Miscellaneous - Religion   

Spiritual experience

CHENNAI : The bliss of spiritual experience is difficult to express and mystics who have revelled in union with God speak about it only metaphorically. The compositions of the Azhwars are exemplars of different genres of mysticism. Srivaishnava theology postulates the Lord as the only Purusha (male) and hence the bonded soul (female) pines for union with Him unable to bear separation from Him.

The Ramayana describes how Rama was the cynosure of all eyes in Ayodhya. It was not only His inimitable auspicious qualities that endeared Him to one and all but also the fact that He was the Lord incarnate. The Almighty being the abode of all excellences it is no wonder that man's mind and his senses should become enraptured in His presence. What a delight Rama was to His parents! When Viswamitra managed to get Dasaratha's permission to let Rama be in his company it was a dream come true for the sage who was privy to Rama's divine nature. Rama and Lakshmana rested in a hermitage on the confluence of the rivers Sarayu and the Ganga the first night with the sage.

Enthralled by Rama's comeliness while He was asleep, Viswamitra woke Him up by extolling Him as the worthy son of Kausalya because she was the one who had enjoyed this right so far as His mother. A singular privilege indeed!

Descriptions of the image form of God in temples by the Azhwars offered insight into their ecstatic state of mind in the presence of the Lord said Kalyanapuram Sri R.Aravamudachariar in his Harikatha. Tondaradippodi Azhwar and Nammazhwar have described His captivating beauty in His reclining posture. In his hymn, the Tirumalai, Tondaradippodi exclaims on beholding Lord Ranganatha, "The Lord of ocean hue, my Master, reclines on a serpent in Arangam with His crown resting in the east, His feet stretched to the west, His back to the north, His eyes looking south towards Lanka. O people of the world! What can I do? Alas my body melts to see Him."

Nammazhwar in the same vein describes how he longed to behold His bewitching form, which enraptured his very being, "Insatiable ambrosia! First Lord! My body melts in love for You. You make me weep and toss like restless water. I see Your resplendent form in Tirukkudandai reclining amid fertile waters, fanned by whisks of golden paddy."

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