True devotion alone matters to God

CHENNAI, APRIL 23. The epics and the Puranas which describe the descents of the Almighty have highlighted that the Lord had made Himself accessible to mankind, especially to His devotees. If the Ramayana focusses on Rama's concern for the sages in the forest and the manner He intermingled with them and protected them from being harassed by the demons, the Krishna incarnation affords insight into how His devotees were singled out for His grace. The heights of devotion which the cowherd maidens reached, the way He endeared Himself to them with His childhood exploits and the singular grace showered on Yashoda as depicted in the Srimad Bhagavata Purana have become the nucleus of devotional literature over the centuries.

All these instances confirm the fact that it is true devotion alone which matters to God and that He would go to any length to protect His devotee. The Mahabharata centres round the bond of devotion between the Pandavas and Lord Krishna though the devotional aspect is highlighted more in the Bhagavata Purana. In the case of the Pandavas His quality of easy accessibility to devotees came to the fore when He became their messenger to avert a war between the cousins and later as Arjuna's charioteer in the Mahabharata war, said Smt. Sudha Seshayyan in her discourse.

When the Pandavas came to Hastinapura after the death of their father, Dhritarashtra as though doing them a great favour relegated the barren territory of Khandavaprastha as their share of kingdom and Yudishtra did not utter a word about the injustice meted to them. Lord Krishna was witness to this and later helped them found the beautiful kingdom of Indraprastha with the help of the divine architect. But their days of relative happiness came to an end when Dhritarashtra invited Yudishtra for a game of dice at the insistence of Duryodana.

The Pandava elder who was always scrupulous about propriety accepted the invitation much against the wishes of Vidura who brought the invitation even though he knew that he was at a disadvantage. Events then unfolded as orchestrated by Duryodana - Draupadi's humiliation after Yudishtra lost everything in the game and their banishment. When they returned from their exile Yudishtra as was his wont did not ask that Indraprastha be returned to him but just five villages for the five brothers and it was when even this basic right spurned that Lord Krishna became their envoy to try to negotiate a peaceful settlement. When they did not yield even an inch of land and precipitated the war, the Lord stood by the side of the Pandavas.

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