(i) When Irāmapirāṉ (Śrī Rāma) went into exile, even inanimate things got choked with grief, the trees withered away, the tanks and rivers boiled up to such an extent that none could go near them. And when He returned to Ayodhyā at the end of His exile, the trees started yielding fruits out of season, the orchards were all in full blossom, betokening the exuberance of

(i) Śrī Rāma stayed in this land for eleven thousand years although He slew Rāvaṇa and vanquished the monstrous hordes under him in His thirty-eighth year itself. During this long period, the Kingdom of Ayodhyā became saturated with love for Him and the subjects looked upon Him as their sole sustainer. No wonder, when He went back to the Celestium, He took them all with

What is there to hear but the glory of the magnanimous Lord Kṛṣṇa (Keśava) who salved even the malicious Śiśupāla, His sworn enemy, whose sole occupation it was to vituperate Him in the meanest terms, from those who have already got to know about it? Even while abusing, Śiśupāla chose Lord Kṛṣṇa as his target, keeping Him in view and mentioning His name all the time, though

We can’t but belong to the Supreme, Lord, our Sole Master, the first cause of all things, who created the worlds of differences, with their assortments as Devas, humans, birds and beasts, plants and things, still and mobile. It was indeed His grace galore that made Him sustain in His stomach all the worlds with their varied contents, without their being swept off, during

Once we get to know the Lord’s grace galore and ponder over it, the manner in which He created the worlds and later, preserved them from being swept off by the deep waters of the Deluge, does it not behove us to look upon Him as our Sole Refuge? When He forked the Earth out, effortlessly on His long tusk, bent and protruding, it looked like a blue gem, at one end of the

If Māvali (Mahābali) was a peerless donor, the Lord too went to him as a peerless Seeker of alms! It was Bali’s infliction of unbearable miseries on the Devas, big and small, which made the otherwise discordant team (cutting at each other’s throat, one chopping the head of another, like unto the land-lords envious of the greatness of one another) combine together and appeal at the feet of Lord Mahāviṣṇu.

In the preceding song, Indra and other Devas who sought refuge in the Lord, were blessed by Him. But that is nothing when compared with His shedding grace on Mārkaṇṭēya, a votary of Śiva. Here then is yet another poof of the Lord’s infinite grace. As regards Mārkaṇṭēyā’s episode and the relative role of Śiva and Mahāviṣṇu in redeeming that great initial votary of Śiva, see the elaborate notes under IV-10-8.

(i) The knowledgeable persons, whose thoughts can reach the farthest lengths, will not stop short of revelling in the Supreme Lord’s glory, His auspicious traits and wondrous deeds.

(ii) Hiraṇya (Iraṇiyaṉ) was very formidable indeed, armed with many a boon acquired by Him, by dint of the severest penance imaginable. But he paled into insignificance before the mighty

Oh, what an amazing simplicity! the Supreme Lord of the entire Universe did the mean job of driving Arjuna’s chariot and that too, in public, on the battle field. When, at his sweet will, a superior person condescends to serve a subordinate, it is usually done in camera, and not in public. But here is the Divine charioteer, who not only kept Himself open to public gaze

(i) The quintessence of the Lord’s message in Bhagavad Gītā is in the ‘Carama Śloka’ (XVIII-66), that which treats of the final or the ultimate ‘Means’, the loving path of surrender unto God, taking Him as the Sole Refuge, the ‘Means’ and the ‘End’ combined. This song is virtually a commentary of that Ślokā, vide also the closing aphorism (289) of ‘Mumukṣuppaṭi’ (Lokācārya’s

(i) The lucid thousand: Like unto the turbid water in the river becoming clear and limpid in certain areas, the vedas, confused like the gummy substance in the jack fruit sticking to the straw-like stuff covering the fruit, acquire clarity in the hands of Saint Nammāḻvār.

(ii) The devotees, clear and steadfast: Devotees with a clear conviction, like that of the Āzhvār,