How to See the Lord

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri

Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

How to “See” the Lord

 

Shastras tell us that the Lord is present in five forms. The

first and foremost is the Paramapurusha whose abode is Sri Vaikuntam,

where He reigns supreme along with His Consort and the emancipated

souls. Though this Cosmic form of His is in the constant sight of the

nitya sUrIs (“sadA pasyanti sooraya:”), it is way beyond

the ken of mere mortals like us, says the Veda

Purusha—“na sandrusE tishttathi roopam asya, na

chakshushA pasyati kascha nainam”. Similarly, the VyUha

roopams, those of Sri VasudEva, reclining on the snaky bed in the

Milky Ocean, Sri Pradyumna, Sri Aniruddha and Sri SankarshaNa, are

too exalted to form the subject matter of our faulty sight. Maharshis

like Sri Narada and the inhabitants of the SvEta dveepa might be

endowed with the good fortune of seeing these moorties, but not poor

mortals. In the Vibhava avatArAs, constituting His descent to this

earth assuming various forms like those of a fish, a boar, a

man-lion, a giant turtle, the Princes of Ayodhya and Mathura and so

on, He was indeed visible to mortal eyes, making Sri Koorattazhwan

wonder at His accessibility—the Supreme Parabrahmam making

itself visible to errant humanity (“nanu lOchana gOcharO

bhoo:”). However, all those avatArAs were in the distant past,

with absolutely no access to the present-day inhabitants of this

planet. In His dimunitive form as the antaryAmi, the Inner Dweller of

all beings, our accumulated baggage of Karma makes us unable to see

Him within us, though He is present at extremely close quarters and

in as splendorous a form as the one at Paramapadam.

 

All that is left is the arcchAvatAra, the beautiful forms in stone,

wood and mud, that the Lord assumes at various temples and it is only

these fantastic figures of the Lord that we are able to see and

admire. Thus, the Lord who is normally totally beyond the impaired

vision of errant humanity, makes Himself perceptible to mortals, out

of His infinite Mercy, and out of a desire to entice, enthral,

enchant and finally ensnare recalcitrant humans, weaning them away

from the debilitating path of sin. Whatever be the glory of His other

forms, which we have only heard of and have no means of confirming, we

are able to see for ourselves, with our very own eyes, the

immeasurable beauty of the Lord in His arcchAvatAra—so much so

that Sri Tirumangai Mannan holds the readily-available, blissful

experience afforded by the arcchAvatara to be superior to that

attainable at distant Paramapadam, admittance to which is restricted

to the elite who perform Bhakti or Prapatti, and which is achievable

only after herculean effort. Would anyone hanker after the flesh of a

yet-to-be caught crow in the sky, which is anyway of dubious taste,

when one has already captured a rabbit, which offers a delicious

fare, enquires Sri Kalian, likening arcchavatara anubhavam to tasty

hare flesh and the bliss of Sri Vaikuntam to that of the

crow—“ErAr muyal vittu kAkkai pin pOvadE?”. True to

his fame of having Sri Kalian’s sweet words etched in his heart

(“Kalian urai kudi koNda karrutthudayOn”), Swami Desikan

too spurns Celestial Bliss for that afforded by the ecstatical sight

of Sri DevAdi RAjA of Kanchi, prepared to swear on the

point—“Satyam sapE VAraNa saila nAtha! Vaikunta vAsEpi na

mE abhilAsha:”

 

Be it the Azhwars or Acharyas like Sri Koorattazhwan, Sri Bhattar or

Swami Desikan and countless others-- they appear to consider the

very sight of Emperuman in various temples to be blissful and each

visit to the shrine an extremely rewarding experience, so much so

that they feel capable of rejecting any offer of alternative bliss in

the exalted Paramapadam, of which the Shruti, Smritis and itihAsAs

speak volumes. The arcchavatara must therefore have afforded them

such unalloyed pleasure, such deep delight and such immeasurable

ecstasy, that they feel it to be superior to any other form of the

Lord.

 

However, when we go to temples and stand before the Lord with hands

dutifully folded and eyes ready to drink in His magnificence, while

we do feel a certain amount of inner peace, we are unable to

experience the sort of bliss described by Sri Kalian or Swami

Desikan. We stand on an equal footing with these venerated worthies

in that we and they used only these mortal eyes to see the Lord.

