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SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00173 Feb 2003

 
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Dear friends in Kuwait,

If there is one great truth we learned from international events of
the past few weeks, it is that relations amongst nations can be as
brittle as and no more durable than that between man and man.

Watching CNN and BBC here in Kuwait, and reading columns of leading
newspapers in the world, it was a sad sight indeed to witness nations
once priding themselves as "natural allies" or "special friends",
suddenly turning coat at the crucial moment and letting each other
down badly. France and Germany let down the USA; Russia let down UK;
Eastern Europe let down 'old Europe'; NATO let down Turkey; Turkey
might let down USA; the Arabs let down Iraq; the Lebanese let down
Kuwait... and so on and so forth. It is all a merry-go-around of
betrayal after another. And all happening in a couple of fortnights!

To a serious student of world-history this moment must seem at once
both fascinating and horrific. O tempora! O mores! Old and honourable
military alliances, military pacts, treaties and so-called trusting
relationships... are all being turned upside-down. They have all been
shown to be fragile and unreliable. To the world's acute
embarrassment, a cynical but age-old maxim stands once again
confirmed: 

"There are no permanent friends or enemies in this world; there is
only permanent self-interest".

********** *********** **********

Any serious student of the Mahabharatha will tell you that the
"itihAsa" is one of the earliest and most comprehensive compendium of
human betrayal and loyalty-shifts -- at both State and
person-to-person levels. One has to merely recall at random a few
vivid tales from the "sabhA-parva", "bhishma-parva", "dhrOna-parva",
"karna-parva" or the "souptika-parva" to remind oneself of the
treachery, double-dealing, conspiracy and intrigue that characterized
political intercourse between kings, noblemen and allies in the days
of the Mahabharatha. Evidently, the trend continues to this very day.


The Hastinapur Crown was never really one large, monolithic empire
ruled, so to say, by one all-powerful sovereign. It was actually a
"Coalition of the Willing" -- i.e. local chieftains, aristocrats,
warlords and noblemen, perennially at odds with each other, willingly
chose one amongst themselves-- the least unacceptable to everyone --
and grudgingly elected him nominal Sovereign to preside over the
Throne at Hastinapur. 

The regional warlords wielded enormous power in their respective
fiefdoms but had little all-India (or all-bhArath) stature or clout.
They were frequently feuding with each other when they were not
otherwise plotting against or placating each other. The King of
Kauravas, thus, ruled over this unruly pack through diplomatic ruse
and manipulative politics. The Sovereign enjoyed sway only so long as
he could command their loyalty and support. This he did through
subterfuge, matrimonial alliances (marriages of convenience bordering
on incest even sometimes), military pacts and through special
tax-treaties that were really a conspiracy against the common man and
based firmly on the principle that there is honour among thieves. 

In short, the quality of politics during the time of the Mahabharatha
(when 'kali-yuga' was not very distant) was not very different from
the state of international politics we see prevailing today among
nation-states. 

****** ********* **********

During the time of the Mahabharatha no one, hence, really trusted a
political ally. The word "ally" was generally taken to be euphemism
for a "fair-weather-friend", a "mutual-interest-society" or a
"partner-in-crime". An "ally" was someone who was either a
"friend-in-need" (i.e. either someone who temporarily needed you or
who, for the time being, was needed by you) or else someone who was
your "enemy's worst enemy" and therefore your friend. A debtor-state
i.e. a vassal-state mired in national debt up to its nose also
occasionally came to be enlisted as a "faithful ally". Or else, an
"ally" could be someone who had been sufficiently frightened into
believing that if he was not seen to be "for you", he might well be
regarded being "against you". 

During the times of the Mahabharatha, allies and alliances were just
as unreliable and shifty as they are today...

**************************** 

The Vishnu-Sahasranamam, which is a part of the Mahabharatha, tells
us that there is only one ally in all the world who can be trusted --
at all times, under all circumstances. He is the Almighty Himself.

Now, we ask: Who is a true ally? What may be expected of him? What
are his qualities? 

The Sahasranamam tells us categorically that the Lord alone possesses
all requisite qualities of an ever-reliable ally. They are set out
clearly in the 12th stanza: 

vasuh vasumanAh satyah samAtma sammitah samah
amOghah pUndarIkAkshah vrisha karmA vrishAkritih 

*********** *********** ***********

(1) The first quality an ally must possess is Truthfulness,
Credibility, Integrity -- 'satyah'. An ally does not say one thing in
private and posture differently in public; nor does he say one thing
at one time and then turn around to say the very opposite at another
time. In the Mahabharata, Krishna proclaimed firmly to both warring
parties, the Pandavas and the Kauravas, that no matter what happens,
He would not Himself directly engage in combat. To the very end, our
Lord stuck to His stand. Even in the face of the gravest provocation
to take up arms against the Kauravas at various points of time during
the fratricidal Kurukshetra War, Krishna was steadfast in his resolve
to remain on the sidelines. 

