The Hindu : Miscellaneous / Religion : Spiritual eye-openers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 23, 2004

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Spiritual eye-openers

CHENNAI, JUNE 23. One of the commonly felt needs is those precision tools to fix a person's all and sundry problems in daily life. This is one reason why astrologers, numerologists and others of their ilk are widely sought after by people and their recommendations faithfully followed . The general belief is that with expert guidance one may gain tangible benefits leading to an improved lifestyle and get relieved from worries and tensions. A number of people also study the scriptures delicately and remain well-versed; some others may involve themselves in acts of charity or offering succour in myriad ways to fellow human beings. These acts are commendable but one should also bear in mind that without unalloyed devotion to God, these methods will not offer any permanent solution.

It is to lead the man in the right direction that saint Thiagaraja sang, ``what is the use of anything when the benign grace of Sri Rama is not there?'' How does one go about securing the same? Since spiritual evolution is a long fraught one, it is best to be guided by preceptors.

Saint Kabir once declared , ``Wherever you turn, you see Rama. To fully experience it, you need a guru. When such a mahan nears you, you will not see anything else with the same eyes.'' Men of high learning, who help people attain liberation, know to embrace humanity in a benign manner, said Smt. Jaya Srinivasan in her discourse.

A wise man seldom fails to learn from his student, and considers the experience as a spiritual eye opener, as in the case of Kanakadasa.

Steeped in poverty, but rich in his devotion to Lord Krishna, Kanakadasa and his fellow students were once on a pilgrimage; on the fasting day of `Ekadasi', the teacher, citing the sasthras, said that pilgrims were exempt from observing the fast, and asked them to eat some fruits in a lonely spot. But Kanakadasa humbly rejected the suggestion saying he could not find a spot that did not harbour his beloved Lord Krishna. Struck by his holistic wisdom, the teacher hailed him as the true seer, one who had glimpsed the true vision of divinity.

Engulfed by his overflowing devotion, one of the Azhwars , exclaimed ``the days when I do not offer flowers to your feet, then I am not under the thrall of devotion, and that is the day of hunger (`ekadasi') for me.'' One cannot ask for a more lucid yet simple daily lesson from one's teachers.

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