Pleasing Him is most important

We should realise that our atma belongs to the Lord, therefore we should serve Him. To think the atma belongs to anyone else amounts to insulting God.

If a queen begs, it is not so much an insult to the queen herself as it is to her husband, the king. Our aim must be to please God. We should not take pride in our service to the Lord.

The Vaishnavite Acharya Ramanuja once asked those who took food offerings to Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam to show him the vessel of food, after they had placed it before the Lord in His sanctum sanctorum. The priests were puzzled.

Ramanuja's request is a reflection of how we should think of offerings to God. Ramanuja asked them to show him the vessel because he was hoping that the Lord would have taken at least a little bit of what had been offered to Him.

And when the Lord accepted the food offering, Ramanuja would be pleased. That is how we should feel about our offerings to God, said M.A. Venkatakrishnan in a discourse.

We should not offer something simply because that is what we would like to eat. But that is what we often do. There is no point in saying that instead of a sweet, we will offer something else to the Lord, simply because we have been asked by the doctor to avoid sweets.

If the custom is to offer sweets to the Lord, that is what we must offer, for after all, the offering is not to please our palate, but for the Lord's enjoyment.

Seeking enjoyment for ourselves can lead us to unhappiness. We may seek one thing and end up having to face many unforeseen difficulties. We may get sidetracked, and be led into paths not of our choosing.

Our position would be like that of a farmer, who manures his fields and adds fertilizers, in the hope of improving the yield. But while the crops he has planted do not thrive, weeds sprout, thanks to his generous use of fertilizers.

In the same way, we may set out to do something, but the result may be something unexpected. But if we surrender at Lord Narayana's feet, we know that the result will definitely be moksha.

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Lord Krishna's love for His devotees

The ceremonial dancer of the Srirangam temple once did abhinaya for a verse, which expressed Thirumangai Azhvar's argument with the Lord. To represent Azhvar's anger, the dancer kicked his foot and waved his hands menacingly in the direction of the Lord.

Embar, a Vaishnavite preceptor who was there at the time, felt this was the most inappropriate abhinaya.

The reason for his displeasure was that the Lord would not be provoked by a bhakta kicking out at Him. He would, out of His love for His devotees, be happy at such a gesture, said K.B. Devarajan in a discourse.

There is a verse by Jayadeva, in which Lord Krishna tells a Gopika to put her feet on His head. The story goes that Jayadeva left to have an oil bath. While he was gone, the Lord Himself wrote this verse.

When Jayadeva returned from his bath, he found this verse written, and the parchment on which it was written was covered with oil since the author Jayadeva had been having an oil bath. So Lord Krishna Himself wrote the verse which talks of His delight in bearing the feet of the Gopikas on His head.

Such is the lenience He shows His devotees, and such is His love for them. So He will not at all be angry if a devotee were to kick his feet in His direction, or wave his hands impertinently.

The Lord will only be pleased that His devotee has taken such liberties with Him. What will make Him sad will be the separation of His devotees from Him. That parting He cannot bear.

Krishna says in the Bhagavad Gita that those who want to recover lost wealth approach Him. Others approach Him for new sources of wealth. There are the ‘kaivalyarthis' who do not progress to the bhakti yoga, which will help them to get the boon of serving the Lord in Sri Vaikuntha.

The gnanis are the ones who know what moksha is, and who seek it earnestly. Krishna says that such gnanis are His Atma.

While the Lord Himself is the Atma of the entire universe, imagine His love for His devotees, if He describes them as His Atma.

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The Five forms of Lord Narayana/Vishnu/Hari

Lord Narayana is in five forms. He is in Sri Vaikuntha, with Goddess Mahalakshmi. He is in the milky ocean. He appeared as Incarnations. He is inside everything (Antaryami). He is seen in idol form (Archa) in temples. In Sri Vaikuntha, the only thing that is heard by Him is the Sama Veda. He does not hear the cries of people on earth, or the cries for help from the Devas. And if He only hears the Sama Veda in SriVaikuntha, how will come to our rescue? Our cries are heard by him in His abode in the milky ocean. So He resides in the milky ocean. This is His Vyuha form.

When He hears people's requests for help, He appears as avataras to save them. These avataras are known as His Vibhava forms. While ten incarnations are popularly known, He has taken many more avataras to save His devotees, and to establish dharma. He resides inside every one of us. Finally, He is also seen in temples, as idols. If we have a picture of Him and worship it at home, He is there in the picture too. Different people have worshipped different forms of the Lord, said K.B. Devarajan.

Thus, Suka Brahmam and the early Azhvars celebrated the Lord at Sri Vaikuntha. Sage Narada, Thiruppaan Azhvar and Thondardippodi Azhvar celebrated Lord Ranganatha of Srirangam. Valmiki and Kulasekhara Azhvar celebrated the Rama avatara. Parasara, Vyasa, Nammazhvar, Periazhvar and Andal celebrated Krishna. Sage Sounaka and Thirumangai Azhvar celebrated the idol form in many temples.

The Lord is celebrated as Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent. When we say He is Omnipresent, it means He is everywhere. So why should we worship Him in temples is the question that might arise. We need to worship Him in idol form in temples, because He is the most accessible in it. We are not in Sri Vaikuntha to enjoy His presence there. We do not live in the time of Rama or Krishna to enjoy the Vibhava form. We are not gnanis to realise His presence inside us as Antaryami. But we can and must worship Him in idol form. We must concentrate on His beautiful form in temples and seek salvation.

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The Six Temples of Lord Subrahmanya/Swaminatha

Soorapadman was an asura who secured a boon that made it impossible for him to be vanquished. Unable to bear the torture he inflicted on them, the celestials prayed to Lord Siva to help them. Siva took a form with six faces. From the third eye of each face, a spark emanated. The six fire sparks became six beautiful babies.

Goddess Parvati hugged the babies, and they fused into one with six faces and 12 arms. This divine child was Lord Subrahmanya, also called Karthikeya, because he was taken care of by six maidens known as the Karthikai maidens.

When the time came for Soorapadman to be destroyed, Subrahmanya set out with the blessings of His parents. Parvati gave Him a spear. The battle between Subrahmanya and Soorapadman took place at Tiruchendur, in the southern tip of Tamil Nadu.

The battle went on for 10 days, and once the Lord had killed Soorapadman's brothers and was about to kill the asura himself, the asura transformed himself into a tree. Subrahmanya split the tree into two with the spear that Parvati had given Him. One half of the tree became a peacock, which became Subrahmanya's mount. The other became a cock and took its place on Subrahmanya's flag. Adi Sankara has composed Subrahmanya Bhujangam in praise of the Lord.

On the way to Tiruchendur to battle Soorapadman, Subrahmanya stayed in many places, with His army. These places came to be known in Tamil as ‘padai veedu' (army camp).

In each of these places, a temple of Subrahmanya can be seen even today. Offering worship at these temples will bring us auspiciousness, said Mathivannan in a discourse. There is one at Tiruchendur.

There is the temple at Swamimalai, where Subrahmanya taught the Pranava mantra to His father, Siva, and thus earned the name Swaminatha. The temple at Tiruttani is the one where He is seen with His two consorts. It would be of great benefit to people if they visited the six temples and worshipped the Lord who advised His own father and who vanquished the asura, whom none could kill.

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