Andal, through Her Tiruppavai, shows us the spirit in which we should worship and what our attitude must be when we approach the Lord. She says in one of the verses that the mouth should sing of Him and the mind should think of Him.
One might ask why She should talk of the mind’s focus when the mouth is singing His praises. Don’t both happen together? Can the mind be out of tune with what the mouth is doing? Why then does Andal ask for the mind to think of Him while the mouth praises Him?
There is a reason for Andal’s special emphasis on both, said Kidambi Narayanan in a discourse. It is possible that while we recite slokas or chant His names the mind is preoccupied with worldly concerns. In fact, this is how most of us worship most of the time. Andal wants to show us the importance of not letting our thoughts run astray, and that is why She says that we must both sing of Him and think of Him. She also talks of having a pure heart, a heart that places its trust entirely in the Lord. We must know in our hearts that He and He alone can and will save us.
This kind of complete trust in Him is shown by Sita when Hanuman visits Her in Lanka. She refuses help to leave Lanka, for She knows Rama will come and take Her away. She will not seek or take anyone else’s help. In fact, She can Herself easily escape if She so wishes. But She makes no effort to do so.
In a verse in Kamba Ramayana, Sita states that She is quite capable of burning all the worlds with Her words. But She says She will not do so in the case of Lanka, for She is afraid such an act will reflect badly on Rama’s valour. She wants the glory of defeating Ravana to belong to Rama. And so She does not make any effort to free Herself; nor does She let Hanuman rescue Her.
