Introduction to Section 3.5

In the last decad, we saw the Āḻvār enjoying the Lord’s immanence in quite a marvellous way. So ecstatic and love-smitten did he become on beholding the Lord’s ‘Vibhūti’, vast and varied, immense and interesting, defying description, that he was thrown into the rapturous state of singing and dancing. One has only to witness a Saint in his moments of rapturous ravishment in union with God, moments when his whole being thrills with love and his eyes swim with the pearls of tears of delight. This also reflects the behaviour of the exalted denizens of the high heavens, who drink deep incessantly from that inexhaustible fountain of bliss, the Lord. No wonder then, Sage Nārada and other celestial bards always dance as they sing, and sing as they dance, in the immediate presence of the Lord, completely swayed by God-love of extraordinary intensity. As a matter of fact, the hands and feet as well as the other limbs, graciously dowered on us by the Lord, can prove their worth only in this way. Naturally, the Āḻvār felt disappointed, rather distressed when he found that, barring a handful, the bulk of the worldlings around was very far from such intoxicating God-love. While he is all praises for the few kindred souls, he is unsparing in his condemnation of the otherwise. This provides the theme of this decad.

In the second decad of this centum, the Āḻvār was in dire distress but the gloom was dispelled by the joy of contemplation of unremitting service unto the Lord at Tiruvēṅkaṭam, the meeting ground of the Celestials and the Earthly men. (3-3). In the fourth decad, the Āḻvār’s joy knew no bounds, as we have just seen. To the superficial observer, such alternating moods of the Āḻvār may seem objectionable in as much as they appear to come into conflict with the general principles laid down for the pursuit of the discipline, known as ‘Bhakti’. Of the seven steps leading to ‘Bhakti’, the first is ‘Viveka’ and the last two are ‘anavasāda [anavasādaḥ]’ (non-depression) and ‘anuddharsa [anuddharsaḥ]’ (non-elation). The practicians of ‘Bhakti’ are prohibited from getting unduly depressed or unduly elated. These prohibitions, however, apply only to material things of the mundane world under the impact of physical pain and pleasure, commonly experienced by the Souls in bondage. These injunctions cannot contain the ultra-mundane happiness of the Saints and other Godly men resulting from their constant communion with the Lord and joyful contemplation of His wondrous trails and deeds or their grief arising from the aloofness of the worldlings from God-thirst and God-hunger.