…. A lotus which is not in the water , will not be allowed to blossom by the sun .. Not only that It will fade away soon …….

Swamy Nampillai just finished his daily worship and was about to conduct a discourse .

His ardent disciple  Pinbalagaram Perumal Jeeyar  had a doubt to be clarified. 

He approached Swamy Nampillai and submitted his question

.. Acharya !!  

Please tell me , whenever a person is in difficulty  we approach our Acharya and seek his blessings to ward off the problems .

 

Acharyar also blesses by abundant compassion ” shubena manasa dhyaatam ”  adding Thathasthu …and the problem is solved .

Such incidents have happened several times in the past and continue to happen .

Adiyen wants to know whether this is because of Acharya or the Lord ?

Swamy Nampillai  in a   composed  mood , clarifies his disciple that all the good that was happening was because of Lord himself .

 Pinbalagam Jeeyar   again  once again submits  ,  Acharya !!  in that case   can we approach LORD directly ?

Swamy Nampillai   with compassion   replies  !

My child …….

It is incorrect to directly approach the Lord .

In order to seek LORD’s grace we must first seek HIS devotees blessings .  

LORD ensures that the blessings showered by HIS pure devotees are  always effective . There is no other way to seek HIS grace .

Pinbalagam Jeeyar was convinced with the answer , but expected more .

Swamy Nampillai continued !

Look my child !!

In Mahabharata,  Jayadhrata the powerful warrior killed Abhimanyu ( Arjuna’s son ) after leading him into the Padmavyuham             ( Lotus formation )  .

Arjuna deeply upset vowed that before the sunset he would kill Jayadhrata else  he would kill himself.

Having coming to know about Arjuna’s vow the kauravas were very happy . They decided to protect Jayadratta till sunset to see the end of Arjuna . Meanwhile ,  Arjuna was searching for Jayadratha everywhere in the battle field  till the evening . Time passed swiftly and the sun was about to set . The Kauravas were overjoyed . They were keen to see Arjuna killing himself as per his vow .

Lord Krishna  watching   Arjunas anxiety ,  released his Sudarshana chakra  and covered the sun thus appearing the night has arrived  .

The kauravas  were overjoyed . Jayadratta also came out from the hiding place . Looking at Kauravas ,  Lord Krishna ordered Arjuna to behead Jayadrata  which was immediately obeyed   and simultaneously  recalled the sudarshana chakra  . The sun came back in its own glory which amazed the kauravas  . The vow announced by Arjuna was fulfilled by Lord Krishna . Lord ensured that HIS help is always available for HIS devotee. This pastime proves that LORD alone is responsible for the blessings of the devotee to be effective .

  Swamy Nampillai further continued  ,  Koorath azhwan  the  ardent disciple  of  Swamy Ramanuja  was humiliated by the bigoted  cruel  king  Krimikanta .

He along with Peria nambi  lost their eyes in the process of saving the rich srivaishnava sampradaya . Koorathazhwan returned to srirangam in great distress . The tyrant king passed an order that all those who had any connection whatsoever with Swamy Ramanuja shall not be permitted to enter the temple in Srirangam. 

Unknowingly , one day  Koorathazhwan makes an entry into the SriRangam temple .  The temple guards stop him from entering  . However one temple guard allows him to enter into the temple to have darshan of Lord Ranganatha .  Kooresan  was  curious to know what was the reason for his special favor towards him  ? The temple guard replied  Oh Seer ! you seem to look like a person with good qualities  though a follower of Swamy Ramanuja  and that is the reason you were being allowed . Kooresa was shocked .

He  exclaimed ..

Are you concluding that the followers of Swamy Ramanuja have bad qualities ?? and If my good qualities entitle me to enter the temple  are the followers of Swamy Ramanuja bad ?

In that case I do not wish to sever my relationship with Swamy Ramanuja and will avoid entering into the temple    ………

For realisation of the self, my  association  with Swamy Ramanuja is essential .  No prayer pleases Lord without Acharyar’s mercy.  Kooresan politely refuses to accept the gaurd’s  honor and walks back to his house . This pastime establishes the supremacy of Acharya sambandham with our poorvacharyas …

  A  lotus  which is not in  the water , will not be allowed to blossom by    the sun ..   Not only that  It will  fade away  soon …….

Adiyen Ramanuja dasan

Pics credits : Google images