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Hindu Article

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muralidhar rangaswamy • November 7, 1997 


Dear Friends,

I found the following article in today's "Hindu" on the Web and thought 
of sharing it with the group.

Namo Narayana,

Muralidhar Rangaswamy

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            The lives of God's messengers who frequent this world to
            reform the erring humanity, remind us of their supreme
            faith in divine dispensation and their total dependence
            on the Almighty to complete the task for which they were
            deputed. By their act of surrender, they entrusted their
            problems to God to give them strength. Such noble souls
            re-appeared not because of their past actions but only
            to continue the job they had left unfinished.

            To such outstanding persons, God had revealed His
            presence, through indirect methods and by His timely
            intervention, thus belying the statements of some that
            God is a mythical entity. The ``Gita Govindam,'' also
            popularly termed as ``Ashtapadi'' by Jayadeva is a
            scintillating poem extolling God's qualities and His
            mercy extended to all those who submitted themselves to
            Him in His incarnation as Krishna.

            The main thrust of the teachings of all Godmen who were
            (and are) amidst us is the sanctity and efficacy of the
            recitation of Divine names. The Bhajan and Harikatha
            traditions drew copious references from Gita Govindam
            and from subsequent hymns like Krishna Leela Tharangini.
            These two works are being considered as the eyes of this
            Sampradaya. Jayadeva, who is the manifestation of Vyasa,
            propagated the Lord's message by his singing, praising
            Puri Jagannatha while his wife danced to the verses. The
            tunes adopted now in recitals have been set to a great
            extent, in accordance with those prevalent in the poet's
            days (11th century).

            In his Harikatha, Kalyanapuram Sri R. Aravamudan
            referred to the prevalence of a doubt among some whether
            the chanting of God's names, without knowing their
            meanings or contents, would fetch benefit. God welcomes
            any form or manner of demonstrations of faith. This has
            been explained by Vedanta Desika citing the example of a
            child that makes an appeal for alms (symbolising
            detachment) immediately after the investiture of the
            sacred thread. Women relatives know the significance of
            his words and grant (rice) what he seeks. So too God can
            understand what transpires in the minds of the devotees.

            The couple Jayadeva and Padmavati had naturally to face
            ordeals as the former's fame spread. The then king (in
            Orissa) who also contributed a similar hymn was jealous
            of the popularity of Gita Govindam but the Lord
            appearing in his dream made him realise about the
            superiority of the former's poem. Both then became
            friendly. The central theme of the songs which summarise
            Krishna's acts is that the soul always pines to reach
            God and the link between the two can be re-established
            only through an intermediary - an Acharya.




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