The Lonely Lord

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Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

 

 

The Lonely Lord

 

 

 

The Lord must get pretty lonely in His arcchAvatAra, the form in

which He is to be found in various temples. In His other forms, He is used to

quite a crowd as company.

 

 

 

As the ParamapadanAtan, He is constantly being addressed and adulated by the

nitya sUrIs, with whom He exchanges views, especially with Sri VishvaksEnar, on

matters concerning Universal administration. Sri Garuda is the Lord's dear

friend ("Dasa: sakhA, vAhanam, dhvaja:") and keeps Him constant company. Thus He

doesn't lack people to speak to and move with.

 

 

 

In the Vibhava avataras too, as Sri Rama, He was constantly surrounded by His

illustrious brothers and others whom He himself had acknowledged as brothers-Sri

GuhapperumAL, Sri Hanuman, Sri VibhIshana etc. In Sri Krishnavatara, He

enjoyed the boisterous company of young cowherds ("tan nEr Ayiram piLLaigaLOdu

taLar nadai ittu varuvAn"_Sri Periazhwar) and had His fill of all sorts of

sport. As Sri Balarama, He had Sri Krishna for company. As Sri Nrsimha, He had

the adoring company of Sri Prahlada, and so on.

 

 

 

However, in the arcchAvatAra, He has nobody to speak to. All the mortals look up

to Him as the unapproachable Lord and do not entertain even the thought of

speaking to Him. They ogle at Him from a distance with folded hands and bowed

heads, bring Him fruits and flowers, bedeck Him in the finest of silk and the

most precious of gems and jewellery. However, they don't think of talking to

Him. They may voice their prayers seeking this and that, they may recite stotras

in His praise, but they do not give a thought to speaking to Him.The arcchakAs

perform for Him all kainkaryAs and recite nAmAvaLis during arcchanA, but when

there is no devotee in sight, they too prefer to come out of the shrine and pass

time with their colleagues or visitors. The Lord is thus left alone most of the

time. All this is when the temple is open. When the visiting hours are over,

there is an exodus of people from the temple and everyone, including His

intimate servants, the arcchakAs, leave, practically codemning Emperuman to a

sentence of solitary confinement.

 

 

 

If He were a person who likes solitude, He would definitely relish the abundant

doses He gets: but He is a sociable Lord and never likes to be alone-"Sa EkAkI

na ramatE" says the Upanishad, confirming His distaste for loneliness. The long

hours He spends locked up behind doors like a truant child which can't be

trusted to be free, make Him terribly bored. With none to speak to, not a soul

to socialise with, He stands all alone for hours at a stretch, for days and

years and millennia, enduring all the solitude stoically and uncomplainingly.

However, He still doesn't like it. Thus the arcchA samAdhi or the absence of

interaction with His devotees is a source of tedium for the Lord.

 

 

 

One can endure only so much, and the Lord is no exception. When the solitude

begins to tell on Him, He does open His beautiful mouth and speak with devotees

of His choice, who mingle freely with Him, speaking to Him, telling Him not only

their woes but also every little thing that happened to them to that day- in

short, treating Him as a beloved friend and companion. We thus have several

instances of the arcchA samAdhi being broken and the Lord engaging in verbal

interaction with Sri Tirukkacchi Nambi, Sri Tirumalai Nambi, Sri Parasara

Bhattar and others. Such bhaktAs had developed an extremely intimate

relationship with the Lord and used to interact with Him daily, as freely as

they would with a human friend.

 

 

 

In Srirangam, there was a temple employee entrusted with the responsibility of

keeping all the temple lamps topped up with oil. In the course of performing

this uninteresting routine, once or twice he addressed the recumbent Rangaraja,

speaking to Him casually, asking Him how He felt that day, etc. Though he was

greeted only with silence for some time, when he continued this practice of

talking to the Lord, Sri Peria Perumal felt compelled to reply. Then onwards,

chitchat between the Lord and His employee became regular, and they used to

exchange views on anything and everything under the Sun. The Lord was touched by

the man's unassuming conversation and His chat-mate was thrilled that Peria

Perumal was actually speaking to him, a lowly employee in the temple hierarchy.

