AchArya Hrdhaym 185

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AchArya Hrdhayam

sUthram 227-5

The ninth Ten.

 

LOVE IS BUT A GAME OF WAITING

 

 

".padhinAlANdu, pathu mAsam, oru pagal, poRuthavargaL, oru mAsadhina

sandhyailEa padumadhu shaNathilEa Aga irangugiRa thwaraikku EdAga.."

 

 

 

It is commonplace to see, hear, that love for one makes waiting

plesant, necessary, but at the same time painful. We hear of stories

and also see in movies that one of the couples wait for the other

interminably, which in fact aggravates the longing for the other. Why

does one wait? Why dont they just walk off, without waiting? It is

matter of expectation. It is the reflection of love and affection. It

is the immense love for one another and it is a matter of faith. Love

is but a game of waiting.

 

That waiting is not new, is an established one. There are several

precedents which go to prove this point.

 

Sri bharadhAzhwAn waited for fourteen years for sri rAma pirAn to return to ayOdhyA.

sEthA pirAtti had to have an agonising ten months to achieve this end.

The gOpikAs had to bear the separation of Lord krfishNA for one full

day when the Lord went on the mission-cow-herd as a daily routine.

 

What has AzhwAr got to do with this? is a question that may arise.

AzhwAr's desire and longing for the Lord Almighty is second to none.

In fact, the form of the desire towards Lord KrishNA is 'AzhwAr'

krishNa thrishNA thathvam.

AzhwAr's experiences with the Lord day in and day out all spring out

from this desire.The joy of union and pangs of separation are

fluctuating. AzhwAr waits for the smile of the Lord, the grace of

Him, the vision and so on. The waiting seems to be never ending, but

for some bouts of intermittent respites in the form of divine

expriences. The longing grows on and on. The pain accumulates. The

agony aggravates. The pain of sri bharadhAzhwAn who was not able to

wait on the final day, the pain of the sEthA pirAti who was patient

lost the balance in the final month and in fact expressed that she

may not like to live after one month thence. This one month was a

very tormenting period.

 

What happened to the gOpikAs who were without the Lord when He left

with the cows during the daytime? They endured the separation for the

whole day but had to bear the unendurable agony in the dusk-sandhyai.

 

The pain of bharadhAzhwAn ------- Fourteen years culminating into one day agony.

The pain of sEthA pirAtti--------one month --ten months becoming a tormenting one month.

The pain of gOpikAs--------dusk --one day climaxing into a undesirable dusk.

 

all such pains are experienced by AzhwAr in oru nodip pOdhu --- in an instant.

All the pangs of AzhwAr is described in the thiru voi mohzi "malligai kamazh" 9-9;

 

" avanai vittu aganRu vuyir ARRa gillA, aNiyizhai Aichiyar mAlaip pUsal, avanai vittu

agalvadhARkEa irangi, aNi kurugUr satakOpan mARAn" thiru voi mohzi 9-9-11.

 

That is a painful period-- in fact

 

LOVE IS BUT A GAME OF WAITING

 

(to be continued)

vanamamalai padmanabhan