"The Lord Remembers"

[Guest guest]

Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

The Lord Remembers

 

People have long memories. We tend to remember words of insult decades

after they were uttered. A friend's refusal or even reluctance to help at a

crucial moment rankles in our memory as long as we live. An injustice, real or

imaginary, meted out to us, continues to simmer in our heart forever. Denial of

due recognition in our official or personal lives results in persisting

dissatisfaction and demoralization, which at times endures even after the

grievance has been redressed.

 

Paradoxically, our memory for favours received is deplorably short.

When our elderly parents are dependant on us physically and financially, some of

us forget the Herculean struggles they had undergone for bringing us up and

ensuring that we have a sound start in life. Timely assistance extended to us at

critical periods is forgotten, once the crisis passes. Even the Lord is not

excluded from the ambit of our oversight-we pray to Him sincerely for this and

that, offering to do something or the other for Him in return. However, once we

get what we want, we conveniently forget our part of the bargain. Thus,

ironically, our memory retains all the wrong sort of things, but relinquishes

with alacrity matters it ought to retain.

 

The Ramavatara, which is model of how a human being ought to conduct

himself towards everyone he encounters, has a lesson for us in this regard too.

Sri Rama, who was a repository of all auspicious attributes, is reported to have

forgotten in a jiffy all bad turns done to Him, however grave and numerous they

were, while being eternally pleased by even a small favour somebody did in the

distant past. Here is Sri Valmiki's beautiful sloka-

 

"katanchit upakArENa kritEna EkEna tushyati

na smarati apakArANAm satamapi Atmavattaya"

 

The Lord's magnificent habit of remembering with everlasting gratitude even an

insignificant good turn done in the distant past, is known as "Kritagyatvam".

This divine attribute is of extreme importance to us mortals. The Lord is

reported to store it away in His memory, each time we utter His haloed name or

even the name a divyadesam. And He never forgets any such meritorious action of

ours, however inconsiderable it is. It is these positive records that prompt Him

to lead us in due time to an Acharya and through him, to liberation. We are

extremely fortunate that we have a Lord with a prodigious memory for the right

sort of things, for we shudder to think where we would be, if He remembered only

our sins and functioned only as an Avenging Angel.

 

Hence Emperuman is "Kritagya:", one who remembers our good deeds. This

attribute, due to its singular significance, comes in for generous accolades at

the hands of various Acharyas. We have for instance Sri Alavandar praising this

in his Stotraratnam-

 

"KritI Kritagya: tvamasi svabhAvata: samasta kalyANa guNa amrutOdadhi:"

 

Sri Alavandar points out that this attribute of Gratitude is natural to

Emperuman and not something acquired with effort-"svabhAvata: Kritagya:asi".

 

The mere utterance of His name by a devotee makes His heart brim over with

indebtedness, says the Lord Himself in Sri Mahabharata-

 

"Govinda! iti yat Akrandat KrishNA mAm doora vAsinam

RINam pravruddham iva mE hridayAt na apasarpati"

 

The distressed Droupati's cry of "Govinda, PundarIkAksha, raksha mAm

sharanAgatAm" enters the heart of the Lord located thousands of miles away, and

its intensity multiplies by the moment, like an unsatisfied debt contracted at

usurious rates of interest. This makes the Lord restless to rush to her aid,

boring into His heart. This is the effect the utterance of a single nama with

devotion can cause, and attests to the Lord's sense of indebtedness

(Kritagyatvam) to His votaries who utter His tirunAmam, even by accident.

 

We all know the story of AjAmila, who was snatched away by the Lord's acolytes

from those of Yamadharmaraja, all for having uttered the name "Narayana" at the

time of shedding his mortal coils. The point to note here is that AjAmila was

calling to his own son Narayana and not to the Paramatma, while speaking the

name. Still, the Lord utilized the unintentionally acquired merit as a means to

save Ajamila from the fires of hell.

 

Addressing the Lord of TiruppEr nagar, Sri Nammazhwar poses a very pertinent

question -" You have pervaded me now, seeking to liberate me and take me to

Paramapadam: but why did You not bother at all about me all these millions of

years, when I continued to wallow in the misery of samsara? In short, why save

me only now, and not earlier? For, I do not remember to have done anything to

merit Your special attention now!"

 

"indru ennai poruLAkki tannai ennuL vaitthAn

andru ennai puram pOga puNartthadu en seivAn?"

 

When Emperuman doesn't reply, Azhwar racks his brains for something he must have

done, which has made the difference between the Lord's earlier attitude of

indifference and the current one of infatuation. Then it strikes him that he has

indeed done something to merit the Lord's undying attentions-he has uttered the

haloed name of the Lord's abode, viz., ThirumAlirumsOlai.