To people who watched him occasionally standing before Rangaraja and apparently

talking to himself, he appeared to be off his rocker, and was given the

sobriquet "Picchan" (mad man). Combining his job title and popular impression,

he came to be known as "ThiruviLakku Picchan". Even as he casually lent his ear

to the constant recitals of Divya Prabandam in the shrine, over the years

Picchan acquired quite a passable knowledge of these divine pasurams.

 

 

 

One day, while carrying out his chore, Picchan fell into conversation with the

Lord, who wanted to draw him out and asked him what he thought about great

people. In a deprecatory tone, Picchan replied that all great men had their own

weaknesses, their respective Aschilles' heels. Peria Perumal, who found

Picchan's remarks interesting and unusual, providing a welcome change from the

litany of stotras He was fed daily, asked Picchan whether he could find any such

frailty in the Azhwars.

 

 

 

Never at a loss for words, Picchan immediately replied in the affirmative and

proceeded to quote the following pasuram from Peria Tirumozhi , in support of

his contention-

 

 

 

"Sengamalatthu ayan anaya marayOr KazhicchIrAma ViNnagar en SengaN MAlai

 

ankamala tada vayal soozh Ali nAdan aruLmAri arattamukki adayAr seeyam

 

kongu malar kuzhaliar vEL Mangai vEndan kottravEl ParakAlan Kalian sonna

 

sanga mukha Tamizh mAlai patthum vallAr tadam kadal soozh moovulagukku

talaivar tAmE"

 

 

 

Picchan told Peria Perumal, "You asked me whether Azhwars had any failings. You

listened to the pasuram I just recited. Didn't You find that Sri Thirumangai

Mannan has, in the guise of singing Your praises, heaped upon himself quite a

lot of flattering sobriquets like " Ali nAdan, aruLmAri, arattamukki, adayAr

Seeyam, Mangai vEndan, ParakAlan" etc.? In fact, in this particular pasuram,

Azhwar blows his own trumpet much more than he sings Your praise. Devoted as he

is to You beyond measure, Sri Kalian is indeed susceptible to boasting and

bragging about his own prowess. Would you agree with me now that even the great

ones have their frailties?"

 

 

 

Peria Perumal was indeed amused at Picchan's observation and his irreverent

attitude towards the high and mighty. He chided the man for daring to criticise

Azhwars and clarified that such remarks by Azhwars, sounding like shameless

self-praise, reflected, in reality, their pride in their having been rescued by

the Lord from the bottomless pit of samsara and been given the exalted job of

singing His praises. When Sri Nammazhwar describes himself as "vazhuvAda tol

pugazh van KurugUr Satakopan", the pride he takes is not in his own glory, but

that of the Lord, who endowed him with blemishless wisdom, enabling him to sing

His praises forever. When Sri BhootatthAzwar says, "YanE tavam seidEn, YAnE

perum Tamizhan"etc., it is the pride of having been so blessed by the Lord.

These are totally different from the sort of pride and vanity that characterise

conceited mortals and lead to their downfall, and fall under the category of

SAtvika ahankAram, which comes from deep devotion to the Divine Being.

 

 

 

Convinced with Periya Perumal's explanation, ThiruviLakku Picchan passed on to

the next topic of the day and continued thus to regale the Lord lifelong with

his views of men and matters.

 

 

 

Srimate Sri LakshmINrsimha divya paduka sevaka SrivanSatakopa Sri Narayana

Yatindra Mahadesikaya nama:

 

Dasan, sadagopan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

, "sadagopaniyengar"

<sadagopaniyengar@v...> wrote:

>

The Lonely Lord

The Lord is thus left alone most of the time. Thus the arcchA samAdhi

or the absence of interaction with His devotees is a source of tedium

for the Lord.

