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The Lord's residence

November 28, 2021 10:44 pm | Updated 10:44 pm IST

Azhwar's hymns are known as 'Arulicheyal,' meaning hymns directly inspired by God's grace. All of them acknowledge that they are the medium through which God sings His own glories. His Supremacy is limitless and beyond human grasp. He is all-pervading and His omniscience and omnipotence are incomparable. All these are captured as personal experiences in their hymns. They can see His presence as the inner soul and total ruler of the entire creation. This jagat, His manifestation comprising the sentient and non-sentient, forms His body. They show that God has chosen to live in the archa form in the Divya Desams so that he can grace His devotees and help them get out of samsara, pointed out Sri A. K. Sundarrajan in a discourse.

We can easily offer worship to the deity in temples and thereby cultivate bhakti towards Him by His grace. More special to the devotee is His Antaryami form, His choice to dwell in the hearts of His sincere devotees. This strengthens the bond between the Lord and the bhakta. Pey Azhwar asserts that the same God who resides in the Vedas also chooses to dwell in the hearts of those jnanis who are self controlled and are steeped in God alone. He entreats us to pray to God to enter our hearts for only with His help we can gain control over the senses that are our real enemy.

In a hymn, Azhwar conveys the qualities of exceptional God love through the eyes of a mother who is unable to console her daughter who is deeply in love with the Lord at Parkadal. The daughter says she would visit only Tiruvengadam, and bathe only in the divine waters of Parkadal. She refuses flowers and prefers only Tulsi leaves for adorning her tresses. It is clear that the Lord is present in her entire self, her thought, word and deed.

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