The Lord is stern and impartial in dispensing the fruit of action to every jivatma in the manner of a father who disciplines and chides, but His compassion is the strongest ray of hope to the jivatma, say the scriptures. It is also shown that the Lord’s consorts are a cut above and influence the Lord to pardon the erring jivatma with their exceptional love that far exceeds that of a mother. In Goda Stuti, a hymn in praise of Goda, Vedanta Desika extols this quality of Vatsalya that protects the jivatmas and leads them towards salvation, said Tiruvahindrapuram Sri Kannanswami in a discourse. His poetic fancy visualises the moment of judgment faced by the jivatma when he approaches the Lord for succour. The Lord is fully aware of the innumerable faults of the supplicant and is unwilling to relent. Goddess Sri pleads with the Lord to show mercy on the jivatma. She takes up his case, asking the Lord whether there is anyone who is faultless. The Lord turns His head away. But Goddess Bhu on His other side intervenes and indicates her request to pardon through her raised eyebrows. The Lord sees no other alternative, and is forced to accede. The poet says that her intercession seems to divest the Lord of His independence in the matter of dealing with the jivatma’s faults.
Goda’s compassion reaches out to the cries of her children who are full of offences. She listens to pleas, and understands the root cause of the faults in each of them. No matter how sinful one might be, her method is to chastise and guide him with suitable tactics of a subtle nature. She sees to it that there is reformation so that the tendency to err is gradually removed.