While the Lord’s decorated idol does generate in us a lot of

aesthetic pleasure, why does it not afford us as much bliss as it did

to them? After all, the Emperuman at divya desams is the same today

as was worshipped by our Poorvacharyas, the temples are the same but

for some periodical cosmetic uplifts and the eyes too are the same,

characterised by the same degree of frailty as present in all

mortals.

 

Given this, we find only two possible reasons for our not being able

to derive as much delight from the sight of the Lord, as did our

Acharyas. One might be that the Lord has made up His mind to be less

pleasurable to us than to our worthy Acharyas, due to their infinite

superiority in matters of wisdom, bhakti or adherence to Shastras.

However, given Emperuman’s predilection for favouring the

underdog rather than the perfect person, we find this reason

untenable. The other possible reason for our deriving less pleasure

out of Bhagavat anubhavam is that something is wrong with our eyes,

our vision, in the way we look at the Lord. This appears to be a much

more plausible explanation and one which requires us to look deep into

ourselves to diagnose the possible impairment our visual equipment

could have suffered.

 

When we go the temple and stand before the Lord, what do we see? At

best, what people like me see is a beautiful, highly decorated idol

that is pleasing to the sight, with impressive height and girth, with

any number of adornments to enhance its looks. We are unable to see in

the idol the all-powerful Lord, who is the epitome of all auspicious

virtues and the antithesis of all that is bad, the sole repository of

all imaginable good, the Universal Protector, one who is ready to take

ten giant steps towards us and come running to embrace us, if only we

would lift our foot to take one tiny step towards Him. We are unable

to see beyond the stone and mortar and wood that the Lord, out of His

inifinite mercy, resides in, out of a desire to be the subject matter

of our mortal eyes. We do not take in the beautiful form in full and

are satisfied with a superficial and overall look at Him, as shallow

in our devotion as we are in our other secular endeavours (perhaps

more so, since our human bosses are more demanding than the Lord, who

is the personification of tolerance).

 

How should we “see” the Lord, when we are before Him at

the sannidhi? Sri Nammazhwar shows us the way, in his pasurams on

Tirukkurungudi. According to him, the only way to enjoy the matchless

magnificence of the Lord is to take Him in inch by blissful inch, part

by splendorous part, with undivided attention paid to one particular

aspect of Emperuman’s tirumEni or adornments or AyudhAs, at a

time. This is because the Lord’s brilliance is too much for us

to absorb, all at once. Like a child with its favourite sugar candy,

we too should stretch the experience to the maximum possible,

savouring the boundless beauty of the Lord little by little. Kamban

says that this too is impossible, for those who set sight on a

particular aspect of Emperuman is unable to pry his eyes away from

that part of the tirumEni, (“tOL kaNdAr tOLE kaNdAr”)

with the result that the onlooker is unable to proceed to enjoy the

next part of the divine body.

 

Coming back to Sri Satakopa Muni’s experience, the

Azhwar’s eyes first lock on the snow-white conch adorning the

Lord’s left hand, capable of striking terror in the heart of

His foes with a single booming emission. After having enjoyed the

sight to his heart’s fill, he moves on to the dazzling Discus

inhabiting the Lord’s right hand, which at once serves as the

ultimate weapon and an adornment par excellence. It is significant

that Sri Poygaiyazhwar too mentions the Conch and Discus among the

principal items of visual attraction on the Lord’s perfect

physique—“serukkiLarum pon Azhi kaNdEn, puri shankham kai

kaNdEn, en Azhi vaNnan pAl indru”. Moving on with reluctance,

Azhwar’s eyes are ensnared by the Lord’s own, the eyes

famed for their length, breadth, blackness, brilliance and size,

resembling a beautiful lotus in full bloom. The divine eyes lock with

Azhwar’s own, full of love and affection. The eyes speak indeed

volumes (“toodu sei kaNgaL koNdu ondru pEsi”), obviating

the necessity for words. The long eye-brows, forming a perfect bow on

the Lord’s forehead, clamour for attention too. Difficult though

it is to pry his gaze away, Azhwar does so with difficulty and manages

to travel down the Lord’s face, till he is captivated by the

coral mouth, with its rows of orderly pearl-white teeth, which

demands its share of Azhwar’s attention, impeding further

progress. The long, perfect and extremely shapely nose, from which

emanate all the Vedas and the beautiful throat commend themselves to

the Azhwar’s attention next, followed by the Lord’s jet

black locks, which fall bewitchingly on His forehead and shoulders.