 

"ThirumAlirumsOlai endrEn, enna ThirumAl vandu en nenju niraya pugundAn",

acknowledges Azhwar, realizing that the Lord felt so much in the Azhwar's debt,

merely for Azhwar having uttered the name of a divyadesam, that He decided to do

what He had not done for ages-liberate Azhwar from samsara and take Him to

Paramapadam. This is another instance of the Lord being a Kritagya. The Lord

remembers such small things, keeps them in His broad mind and rushes to our

rescue at the appropriate juncture.

 

The Lord Himself declares that He has an exceptional memory for the good that we

do. He assures Sri Bhoomidevi in Varaha Puranam, that all that a devotee has to

do is to surrender to Him, when in full possession of his faculties. At the

moment of death, even if the devotee were to lie unconscious and senseless as a

stone, the Lord with the long memory remembers what the devotee did when he was

well, takes the person under His wings and bestows on Him the best of all

worlds, viz., Paramapadam. "aham smarAmi mad bhaktam", assures the Lord, telling

us that not a single good turn we do Him (!) is forgotten.

 

Sri Periazhwar and Sri Kulasekharaperumal bank on the Lord's prodigious memory,

when they apply well in advance for His attentions, confident that they would be

in no state to think or act cogently when the spirit is about to leave the

body-"appouzhudaikku ippoozhudE solli vaitthEn" says Sri Periazhwar, while Sri

Kulasekharazhwar concurs, " Krishna! Tvadeeya pada pankaja pancharAntam adyaiva

mE visatu mAnasa rAjahamsa:"

 

Just as the King is pleased by the mere offer of a lime fruit (given him by

visitors as a token of their respect and affection), the Lord too is floored by

our mere utterance of His tirunAmam or that of a divyadesam. If we take Him a

flower, a fruit or even plain water, He is pleased beyond measure and gives us

everything we aspire for, even the coveted MOksha itself. Did He not endow the

penniless KuchEla with immeasurable riches, in return for just a handful of

"aval" offered with love? Did He not afford unlettered Sabhari a passage to the

same worlds as attained by her erudite Acharyas, pleased with a few wild fruits

offered by Her with affection? Did He not liberate even DhadhibhAndan's clay

pot, in return for paltry favours? Did He not, as a toddler, give away His gems

and jewelry, all as price for His favourite "nAga pazham"?

 

All these are but a few instances of how great a virtue His memory for our good

deeds is. Clearly, this "KritagyatA" is perhaps the greatest of Emperuman's

attributes and the one that is the most significant for samsAris like us. We

should perhaps pay obeisance to this virtue first, before worshipping the Lord.

Alas, I am not endowed with the magnificent poetical prowess of Swami

Desikan-had I been blessed with even one-millionth part of it, I would have

composed a "KritagyatA satakam", as a counter to Swami Desikan's Daya Satakam.

 

Bhagavat KritagyatAyai nama:

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dasan, sadagopan.

 

 

[Guest guest]

Sir,

 

Yes , we forget Him once our work is done; He remembers every good word we

uttered and every good deed we did and sometimes returns with interest , if

at all there was a delay.

 

He maintains the Biggest Post Office ( bigger than possibly GPO in Mumbai)

and clears all letters ( karmas) like Post Master General. The PMG is very

efficient that he never delivers letters to a wrong address. The prayers

or other offerings we submit at His feet is like a dutiful sending a money

order or cheque to his aged mother residing in a remote village. The mother

is so proud that she goes around and tells the neighbors and then safely

keeps the money until the appropriate time. Same way Emperuman enjoys our

prayers , possibly shares with His Colleagues in Vaikuntam. When the son

comes to the village for vacation , the proud mother opens the almirah and

shows to the son the gifts she has kept ready for him , his wife and peran

kutties.

 

Where from she got the money? the son asks. The reply is " Kanna ellam

unnoda panamthan".( Kanna it is all your money only). Emperuman is no less

in showering the motherly Love. He does not keep anything for Himself. It

is all LOVE! LOVE! LOVE- LOVE IS GOD; LIVE IN LOVE

 

Thanks for yet another " Eye Opener". If I had one millionth of Shri

Sadagopan Swamigal's prowess I would have composed " KritagyaTa satakam".

 

with salutations to bhagavathas

v k vijayaraghavan

 

-

sadagopaniyengar <sadagopaniyengar

Thursday, March 06, 2003 4:00 AM

"The Lord Remembers"

 

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