Introduction to Section 6.1

We saw in the preceding centum from V-7 and onwards the Āḻvār seeking refuge in successive Pilgrim centres, at the feet of the Lord enshrined there. If the surrender at the feet of the Lord which should yield the result as a matter of course, did not meet with immediate response from the Lord, it was because He willed that the contemporary world as well as posterity should benefit through the Āḻvār’s scintillating hymns flowing from his sweet lips. It is indeed our great good fortune that the Āḻvār was not immediately lifted up to Heaven. In V-10, the Alvar prayed intensely for the acceleration of his union with the Lord and now he seeks out the Lord at Tiruvaṇvaṇṭūr, a pilgrim centre in Keralā, but is too feeble to reach that place. The next best he could do in such a forlorn state, was to acquaint the Lord with his critical condition through some one. The Āḻvār, once again, gets tran-formed as a Nāyakī and sends some birds and bees to convey her message to the Lord. The birds, with their pair of wings, typify the devout, endowed with great knowledge and good conduct, the efficient Preceptors, with a happy blending of these two essential requisites, for serving as an effective medium between Man and God.

This technique of the Āḻvār sending messages to the Lord through birds, bees etc., has already been elaborated upon, vide preamble to 1-4. There are four decads, in the whole work, where such messages are sent, the other three being I-4, VI-8 and IX-7. Whereas the message in I-4 was sent to the Lord in His ‘Vyūha’ aspect at the Milky ocean, the seat of His creative activity, the present one is held to have been addressed to the Lord in His ‘Vibhava’ or Incarnate Forms. As the message is being sent to the Lord in His ‘Arca’ (Iconic) Form at Tiruvaṇvaṇṭūr, it might be questioned how the Āḻvār is stated to have sent emissaries to the Lord in His Incarnate Forms. The clue for this can be had from the tenth stanza of this decad, where the Āḻvār specifically mentions Śrī Rāma, stationed at that pilgrim centre. Further, the message in the last of the four decads, referred to above, namely, IX 7, is addressed to the Lord in His Arca (Iconic) Form and there is hardly any need for duplication in this regard. In 1-4, the Āḻvār invoked the Lord’s special trait of forgiveness, while, in this decad, the accent is on His pledge, the creed of extending protection to His devotees, seeking Him ardently, vide also aphorism 156 of ‘Ācārya Hṛdayaṃ’