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Re: Abhishekam

From the Bhakti List Archives

Mani Varadarajan • November 3, 1995 


Shakthi@aol.com wrote:
* I was
* asked by my son why we do theseabhishekams with milk and dhahi etc .I could
* not give him a satisfactory answer. could somebody enlighten me on this
* subject.                               kanaka.v
* 

Sri P.B. Annangarachariar explained the principle behind
the ArAdhana and abhiSekam in an upanyaasam of his. Why do
we ask the Lord to wake up, why do we bathe him, feed him,
etc.? Does he sleep, eat, or need to cleansed in any 
conventional sense? Of course not! PerumaaL is the abode
of all purity and goodness, parama sattva samaaSrayaH 
according to Sri Yaamunacharya. Sleep is only for those
who fatigue or are lazy; eating is for those who are
hungry or who are gluttons; bathing is for those who 
need to be cleaned. PerumaaL is in no need of any of
these things.

So why do we do these things? Sri Annangarachariar
quotes a verse by Thirumalai AnDaan in praise of 
Thondaradippodi Azhvaar:

	tam eva matvaa paravaaSudevam
	rangesayam raajavadarhaNIyam

Lord Vaasudeva is imagined to be a king of the highest
order. In Indian and specifically Tamil culture, kings
were bathed, woken up, fed, etc., by their loyal followers
and treated with the utmost affection and love. PerumaaL
is not just the lord of the temple or town but of the
entire universe -- so we follow the ancient custom of
treating him as befits a great mahaaraaja.

In doing this, we follow the example of many rishis and 
Azhvaars.

Mani