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"Praise the Lord"

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sadagopaniyengar • September 15, 2002 


 
Srimate SrivanSatakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yatindra Mahadesikaya Nama:

 

Dear shri Sudharsan,

Thanks for your delightful response. It is supplements such as yours that stimulate even barren intellects like adiyen's and provide an assurance that adiyen's postings do not attract a "shoot at sight" order in the form of the Delete button, and are indeed read.       

This is the stuff of which "patti mandrams" are made- are Stotras prompted by overwhelming devotion, or born out of a desire to please the Lord, who is a "stava priya:".

There is no question that He has a liking for praise, much like the child for sugar candy. In fact, he goes to extraordinary lengths to make people sing His praise. Sri Nammazhwar warns poets of a predator, (none other than Emperuman) who has the habit of insinuating Himself into one's innermost being and making one sing His praise-

"Senchol kavigAL uyir kAtthu Atcheymin  TirumAl irumchOlai

 vanja KaLvan mAmAyan mAya kaviyAi vandu -en

 nenjum uyirum uL kalandu nindrAr ariyA vaNnam-en

 nenjum uyirum avai uNdu tAnEyAgi niraindAnE"

 

He seems to have an insatiable appetite for praise, and urges more and more devotees to sing more and more in His praise.

Having said this, however, we must also consider whether the StOtras are sensitive to the Lord's receptiveness. While He is undoubtedly receptive, what if He were not to be? Would this stop the devotees from praising Him?

 

 The answer appears to be negative, for, the causative factor for the paeoans of praise is the bhakta's deep devotion, which makes him burst into praise, unable to contain himself and seeking an outlet at any cost. When one is overwhelmed with love, one needs to do something to express oneself, and it is natural for the devotee to resort to praise. Look at the plight of Sri Nammazwar- he is so overwhelmed by bhakti, that he seeks to sing the Lord's names night and day, moved to tears-"Sireedharan seyya tAmarai kaNnan endru endru irAppagal vAi verI, alamandu kaNgal neer malgi vevuiyrrtthu uyirtthu". The praise may incidentally be to the Lord's liking, but that is not what propels the bhakta to stuti. 

To cite the example of the wolf and the moon, it matters little to the wolf that the moon is unresponsive, and it continues its soulful baying more as an expression of its emotions, than to please the moon.

Most of the stotras, including the divya prabandas, appear to be "anubhava granthAs", outpourings of parama bhaktas unable to contain their devotion and seeking an outlet therefor, rather than born out of a specific desire to please the Lord, though the latter element is always present in all actions of a devotee, like the invisible thread on which a garland is strung. This is evident in many of the pasurams, which lavish copious praise on the Lord, complaining simultaneously that He is unresponsive, making the Azhwar wilt with longing-

"Adi Adi aham karaindu-isai

  pAdi pAdi kaNNeer malgi-engum

 nAdi nAdi Narasinga endru 

 vAdi vAdum ivvAl nudalE".

The Lord is so unresponsive at times that Azhwar beseeches Him to appear in person, if only to call him (Azhwar) a sinner-

"pAvi nee endru ondru sollAi pAviyEn kANa vandE".

The point is that irrespective of whether Emperuman is perceived to be liking the Stotra or not, the devotee recites them anyway, overwhelmed by devotion, for he just can't refrain from it.

Sri Madhura Kavi Azhwar too cites pure pleasure as the reason for praising KurugUr nambi- "aNNikkum amudu oorum en nAvukkE".  Even ordinary mortals like us find many a time that recitation of stotras, especially the Stotra Ratnam, Gadyatrayam, AtimAnusha stavam, Sri Rangaraja stotram, Sri Daya Satakam, Sri DEhalIsa Stuti, or the Divya prabandas, is intensely pleasurable by itself. This may have an element of selfishness in it, being done primarily for one's own pleasure of Bhagavat anubhavam, rather than for His pleasure. However, in the ultimate analysis, it is the antaryAmi who partakes of the pleasure, and this should absolve us of any feelings of self-interest. 

  These are off-the-cuff remarks, so to say, prompted purely by the heart, without reference to doctrinal positions. Thanks again to Shri Sudarshan and his enlightening inputs. Dasan, sadagopan.

 

     



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