Three types of behaviour of human beings

CHENNAI, SEPT. 6. The behaviour of a human being, based on his intellectual equipment, may broadly fall into three types. Some will discharge their obligations and carry out their duties as well as orders even without being told or goaded, voluntarily, unhesitatingly and willingly. There are some who will do a work only when requested or commanded or compelled. The third category of ordinary people will be inactive who will neither work on their own accord nor when forced. A divine poetess compares the three groups to three varieties of trees - the jack which yields fruits even without flowering; the mango which flowers in profusion and also bears a lot of fruits; the ``trumpet'' (Paadiri) which only flowers but gives nothing and is of no benefit.

This distinguished messenger of God has left many morals in simple Tamil which can be followed even by a growing child. Great truths and directives are embedded in her aphorisms and in her indelible poems. Since God had sent her with a mission, she shunned entanglement in domestic chores even while young and since she felt she would be compelled to marry, she made a very strange plea to God viz., to grant her an aged woman's look. The request having been acceded to by God, she, as a respected old woman, went round singing God's praise, advising people and bringing about peace among warring sections. This was the famed ``Avvaiyar'' whose poems convey great thoughts. One of them refers to the ``atomic'' form of the Almighty and how His presence can be experienced within one's heart as He presents Himself like the sweetness (not to be seen but tasted) in sugar. Her personal deities were Ganesa and Subramania.

The replies Avvaiyar gave when Lord Subramania, assuming the role of a shepherd, raised four important questions relating to human life are relevant even today. Explaining the same in a lecture, Sri M. K. Ramanan said the Lord asked her which is the worst inimical factor that should be dreaded. She replied ``poverty'', that too in one's young days. ``What constitutes happiness'' was the next to which the answer was ``to remain aloof and meditate and whenever opportunities arise, associate oneself with pious people''. ``What is the biggest asset in the world'' was the third question to which she referred to the company of saints and sincere devotees. To the final query as to which is rare, Avvaiyar said ``to be born as a human being is the greatest gift of God, that too without any physical deformity, capable of acquiring spiritual knowledge and engaging in divine service''.

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