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Unique disciple

CHENNAI : The Mundaka Upanishad offers a simple suggestion for the spiritual aspirant in search of salvation — to seek the company of one who knows the self, and pay obeisance to him. Such a knower of the self is capable of conveying the knowledge of truth to his disciple.

In the lineage of the Azhwars, Madhurakavi Azhwar occupies a special status since he initiated a unique guru-sishya relationship, said Sri M. V. Anantapadmanabhachariar in a lecture. The noble path shown by this Azhwar in his total commitment to Nammazhwar as his Acharya is testimony to the truth that Bhagavata Bhakti and Kainkarya (devotion and service to the Lord's devotees) is a cut above Bhagavat Bhakti and Kainkarya (service and devotion to Lord). This disciple did not find any necessity to be engaged in devotion to the Lord and besides compiling the hymns of Nammazhwar, extolled his Acharya in the hymn of 11 verses "Kanninum Siruthambu", claiming that implicit faith, devotion and surrender at the preceptor's/devotee's feet guarantees liberation as it is the most effective means to rise above the ephemeral attractions of the world.

It was divine Sankalpam that brought the model disciple and preceptor together. Madhurakavi, during his pilgrimage in the sacred places of North India was impelled to follow the effulgence that beckoned him southwards. This brought him to Thirukkurugur where he saw a young boy in a meditative posture, and he came to know that he had remained silent since birth and had not eaten either. Strangely enough, the boy opened his eyes in response to the splash in the pond caused by a stone throw.

More surprise was in store when his question elicited the most essential truth as reply. "If a small thing is born in a dead body, what will it eat and where will it stay?" "It will eat the same thing and live in it". The implication is that salvation depends on the understanding that the soul in the body that is in the process of dying needs to see itself as distinct from it. Quick to sense the greatness of the boy, Madhurakavi realised that his search for an Acharya ended here.

In the Ramayana, Lakshmana and Shatrugna in their exclusive service to Lord Rama and Bharata exemplify Bhagavat Kainkarya and Bhagavata Kainkarya.

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