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True devotee pines to reach God

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Malolan Cadambi • September 10, 2002 


True devotee pines to reach God 

http://www.hindu.com/stories/2002091000170900.htm

CHENNAI SEPT. 10. One of the distinguishing features of a true servant of God, who is ever immersed in meditating on His effulgent forms and retaining them in his mind is the unimaginable grief that he will experience, when by an unfortunate circumstance, he is deprived of enjoying this glorious vision. A saint, who was privileged to witness God's various postures (in idols) presented before him was once totally upset that he could not see Him. When there was a serpent, which moved nearby, he imagined that it was the Divine Couch of the Lord. That was the state of mind of Nammazhwar. It is the mind that entertains noble as well as vicious thoughts. To explain how it behaves among different creations, a verse refers to a scene of a woman taking rest underneath a tree. An ascetic who passed by the place presumed it to be a corpse and walked away. A layman, given to worldly pleasures, felt happy that it was an object for enjoyment. A dog that went there was delighted that the flesh from the body will be availab

Elucidating this theme and citing a verse from "Subhashitanivi", the Jeeyar Swami of the Ahobila Math, in a lecture, mentioned the details of the life of a sage, (who was named Markandeya). He saw a huge banyan tree at a distance. Though it had many branches, yet in one among the leaves he saw a child lying on it. There was an aura around it and this bewitching form filled his heart with joy. He treated the child as a manifestation of the Lord Himself and rushed to embrace it, but it vanished. His love for the Divine Child increased thousandfold and his entire attention was riveted to it and he pined to witness its dazzling form again. He was so enamoured of the child that he recalled how the Lord is described as reclining on the serpent couch (Adisesha). 

With the hope of witnessing the Lord in this posture, the sage continued to cherish and take care of every huge tree before him. His poignant feeling reveals how a true devotee will pine to reach the Divine Empire to serve the Lord permanently as against the thoughts of a man with base instincts awaiting to seek the company of the woman whom he noticed from a distance. This sloka reflects the intensity of devotion of all penitents as demonstrated by Nammazhwar and Markandeya. 



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