Only part of the beautiful hair is visible, the rest of it being

contained by the long and majestic kireetam, set with the most

brilliant of gems, signifying the Lord’s supremacy by its very

magnificence. The broad and beautiful chest, adorned by the matchless

TirumagaL, swims into view next and completely captivates the

onlooker, embellished by the microscopic Kousthubham and the

Vaijayanti mAlA. The four strong shoulders culminating in slender but

strong arms, holding the Discus Sudarsanam, the Conch PAnchajanyam,

the mace KoumOdakI, and the invincible bow Sarngam, with the sword

NAndakam hanging by His side, refuse to release Azhwar’s

vision, with the shining black torso competing for his attentions.

The white YagyOpaveetam lies across the black chest like a flash of

lightning in an overcast sky, with the several strands of

TitutthuzhAi competing with garlands of pearls and fragrant flowers,

to embellish the Lord’s chest. The entire picture is one of

unmatched magnificence and blinding brilliance, one which makes

Azhwar dizzy with bliss and incapable of taking his eyes away to see

mundane sights. It is this pinnacle of joy that made Sri PANanAthan

too exclaim, “ en amudinai kaNda kaNgaL mattrondrinai

kANAvE”.

 

It is thus that we should “see” Emperuman, with each of

His perfect aspects leaving an indelible impression in our eyes and

hearts. We should let ourselves be swept away by the wonderful waves

of splendour emanating from the Lord, letting His beauty seep through

each and every pore of our body, making us weak with delight, with our

eyes filling with tears of joy and yet affording an uninterrupted view

of the Lord’s magnificence, our voices aquiver with

uncontainable emotion, each individual hair on our head and body

erect in enthrallment, with the palms automatically folding

themselves in supplication and the head bowing in an involunatary

gesture of submission and veneration. There should be thoughts in our

mind only for the Lord, only about His glorious form and endearing

exploits, with all other contemplations banished for the nonce, the

mind verily an abode of pure love reserved solely for the Divine

Inhabitant. In sum, the sight of the glorious Lord should reduce us

to a state of utter incapability to turn our eyes, ears and other

faculties away from Him even for a second, for fear of missing that

second’s delight. This state of bliss is described vividly by

Sri Kulasekhara Perumal thus—

 

“baddhEna anjalinA, natEna sirasA, gAtraischa rOmOdgamai:

kanttEna svara gadgadEna nayanEna utkeerNa bAshpAmbunA

nityam tvat charaNAravinda yugaLa dhyAnAmrita AsvAdinAm

asmAkam SaraseeruhAksha! satatam sampadyatAm jeevitam”

 

If we are able to achieve this sort of vision and emotion while in the

Lord’s presence, the delectable experiences Sri Azhwan and

Swami Desikan were able to imbibe from the arcchavatara, prompting

them to contemplate foregoing eternal bliss in Paramapadam, would

definitely be ours too. We would be awash with the same sort of

ecstasy and endless delight as Azhwars and Acharyas, if only we

cultivate the habit of truly “seeing” Emperuman, instead

of merely looking at Him as a showcase doll . This sort of experience

which dedicated devotees undergo is extremely difficult to describe to

third-parties. To sceptics who might feel all this to be exaggeration

and embellishment, Sri Nammazhwar’s advice is to look at the

Lord through his (Azhwar’s) eyes and heart, viz., eyes filled

with devotion and a heart brimming with love and

affection—“en nenjinAl nOkki kANeer”. “ Cast

away your glances full of avarice, scepticism, half-belief and

insincerity and look at the glorious Lord through eyes like mine,

filled with genuine emotions, and you would definitely see Him truly

and experience the indescribable bliss it affords” says Sri

Nammazhwar to us, in a homily worth its weight in gold.

 

Finding his plodding friend seeing everything that he himself does,

but not deriving the same incisive and didactic insights therefrom,

Sherlock Holmes tells Watson, “Alas, Watson! You see, but you

don’t observe”. Such is our plight too, it would appear.

We do see the Lord, but we fail to let the spectacle make an

indelible impression on us. The next time we stand before the Lord in

any sannidhi, we would definitely find the difference if we try

emulating even one-hundredth of the Azhwar’s attitude.

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri

Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, sadagopan