Once a disciple of the great Acharya Sri Periavachanpillai asked his Guru ,
Swamin ! My attempts to control the EGO is always ineffective and this EGO is not getting rid of me .
Few occasions this is becoming more prominent and making me to misconduct myself repeatedly .
Gurudeva , adiyen is enslaved by my nature and am scared.
Is there still any scope for me to attain the Supreme Lord ?? or will this behaviour of mine throw me in the deep pit of hell .
The disciple was in distress .
The revered Acharya replied ,
My Child !!
It is wrong for the jiva to think that he is the enjoyer or that he is totally independent . Once Lord decides to save the Jiva, he makes him do good things and If HE wishes him to push him down HE makes him to do the evil deeds ….
Pride is an alternative name for EGO .
The feeling that I am Independent , strong , wealthy , intelligent , handsome etc compared to others invites this EGO with open arms .
Such EGO is responsible for disrespecting Elders .
The one who keeps EGO at a distance is alone eligible for God Realisation .
The paramour that accompanies the EGO is the feeling of I ness or the feeling of mine .Whenever any attractive thing is perceived the mind wants to claim it or possess it .This feeling is the wife of the EGO and as a chaste wife she will never leave her husband EGO .The children born to this couple are anger and jealousy .
The mischief created by these kids destroys the peace of the Jiva .
And to get rid of this couple !!!! the jiva suffers ….
Its like this my child !!
The head of the family is EGO .
If one has to destroy him the wife will also end her life .
Due to their absence the kids jealousy and anger also will vanish .
Whatever the Jiva does is under the control of the LORD .
Just as the minister functions under the limited delegation conferred by the King even the jiva is totally dependent on Paramatma .
The jiva enjoys only the fruits showered by the Lord .
Just as the independent one and the one who confers the rewards is the King , the totally Independent Lord is the complete enjoyer .
The Lord who creates this universe is constantly at work and enjoys the fruits also .
We enjoy only the balance that is given to us , because we have served the Lord in full faith and love .
We do not have a life of our own ( that is independent of hIM ) We are there to be used , where and when as required by HIM ..
The Lord is the principal enjoyer .
It is to be understood that we are here to be enjoyed by Him .
Assume , a person has gifted a Jack fruit to a King .
The King receives the entire fruit together with the skin and the fiber .
But when he desires to eat the fruit the King enjoys the inner kernel after removing the fibre and the skin which are not needed .
In the same manner LORD who is the principal enjoyer accepts the Jiva even though he may have qualities that are not favoured for his up liftment .
When the LORD wishes to enjoy the offering he removes the offending qualities of the jiva .He accepts whatever is offered with joy .
A pasuram from Divya Prabhandam by revered Nammazhwar goes as below
Theernda adiyavar thammai thiruthippani kollavalla ardnapugal achuthan
says Nammazhwar….
It means LORD is an ocean of mercy with a big heart ….
and
HE accepts all those who have a desire for liberation and even though they are covered with evil qualities which are sticking to them like dirty mud , HE ensures the same is cleaned thus correcting them (thiruthI ) and accepts them to HIS presence .
And finally he who has offered himself to LORD in his Saranagathi has nothing to fear at all .
The LORD himself will rid the person of the undesirable qualities and being the real enjoyer will accept him .
The devotee was pleased and was relieved to receive the advise .
It was a eye opener for him too to surrender his Freewill and accept the divine will .
The lesson was simple but crystal clear .
Any act of kindness , devotion , charity , cheerfulness obedience , love makes us near to LORD and its reverse takes us away from LORD .
Adiyen Ramanuja dasan
Pics courtesy : Google images and several social media uploaded by several devotees