Miscellaneous - Religion   

Abode of compassion

CHENNAI : The Supreme Being is the abode of infinite auspicious qualities. But from the standpoint of liberation these qualities become distributed between the Lord and the Divine Mother (Sri). Traits that make Him the omnipotent Lord are unique to Him to oversee the functioning of the universe, while Sri is the very personification of compassion, as She is the Mother of the entire creation. No offence is unpardonable for Her, which makes man's redemption possible.

In his discourse, Sri M.V. Ananthapadmanabhachariar said it was the Divine Mother's kindness that made Her mediate between man and the Lord to pardon his sins. In the context of adopting surrender to God (Prapatti, Saranagati) as the means to liberation when a spiritual seeker is unable to follow Bhakti yoga (devotion), Sri assumes the important role of mediator (Purushakara) by pleading to the Lord to condone the faults of their devotee. This role comes naturally to Her, as a mother's love is unconditional, while a father who wields moral authority will not brook the transgressions of their child.

The Ramayana illustrates this difference between the nature of the Lord and His consort through Sita's benevolence towards the ogresses who had ill-treated Her during Her captivity in Ashokavana.

After Ravana gave Sita a month's time to submit to his wishes, he ordered the ogresses guarding Her to persuade or intimidate Her to bring Her around, which they did except one of them, Trijata, who had a dream in which she saw Rama rescuing Sita, and Ravana suffering mortification as a consequence. So she advised her friends to stop harassing Sita and seek Her forgiveness as in the event of Ravana's destruction they were all sure to earn the wrath of Rama and Lakshmana. Her reasoning was if one suffered in life one could seek refuge in God, but if the threat came from the Almighty Himself, to whom could one turn to?

What Trijata foresaw did come to pass. Soon after Ravana was killed when Hanuman conveyed the news to Sita, She was so overjoyed that She granted him a boon. Hanuman who had witnessed at firsthand Sita's suffering immediately asked Her permission to finish the ogresses off. Even though they never sought Her pardon, Sita told Hanuman not to harm them.

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