as the only worthwhile goal and redeeming grace in the end result, ’the parama- purusha'rtham', the eternal bliss of Sri Vaikunta. They are sadly ignorant of the Sruti declaration, ' Nabrahma Ne'sana'h' merely because the latter are also referred to as '

in a generic sense. And what do these lesser gods do ? They exact a heavy price for lowly favours. Even out of the minority who look upto Sriman Narayana, only a select few are wise enough to understand Him correctly as the 'Upa'ya"and 'Upeya', ( the Goal and the Means ). Has not the Lord, deliberated this human paradox and predicament, in the Gita? (7.19) 'Va'sudevassarvamiti sa maha'thma' sudurlabah'.' He who understands that Vasudeva is everything is

 

 

a mahathma' very difficult to find ', the great soul to whom even the most mundane existential chore is a godly experience. As Swami Nammazhwar puts it, ' rem ñ lon(gJ, o(yJ elf,

Sisu;bQ 6luistieomii Swami', ( Q(yein- Hm 7-1.)

 

 

                                 12

 

There is no dividingline among the devotees of the Lord, forthe high and low alike worship and pmyerfully address the Feet of him Who restson A'disesha'. Does not that illustriouslist include the many-splendoured Surya',the lotus-seated Brahma and the third-eyed Rudhra, all of whom seek His presence for their daily worsmp?

 

Sri Bhutat Azhwar points out in this pasuiamla nere is no distinction of rank or pecking order in the list of devotees of Narayana They range from the most exalted of gods from Surya, Brahma, and Siva to the humblest of the humble. These deities are themselves the subject of prayer and worship. They folow Him assiduously and constantly to pay their obeisance. Ithihasa- pura'na's are replete with illustrations of this.

 

ux@gx Q¥etñ$1@ggjri uceé(g.                 13

Is it not because once long ago, the care-free tusker supremo, entering the sprawling lake for gathering the blossomed lotus to lay at the Feet of the Lord, came to grief at the jaws of the crocodile, and in dismay thought of those Feet of the Lord, Who sports the Sudarsana', in prayerful surrender, that he attained the exalted position in the Lord’s abode?

 

Azhwar describes the elephant king Gajendra as 'SI            y exfsñ art' - the tusker who is capable of breaking free of any kind of iron leash put on him to rein him in, to indicate his licencious conduct, arising from his 'mast'.But even in his wildly wayward fun and frolic being an ardent Narayana devotee in his previous birth, his 'samska'ra" led him, in his lucid moments, to gather flowers from a lotus pond everyday for offering to Narayana in a nearby shrine. What ensued in one of those moments was a life and death battle of attrition between him and a vicious crocodile that was living in that pond, with Gajendra trying to extricate himself from the jaws of the crocodile,and the latter drawing the elephant deeper into the vortex, ' Gaja a'karshate' teere',gra'ha a'karshate' jale' ', ( Vishnu Dharma 69-49 ). The elephant was dismayed not so much for his life,but that the dowers would wither away before he could offer them to the Lord.

 

 

'Oh Madhusudhana, I do not cry out to save this body of mine, but to offer these lotuses at Thy Feet.'

 

 

                                                                        14

Oh the ignorantones, rather than wasting time on flattery of the worldlyones, who just live toeat stuffing their bellies likea tinsel town, and committingall kinds of follies, with or without intent, go round reciting the names of Narayana Who as Trivikrama filled the eight directions with His four lofty shoulders, and by your presence sanctify the land.

lfi

 

6it3(ytém       unit - Azhwar refers to all seekers of gross sensual pleasures, who typically gorge on food as if their stomachs were a township by itself to be filled with all kinds of things.

 

In saying ' QJ', Azhwar enjoins recitation of the Lord's name for its own sake instead of as a means.

 

JyJ        - ' y;iigñ +CqnQ @Q' ' J;iig : '- one who purifies others by his presence.

“ ^4°•s•=s**s•* a=••s 4*>°*vs* I

ya g«aa »«g nag <›«»«g: -ii

'Even if a grave sinner, by meditating on Achuta', one becomes a saint, and by his touch purifies a whole line of sinners.”

 

 

“ Reciting the name of Va'sudeva knowingly or otherwise, one's whole load of sins melts away like salt in water.”

 

 

                                                       15

 

He drove the chariot for Arjuna in the fierce battle-field. In an earlier age, he ran after the make-believe deer, only to lose His consort Sita, and lay down on the bare ground. Were these acts becoming of the Exalted One Who rests on the cool, cosy Anantha'?

 

 

 

Azhwar expresses his wonder at how the Lord of all creation wandered on this earth subjecting himself to tasks befitting lesser mortals caught in the web of'samska'ra", but not the Absolute Master of all creation that He is.