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Abounding grace

CHENNAI: The Supreme Being is beyond the grasp of the human senses and the mind, and hence even great sages have expressed their inability to fathom His infinite glory. But, the omnipotent Lord makes Himself accessible to His devotees because of their unalloyed love and devotion. These contrary aspects of the Almighty were experienced by some exceptional devotees during His incarnations. Lord Krishna’s benevolence towards the Pandavas is a paradigm of His abounding grace. Krishna did not allow His divinity to come to the fore, which made them relate to Him as their kin. That itself was a singular benediction!

In his discourse, Sri B.Sundar Kumar said Kunti’s prayer to Lord Krishna after the war when He saved Pareekshit even before he was born from the missile hurled by Aswatthama to annihilate the Pandavas’ lineage was one of the most moving hymns in spiritual tradition. The Bhagavata Purana, which takes off from where the Mahabharata ends, is replete with hymns and Kunti’s prayer to the Lord when He took leave of the Pandavas is one of heartfelt gratitude for being their sole protector throughout their lives. It is revelatory in that she identifies Krishna as the Supreme Being though she calls herself ignorant: “I, an ignorant woman, make obeisance to You, the Prime Person, transcending Prakrti and dwelling inside as well as outside all created beings, the invisible and imperishable God existing beyond the range of sense-perception and screened by the curtain of Maya.”

Kunti then surrendered to Krishna saying that He who had appeared in the world to enhance devotion in the hearts of the Self-realised had graced them so much. Kunti’s is perhaps the most popular prayer along with the song of the Gopis, “Obeisance, obeisance to You, Sri Krishna, son of Vasudeva, the delight of Devaki, the foster-child of the cowherd Nanda, Lord Govinda. Obeisance to You, whose navel is adorned with a lotus; obeisance to You wearing a wreath of lotus flowers; obeisance to You possessing lotus-like eyes; obeisance to You, whose feet resemble the lotus.” Then she remembered every act of His grace which had protected them during calamities.

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