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Focus on truth

CHENNAI: The culmination of spiritual effort is the soul's recognition of its true nature that it has forgotten when caught in the web of this world. The sense of I and Mine gets attached to the soul and this ego principle thrives further because of Maya (illusion) and Karma (the consequence of one's past deeds).If the ego is shed, then Maya or Karma cannot survive. The soul has to strive to detach itself from the ego to gain self-realisation that alone can liberate it from the cycle of birth.

Saint Manikkavasakar's fervent quest for spiritual solace exemplifies the truth that the journey from the material to the spiritual is very demanding but that it can be successfully accomplished only through God's grace, said Sri T. V. Venkataraman in a lecture. The saint is fully aware of the difficulties that prevent his attempts to eschew ego and he invokes God's compassion with utmost humility to be relieved from the enveloping force of the illusory world whose myopic vision prevents any effort to see beyond this life into the nature of the absolute truth of eternity.

The soul remains imperishable as against the ephemeral and perishable nature of the body and worldly objects that are finally reduced to ashes.

The saint repeatedly acknowledges that God took charge of him, but his ignorance did not allow him to be aware of this tremendous good fortune. Instead he had treated this visitation lightly by believing falsehood as truth and yearned for material gain from the Lord who alone is capable of granting the highest gift, liberation, if only His devotees yearned for it in earnest.

The metaphor of the child who was captivated more by the glitter of the golden vessel that the mother used for feeding rather than the food itself illustrates the immature state of the individual whose attachment to worldly things easily misconstrues truth and untruth.

True devotees freed themselves from materialism and through penance and self-introspection fixed their goal on God. Such people got liberation.

Total commitment to the Lord who is susceptible and subservient to worship is necessary.

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