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

 

Divine Mother mediates on behalf of devotees

 

CHENNAI, APRIL 17. Surrender to God has been recommended by the

scriptures as a means to liberation from bondage in the case of a

spiritual aspirant who gives up self-effort as he is convinced

that he does not have the necessary wherewithal to work for his

salvation and hence supplicates to the Almighty with total faith

in His saving grace. For such surrender to be effective it is

necessary to take refuge in the Lord through the Divine Mother as

She is the very embodiment of compassion and will ignore the

shortcomings of the aspirant and plead on his behalf to the

Almighty to condone his faults.

 

Self-surrender to God has been portrayed in the Ramayana which is

a scriptural authority on this doctrine and is embodied in the

assurance given by the Lord when He incarnated as a human being,

Rama, to Vibhishana when he sought refuge in Him after he failed

in his attempt to advice Ravana to change over a new leaf by

returning Sita to Him and begging His pardon. When Rama broke the

news of His exile to the forest to Sita She did not accede to His

persuasion to remain in Ayodhya and Rama had to finally yield to

Her wishes. Lakshmana who was witnessing the exchange between

them was caught in the horns of a dilemma as his position as the

younger brother who was always at His service warranted total

submission to Rama's words without argument.

 

Lakshmana was not one who would argue with Rama after He

expressed His mind and hence he had to find a way out of the

situation by ensuring that he would not be left behind in Ayodhya

and would accompany them both to the forest so that he would be

of service to them. It was in this context that the role of the

Divine Mother as the mediator between the supplicant and the Lord

while adopting the path of surrender was highlighted in the

Ramayana, said Kalyanapuram Sri R. Aravamudan in his Harikatha.

 

The epic describes that ``tightly pressing the feet of his eldest

brother, Lakshmana, the delight of the Raghus, spoke as follows

to Sita, who enjoyed great celebrity as also to Sri Rama who had

undertaken a great vow, `If Your mind is set on proceeding to the

forest, full of deer and elephants I shall accompany You to the

woodland, walking ahead of You armed with a bow... Therefore

kindly make me your attendant; there will be no unrighteousness

in it. I shall thereby have accomplished my object and Your

purpose too will be adequately served'.'' Thyagaraja whose

devotion and service to Rama is palpable in each composition of

his, intoning Lakshmana's sentiment in one of his songs beseeches

Lord Rama to reveal to him the secret of how Sita and Lakshmana

served Him.

 

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