 

> One can endure only so much, and the Lord is no exception. When the

solitude begins to tell on Him, He does open His beautiful mouth and

speak with devotees of His choice,

 

> One day, while carrying out his chore, Picchan fell into

conversation with the Lord, who wanted to draw him out and asked him

what he thought about great people. In a deprecatory tone, Picchan

replied that all great men had their own weaknesses, their respective

Aschilles' heels. Peria Perumal, who found Picchan's remarks

interesting and unusual, providing a welcome change from the litany of

stotras He was fed daily, asked Picchan whether he could find any such

frailty in the Azhwars.

 

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

 

 

Dear Sriman Sadagopan Iyengar,

 

Very absorbing tale indeed, this encounter between PicchAn and PerumAL!

 

One may also want to see this encounter between the two in an

altogether lighter vein too. I hope you do not mind me sharing it with

you and other readers.

 

The story confirms to us that even in the case of the Great Lord, the

famous dictum, "An idle mind is the devil's workshop", truly holds

good! Here we see "the lonely Lord", in archA form, driven by boredom

and idleness to that bane of all idlers -- mischievous gossip! It was

really quite needless of our Lord to solicit PicchAn's views on great,

noble souls like the AzhwAr -- and that too 'behind their backs', as

it were! It was a case of what, in Tamil, is usually called "veeN

vambu pEcchu" -- spicy gossip! After all, poor PicchAn was just going

about quietly minding his own business and see how the Lord draws the

poor fellow out and, within moments, PichAn is throwing all caution

and prudence to the winds and is prattling out personal comments on

the high and mighty of 'bhAgavata' society -- something which the poor

man might never have otherwise ventured to do in polite society!

 

In our 'pUrANic' mythology, it is usually Sage Narada, the divine

'busybody', who is renowned for his social 'activism', going about

here and there from one 'devata' to another, drawing out sly and

'juicy' gossip from one and delivering it to another... and then when

things begin to get sufficiently foul between the parties concerned,

quickly leave town!

 

Although certainly not as gossipy or mischievous as Narada was known

to have been, here in the PicchAn case, we see that the Lord was not

entirely immune to a nasty bout of "NaradAnitis"!

 

Thanks for a nice piece. Adiyane enjoyed reading the tale.

 

Regards,

 

dAsan,

Sudarshan

[Guest guest]

Dear Sir,

 

Pardon my temerity in daring to voice a comment in

this highly erudite forum (lowly as I am), but I would

not speak of God in a "lighter vein" at any time (lest

it give people the wrong impression - the plant has to

be nurtured and protected tenderly till it becomes a

mighty tree, strong in its roots), because God always

seems to have a purpose - in this case,

(i) may be He wanted to remove the misconceptions in

PicchAn's mind about our Azhwars;

(ii) may be He wanted to illustrate to the world that

He can also be one's bosom friend, "descending" to the

level of having a "worldly" conversation;

(iii) may He wanted to prove to the world that idols

are not lifeless, and are truly representations of the

Divine [yat BhAvam tad Bhavathi; to misquote

Vivekananda,"Idols (Man, he said) and God are both

circles with one difference: Idols (Men) have infinite

circumference, and center at one point; God has

infinite circumference, and centers at all points"]

 

Humbly,

 

Ashok Krishnamurthy

 

Whatever the reason,

--- "Sudarshan M.K. <sampathkumar_2000"

<sampathkumar_2000 wrote:

> ,

> "sadagopaniyengar"

> <sadagopaniyengar@v...> wrote:

> >

> The Lonely Lord

> The Lord is thus left alone most of the time. Thus

> the arcchA samAdhi

> or the absence of interaction with His devotees is a

> source of tedium

> for the Lord.

