Part 13: "There is Salvation in numbers"- The Theme of 'satsangh' in TiruppAvai

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

(15) "ellArUm pOndArO pOndAr pOndheNikOL…"

 

This expression is one of AndAl's really

humorous ones in the TiruppAvai and we must not

hesitate to take some good-natured liberties with it.

We must use it as a bit of comic interlude in the

middle of what probably thus far in this series of

postings has been a rather serious and solemn

narrative on the theme of "satsangh" in the

TiruppAvai.

 

************

 

It is far easier to put together a

cricketing team of 11 players than to assemble a

"satsangh" of one-half dozen devotees. Ready and

willing volunteers to a 'satsangh' are as rare to find

in the world as rainbow in the sky.

 

Even in one's very own home, we know what a terribly

uphill task it is to enlist the enthusiasm and

commitment of members to participate in household

'satsangh-s' -- say, for instance, weekly chanting of

'Vishnu-Sahasranamam'. Reciting all of the 1000

'nAmA-s' of the Sahasranama takes usually less than

one half of one hour in all. And if one takes a

pocket-calculator out and does a bit of simple

arithmetic, it amounts to no more than 0.3% of the

total time available to anyone in a whole week. But

our kith and kin --- be it brother or son, uncle or

cousin --- everyone will generally grudge the time

asked of them for the Sahasranamam in favour of some

other "urgent" or "unavoidable" engagement. "Dad,

d'you know how much of school homework I have to do?"

your child would say. And from your brother or uncle

this too might be heard: "I'd love to join in the

'sahasranAmam', but y'know I'm always late coming home

from office".

 

Getting our good neighbours to join us for the annual

reading of the "sundara-kAnda" of Srimadh Valmiki

Ramayana or group recitation of TiruppAvai during the

holy month of 'mArgazhi' (Dec-Jan) is often a task

next to impossible. "I'd love to attend," the comely

housewife next door will say, "but I'm awfully sorry I

won't be able to. My mother-in-law has an appointment

with the dentist… and well, er, you know how it is

with the mother-in-law…"

 

Dentists' appointments and blaming poor mother-in-law

are probably two of the most creative but common

pretexts the whole world uses to avoid a 'satsangh'.

 

AndAl probably foresaw all the great difficulties one

would encounter in gathering together a 'satsangh' of

God's devotees in this world. But she had a simple but

effective solution. She conveyed it in a single phrase

in the TiruppAvai:

 

"ellArUm pOndArO pOndAr pOndheNikOL…"

 

Should the 'satsangh' ask itself "Has everyone come?

Is everyone accounted for?" and find itself short of

numbers, it should not get unduly anxious. "Never

mind, never bother", advises the TiruppAvai.

 

All that the 'satsangh' must do is to deem every

single one of its members to be already in attendance!

("ellArUm… pOndAr pOndheNikOL…"). If not everyone has

turned up, "So be it!" the 'satsangh' should be able

to say to itself and simply proceed forthwith in its

task. In other words, the 'satsangh' should be

unmindful of how many of its members turn up and how

many remain absent.

 

The important meaning to be grasped from this line of

the TiruppAvai is this:

 

If we have to wait for adequate numbers of persons to

join us in our 'satsangh', we might as well consider

our spiritual journey to end even before it begun. It

is always going to be difficult to find persons with

God-devotion in this world … You can cast your net as

far and as wide as you can but you should never expect

to catch a sizeable haul. In the Bhagavath-Gita, the

Almighty Himself confirmed the rarity of the breed

called 'Bhakta' in this vast world:

 

bahUnAm janma-nAmanthE

gnyAnavAn mAm prapadyatE I

vAsudEva: sarvamiti

sa mahAtmA sudurlabha: II

 

It takes many, many births

For the soul of a man to

know Me as Vasudeva

and come to me in Love --

Such souls are rare indeed in this world!

 

It would be the height of foolishness on our part to

await "many, many births" before gathering together a

'satsangh' of desired number. There is no point in

going around soliciting large membership for our

'satsangh'. It is enough if a handful of good people

gets together and begins a 'satsangh'. Which is why in

another verse later in the TiruppAvai (Stanza 20)

there is the expression "ippOthey emmai neerada…" that

AndAl uses to emphasize 'satsangh' must begin at once

and that it is pointless tarrying waiting for numbers

to gather. The moment for a 'satsangh' is "Now"…

"ippOthey…".

 

Even if there is waiting to be done, it should not be

for long… for those large numbers of people -- as many

of them as do materialize at all -- might be so fickle

in their resolve and commitment, they may never remain

in the 'satsangh' for very long. Hence, it is very

important that the handful that gathers as genuine

'satsangh' should get on with its mission and task

without delay… Whoever comes and has gathered... they

must be deemed themselves to constitute the "satsangh"

of requisite plentiful numbers --- "ellArUm… pOndAr

pOndheNikOL…"

 

The TiruppAvai promises salvation in numbers but

nowhere does it specify any particular number. For a

true 'satsangh' it does not really matter… Any number

more than one will do, since after all, as none could

have said it better than AndAl, "ellArUm pOndArO

pOndAr pOndheNikOL…"

 

*************

(to be continued)

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

 

 

 

 

 

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