interesting write ups in the press.

Andal’s Nachiyar Tirumozhi is an intense poem of 143 verses soaked in love and devotion to the Lord. Nammazhwar and Tirumangai Azhwar adopt the stance of a maiden madly in love with the Archa form of the Lord in their hymns to express the ‘viraha tapa’ or mood of separation from the Lord. But Andal’s frank expression of her yearning for union with the Lord springs from her natural status as His consort, and this lends a matchless quality of freshness to her love poetry, pointed out Tiruvahindrapuram Sri Kannanswami in a discourse.

Such is her agony of separation from the Lord that her poetic fancy makes her feel jealous of the Lord’s conch that is always close to Him. What greater fortune than to have easy access to His ear by virtue of having a permanent seat in His left palm? What unique luck to savour the nectar of the very Lord’s lips?

She wonders if the conch would be able to tell her whether the unique fragrance of camphor could compare with that of His mouth and lips; or whether it would be closer to the fragrance of the lotus.

Periazhwar is concerned that Andal is determined to wed the Lord. It is then that the Lord appears in his dream and says He will accept her in the temple at Srirangam. The preparations for her wedding are made and the father brings his bedecked daughter as a bride. It is held that Andal becomes one with the Lord in the sanctum sanctorum of the temple even as her father and others witness this unique event. While her wishful longing to wed the Lord thus becomes a symbolic union, Nachiyar Tirumozhi, which contains Andal’s vision of her formal wedding ceremonies that never took place, is a permanent gift to posterity.

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Sage Suka hails the divine child born to Devaki and Vasudeva with the epithet ‘Atbhutam’ to signify the inherent wonder and miracle of Krishna Avatar, said Damal Sri Ramakrishnan in a discourse. In a synoptic overview of the prelude to this avatar, Sage Suka alludes to the Lord’s promise to Brahma and other celestial beings to relieve the earth’s burden of misery inflicted by the asuras and their evil ways. The Lord planned that Adisesha will be born as His elder brother and the Lord’s power Yoga Maya will also be born on earth for the achievement of certain purposes. Yoga Maya would transfer the seventh child from Devaki’s womb to that of Rohini, wife of Vasudeva, who had taken refuge in the camp of Nandagopa. The Lord Himself would be born as Devaki’s eighth child whie Yoga Maya would be born to Yasodha.

Kamsa’s threat to kill Him would be thwarted by swapping Himself with Yoga Maya who would deal with him for the time being. As the Lord takes control of His life, the entire creation is witness to His infinite prowess. Before He is born, the celestial beings gather to witness His divine form as a child and hail Him as the embodiment of Truth who has incarnated to establish Truth. Both Devaki and Vasudeva sing praises to the new-born child who appears in His divine form to indicate His identity. He allays their fears about His safety and gives the required instruction to Vasudeva to carry out His plan. Besides establishing dharma and quelling evil, this avatar makes the Supreme Brahman accessible to many — realised souls and the ordinary jivatma alike. It continues to inspire bhakti and has led many to mukti. It provides the opportunity to search for the ultimate goal while leading a life aligned to dharma and righteousness.
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While describing Sita’s joy on receiving Rama’s ring from Hanuman, Valmiki says “Janaki experienced bliss” to signify her realised state that is on a par with that of her father Janaka, pointed out Sri B. Sundarkumar in a discourse. Janaka, king of Mithila and father of Sita, is renowned as a raja rishi, since at heart he is a realised soul. It is held that Janaka used to receive instruction on Vedanta Sastra from Yagnyavalkya, an important sage in the Upanishads whose teachings are valuable.

This sage’s hermitage was situated on the outskirts of Mithila. Yagnyavalkya was quick to notice that Janaka not only easily imbibed his teachings but also put them in practice. The sage would begin his classes only after Janaka took his place among the disciples. The rest of the disciples began to feel that the preceptor showed partiality and the sage realised this feeling through his yogic power. He decided to set their minds at rest and conjured through his yogic power the illusion that Mithila was in flames. The disciples seemed visibly upset and ran out to save whatever little was there of their belongings. But Janaka did not stir from his place. He did not feel any need to be perturbed as he said he owns nothing and least of all Mithila. “Infinite indeed is my wealth of which nothing is mine. If Mithila is burnt, nothing that is mine is burnt.” The disciples then realised their mistake.
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In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna celebrates Janaka as a liberated soul and as an example of a karma yogi. Krishna tells Arjuna that by karma yoga, Janaka attained to perfection. Janaka ruled giving up his personal sense of being the worker. He carried on with his work and was not perturbed by the events of the world.
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Before the Mahabharata War began, Sage Vyasa offers to grant Dhritarashtra the divine vision to behold the entire happenings in the battlefield from his palace if he so wished. The king declined to accept it but requested the sage to give the power to Sanjaya, his charioteer, who reports to him the events of the war though he is not present in the battlefield.

Hence when the transcendental form of the Lord is revealed to Arjuna, Sanjaya also witnesses it and describes the form to the blind king. In a lecture, Swami Gautamananda drew attention to the descriptions of the Brahman in the Purusha Sukta and other Upanishads which are attempts to capture the experience of the infinite divine that is essentially ineffable. Sanjaya exclaims in wonder that thevision is at once magnificent and terrible. He sees many mouths and eyes, marvellous sights, divine ornaments, garments, raiment, perfumes, unguents and resplendent wonders of various kinds with face turned everywhere. Words fail to convey the enormity and subtlety of the experience even as Sanjaya struggles to explain the same. He sums up thus: “If a light of a thousand suns were to blaze forth all at once in the sky that may resemble the splendour of the exalted Brahman.” He also describes Arjuna’s reaction to this vision as one of total amazement

What is most astonishing is that all this put together is merely a minute fraction of Brahman’s prowess. The Upanishads make out that the cosmos in all its entirety is “but a partial revelation of the Infinite, illumined by one ray of His shining light.” Krishna tells Arjuna: “I support the entire universe pervading it with a single fraction of Myself.” It means that His transcendence extends beyond the cosmos which is bound by time and space.