The Hindu : God can be bound by chord of devotion

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 19, 2002

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

God can be bound by chord of devotion

CHENNAI AUG.19. If God, in all His splendour and with all paraphernalia, is always seated in His glorious kingdom, being attended by several deputies, how can ordinary men, swimming helplessly in this ocean of worldly activities, enjoy His presence? In order to prove to sincere devotees that He will respond to the faith reposed in His compassionate qualities, He took incarnations and guided them. He had demonstrated that any devotee could make him immobile by binding Him with the chord of devotion. In one such visit as ordinary human being, He first ruled a kingdom but felt that even then He will not be accessible to all.

Then He chose to remain among people in a town on the banks of a river. Again since old people and children may not be able to come here, He went to their homes as a member of cowherd community, moved with them closely, performing deeds, which surpass human comprehension. His birth itself was a proof that He yielded to prayers of a couple soaked in devotion and drenched in absolute confidence in His powers. Thus arrived Krishna.

<167> Hypothetically speaking should the Lord descend now amidst men, how would He be received? According to a tale, on a rainy day, while walking in a town, He wanted to halt at a palatial house, but was barred entry by the sentry at the gate itself. Next in a house of a middle class family He was branded as a cheat posing as God.

Ultimately there was no alternative but to seek shelter in a hut where a poor man, using a small lamp, was about to take his meagre meal. He warmly welcomed the Lord and compelled Him to share his small dinner. When God disclosed that He was Krishna, the poor labourer laughed and said, "I know that because only you will enter a place like this." This shows that we, laymen, cannot identify Him if He is amidst us but our faith can make Him bow before us.

<167>In a discourse, Srimathi Sudha Seshayyan explained how mystics, in their outpourings, had described Krishna's bewitching form, childish pranks, merciful deeds, His patient listening to all our pleas and His advice to mankind through His "poem on the battlefield". God has been compared to an elephant because no one will be tired of seeing its majestic gait any number of times. So too no devotee will get totally satisfied on worshipping God's images. The animal will bend its legs to help a man get on its back; likewise God will enable a devotee to approach Him by extending His mercy. The elephant will volunteer to get itself chained in its place of rest. God will also agree to be tethered by the rope of devotion.

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