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Lessons for devotees

CHENNAI : The lives of some saints have important lessons for those who are given to immoral ways or despair that there is no hope of redemption for them. To err is human and man has been given the opportunity of this birth for reforming himself so that he can progress spiritually. So there is no need to be despondent when one has made up his mind to turn over a new leaf. For such spiritual aspirants the lives of Lila Suka and Tondaradippodi Azhwar offer insight and inspiration.

In his discourse, Sri M.V.Anantha Padmanabhachariar said Bilvamangala, as Lila Suka was known before he transformed into a sterling devotee of Lord Krishna and composed the Krishna Karnamritum, led a licentious life. It is recounted that on a rainy night he wanted to be by the side of his paramour Chintamani. The river that separated their dwellings was in spate and even when the boatmen refused to ferry him across his ardour was not dampened. He caught hold of a flotsam in the waters and managed to reach the other bank. Only after reaching did he realise that it was a dead body. Even then he did not feel ashamed of himself and made haste to reach her house in the dead of night. To gain entry inside stealthily he mistook a serpent hanging from the balcony for a creeper and climbed by holding on to it.

Instead of reciprocating his fervour she admonished him saying that if he showed even a fraction of the passion he had for her for the Lord his salvation would be certain. The rebuke went home and his turnaround was total. His devotion grew in leaps and bounds, and the hymn he composed on the childhood deeds of Krishna became a devotional classic.

A similar transgression is documented in Tondaradippodi Azhwar's life. Vipranarayana, as he was known before he became an Azhwar, was a great devotee who performed the service of offering garlands to Lord Ranganatha for which he tended a flower garden. A courtesan who was determined to distract him from his single-minded devotion imposed herself on him and slowly he succumbed to her charm till he became obsessed with her. The Lord intervened to claim him as His own by a ruse and then cleared his name. His hymns Tirumalai and Tiruppaliezhuchi are a pointer to his unalloyed devotion to Lord Ranganatha.

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