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Oppiliappan List Archive: Message 00029 Sep 2002

 
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Dear SrimAn Sadagopan Iyengar,

Your essay on the value of "stOtra" was a real treat to read.

Just a few thoughts to share with you, with your kind permission.

You wrote that (quote): "Stotra is the natural outlet for a devotee
who is so overwhelmed with some aspect of the Lord's greatness, that
he cannot remain without eulogising the Lord." (unquote)

"stotrA-s" are undoubtedly inspired by 'overwhelming devotion'. But
is that the only reason, we may ask ourselves, for great devotees
like Swami Desikan or KoorathAzhwAr singing paeans to God? 

Let us never fail to remember here that the Vishnu Sahasranamam hails
the Lord as "stavya-priyah:" i.e. He who is immensely pleased by
praise ("stuthi"). 

The Lord is said to be "stuti-priyan" or "stOtra-priyan" and it is
for this particular reason that devotees like Bhattar or Desikan (or
anyone else, even ordinary mortals like us for that matter) are
moved to sing 'stOtrA-s'.... The "stOtrA-s" they composed were
therefore, we may venture to say, offered in a spirit of
"bhagavath-preethyartham"... i.e. for the sake of the Lord's Pleasure
(since He is a "stavya-priyan") as much, if not more, for the sake of
venting their own "overwhelming devotion".

If, for a moment, we were to imagine a God who had no particular
penchant for "stOtrA-s", or took no delectation whatsoever in
expressions of praise, what use would it be then to sing paeans or
panegyric to Him even out of the most "overwhelming devotion" felt
for Him? Even the most exquisite of "stOtrA-s" would indeed leave
such a God cold, wouldn't it? On a clear night-sky in the dark
forests, a wolf may be inspired by the sight of the beautiful full
moon to joyous and full-throated baying that sounds like wonderful
'melody' perhaps to its pack. But what the wolf seems never to
realize is that the moon remains completely unmoved and unimpressed
by the effort! 

Our Lord, on the contrary, is a "stavya-priyan" above all else... and
what is more He is 'sadA-sarva-stavya-priyan'... He who derives
extreme pleasure from all sorts of expressions or words of praise
that anyone chooses to utter --- at any time, everytime and at all
times.... 

We may recite "stOtrA-s" daily and sometimes even turn a little weary
of it... But the Lord, He never tires of it. He is ever ready and
willing to come into our presence and patiently sit beside us to
listen to our "stOtrA-s", no matter whether we are reciting it for
the first time or the 1000th time... He is never bored at listenting
to his praises. 

And that is because He is, as the Vishnu-Sahasrannamam has
established very firmly, a "stavya-priya".. And it precisely because
that God is a "stavya-priyan" that our "stOtrA-s" (be they Bhattar's
or Desikan's or anyone else's) have really any value whatsoever.

Once again thank you, Sir, for one more in the recent and continuing
series of very delightfully penned articles posted on this list by
you.

Regards,
dAsan,

Sudarshan 

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