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

 

Nammazhwar's recipe for worldly ills

 

CHENNAI, JUNE 7. While holy texts and saints who had mastered

them had extolled the merciful qualities of the Supreme Lord, yet

they had also mentioned about the grief that lurks in Him. His

regret and concern are that human beings have not taken advantage

of the various types of opportunities which had been made

available to them to escape from the worldly turmoil but still

they continue to remain immersed in the ephemeral pleasures and

do not take steps to reach the goal, viz salvation, which will

mean no rebirths at all thereafter.

 

Born as humans, they have before them the procedures to be

adopted to reach His divine kingdom, left by Him in His

incarnations or by the messengers deputed by Him to explain how

it is easy for them to shake off this earthly coil and return to

the place ever to be in His presence and enjoy Bliss. The

wonderful human body was however not properly used for such an

end but prostituted for prohibited purposes. This can be compared

to a person being given a luscious tasty mango who allows the

fruit to slip and fall into the gutter. The prerogative of free

will was thus permitted the fullest latitude. Still they

disobeyed His commands and grew impure in their hearts but the

Lord, out of His kindness, did not let them down. In the Bhagavad

Gita, He has placed before humanity, the paths leading them to

the goal. Likewise, the hymns of the apostles sent by Him to

reform the erring souls and the outpourings of their divine

experiences present a glorious picture of what awaits them when

they enter the Divine domain. Among these outstanding

personalities, the Azhwars who had left a rich treasure, Divya

Prabhandam, containing the call of God in the Vedas, had put down

their views in Tamil language. Nammazhwar stands foremost among

them and his four hymns, particularly the Thiruvaimozhi, spell

out the essence of the Visishtadwaita philosophy.

 

In a discourse on Nammazhwar's birthday Sri (Pattanna)

Veeraraghavachariar said, the saint's works refer, among other

topics, to the five essential requirements which a devotee should

know when he aspires to be at God's service, viz., the inimitable

traits and features of the Almighty, the nature (with his

limitations) of the ordinary pestered souls, the impediments

which block the latter to approach the former, the methods to

clear these obstacles and the destination (Moksha) where he could

enjoy the presence of the Lord. One of Nammazhwar's ``Paasurams''

urge Him that we be pardoned of all our sins and ensure that we

cease to cling to this mortal frame.

 

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