Miscellaneous - Religion   

Search for the soul

CHENNAI: The purpose of existence is to attain liberation. Realised souls, apart from being inspirational, illustrate the truth that human birth is a valuable opportunity that should not be frittered away and should be used to seek God through sincere worship.

The Lord is believed to reside in the Archa (idol) form in temples. Temple rituals sanctioned by the Agamas include the practice of singing hymns that wake up the Lord in the mornings. Though in reality the Lord never sleeps, the Bhava of waking up the Lord is a symbolic reminder to human beings to wake up from the deep slumber of ignorance and realise the soul's true immortal nature and its relationship with the Lord, said Sri C.V. Sadanandam in a lecture.

In many unique ways He manifests His all-pervasive presence, and Saint Manikkavasakar's Tirupalliyezhuchi addressed to the Lord at Tiruperunthurai, is a hymn that expresses the saint's ecstatic experience of the Lord. Though overtly it is a prayer to the Lord to wake up and grace His devotees, its deeper significance is in alerting the individuals to get involved in the search for the ultimate truth through the path of devotion and worship.

In its journey through various births the soul has lost its moorings and has forgotten its true nature. The veil of Maya (illusion) makes the worldly existence appear as real and prevents the perception of the divine nature of the soul. Spiritual truth rests on the awakening of the soul from the binding effects of I and Mine and on seeing itself as distinct from the body.

Rituals of worship instil discipline and gradually strengthen devotion to the Lord who is the source of everything and enable individuals become recipients of His boundless grace. Only then can one savour the omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence of God.

Enlightenment is not to be gained through scholarship, research or experience but only by seeking the Lord's feet. His grace confers the power of discrimination needed to sift right from wrong that can help one to realise the soul's immortal nature as against the perishable body and the ephemeral world.

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