"Pleawe be Seated"

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

“Please Be Seated!”

 

When are we the most comfortable—while

standing, lying down or sitting down? Standing, as a posture, is one

adopted preparatory to some form of energetic activity like walking

or running. A reclining posture, on the other hand, is what we adopt

prior to giving ourselves up to NidrA dEvi, the goddess of sleep,

whose embrace is so tight that we become oblivious to everything else

in the world. Thus, while standing up or lying down, we can’t

claim ourselves to be consciously comfortable. It is while sitting

down, whether on earth or in a chair, that we can claim to be truly

comfortable and be aware of it too. Sitting is the posture ideally

suited to the pursuit of most of our academic, aesthetic or spiritual

activities, be they reading, studying, music or Veda parayanam. It is

the PadmAsanam which most of our Maharshis adopted for performing

penance, certifying to the efficacy of the seated posture for

contemplation of the Divine. Indian cultural mores, laying stress on

hospitality, prompt us till date to offer the guest a seat,

immediately after he enters our home—we don’t ask him to

just stand or to lie down. The seated posture thus appears to be the

preferred one for all restful forms of human activity.

 

The arcchAvatAra is the form taken by the Supreme Lord

residing in innumerable temples across the globe, to entice us with

His beauty beyond compare, to entrap us with His countless auspicious

attributes and ultimately emancipate us through the adoption of an

appropriate strategy for liberation, through a merciful Acharya. Of

all His forms, this is the most accessible to us mortals, forming the

object of even our impaired vision.

 

We would hence expect the Lord to adopt the sitting posture in these

sannidhis, for He has nowhere to rush to. Contrary to our

suppositions, we find a major number of His moorties in the temples

to be either on His holy feet or supine, apparently in deep slumber.

It is only at a few temples that we come across the Lord adopting a

seated posture. Does this mean that He prefers only to stand or to

lie down, eschewing the sitting posture as far as possible? At the

holiest of holies, the BhoolOka Vaikunttam, Srirangam, we find Him

lying down, while at the other principal divya desams like Tirumala,

KAnchi and YAdavAdri (TirunArAyanapuram), we find Him standing. Does

this reveal a marked bias on the part of the Lord against the seated

posture?

 

No, says the DhyAna slOkam to the sacred ashtAkshara

Mantra—

 

“Savyam pAdam prasArya srita durita haram dakshiNam kunchayitvA

jAnunyAdAya savyEtram itara bhujam nAga bhOgE nidhAya”

 

The Lord may stand or lie down as He pleases on earth, but His

permanent posture, the one He adopts eternally in His glorious and

natural abode of Sri Vaikunttam, is that of being seated. And the way

He sits is also extremely captivating, with His left leg stretched,

the right one slightly bent, leaning back regally, with one of His

lower hands placed on His beautiful knee and the other on the supple

snake bed, with the Divine Discus and the Cosmic Conch adorning His

upper arms. As a Sovereign holding court in Paradise with an

adulating audience consisting of celestials, the Lord prefers to sit

splendorously on His throne of AdisEsha (“irundAl

simhAsamAm”).

 

It is this glorious posture of the Universal Sovereign that comes in

for admiration from Sri Nammazhwar—

 

“Veetrirundu Ezhulagum tanik kOl sella veevil seer

Attral mikku ALum ammAnai”

 

With all the worlds, galaxies and universes under His undisputed

control and command, the Lord reigns as the Magnificent Monarch,

seated in splendour on the soft snake bed, all His glory, power and

majesty reflected in all their bounty in the regal way He is seated.

 

As behoves the Supreme Ruler, the Lord is accompanied on His eternal

and inimitable seat by His Divine Consorts, says Sri

Alavandar—“tayA sahAseenam annta bhOgini”.

 

If the occasion is one of pomp and splendour and is momentous, the

Lord prefers a seated posture, we find. Thus, on the occasion of His

coronation as the undisputed monarch of Ayodhya, we find Vasishtta

and other worthies requesting Sri Rama to sit on the diamond-studded

throne of IkshvAkUs—“RAmam ratna mayE peethE saha Seetam

nyavEsayat”.

