Hindu Article - Puranas, relevant forever

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Puranas, relevant forever

 

 

CHENNAI SEPT. 6 . Scriptural history is full of instances where men

of great capabilities and virtues have been undone by one single

failing — their ego running unbridled. This inflated sense of self

worth eats into a person's innate goodness and like cancer, devours

all that is noble, leading to ultimate ruination. There are many

lessons for a devotee in such episodes. They emphasise the great

gains to be gleaned by simple love, devotion and humility.

 

Smt. Sudha Seshaiyan, in her introductory lecture on Kanda Puranam,

dwelt at length on the message behind Lord Subrahmanya's

manifestation on earth, which is to reward a true devotee's faith and

untarnished devotion. His divine and graceful "sport" with the

devotees, highlights the same when the humble poet, Kachiappa

Sivacharyar, beseeched the Lord's help and embarked on his 10,000-

verse compilation of Kanda Puranam (in Tamil). The very first line

was challenged by learned scholars as being ungrammatical. The Lord

Himself arrived in the court in the garb of an alien poet, settled

the dispute in support of His devotee and saved him from ridicule.

His playful war of words with saint-poetess Avvaiyar is again an

example of His larger purpose, which is to focus on true, unsullied

devotion.

 

Singing His glory, devotees praise the six-faced God, hailing His

rooster banner and peacock mount. Some devotees question this

wondering why the two birds, which emerged from demon Surapadman's

mortal defeat, should be glorified. Is one saluting undesirable

qualities, they wonder. On the contrary, these two, from the fowl

family, symbolise true devotion. A rooster announces the arrival of

dawn, while the peacock is the Lord's vehicle. Similarly a true

devotee will carry the image of the Lord in him always and spread the

light of divine knowledge to all. For, Surapadman's tragic folly was

ego but at the moment of death he realised the truth and surrendered

to the Lord, who graciously embraced the convert. Subrahmanya's

golden lance personifies a sharp intellect, which is broad based on a

spectrum of wide knowledge; hence a devotee salutes the same. The

Puranas continue to be relevant millennia later. Even today, where

preceding and succeeding generations are driven apart by egocentric

posturing, there is a lesson to be learnt, on humility. Lord Siva

encapsulates this philosophy, when He made His son the Preceptor and

listened with humility to His discourses on the primordial law.

 

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