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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00081 May 2001

 
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--- In tiruvengadam@xxxx, "Sudarshan M.K." <sampathkumar_2000@xxxx> 
wrote:
> --- bindinganavale suresh <suresh_b_n@xxxx> wrote:
> > Dear Sri Sudarshan,
> > Not only is the episode a
> > touching story being a treat to our emotions,but it
> > also a very meaningful one.It is not our learning or
> > knowledge that takes us closer to our Lord,but the
> > faith and devotion towards him born out of such
> > learning and knowledge that makes him dear to us and
> > us dear to him.


Dear Sri.Suresh and other friends,

Please permit me to point out one other important and subtle lesson 
to be learnt from the "Gohinda or Govinda" story (and one which 
Mukkur Swamy in fact used to deftly convey by implication in his 
discourses). It is this:

The relationship between an individual and the Almighty is an 
extremely private one. The bond of intimacy that grows between 
a 'bhakta' and 'bhagavan' is a delicate and mysterious one. It might 
seem very strange to an outsider. Mukkur Swamy, for example, found it 
strange, and rather rude too, that the poor pilgrim was 
calling 'Govinda' by the unusual 'tirunAma' of "Gohinda". But 
eventually he discovered, as we learn from the story, that the 
pilgrim had never been called to account by God for the so-called 
transgression! The pilgrim had instead been in receipt of the full 
grace of God! It shows us, thus, how inscrutably compassionate are 
the ways of God... (in the parlance of SriVaishnavite theology, this 
behaviour of the Almighty is commonly termed "nirhetuka-kripa"). 

None of us can therefore really sit in judgment over the form and 
intensity a person's special feeling of 'bhakti' may take. Religion, 
and more specifically, personal faith is an intensely personal 
matter. 

Religious devotion takes many various forms. Some of the forms 
individuals embrace may not conform to tradition, convention or 
custom at all... But on that account alone one may NOT reject such 
devotion nor can one look upon such persons condescendingly. If the 
Almighty is pleased to be beckoned as "Gohinda, Gohinda" by a rustic 
pilgrom from rural Andhra ..who are we to butt in as holy 
interlocutors between man and God? 

So, the lesson here I think is that we should be extremely careful in 
adjudging the religious devotion or ardour of each other. In matters 
of personal faith it is better to respect each other's privacy. It is 
always good to follow the golden rule of "live and let live" ... and 
leave each other well alone. Which is why Mukkur Swamy, as we saw in 
the story, finally decided against correcting the pilgrim in the 
pronunciation of the 'govinda-nAma-shabdha'.

In the end 'bhagavAn' alone is the final judge... As it is said in 
the scripture, the Lord is both 'bhOkta' and 'bhOgi'... He is the 
enjoyer; He is the object of enjoyment too...

Something quite close to this very same idea is what, I believe, is 
conveyed in that famously rhythmic stanza from the very first hymn of 
NammAzhwAr's great 'tiruvoimOzhi':

"avar-avar tama-tamadhu arivu ari vagai-vagai
avar-avar iraiya-var ena adi adaiya-vargal
avar-avar iraiya-var kuraivu-illar, iraiya-var 
avar-avar vidhi-vazhi adaya nin-nraNarey!"

It is a very beautiful stanza of NammAzhwAr indeed and its meaning 
roughly in English is as follows:

"Leave each man alone his way of worship,
For he worhips well who truly worships;
Our Lord accepts all ways of all men --- 
And every man who has worship to offer
In time begets his divine due." (1.1.5)

There is a powerful lesson in here somewhere for modern day religious 
politicians too (in India, for example)... I mean the sort who 
needlessly interfere in the personal faith of common people and cause 
misery to their lives, to their community...

Regards,
dAsan,
Sudarshan
--- End forwarded message ---






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