Hindu Article

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Dear Friends,

 

I found the following article in today's "Hindu" on the Web and thought

of sharing it with the group.

 

Namo Narayana,

 

Muralidhar Rangaswamy

 

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The lives of God's messengers who frequent this world to

reform the erring humanity, remind us of their supreme

faith in divine dispensation and their total dependence

on the Almighty to complete the task for which they were

deputed. By their act of surrender, they entrusted their

problems to God to give them strength. Such noble souls

re-appeared not because of their past actions but only

to continue the job they had left unfinished.

 

To such outstanding persons, God had revealed His

presence, through indirect methods and by His timely

intervention, thus belying the statements of some that

God is a mythical entity. The ``Gita Govindam,'' also

popularly termed as ``Ashtapadi'' by Jayadeva is a

scintillating poem extolling God's qualities and His

mercy extended to all those who submitted themselves to

Him in His incarnation as Krishna.

 

The main thrust of the teachings of all Godmen who were

(and are) amidst us is the sanctity and efficacy of the

recitation of Divine names. The Bhajan and Harikatha

traditions drew copious references from Gita Govindam

and from subsequent hymns like Krishna Leela Tharangini.

These two works are being considered as the eyes of this

Sampradaya. Jayadeva, who is the manifestation of Vyasa,

propagated the Lord's message by his singing, praising

Puri Jagannatha while his wife danced to the verses. The

tunes adopted now in recitals have been set to a great

extent, in accordance with those prevalent in the poet's

days (11th century).

 

In his Harikatha, Kalyanapuram Sri R. Aravamudan

referred to the prevalence of a doubt among some whether

the chanting of God's names, without knowing their

meanings or contents, would fetch benefit. God welcomes

any form or manner of demonstrations of faith. This has

been explained by Vedanta Desika citing the example of a

child that makes an appeal for alms (symbolising

detachment) immediately after the investiture of the

sacred thread. Women relatives know the significance of

his words and grant (rice) what he seeks. So too God can

understand what transpires in the minds of the devotees.

 

The couple Jayadeva and Padmavati had naturally to face

ordeals as the former's fame spread. The then king (in

Orissa) who also contributed a similar hymn was jealous

of the popularity of Gita Govindam but the Lord

appearing in his dream made him realise about the

superiority of the former's poem. Both then became

friendly. The central theme of the songs which summarise

Krishna's acts is that the soul always pines to reach

God and the link between the two can be re-established

only through an intermediary - an Acharya.

 

 

 

 

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