We are told by Sri Valmiki that the seat was in every way befitting

the exalted occupants—made of the purest of gold and studded

with unimaginably precious stones of a bewildering variety, with a

profusion of them adding brilliance to the glittering regal

seat—

 

“Ratnai: nana vidaischaiva chitritAyAm sushObhanai:

nAnA ratna mayE peethE kalpayitvA yathAvidhi”.

 

Another occasion on which the Prince of Ayodhya affected a seated

posture was when He was about to perform the last rites of the

magnificent bird, which gave up its life while battling with Ravana

to free Sri Janaki. We can see this till date at Tirupputkuzhi, where

the Lord is reported to have afforded MOsham to JatAyu.

 

We are able to discern a sort of pattern to the Lord’s

postures—whenever He is accompanied by His Consorts and

whenever the occasion is formal, He prefers to sit, rather than

stand, perhaps out of consideration for His MahishIs. We thus find

Him sitting splendorously on a magnificent golden throne, under the

cool and comforting shade of the PArijAta tree, apparently enjoying

Himself in the company of His Consorts Sri RugmiNi and Sri

SatyabhAmA, dressed in all His finery and apparently posing for a

family snapshot—

 

“CchAyAyAm PArijAtasya hEma simhAsanOpari

Aseenam ambuda syAmam AyatAksham alankritam

ChandrAnanam chatur bAhum SrivatsAnkita vakshasam

RugmiNI SatyabhAmAbhyAm sahitam Sri Krishnam AshrayE”.

 

Whatever be the seat and however comfortable it be, we see that

children prefer to sit on the laps of their parents—Shri Dhruva

is an example. The Lord too, as a toddler, prefers to ride on the hips

of Sri Yasoda. We have this on the authority of Sri Periazhwar, the

conscientious chronicler of all the Lord’s deeds, who describes

the Lord demanding the Moon in the sky, from His perch on Sri

Yasoda’s hips—

 

“Chakkara kaiyan tadam kaNNAl malara vizhittu

okkalai mEl irundu unnayE chutti kAttum kAN”.

 

And though His mother’s hips are His preferred seat, the

mischievous toddler Krishna never sits still, but moves constantly,

jumping up and down, causing irritation and pain to His

mother—“edutthu koLLil marungai irutthidum”.

 

Those who offer a seat to the Lord with malicious intent never live to

tell the tale. This is demonstrated by PoothanA, KamsA’s

messenger of death, who arrives at Nandagopa’s palace disguised

as a beautiful damsel. When she seats Sri Krishna on her hips and

offers Him a poisonous breast, the Lord sucks out her life along with

the milk, making her fall down lifeless, while remaining unharmed

Himself.

 

The huge tirumEni of the PANdava Dootan at Kancheepuram makes us

wonder, with other Azhwars, whether the Lord is seated due to the

cumulative weariness of measuring all the worlds with His tiruvadi

(“andru ivvulagam aLanda asavE kol!”), the fatigue

occasioned by constantly standing before Arjuna’s chariot in

the Kurukshetra battlefield (“Indiran siruvan tEr mun

nindrAn”), the strain of traversing long and unending jungle

paths barefoot during the Ramavatara (“nadanda kAlgaL

nondavO”) or that of performing the role of a menial messenger,

bearing an epistle of peace from Pandavas to the Kauravas.

 

It goes without saying that the Lord is entitled to the best of

AsanAs, which is to be offered to Him with devotion and love. This is

the spirit behind the various AsanAs offered to the Lord during our

daily worship, TiruvAradhanam. However, what would you call someone

who deliberately submits to Him a seat with the malicious intent of

causing Him bodily harm, as did Poothana?

 

Sri MahAbharata narrates the episode of the dastardly DuryOdhana

preparing a glittering diamond throne for the Lord in the royal court

hall, but placing it on light bamboo sticks, so that the moment

someone sat on it, the sticks would give away and plunge the throne,

along with its unsuspecting occupant, into a cellar below, where

wrestlers with bulging biceps waited to finish off the poor victim.

