Article sent from The Hindu

[Guest guest]

=============================================================

This article is emailed to you by Ram Chandran ( rchandran )

=============================================================

Source: The Hindu

(http://www.hinduonnet.com/2002/03/05/stories/2002030500780800.htm)

Miscellaneous

-

Religion

 

 

The royal saint who sought Lord's refuge

 

 

 

 

CHENNAI

Feb.5.

 

"I do not crave for any exalted position, but I shall feel absolutely blessed if

I can hold Your gold spittoon, or let me remain as a fish or a stork in Your

sacred tank or as a rivulet, a pathway or even jasmine creeper, or a bee singing

Your glory or anything animate or inanimate on Your golden mountain. Better I am

stationed as the footstep leading to Your sanctum-sanctorum, trodden by

celestials from where I can ever espy your coral red lips." These were the

outpourings of a ruler of Kerala centuries ago when he went to worship the Lord

of the Seven Hills. Apart from his proficiency in Sanskrit, he was a prolific

composer and his 103 hymns in Tamil, called "Perumal Thirumozhi" form part of

the Nalayira Divya Prabandham. His scholarship can be judged by the usage of a

rare Tamil term, "Moi" to represent mother. This royal saint, Kulasekhara

Azhwar, was an ardent devotee of Rama and Ranganatha of Srirangam. No doubt he

was deeply attached to God, but to some extent he can !

be called a fanatic for showing reverence to Godly men and Divine messengers and

his firm conviction that they will never commit a wrong even under extraordinary

circumstances. Hence he never tolerated any criticism against them. Seeing his

close association with such honoured visitors, the royal attendants who were

averse to such men, hatched a plan (that they had stolen a costly palace

ornament) just to tarnish their image and with a view a to wean him away from

them. But the saint proved their innocence by undergoing a dangerous test by

thrusting his hand into a pot containing deadly snakes. Emerging unscathed he

put to shame all the jealous men.

 

In a discourse, Sri R. Kannan Swamigal said, the Azhwar firmly believed in the

efficacy of the doctrine of surrender and stuck to its accessories, viz., to do

what will please God, to avoid indulging in any act that will incur His

displeasure, have deep faith that He will surely extend protection, begging His

guidance and total submission and expression of the feeling of helplessness. In

some of his verses the saint compares himself to a child that cries when its

mother does not feed it, to a citizen who expects the benevolence of the ruler

and to a bird that is seated on the flap of the sails of a ship that sails in

the mid-sea (it cannot go anywhere), thus pleading with the Lord that He alone

is his sole refuge. Kulasekhara has condensed the entire Ramayana in 10 poems.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Copyright: 1995 - 2002 The Hindu

 

Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly

prohibited without the consent of The Hindu