Miscellaneous - Religion   

Bhava of humility

CHENNAI: The Azhwars are hailed as preceptors because their hymns reflect not merely the essence of the scriptures, but celebrate the Bhava of humility in their love and devotion to the Lord. This Bhava is central in Vedanta Desika's hymn Padukasahasram as well, where the self-effacing service rendered by Lord Ranganatha's sandals (Satari) is compared to the devoted service of Nammazhwar, (also known as Satakopa). Vedanta Desika himself is an icon of humility and ventures to sing the glory of the Padukas only with God's grace, and adds that a mere thousand verses would still be insufficient to extol the greatness of the Paduka.

Display of genuine and humble devotion to the Lord never escapes His notice, and He goes to any extent to protect His devotees from those who desire to harm them, said Sri M.V. Anantapadmanabhachariar in a discourse.

In the case of king Ambharisha, pleased with the king's extraordinary devotion, the Lord had given him His discus. This discus came to the king's rescue when once the king found himself in a tight spot. The king who observed the Ekadasi vow meticulously had offered hospitality to sage Durvasa on a Dwadasi day. When the sage was delayed during ablutions, the king took sacred water as a symbolic ritual in lieu of Dwadasi meal. The angered sage tried to harm the king but found himself unexpectedly chased by the Lord's discus through all corners of the entire world. Even the Lord had no say in the matter for the sage had offended Ambharisha, and the discus had decided to chastise him. The only option for the sage was to seek Ambharisha's help.

The Lord's penchant to serve His devotees is also seen in the divine ploy He adopted to establish Nammazhwar's poetic greatness amidst the arrogant Sangam poets who had hurt Madhurakavi Azhwar's feelings. Nammazhwar's hymn placed in a boat had the power to have the boat capsized, and more astonishingly, all the Tamil poets wrote the same hymn of eulogy to Nammazhwar. Madhurakavi Azhwar, who held Nammazhwar as his sole preceptor and God, felt vindicated on his Acharya's behalf.

This Bhava of humility is nurtured through the practice of offering humble service to the Lord as well as to the line of preceptors.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Cartoonscape
The Hindu Crossword 8650
Solution to Puzzle 8649
Bhava of humility
dated July 8, 1956: Nehru deprecates cold war
dated July 8, 1956: Tribute to V.S.S. Sastri
dated July 8, 1956: Hoad wins title
Weather

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu