God's accessibility from the discourse of Kalyanapuram Sri Aravamudhacharirar [from today's The Hindu] - Good reading..

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God's accessibility

http://www.hindu.com/2006/08/24/stories/2006082401440900.htm

 

 

 

CHENNAI : Every manifestation of the Almighty in this

world is unique as the purpose for His descent varies.

His incarnation in human form as Krishna has been

glorified by mystics and scholars alike for His easy

accessibility (Saulabhya). Vedanta Desika underscores

that the Lord chose to be born in the simple cowherd

community. They were privileged to witness all His

childhood divine deeds. Even though His divine nature

was evident right from His birth, His Saulabhya was

such that they never had a chance to feel He was

different from them. Krishna chose to do such acts

that are considered menial — tending cows along with

the cowherd boys, becoming the envoy of the Pandavas

to negotiate on their behalf and then when the war

became inevitable He became Arjuna's charioteer.

 

In his Harikatha, Kalyanapuram Sri R.Aravamudachariar

said Pillai Lokacharya had noted that the singular

feature of the Ramayana was the Divine Mother (Sita)

subjecting Herself to captivity in Lanka and in the

Krishnavatara the Lord assuming the role of a

messenger of the Pandavas. The Divine couple thus go

to any extent for the sake of their devotees. The

Azhwars are unanimous in their portrayal of Krishna's

Saulabhya. He, who is the infinite, omnipotent Lord of

the entire creation, allowed Himself to be bound by a

piece of rope to a mortar when Yashoda was unable to

tie Him after repeated efforts. This only goes to show

that God makes Himself accessible to His devotees and

is beholden to unalloyed devotion.

 

Among the scriptural texts it is the Bhagavata Purana,

which describes the Krishnavatara elaborately. The

composition of this Purana by Vyasa after he finished

his marathon undertaking, the Mahabharata, gives

insight into the subject matter of this work. Even

though he had dealt with the life of the Lord in the

epic, devotion was not the main theme in it and hence

he did not derive peace of mind. At the instance of

Narada he then undertook to write the Bhagavata Purana

with devotion to God as the leitmotif. It is in the

depiction of Lord Krishna's glorious, inimitable deeds

that the sage surpasses all his other literary

accomplishments. Moreover, it was because of

Pareekshit who listened to the exposition of this

Purana from Suka that Krishnavatara merited such

singular treatment