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Hymn to Badrinath

By Staff

Swami Chinmayananda, Badrinath
Yathanuraktir bhavathodhimoole
Bhaktanukampasya Bhavartiharin
Tathatra Karmath Ca Rajayogah
Sukena Naivojnamayetpumsam

- Swami Tapovanam

Oh! The destroyer Of all the sorrows of Samsar! Neither the path of Karma nor Rajayoga can raise one (to one's spiritual perfection) as effortlessly as the constant devotion to Thy Feet, which are ever ready to bless their devotees.

Destroyer of Samsar: To rediscover the nature of Reality and thereby destroy the ego is the final end of all our sense of imperfections. As a physical being the individual hungers for sensuous satisfaction. As an emotional entity he hankers after emotional joys. And as an intellectual being he is agitated by the different ideals. The sense of limitations felt and lived through our body, mind and intellect, are the painful contents of Samsar and it's bitterness. The Lord of Badri is being recognized here by the author as the Atman, the Self, and, therefore, it is but meet that he is considered as the very annihilator of all Samsaric sorrows.

Devotion to Thy Feet: In the sacred lore of Hinduism the Lotus Feet (Pada. Kamala) of the Lord, Guru, elders and parents are, for purposes of worship, considered more sacred than any other part in them. This would strike as strange if we do not understand the significance of this tradition. No doubt the intellectual abilities of the teacher, or the heart, the seat of all love and affection of the parents, or the infinitely enchanting smile of the Lord.... all are located in the trunk, and yet, we register our adorations to the elders by our prostration at their 'feet'.

It is not so much the intellectual contents of the head or the emotional beauty of the heart of these reverent folk that we are asked to adore. The feet are the very limbs on which the teacher stands. By worshipping his feet we are adoring that which "he stands for", that upon which he has built up his perfections. That is Truth, the Realit, which he is struggling hard to show us. As a seeker, the devotee is trying to experience the same.

This is the meaning of our prostrations at the feet of the elders, the teachers or the Lord, wherein the head of the devotee is brought to touch the very earth upon which the adored one stands. It means to say that I am struggling hard to attune my head with the ideal for which the elder stands for.

Here the great Vedantin, Sri Tapovanam, recognizing the natural difficulties of an ordinary student to walk the path of knowledge, is glorifying the Path of Devotion, which alone can prepare the imperfect to take the flight to Perfection, through single-pointed, self-controlled, continuous meditation. The teacher, glorifying the Path of Devotion (Bhakthi Yoga) here, compares it with the Path of Action (Karma Yoga) and the Path of Meditation (Raja Yoga), and gives to the Path of Devotion, a higher and a nobler status.

Where love is, there the mind automatically reaches. To a lover, thinking of his beloved is no effort at all. If love for the Lord (Bhakthi) is deep and sincere the entire emotional and intellectual being in us flow readily towards Him, and, naturally, the inner being gets glimpses of experience of the great Truth effortlessly.

Who is ever ready to bless the devotees: In the Upanishads also this idea has been very elaborately emphasized. In the Mundakopanishad it is amply brought home to us: "He alone gains the infinite whom He chooses". The choosing is unavoidable, but we choose Him not. We choose not God (Rama), and therefore, we experience not Him. We choose desire (Kama) and ours is an experience of a life of stormy desires and their wrecking onslaughts.

A devotee naturally chooses the Lord of his devotion and, therefore, he gains glimpses of the infinite experience. The path of love is easy and effortless since therein there is the least chance for distraction. Both in the Path of Action and in the Path of Meditation, though the convinced intellect may constantly contemplate upon the Infinite Lord, the unruly heart may still run away, wild in its temptation-tides of sensuous appetites.

About the author

Swami Chinmayananda

Swami Chinmayananda the great master's lectures were an outpour of wisdom. He introduced the Geetha Gnana Yagna. He wrote a lot of books on spirituality, commentaries to Vedantic texts, children books etc. He then started spreading His teachings globally.....

Story first published: Monday, August 31, 2009, 17:38 [IST]