Fully aware of all this, the Lord sat on the throne and when it gave

away, He descended into the cellar, and assuming a gigantic form

which filled the four directions, made short work of the wrestlers,

emerging victorious and unscathed, making DuryOdhana look foolish in

the eyes of the astounded and august luminaries adorning the court of

HastinApura. This episode is chronicled by Sri Tirumangai Mannan

thus—

 

“aravu neeL kodiyOn avayuL Asanatthai anjidAdE ida, adarkku

periya mA mEni aNdam ooduruva perum disai adangida nimirndOn”

 

The Lord demonstrates that for penance too, the ideal posture is to

sit. This can be found at BadarikAshramam, where He sits in eternal

contemplation, apparently fulfilling the criteria He Himself laid

down for the performance of Yoga—

 

“Suchou dEsE prathisthApya stthiram Asanam Atmana:

nAti ucchritam nAti neecham sailAjina kusOttaram”

 

The seat chosen for Yoga or tapas should be neither too high nor too

low, should be stable and comfortable and spread with holy darbha

grass or the purifying skin of a deer, and the Asana should be in

clean and spiritually uplifting environs, all of which are conducive

for contemplation. This is what Sri BadarInArAyana’s posture

tells those of us who are inclined towards spiritual sAdhana.

 

When we come to think of it, one Emperuman who is always to be found

in the sitting posture, with rare exceptions, is Sri Nrisimha. We

find Him always seated, in the close embrace of His constant Consort.

Of the nine Nrisimha moorties at Ahobilam, we find only one (perhaps

two) in the standing posture, demonstrating His preference for being

seated, this being the position at other sannidhis too, whether it is

ChOlasimhapuram, TiruvallikkENi or PAtalAdri (SingapperumAL kOil).

 

Again, with rare exceptions, we find the Divine Consort too always

seated, with Her feet decorously covered by the folds of Her apparel.

The Lord may stand or lie down, but His Empress never stands, if She

can help it.

And She always prefers soft seats like the lotus (“aravinda

nivAsinIm”, “PadmAsinI”) or AdisEsha (“tayA

sahAseenam anata bhOgini”).

 

 

While mortals like us are able to see Him in all His glory, seated at

PAdagam (Pandava dootan sannidhi), the Lord seats Himself

resplendently and permanently in the heart of the pious devotee,

finding the same to be much more pleasurable than the best of thrones

fashioned out of the most precious of gold and gems. Sri Tirumazhisai

Piran tells us that once we realise the inalienable relationship

subsisting between the Lord and ourselves, Emperuman takes up

permanent residence in our hearts, seating Himself comfortably, never

to leave—

 

“nindradu endai ooragatthu, irundadu endai PAdagatthu

andru Vekkanai kidandadu ennilAda munnelAm

andru nAn pirandilEn pirandapin marandilEn

nindradum irundadum kidandadum en nenjuLE”

 

Whatever glorious seats we may offer Him, the Lord prefers to seat

Himself in our lotus hearts, if only we invite Him in. He stands at

our doors, constantly knocking, seeking to be let into our homes and

hearts. As it is, our heart can at best be a “hot seat”,

filled with innumerable impurities like anger, intolerance, hypocrisy

and arrogance.

 

To offer Him a seat in our hearts, we must first make it a place fit

for His residence, by making our mind large and receptive, by ridding

it of all unholy thoughts and filling it with the fragrance of

devotion and piety and fashioning a throne fit for Him out of

unalloyed adoration and the purest of love. The Lord has been

standing at our heart’s entrance for quite long now, knocking

till His knuckles hurt, loathe to giving up despite our unpromising

attitudes. Now is the time to let Him into ourselves and seat Him in

all the splendour that He deserves. For, more than the soft, snaky

bed, more than the holy sannidhis constructed for His residence by

Maharshis and Sages, more than any magnificent throne fashioned out

of glittering gold and glorious gems, it is our hearts that He

prefers for a seat.

When are we going to tell Him, “Please come in and do be seated”?

 

Srimate Sri LakshmInrisimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri

Narayana Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

Dasan, sadagopan