From the Hindu

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Sri:

 

Dear Bhaktas,

 

Adiyen found this interesting piece in the Hindu and wishes to share it

on this forum.

 

Namo Narayana,

 

SriMuralidhara Dasan

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God will protect ardent devotees

 

CHENNAI, NOV. 5. Being blemishless, God knows no anger.

He will,

however, feel unhappy with those who pretend as devotees,

donning

special robes and other marks of piety and even applying

cosmetics so

that their body may be fresh and fragrant and display

their interest in

divine service. But their minds will be impure and they

may not hesitate to

adopt heinous ways. They may not realise that their

bodies will turn into

dust one day. God will not help these pseudo-devotees as

He watches

their activities (even done in strict privacy) and knows

what transpires in

their minds.

 

On the other hand, the Lord will be extremely merciful

and will protect

sincere and ardent devotees who take total refuge in Him.

He does not

expect any pomp or show in the devotional exercises, and

will be pleased

with their pure thoughts, words and deeds, as He is a

witness to

whatever that transpires in their minds. The Bhagavatham

refers to the

intense faith that a child-devotee reposed in Him and his

confidence that

the Lord would come to his rescue at all times. His

categorical statement

that ``The Almighty pervades the entire universe and has

the powers to

present Himself anywhere, at any time'' was challenged by

his

tyrant-father, who hated God. For the sake of the child,

Prahlada, the

Lord emerged from a pillar assuming a man-lion form and

punished the

culprit. God's incarnation as ``Narasimha'' was

instantaneous.

 

Sri Mukkur Lakshminarasimhachariar, in his discourse,

explained that

more than saving the child-devotee from tortures

inflicted by his father,

the Supreme Lord wanted to honour his committed words

that God

exists in an atom and in the entire cosmos. Also, He was

keen that the

``Creator'' (Brahma) who had given a boon to the child's

father would

not become an object of ridicule should it become

ineffective. Sage

Narada's assurance that the child would remain unaffected

was also

made true. Scriptures adore this special incarnation as

``most glorious

and bewitching''.