Miscellaneous - Religion   

Spiritual journey

CHENNAI: A great book has the capacity to transform a person, provided one is able to get into the stride of it. Then by a gradual process, there is a possibility of the person getting influenced by the values the book upholds.

The hymns of Saint Manikkavachakar possess this unique quality to influence and initiate one in the path of God realisation. This saint's devotion to Lord Siva is exemplary because he is ever grateful to the Lord who had revealed Himself to him.

In all humility the saint realises that but for God's grace that had made him worthy of human birth, and raised him to the level of showing unflinching faith in Him, he would have continued to wallow in the cycle of births.

That the individual soul cannot by itself seek God is clear as much as the truth that when God Himself chooses to enter the soul, there is no one or no force that can prevent it, said Sri A. Velayudhan in a lecture. The overwhelming experience of the saint who beheld God's magnificence and realised the ultimate truth, broke forth as hymns filled with fervent devotion.

The essence of Tiruvachakam is the Supreme Being who is extolled in the scriptures. God is always present and it is we who are not equipped to perceive Him. The Lord, who is the active force behind the transcendent reality, and having created it sustains and pervades it, is experienced as more than an abstract reality.

The saint's mystic experience of the divine omniscience, all pervasiveness, sovereignty and boundless compassion towards the suffering souls caught in the cycle of births had held him enthralled to sing His glory.

The Lord's infinite mercy is extolled as capable of kindling devotion, love and faith. The assertion of eternal truths that appear like a mirage to many blends Bhakti yoga with Jnana yoga.

God's grace is manifest in many ways. It guides the consciousness of the individual to muster the capacity to think, speak and act, towards the goal of righteousness.

The strain of Bhakti along with the simplicity and poetic excellence in these hymns inspire a spiritual view of life by enabling one to rise above the pulls of materialism or cynicism that can easily distort the sense of values. The efficacy of Bhakti to lead the soul towards God is clear in the lives of saints.

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