Hindu Article - Descent og God's grace

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Descent of God's grace

 

 

CHENNAI SEPT.15 . The compositions of the mystic-saints in which they

articulate their spiritual experiences are a unique form of religious

literature. The ideas in them are not dictated by logic but by their

intuitive vision, which enables them to describe their spiritual

evolution with great clarity, feeling and gratitude. So the range of

ideas and moods expressed swing from the ecstasy of mystic experience

to the remembrance of utter depths of despair before the descent of

divine grace, which was responsible for their redemption. The

Tiruvasagam of Saint Manikkavasagar is a case in point.

 

The turning point in his life happened when he received initiation

from his Guru at Tiruperundurai. Until then as chief minister of the

then Pandya ruler, his engagement was dictated by worldly pursuits

and interest in spiritual life was not all consuming to warrant such

a sudden turnaround. Hence it is with immense gratitude that he

speaks of the manner Lord Siva claimed him as His own and after that

there was no looking back. His hymn opens on this note and he gives

vent to how he was transformed by the Lord's compassionate grace. But

in some verses he remembers how he was caught in the lure of sensory

attractions and desires earlier.

 

One need not despair that such divine intercession will not happen in

one's case. The shrill cries of anguish of His devotee in dire

circumstances are bound to make God rush to his rescue as it

happened, for instance, in Draupadi's case. Till she made attempts to

save her modesty nothing happened but the moment she remembered Lord

Krishna and surrendered to Him, He protected her from being

humiliated before the vast assembly.

 

In his discourse, Sri T.V.Venkataraman said Manikkavasagar in a verse

compared the Panchakshara Mantra to a raft, which would enable a

devotee to cross the boundless, choppy ocean of worldly life to the

other shore of liberation. Mantras constitute the body of God and

mystics have envisioned the forms of God corresponding to the Mantras

they practised. Mantra literally means that which protects the one

who chants it. The saint describes his plight, with which a spiritual

seeker can immediately identify: "All alone, I was tossed about by

the huge and cruel waves of the vast ocean of birth with nothing to

support me... I thought, `How at all can I gain deliverance?' I

caught hold of the raft of the mystic pentad of letters... The Lord

redeemed me and ruled me, the intractable one."

 

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