>

> > One can endure only so much, and the Lord is no

> exception. When the

> solitude begins to tell on Him, He does open His

> beautiful mouth and

> speak with devotees of His choice,

>

> > One day, while carrying out his chore, Picchan

> fell into

> conversation with the Lord, who wanted to draw him

> out and asked him

> what he thought about great people. In a deprecatory

> tone, Picchan

> replied that all great men had their own weaknesses,

> their respective

> Aschilles' heels. Peria Perumal, who found Picchan's

> remarks

> interesting and unusual, providing a welcome change

> from the litany of

> stotras He was fed daily, asked Picchan whether he

> could find any such

> frailty in the Azhwars.

>

> *********************************

>

>

> Dear Sriman Sadagopan Iyengar,

>

> Very absorbing tale indeed, this encounter between

> PicchAn and PerumAL!

>

> One may also want to see this encounter between the

> two in an

> altogether lighter vein too. I hope you do not mind

> me sharing it with

> you and other readers.

>

> The story confirms to us that even in the case of

> the Great Lord, the

> famous dictum, "An idle mind is the devil's

> workshop", truly holds

> good! Here we see "the lonely Lord", in archA form,

> driven by boredom

> and idleness to that bane of all idlers --

> mischievous gossip! It was

> really quite needless of our Lord to solicit

> PicchAn's views on great,

> noble souls like the AzhwAr -- and that too 'behind

> their backs', as

> it were! It was a case of what, in Tamil, is usually

> called "veeN

> vambu pEcchu" -- spicy gossip! After all, poor

> PicchAn was just going

> about quietly minding his own business and see how

> the Lord draws the

> poor fellow out and, within moments, PichAn is

> throwing all caution

> and prudence to the winds and is prattling out

> personal comments on

> the high and mighty of 'bhAgavata' society --

> something which the poor

> man might never have otherwise ventured to do in

> polite society!

>

> In our 'pUrANic' mythology, it is usually Sage

> Narada, the divine

> 'busybody', who is renowned for his social

> 'activism', going about

> here and there from one 'devata' to another, drawing

> out sly and

> 'juicy' gossip from one and delivering it to

> another... and then when

> things begin to get sufficiently foul between the

> parties concerned,

> quickly leave town!

>

> Although certainly not as gossipy or mischievous as

> Narada was known

> to have been, here in the PicchAn case, we see that

> the Lord was not

> entirely immune to a nasty bout of "NaradAnitis"!

>

> Thanks for a nice piece. Adiyane enjoyed reading the

> tale.

>

> Regards,

>

> dAsan,

> Sudarshan

>

>

>

>

>

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Dear Sir,

 

I was just joking in the pious hope that God, even if not Man, would

certainly have a robust sense of humour.

 

Please pardon me for offending your sentiments. I am genuinely sorry.

 

Regards,

dAsan,

 

Sudarshan

 

 

--- Ashok Krishnamurthy <akrishna_24 wrote:

> Dear Sir,

>

> Pardon my temerity in daring to voice a comment in

> this highly erudite forum (lowly as I am), but I would

> not speak of God in a "lighter vein" at any time (lest

> it give people the wrong impression - the plant has to

> be nurtured and protected tenderly till it becomes a

> mighty tree, strong in its roots), because God always

> seems to have a purpose - in this case,

> (i) may be He wanted to remove the misconceptions in

> PicchAn's mind about our Azhwars;

> (ii) may be He wanted to illustrate to the world that

> He can also be one's bosom friend, "descending" to the

> level of having a "worldly" conversation;

> (iii) may He wanted to prove to the world that idols

> are not lifeless, and are truly representations of the

> Divine [yat BhAvam tad Bhavathi; to misquote

> Vivekananda,"Idols (Man, he said) and God are both

> circles with one difference: Idols (Men) have infinite

> circumference, and center at one point; God has

> infinite circumference, and centers at all points"]

>

> Humbly,

>

> Ashok Krishnamurthy

>

 

 

 

 

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