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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

God never forsakes His devotee

 

CHENNAI, APRIL 3. Devotion holds the key to understanding the

relationship between God and His devotee. On his part the devotee

must repose total faith in the saving grace of the Lord without

resorting to other means to alleviate his condition. The Almighty

never forsakes His devotee and it is devotion which forges this

steadfast bond between them. Suffering only increases the faith

of the devotee in Divine grace and the instances highlighting

this unique feature serve to enhance one's devotion and faith in

God during vicissitudes in life.

 

In a candid manner Rukmini had despatched a messenger to Lord

Krishna beseeching Him to come to her rescue when her brother had

decided to get her married to Sisupala, pointing out that He must

do so to save His reputation as the Almighty since she had

totally surrendered to Him. She refers to the Lord as ``Achyuta''

in this context thus underscoring that He is the saviour.

Similarly, Bhattatiri in his Narayaneeyam says with conviction

that the Lord should cure him of his illness so that others would

not lose faith in His benevolent grace.

 

In their discourse, Damal Sri Ramakrishnan and Smt. Perundevi

Seshadri said that Sita's reply to Hanuman when he offered to

reunite Her with Rama seeing Her distress in the Ashoka grove

also highlighted this truth. Thinking that Sita was not convinced

how such a small monkey like him could carry Her on his shoulders

across the ocean, Hanuman assumed a gigantic form to allay Her

doubts about his strength and prowess. It is necessary to

understand the relationship between Rama and Sita as that between

the Lord and devotee to appreciate this subtlety here, which is

how it is interpreted by commentators. Sita was the incarnation

of the Divine Mother and hence it is needless to say that She

could have destroyed the entire Lanka along with Ravana by Her

mere will. She did not and instead chose to wait for the Lord to

redeem Her.

 

The Kamba Ramayanam explains this in Sita's own words, ``If Lanka

on the Trikoota mountain is not made into a mountain of bones,

how can my good lineage, my character and my unimpeachable

chastity be demonstrated? One word uttered by Me would have been

sufficient not only to burn Lanka inhabited by the Rakshasas who

have taken to torturing others as a profession, but also all the

worlds. I discarded the thought because it would bring discredit

to the prowess of noble Rama's archery.'' She further told him to

tell Rama that She would stay alive only for one month within

which He should claim Her.

 

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