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

 

The Almighty, accessible to His devotees

 

CHENNAI, JUNE 30. The scriptures reiterate that it is difficult

to realise the transcendental form of the Supreme Being and that

even they have failed to fathom His glory. But the same

scriptural texts postulate that the Lord makes Himself accessible

to His devotees because of His overwhelming compassion for them.

The Puranas are replete with instances of the Almighty gracing

His devotees during His incarnations. While it is true that the

devotees merited Divine grace by their devotion, it has also to

be noted that the accessibility they enjoyed was a singular act

of His grace which even great sages did not enjoy by the

performance of austerities and penance.

 

The Lila (divine deeds) of Lord Krishna during His childhood is a

case in point. The cowherd community of Gokul in which He grew up

provided the perfect setting for making Himself accessible to

these simple folks whose lives revolved round their livelihood of

raising cows and selling their produce. The Gopis considered

butter, milk and curd as their wealth and the Lord targeted them

to catch their attention. Thus the depiction of Krishna as the

butter-thief becomes the leitmotif of the literature depicting

devotional mysticism. The interpretations of this act of the Lord

also assumes many forms according to the individual mystic's

experience of the Lord. Esoterically, butter represented the

devotee's total detachment from the world and only such a mind

free from other preoccupations could dwell on the Supreme and

realise Him, said Sri B. Sundar Kumar in his discourse.

 

The Narayaneeyam waxes eloquent on an instance of the Almighty's

grace bestowed on Yashoda. Once, when Krishna was playing with

His friends, they became angry about having been duped by Him of

the fruits they were to share and so they went in a group and

complained to His mother that He had eaten mud. Bhattatiri

exclaims that Yashoda feared that He would fall sick by eating a

little mud - He who consumes the entire manifestation during the

deluge. Krishna kept insisting that He had not eaten mud and that

their complaint was false. Finally, when she challenged Him to

open His mouth so that she could verify for herself, He obliged

her.

 

Naturally, she had expected to see only some mud; instead, the

Lord showered His bountiful grace on her by showing the entire

manifestation in its infinitude inside His tiny mouth which made

her mind whirl. For a moment, the devotee in Yashoda had the

supreme knowledge but the Lord's deluding power made her forget

it immediately and she continued to look upon the Lord as her

child.

 

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