Introduction to Section 9.3

It was indeed a grand poetic imagery of the Āḻvār, conjuring up the vision of the Lord, as an emerald mountain, tall and lovely, moving along, bearing on its crest the radiant Sun and the silvery Moon all at once vide VIII-2-10. The Āḻvār could not lift his mind off this spectacular grandeur and, at the same time, this made him apprehensive of the safety of the Lord, so charming, who in this exquisite Form, moves about alone and unattended in this wicked world peopled by the ungodly and the selfish. The Āḻvār, felt vexed that there was none else to share his anxiety in this regard. While the Celestials in Heaven are soaked in ‘Brahmānubhava’, drinking deep of that perennial nectarean spring, namely, the Lord in that glorious transcendent setting, the worldlings are engrossed with sensual pleasures, Brahmā and other Devas would not hesitate to secure their selfish ends involving the Lord in battling against the ungodly Asurās and making Him the target of the arrows of the hostile hordes. When the Saint voiced forth his fear, as above, the Lord set him at ease, by pointing out that there was hardly any room for such fears, surrounded as He always is by the ‘Nityās’, ‘Muktās’ and the devout seekers of salvation. The Āḻvār then regains his composure, rid of his erstwhile fears. The initial disquietude is reflected in the third song of this decad and its clearance is revealed in the tenth song.