(2) The second quality of a true ally is denoted by the 'nAma':
"vasuh". He who resides within His devotees, and alongside them,
shoulder-to-shoulder, as it were, is known as "vasuh". It is from
this term, 'vasuh', that we get the Tamil word "vAsi" meaning
'resident'. The Lord of Tiruvengadam is called "SrinivAsa" since
Lakshmi resides in Him. A resident of Madras would be "chennai-vAsi"
these days and it would not be a misnomer to call a
Non-Resident-Indian like me an "agnyAtha-vAsi'. 

A true ally resides and breathes with us. He shares our problems,
helps out on day-to-day basis, and is always at hand to give counsel,
support and guidance. An ally is not one who will put in an
appearance in the neighbourhood when it's either election or
re-election time, or else, when it is time to set up his military or
naval-base in your own backyard. Lord Krishna, in the Mahabharatha
showed Himself as true 'vasuh': by being physically there for the
Pandavas at all times -- even, and especially during the 12 long
years they languished in exile away from Hastinapur.

(3) A true ally should also be a 'vasumanAh'. An ally must befriend
us not out of self-interest alone or for the sake of expediency of
the hour. An ally must have abiding respect for us, our dignity, for
what we are and for our ways of life. The ally may be high and
mighty, and we may be very lowly in comparison, but that is not the
basis on which the ally extends his hand of friendship. Such an ally
does not go around announcing to the world that his God, his
countrymen and their way of life is the best. The Lord -- the
'vasumanAh' who is Lord Almighty -- regards the lowliest devotee with
deep, abiding respect and reverence. Krishna calls them "sa mahAtma
sudurlabhah:". He considers them "rare"; He tends to them carefully
as if they were some rare treasure-chest to be safely secreted inside
some deep, underground vault! He calls them "mahAtmA"! Rama, a royal
prince befriended a tribal chief, Guha. The Lord also befriended the
leader of a monkey-nation, Sugriva. The Lord did not ever once deign
to lecture them on the virtues of democracy, free-market economy or
monogamy (not to mention the "American way of life"). 

(4) Next, a true ally is a "samAtma" and "samah" i.e. the ally treats
all members of the alliance on an equal footing. There are no "old
Europe" and "new Europe" members in God's alliance. God makes no
distinction amongst members of His alliance... "samA atmA -- samOham
sarva bhUtEshu...", He said in the Bhagavath-gita. Nor does God
threaten any member with expulsion from or non-admittance into the
alliance in case the member, for one reason or other, does not
exactly toe His line. When it became clear that War between the
Kauravas and Pandavas was unavoidable, Krishna, like the true ally He
was, made it clear to both Arjuna and Duryodhana that He would deny
neither whatever aid and support they expected from Him! The fatuous
Duryodhana chose to requisition all of Krishna's armed forces, which
the Lord promptly put at the Kaurava's disposal. Arjuna wisely asked
for the services of Krishna as charioteer and chief war strategist.
The Lord readily obliged. 

In the Ramayana, the Lord proved He was a 'samAtmA'. Rama said:
anyone who comes to Me and says, "Please, Sir, I have no support
other than Thee" ? Anyone, without reserve or discrimination, who
simply comes up and says, "Please", will never be denied My
allegiance and protection:

"sakrudEva prapannAya tavAsmIti cha yAchatE I
abhayam sarva-bhUtEbhyO dadAmyEtadvratam mama" II

To show the world that the above were not mere empty words, the Lord
followed it up saying He would actually implement what was said:

"aana-yainam harisrEshTa dattamasyAbhayam mayA I
vibhIshaNO va sugreva yadi vA rAvaNa svayam" II

"Be it Vibhishana or Sugreeva or anyone else, I am the ally of
everyone who seeks my protection. Why, I'd give Ravana himself the
same courtesy, if he were to ask me for it!".

(5) The next important quality possessed by an ally, who is both true
and reliable, is denoted through the 'nAma', "vrishakarma" &
"vrishAkritih". The Lord is "vrishakarmA" -- the safe ally who will
act first and talk later. He is an ally who will never hesitate to
act ('karma'). Time and again the Lord has shown that he prefers to
act first, and then talk. In the Ramayana, Rama first sorted out His
ally, Sugriva's problems with Vali; it was only after Sugreeva was
safely restored to his throne that Rama sought his help for the march
to Lanka. True allies thus always strive to put their own interest
second. It is not subservience on their part; it is the ethic
expected of all true allies ("saKhA") that they ought to consider
themselves as each other's 'dAsa' -- servant. In the "yuddha-kAnda"
of the Ramayana, we hear Sugreeva voicing this very noble sentiment
to Ravana:

"lOkanAthasya rAmasya saKhA dAsOsmi rAkshasa" I (VI.40.10)

"D'you know who I am, Ravana? Rama and I are allies ("saKhA"). I have
come here to assist Him in his cause. He regards me as an ally, as if
I was an equal partner of His. But really I am His 'dAsa'. Though in
His judgment I am an ally, truly speaking, in my heart I am his
'dAsa'."

