AnDAL seeking help of kAma dEva

[Guest guest]

Jai Sriman Narayana,

For the past sometime now, there have been discussions about AnDAL seeking the

help of kAma dEva to get to Her Lord.Here is another nice reason for it as

told by my father :

It is a known fact that any act we do or any thought we cherish is good if it is

directed towards the realization of the supreme. It is not wrong to approach any

person for help and direction, if the objective of our effort is to get His

attention and Love. If the person whom we approached can guide us towards our

goal in a proper way, he becomes our AchArya. If not, there is a hope that he

can direct us to a better person.

 

It is mentioned that when a demon called Ghanta karNa (an ardent devotee of

Siva) asked Siva to grant Him salvation, Siva says to Him, “You have knocked the

wrong door”. There is another one who is the only fit one to grant such a boon.

GhanTA karNa didn’t want to hear the nArAyaNa nAma and so Siva gives him the

description of the features of Krishna and tells him that such a person will

visit Badari in the future. You approach Him and please Him. He will grant you

your wish.

 

So, here Siva became an AchArya to ghanTA karNa. He directed him to the supreme

Lord.

 

Here AnDAL approached kAma dEva. As we all know (by proper experience) that

kAmam is a force that cannot be conquered by any one, however great he/she might

be. Sage viShwAmitra had shown us through his illustrious life, that its

impossible to gain control over it without His grace and it can be sublimated by

channelizing it in the right direction. Obviously that direction is none other

than the Supreme Lord Himself. He Himself has commanded – “Do your penace,

austerities etc as an offering to me.” If these penances / austerities are done

with some other purpose like gaining supremacy over the worlds or getting

self-realization (the buzz word next in importance only to any latest IT

technology) they can lead to the ultimate downfall of the person. Controlling

such emotions is very dangerous as that kAma can silently grow without your

notice and over-power you easily.

 

So, the desire towards worldly pleasures ceases when its directed to the supreme

Lord. It is said that one can have any kind of relation-ship with the supreme

Lord. It is said that if SisupAla can get His grace by constantly hating Him, if

kamsa can get His grace by being afraid of Him, How can the gOpIs be stopped of

being subject to His endless Love, as a result of constantly longing for a

communion with Him. The desire was there, but it was directed towards Him. It

was directed to please Him and be in the blissful state of communion with Him.

 

Here AnDAL, is asking the kAmam to be directed towards Him and not get deviated

towards other petty worldly pleasures.

 

If the desire is given the form of a demi-god called kAma dEva, it can be taken

that AnDAL is seeking his help to direct her (and “US”) only towards the Lord.

It can be argued that when the Lord is both the means and the end, Why should we

approach some lesser deity?. – Yes its true. He Himself gives us that

understanding and Love towards Him and makes us long for Him. But there is this

karma, which drags us towards the materialistic pleasures. He has designated

kAma dEva to grant us such wordly pleasures. So its nothing wrong to show

respect to such designated authority and seek his help. By seeking his help, we

are elevating him to the position of an AchArya. (It is just like respecting

Brahma as the god designated for creation and seeking his blessings). Also, our

AnDAL is fully aware of whom such an address will actually point to. She is

actually addressing that antaryAmi in kAma dEva. The reason behind approaching

kAma dEva is because he has been assigned such a task and as our karma directs

us towards materialistic pleasures, lets approach the one who directs our

desires and plead him not to direct our kAma in the wrong way.

 

Also, our AnDAL is adept at commanding all the gods. Being the divine mother,

everything is under Her control. She had commanded varuNa dEva to rain nicely in

the “Azhimalai kaNNA” pASuram. Here it can be taken that she is commanding the

kAma dEva – not to misdirect her children who are devoted to Her Lord. She is

telling kAma dEva – “O kAma dEva – I am totally longing for my Lord. I have no

other wish. Direct me only towards my Lord and show the way to reach Him”. It

has to be taken that She is commanding on our behalf. “My children who are

devoted to the Lord are not able to experience Him, by being deluded due to

their karma. See to it that you do not keep them glued in their material

pleasures and direct their kAmam in the right way towards the Lord. Its because

you have been given the task of directing the desire towards its objects and

effect their attainment”.

 

Our Mother has sung TiruppAvai for our sake. She has shown simple examples of

the nature to explain to us about the nature of the supreme Lord. She out of Her

love has explained the complicated things in the most easy way.

 

We are philosophic fools. When something is presented to us in a simple way, we

think that its not worth it. But are we in a position to digest and understand

the nature of the supreme Lord and His attributes. Arjuna himself could not

understand Him inspite of seeing His cosmic form. And we say that "She is in

ajnAnam".

 

Our mother explains to us the supreme truths in the most easiest way, just like

feeding a child by showing the moon in the sky.

 

Lets pray for Her continuous well being and Lets always wish that we keep Her

and Her Hubby happy by being the children of their choice. Lets pray for their

eternal togetherness.

 

Not only that lets also treat them as our own little children and take care of

them with utmost care.

 

Jai Sriman Narayana.

 

 

 

 

 

Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now