An opportunity.

The Vedas, the Itihasas and the Puranas attempt to sing aloud the praises of the Supreme Lord, of His ineffable greatness. In the Gita, Arjuna is given the divine sight to enable him to witness the cosmic form of the Lord. Arjuna is overwhelmed and the Lord tells him that what has been revealed is only a very small portion of His limitless transcendence. But that the same Lord of such divine glories is also available for every ordinary jivatma who approaches Him with devotion and humility is the strong message conveyed in the hymns of the Azhwars, pointed out Sri A. K. Sundarrajan in a discourse.

In our Vaishnava sampradaya, azhwars and acharyas have shown that it is a delight to savour the Lord’s auspicious qualities such as His extraordinary Vatsalya, Saulabhya, Saushilya, etc though there is no end to His innumerable auspicious qualities. It is these qualities that bring the jivatma closer to the Lord and also give him the confidence that by seeking His feet, we can attain salvation from samsara. Andal’s Thiruppavai which is considered the essence of the Vedas is clear about the supremacy of Narayana and His sole prerogative to grant salvation to all.

The aim of the Rama avatar, besides the killing of Ravana, is to establish dharma. During the first ten years of His forest life, Rama enjoys the association with the holy sages. Even as Valmiki captures the serene atmosphere of austerities and rituals in the ashrams of the sages, he also highlights with equal felicity the constant presence of the rakshasas who are a threat to their penance, pointed out Sengalipuram Sri Balaji Bhagavathar in a discourse.

Rama visits the ashram of sage Agastya, the great sage known for his spiritual wisdom and penance. It is held that once the Vindhya mountain ranges had started to grow and obstruct the sun’s passage between the north and the south hemispheres. But at the orders of Agastya, the mountain had bent low and has remained so till date. There is also the story of how Agastya put an end to the atrocious behaviour of the two rakshasas, Vatapi and Ilvala. Vatapi had obtained a boon by which his body would always remain strong and intact even if he was cut into pieces.

Ilvala, in the guise of a brahmana, would invite the sages in the ashram one by one to partake of the food for the manes. He would cook the body of Vatapi and offer it to the unsuspecting sages. Once they are done with it and the formalities are over, Ilvala would ask Vatapi to come out and the rakshasa would come out tearing the stomach of the sages. Many rishis had died in this way. But this trick did not work on Agastya as he digested the food which was actually the rakshasa and thereby put an end to this. He also reduced to ashes Ilvala who rushed at him with anger. Rama is welcomed by the sage. He gives Rama many weapons that would be useful to destroy Ravana. He advises them to stay in Panchavati.

Vedanta Desika’s contribution to Visishtadvaita is immeasurable. His works set forth the tenets of Visishtadvaita clearly. His Tamil works have a special place, and among these, Prabandha Saaram, which deals with the pasurams of the Azhvars is particularly important, said Koothapakkam Chakravarthi Ranganathachariar, 

Divya Prabandham, as the collection of the pasurams of the Azhvars is called, gives us the essence of the Vedas. So the Divya Prabandham puts within our reach philosophical concepts which we would not have otherwise understood. Prabandha Saaram is a celebration of the Azhvars, whose works made such comprehension by us possible. Vedanta Desika always followed in the footsteps of great sages and Acharyas. And in the Prabandha Saaram, he gives details about the Azhvars — the stars under which they were born and the number of verses in the works of each. In giving such details, Desika was doing what Sage Saunaka had done for the Rg Veda. Saunaka in his Rg Veda anukramaanika gave the total number of mantras in the Rg Veda, the number of chapters and so on. In short, like the contents given at the beginning of a work, Saunaka gave the contents of the Rg Veda. Desika does for the Divya Prabandham what Saunaka did for the Rg Veda. In verses 15 and 16 of Prabandha Saaram, Desika tells us how many pasurams each Azhvar has to his credit.

Pasurams of the first three Azhvars add up to 300 (100 each); Thirumazhisai Azhvar 216; Nammazhvar 1,296; Madhurakavi 11; Kulasekara Azhvar 105; Periyazhvar 473; Andal 173; Thondaradippodi Azhvar 55; Thirupaan Azhvar 10; Thirumangai Azhvar 1,253; Thiruvarangathamudanar’s verses in praise of Ramanujacharya - 108. All of these add up to 4000, the collection known as Nalayira Divya Prabandham.

Yasoda tied Krishna to a mortar to punish Him for stealing butter. Krishna willingly accepted this punishment. He had stuffed Himself with butter, and His tummy was bulging. Although Yasoda had tied the rope loosely, it was now tight, leaving marks on His waist. Nammazhvar, marvelling at this incident, uses the word “nova”, meaning hurt. But Krishna was not the One who felt the hurt, Supreme One that He was. The pain was Nammazhvar’s, said V.S. Karunakarachariar in a discourse. Nammazhvar could not bear to think of Lord Krishna being tied. When he thought of this incident, Nammazhvar fainted.

But while Krishna allowed His mother to tie Him up, there was the need for Him to move, to fulfil Narada’s words. Narada had once come upon the sons of Kubera in a state of drunkenness on the banks of the sacred river, Akasa Ganga. Narada cursed them and said they would be born as marudhu trees (Terminalia Arjuna). They would take birth in Nandagopa’s garden and would be liberated when they were touched by the rope that tied Krishna to a mortar. The sons of Kubera — Nalakubera and Manigriva, were accordingly born in Nandagopa’s garden as trees. Now, at last Krishna had been tied up, and their moment of release was near. So Krishna moved, dragging the mortar with Him, and when the rope that was around His waist touched the trees, Nalakubera and Manigriva got their promised release.

Krishna did not touch the trees, but the rope that touched Krishna saved them.

The message for us is that our connection to those devoted to Him is as life saving as a connection to Him. Just as the rope connected to Krishna saved the sons of Kubera, so also our connection to Acharyas, who in turn are connected to Lord Narayana, will liberate us.

Lord Narayana is the sole protector not only for all beings in distress but He alone removes the woes of even the celestial beings such as Brahma, Rudra, Indra and others, says Tirumazhisai Piran in a verse in the famous Nanmukan Tiruvandadi. There are many purana stories that show how He has unfailingly come to the rescue of the devas in their frequent clashes with the asuras or when they are involved in infighting. In this particular verse, Azhwar refers to the purana story about how once Rudra plucked out one of Brahma’s heads. It was an act done in a fit of anger. Brahma, his father, cursed that the skull should get stuck in his hand. Rudra sought Narayana’s help and eventually came out of this curse. So, Azhwar advises us who are caught in samsara and have to face the sorrows, broadly classified as Adidaiva, Adi Boudika and Adhyatmika, to seek the feet of the Lord for relief from all distress, pointed out Sri A. K. Sundarrajan in a discourse.

Azhwar compares the pitiable tale of every jivatma during the endless travel through the cycle of birth as somewhat similar to another Mahabharata story with all kinds of complications, twists and turns. The jivatma is exhausted by taking repeated births as he is forced to undergo the painful garbha vasa experience. All this is owing to our individual karma. Karma theory implies that every action has a result or consequence. Every deed, good and bad, of every jivatma is governed by the ‘cause and effect’ theory. Each one’s life is thus constituted of good and bad experiences depending on one’s past deeds. The only way out is by diverting our thoughts to God and meditating on His auspicious qualities with absolute faith. Out of His compassion God gives the jiva the chance to get rid of his sins and seek salvation. Human birth is thus an opportunity.