The Lord, the Ally Supreme, "promises to deliver" and "delivers on
the promise". Most allies of this world are rather long on words and
short on deed. (An ally will make a grand speech on Monday about the
unity and brotherhood of the alliance, say, like the NATO; and then
on Wednesday will use the veto to shoot down an alliance-proposal for
sending troops to defend a member-state in a time of dire need. And
there also allies who will demand a price and more than a pound of
flesh for the grant of rights to station troops on their soil!). Such
allies of the world cannot be relied upon to "walk the talk", to use
the popular expression! Our Lord, however, is not like that. As seen
clearly in the example of Sugreeva above, the Lord is Supreme Ally
whose acts of loyalty ("vrishakarma"/"vrishAkritih") speak louder
than His words. He acts exactly as bidden by His devotees and
unfailingly too. In Tamil, therefore, they call Him "sonna vaNNam
seyyUm perUmAl" -- the God that "walks the talk"! 

(6) Finally, we come to the last great quality of the Perfect Ally.
We get a good idea of this particular quality through that
extraordinary 'nAma' the Sahasranamam has shown us:

"amOghah pundarIkAksha".

Parashara Bhattar (12th century CE), in his commentary called
"bhagavath-guna-darpana", explains this 'nAma' succinctly but very
movingly. He alludes to the Valmiki Ramayana where Rama is hailed
using this very same word:

"amOghah darsanam rAma naca mOghastavastavah
amOghasttE bhavishyanti bhaktimantascha yE narAh" (VI.120-29)

"Rama! Seeking your 'darsana' and singing your praise ('stOtra')
always yield returns (amOghah)! Never can it be said that a devotee
looked to you for succour and You failed him!" 

The word "amOghah" means in Sanksrit "useful", "fruitful",
"successful", "profitable"? 
The opposite of "amOghah" is (in English) "wasteful", "useless",
"unprofitable", "fruitless" or "futile". 

The word "pundarika" refers to "paramapada", the eternal and
imperishable abode of God in Vaikuntah. The Lord residing in
"pundarika" is hence called "pundarikAksha". 

Now what does the "nAma", "amOghah pundarikAksha" mean and how does
it characterize a perfect ally?

When anyone wants to make a financial investment there are 2 things
he considers first and foremost: (a) Security and (b) Return, isn?t
it? Anyone who makes an investment wants it to be both secure and
profitable. 

Life is like an investment. In life we are constantly investing
ourselves into various relationships all the time -- as a son,
brother, wife, mother, teacher, employee? All our life, if you
reflect on it deeply, we are actually doing nothing but making a
series of investments into relationships with other people. And what
are we investing in these relationships? The answer: our Trust. Trust
is the currency with which the investments of our lives are made into
the portfolio of relationships we seek to build in this world. 

A child and its mother, for example, invest enormous amounts of trust
into their relationship over the years. And what is the expectation:
Security and Return, of course! The security is in the form of the
deep, lasting bonding that develops between mother and child. The
return derived is in the abiding love, understanding and support they
know they will get from each other all their lives. When mother and
child succeed in getting the Security and Return they each desire
from their relationship, it is said to be "amOghah". 

God as our ally is "amOghah pundarikAksha". When we invest our trust
in Him we are investing in a relationship that is both secure and
profitable. Every dollar of trust or faith that we invest in God goes
into a security house called "pundarika'. And every dollar of trust
invested in "pundarika" returns to us enriched a million times over?
as "amOghah".

In both the Ramayana and the Mahabharatha, we see innumerable
examples of the profit that people reaped when they invested in a
relationship of trust with God. He became their abiding ally, the
Perfect Ally, and secured for them bliss of both this world and the
other. Bharatha, Ahalya, Sabari, Sugreeva, Vibhishana and Hanuman in
the Ramayana; Arjuna, Draupadi, Kunti, and Kuchela in the
Mahabharatha? they are only a few notable examples in God's
"Fortune-500" list of successful investors. Draupadi, in her gravest
moment of crisis, called out to the Supreme Ally by the name of
"pundarikAksha". It is significant that she behaved in the same
manner as one, who in the grave hour of a financial crisis, turns to
the most secure and profitable of investments made for rescue:

"sri shanka chakra gadhApANE dwAraka nilayA'chyuta
gOvinda pundarikAksha rakshamAm saraNagatam!" 


****** ******** *******

The investment we make in a relationship with God is immeasurable.
Trust in God defies valuation. The only stock exchange on which we
can see our investment in God listed is inside our own individual
hearts. The value of our relationship with Him, the value of our
alliance with the Almighty, is a matter that God wants always to
remain intensely private and confidential. It is a sacred but secret
alliance. None can get a true measure of the worth of this special
relationship except our own very selves. 

And that is the reason why, finally ? that is why in the 14th stanza,
the Vishnu-Sahasranamam calls the Lord, our Perfect Ally, as
"sammitah"? the Immeasurable One! 

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan




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