qt$a g «›,gia agg »g: n,a,$ge»»« ii

qt$a g «›,gia agg »g: n,a,$ge»»« ii

 

“Know the a'tman as the rider, the body as the chariot, the intellect as the charioteer, mind as the reins; the sense organs as the horses and the sensory objects as the path of the chariot.” He is the Lord Who conducts the whole universe, and yet in the Kurukshetra battle- field as Sri Krishna, He allowed Himself to be a comphant charioteer for the warrior A;juna. Did He atleast have an easier hfe in His earlier incarnation as Sri Rama? No. As He Himself admitted what privations He did not suffer like,

“ yn inn ñyinCew emp Numero: nifgir p@nn gIII n ;iie6l : I

e Hmñtotossu@fij gCgg;ill meuaté” II

 

‘Using the kingdom, life in the forest, loss of Sita,1osing Jatayu, such misfortunes as have befallen me will bum even fire”. As if it was not all enough akeady, where did He choose to retire to work off the weariness of all ms exertions ? On the bare grass in the wild forest under the wide open canopy of the sky. Azhwar is beside himself with sheer astonishment and disbelief at the Lord's style of jagad- rakshanam.'

 

 

as@gauu aariugxé ox& -as@@r-asy

                                                                   16

 

 

Even if the conscious self may not be able to realise its characteristic of dependence, it is but proper to hold on to the thought of His presence in the heart. Just as one can only prepare the ground for a lake to hold rain water falling on a bush-ridden high land, but cannot make it rain.

'It is jiva'tma's nature to belong, and Parama'tma's nature to own.' Parama'tma' is the ' 'seshi ', and the jiva' is the 'sesha'. Azhwar says that it is seldom that one is, in thought and action, alive to this fundamental characteristic. The Lord, on the contrary, is forever eager and keen to hold on to His dear possession because of His ' a'sritha rakshanam'. One can prepare the ground and dig a lake there for storing rain water, but will it serve any purpose except as Varuna and his 'antar ya'mi ' Sriman Narayana grant that it serve the purpose for which it was designed by making rain to come down so as to enable it to fill.Likewise, a devotee has the characteristic of being an appropriate storehouse for the Lord, which, by itself, does not constitute the ' upa'ya" for reaching the Lord. So a learned one intuits that the Lord is the 'upa'ya". Then the Lord's grace descends on the devotee when he is thus evolved. In a manner of speaking, even creating the ground by removing the mental block of 'avidya",and 'karmava'sana's' is itself the Lord's handiwork. For as Sri Thiiumazhisai Piran asks,

 

 

u§Q ypmN I-;pu ijnr@igt ', ( Jpr4étjpasé - Qg,aJjprQ- 23)

 

'The Lord ( Who as Sri Krishna quelled the bulls set as wager for the hand of Nappinnai ), is the farmer who on his own sows the seed, and nurtures the plant of devotion in the devotee. Do we need to sow the seed by our exertion, in this field of 'samsa'ra"? Swami Nammazhwar also expresses the same thought in the following lines.

 

 

 

 

'This universe is a field which the Lord has been ploughing from time immemorial, sowing the seed, irrigating,amng manure to, and making it yield a rich harvest by His extra-ordinary love towards us.'

 

 

                       17

£fe is the many-splendored Supreme ControPeraround Whose proximitythe lord of heavenly beings andthe lotus-seatedBrahma congregateto offer their prayers, and approachingWhom Rudra wearingthe crescent on hismatted locks, prayed to, for the redressal of his sin. Is there anyone worthy of such supplication other than that Lord?

Sri Bhutat Azhwar says,               6i              ',to drive home the point that the lord of all devas Indra, and Brahma who originated in the lotus flower sprung from the navel of Sriman Narayana assemble round the periphery of Sriman Narayana to offer their worship. As Sri Poigai Piran says,' effl(yJ

 

’>'4>*°°'ZS   '^^>-'( 14-dG 56 ) '

Even he who is seated on the lotus sprung from the navel of Sriman

Narayana can hardly comprehend the true measure of the Lotus Feet of the Lord.'

 

ñt5l uIl{yJy 6iv v  mtrs - refers to Siva who wears on his crimson locks the lustreless crescent moon. The story • goes that the moon god who had married all twenty seven of Daksha's daughters,but was specially enamoured of only one of them viz.

Rohini, to the neglect of everyoneelse incurred the wrath of Daksha who cursed him to wane into oblivion, and was saved from total extinction by Siva's boon to wear him on his head. Azhwar in alluding to this, underscores the fact that even that Siva who had been the saviour of some like the moon, could not absolve himself of his own sin of 'brahma-hathi',and had to seek recourse to the Lord of Sri for his redemption.

mg;itfl(yJ   ynN (pyJynN      - ' By imploring Sriman Narayana, he got relief from his sin of ' brahma-hathi’.

 

oirm-s<jJ;pa&aaiñp sugé.                          18

As Sri Vamana' You resumed overlordship of all the worlds. As Nrsimha of insupemble prowess, You planted Your nails and torethe chest of the formidablefoe Hiranya.Yet another day, You took all the sevenworlds scaled by Thee, for safe-keeping inside Your stomach.These were then the legitimate deeds of the lofty lotus-eyed Lord, loftier than the highheavens.

Azhwar refers to three episodes in this pasuram to underline Narayana's 'nirhethuka-krupa'. Fést, the Lord took the form of the diminutive Vamana', a form not quite becoming of the Lord of all creation, to seek the gift of three paces of land of Mahabali. Earlier, when He could have destroyed the insufferably iniquitous Hiranya, without lifting a finger,He took the form of the fierce Nrsimha Bhagavan to kill him with His bare Hands honouring the letter and spirit of Brahma's boon. Yet again, when the seven worlds were on the verge of extinction due to 'pralaya", He took them all into His

 

own stomach for safe-keeping regardless of their short-comings. Behind all these acts,is the lotus eye of the Lord, that radiates ms overwhelming compassion and protective instinct, on the onehand, and overlonlship over all the worlds on the other. Azhwar concludes that it may be possible to visualise the splendor of the high heavens, but not that of the Lord. Describing these acts of the Lord, Azhwar characterizes them as ' ' or ' appropriate'. Though they constitute acts designed for protection of the beings, the Lord considers them His own legitimate and proper act because after all it redounds to the credit of the owner of a property to protect his ownership rights.

Sri Valmiki Bhagavan says in Srimad Ramayanam,

*+ii5is$Jétu o mmnñ yn Cmjt, qñ e&3' ñ I

ñ gñ sett glynn: elf sub: uq Cmg ' ( Inc 1-85 ). ' After anointing Vibhishana as the king of rakshasas of Lanka, Rama now free from concern exulted in the thought of having accomplished what was to be accomplished.