Miscellaneous - Religion   

Servitude to God

CHENNAI : The cornerstone of Visishtadvaita philosophy that the Supreme Being is the master (Swami) and man His vassal (Dasa) defines their relationship both in bondage and in liberation. Devotion to God must be done for His sake with the attitude of being privileged to be of service to Him here in the world and eternally in His divine abode after liberation.

In his discourse, Srirangam Sri R.Narasimhachariar said Andal, the only woman among the Azhwars, had in a verse of her hymn Tiruppavai underscored that servitude must be the leitmotif of a devotee's thoughts and actions, and she addresses the Lord as Kesava here. The Tiruppavai is modelled after a sacred vow (nonbu) that the cowherd maidens performed to attain Lord Krishna and thus it begins with the description of the maidens awakening one another in the predawn hour to perform the ritual together.

When one of them who was specially graced by the Lord did not respond to their call, the maidens drew her attention to the signs that it was dawn already: the chirping of a certain male bird leaving its mate to search for food, the sounds of the Gopis churning butter, the fragrance arising from their dishevelled hair bedecked with flowers, the tinkle of their ornaments and their loud singing of Krishna's glory rising in a crescendo to heaven sanctifying all the directions.

Even then there was no response from her. Finally the maidens beseeched her to open the doors of her mansion so that they could behold her radiant face. Why the radiance, one may wonder. Commentators aver that this blessed lady had the knowledge of her eternal relationship with the Lord and hence this wisdom had bestowed a divine glow to her countenance. When knowledge illumines the mind, the Lord who resides in the heart of every individual, shines forth in splendour. Such a person is indeed blessed for he has realised the meaning of human birth. In the Periya Tiruvandadi, Nammazhwar hails that "a life given to servitude to the discus wielder who came down to the Earth as the cowherd Lord... is a life of glory on the Earth."

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