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Company of saints

CHENNAI: Exemplary devotion to God that sets a devotee apart from the rest knows no clime, age, birth or social standing. It is the result of devotional practices performed over several lives and is the culmination of the spiritual evolution of a bonded soul yearning to become one with the Divine. Such devotees have hailed from different walks of life and sections of society, which goes to prove the adage that devotees are one class.

In his discourse, Sengalipuram Sri B.Damodara Dikshitar said Tiruppanazhwar and Nandanar were archetypes of the egalitarian nature of devotion for their lives attest to the fact that social barriers did not stand in the way of their realising God. Lord Krishna has clarified in the Bhagavad Gita, “According to the aptitudes resulting from the disposition of Nature (Gunas) and work, the social order of fourfold division has been created by Me.” The unique characteristics of each individual are due to his latent tendencies acquired over countless lives, as a result of the interplay of the three Gunas (qualities) of Nature. How is it possible then to overcome the negative influences of one’s nature that thwart spiritual growth? Company of saints (Satsangh), say the scriptural texts categorically.

In his parting teaching to His devotee Uddhava, Lord Krishna advised him that just as a hungry man’s immediate need is only food, so also one who is mentally afflicted by sorrows can overcome them by surrendering to God, a person desirous of heavenly pleasures should follow Dharma, and a seeker of liberation must cultivate the company of saints.

In this Kali age Satsangh is possible by listening to the exposition of the lives of great saints documented in the Puranas. One such work is the Periyapuranam of Sekkhizhar which chronicles the biographies of the Nayanmars, the devotees of Lord Siva. Sekkhizhar refers to Nandanar as Tirunalaippovar (one who would go tomorrow) for he had intense desire to go on a pilgrimage to Thillai (Chidambaram) but kept postponing it thinking that his desire did not behove his lot. But the Lord willed it otherwise and bade him to come to His abode and claimed him as His own before an august assembly.

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