Welcome to Adiyen Sri Ramanuja Dasan !
" Srimathe Ramanujaya Namaha !"
The Lord is so enamoured of His devotees, that He wishes to follow them in all their practices. When we love somebody a lot, we tend to follow in their footsteps, emulating and imitating whatever they do and say. Similar is the state of Emperuman, who loves us so much that He considers whatever is good for us as good for Him too, whether or not He needs it. When our two year-old child takes a morsel of baby food from its own bowl and tries to feed us, would we spurn the proffered food because we have outgrown the gruel?
When the proud mother is dressing up her child, applying powder to its face and body, if the child snatches the powder and tries to smear mother's face with it in an attempt at beautification, does the loving mother wipe off the powder immediately and scold the toddler for the gesture of love? Similar to all this, Bhagavan too accepts with gratification all that we do for Him in good faith and proudly sports all the adornments we see fit to decorate Him with. Otherwise, there is little reason for the Lord to have a ceremonial bath every day, for He is the cleanest of persons, with a tirumEni that never attracts any impurity or dirt. Nor does He need His teeth to be cleaned, feet to be washed or to perform Achamanam now and again. Still less does He need to be fed with the mundane morsels we offer Him.
However, like the adult accepting the loving and imperfect ministrations of a child, the Lord too accepts whatever we offer Him with devotion. He accepts them not half-heartedly, but with a heart brimming over with gratitude. He accepts them with pride, as the offerings of His own offspring, however imperfect. It is thus that He sports a TirumankAppu too, though He has neither the need nor the compulsion therefor.
If His devotees feel He looks better with TirumankAppu, He readily accepts it as His regular adornment, irrespective of the need or necessity for the same.
When the Lord Himself is prepared to wear TirumaNkAppu for our sake, should we not do it at least for His sake? Instead of fighting shy of doing something which we ought to feel proud of, instead of caring for what unconcerned and undiscerning third parties may think, instead of forgetting our own stature in the spiritual firmament and trying to ape others who are still on the bottom rung of the ladder, if only we think of adorning ourselves with oordhva pundram with justifiable pride, if only we do it with the realisation that it is the Lord's very own tiruvadi that is purifying our forehead, if we prefer the Tirumankappu to other cosmetic embellishments we currently favour- it would only be then that the Lord is really pleased with us. We would command new respect if we turn a blind eye to derisive glances and deaf ears to snide comments. It is well worth remembering that the world is full of malicious critics who would have little good to say about us, whichever course we adopt. Given this prejudiced attitude of mortals, should we really care about what others think, as long as we are convinced that what we are toeing is the straight and right path trodden by countless emancipated souls before us? This mental block against correct conduct, once removed, would open the floodgates of spiritual fortune and lead us on to the Lord and all that He has to offer us.
Jai Srimannaryana !
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