Thus Spake the Divine - Sorrows too Are Ambal’s Compassion!

Thus Spake the Divine

Sorrows too Are Ambal’s Compassion!

Poojyasri Maha Periyava says, “If you ask me, I would say the very sorrows that we undergo are because of only Ambal’s grace and that too is the best form of Her compassion”. Why does he say so? Here is what Maha Periyava, the incarnation of Parameshvara Himself, has to say on this topic.

Ambal is Compassion Persona; Grace Persona. Lalita Sahasranamam, at the end, states that She showers Her unconditional compassion without any expectation. She is called as Avyaja Karuna Murti, which means one who is non-transactional in Her grace.

There are innumerable and countless types of sorrows on this earth. I know the kinds of sorrows that afflict people day in and day out. People, who come to visit me, carry loads of them. People, who are highly spiritual, are also surrounded by sorrows and worries. They get highly frustrated and say, “Alas! I did so much of pooja for Ambal. But yet, She has put me into troubles. People call Her Karuna Murti. But I am not fortunate to receive Her grace”. They get annoyed with Ambal.

If you ask me, I would say the very sorrows that we undergo are because of only Ambal’s grace and that too is the best form of Her compassion. Let me explain how. We lament over our sorrows keeping in view our good deeds done only in this janma. We forget all our evil deeds, either in this or earlier janmas. We get upset with God. But irrespective of who we all are, have we done only good deeds? If we honestly introspect, we will come to know the many blunders that we have committed; sometimes not by deeds but by thoughts.

As you sow, so you reap is Nature’s inviolable law. We have sown evil in previous births. We are now harvesting the resultant sorrows as ordained by Nature’s law. If we really come to know the magnitude of our own sins, the sorrows endowed by Ambal to us may look really insignificant. We will then regret and say, “Amidst sorrows, She has enabled us to meditate on Her. Is that not Her extra compassion? Despite us being undeserving, She is voluntarily showering Her grace. Instead of feeling happy about this, we are only blaming Her! What an injustice! Over and above our erstwhile mistakes, we now are adding to our loads of sins by finding fault with Her too!

Child eats sand. What will a mother do? She ties the hands of the child, so that it will not eat any more sand. But the child is very angry at its mother, thinking that she is merciless and her worst enemy. Did the mother tie hands of her child without any reason? Who else could be more caring than a mother?

Howsoever great we are, ultimately, we are only like this child. The punishment meted out by Ambal to us is for our erstwhile mistakes, though it may make us feel sad. However, we are not capable of restraining ourselves away from committing such mistakes again. We blame Ambal that She has tied us up with a rope of sorrows. Basically, She has tied us up with sorrows, so that we again don’t commit our previous mistakes, even those of our previous births.

When we are pushed into sorrows, we should pray to Ambal saying, “All these sorrows are only the results of our erstwhile mistakes; therefore, if we commit such mistakes again, the same kind of problems will keep persisting. Ambal, please shower Your grace on us, so that we can restrain ourselves from committing such mistakes”. There is no other go for us except praying to Ambal.

If we get something good, we immediately praise Ambal feeling it is because of Her grace. When She bestows grace on us despite our being unworthy, it is known as “Compassion without any reason”. Such grace of Hers’ is only to refine and restrain us from any further sin. What we think as good for ourselves may even have evil consequences, because we may not be knowledgeable about it. Therefore, instead of granting something seemingly good to us, sorrows, which are intended to refine us, are the much greater compassion. As humans, we only look at things with a short-term perspective. If we have a wider perspective, we will realise that Ambal will never harm us.

In olden days, people used to carry sacks of salt on bullocks or donkeys. One trader carried salt sacks on a donkey to sell in the market. Suddenly, there was a heavy rain. The entire load of salt melted in water. The trader was very upset and angry with God. He felt that God had no mercy and had ditched him. Hence, he decided to abandon God and return home. The way home was through a dense forest. There were other traders who wanted to cross the forest. He too joined them.

There were dacoits waiting in the forest with guns to rob any trader passing by. In those days, guns worked using balls of gunpowder. There were no bullets. The thieves would fire shots to scare the traders. When they ran away leaving behind their belongings, dacoits gathered their booty. If any trader remained, the dacoits would shoot him dead.

In case of this batch of traders, the scenario was different! Since it was raining, gun powder balls got damp and did not ignite. Instead of traders running away, this time, robbers ran away dropping their guns. The trader, who was annoyed with God over the unexpected rains, realised his mistake. Wisdom dawned on him that the rain and salt alone had saved his life. The rain was a smaller problem, which saved him from experiencing the biggest problem, that of losing his life. He prayed to God, “I am sorry! I misunderstood your compassion! I now know that you are abundantly compassionate!”

Most of us do not look at a problem in its entirety. We view it from the narrow perspective of our own interests. When there are problems, we immediately blame Ambal. If we stay calm and analyse the cause and effect of these problems, we will never blame Ambal. However, it is She who has made man ignorant. This too is only Her game plan.

Man is very egoistic despite being ignorant of his past and future. Imagine his ego and pride if he is capable of knowing the past, present and future! His atrocities will know no boundaries, like Rakshashas! Ambal has, hence, designed man to put him in his place and realise the reality. At the least, we will know the reality that we don’t know. We must thus trust what Seers and Sages, who know the past, present and future, have said: “Life has to run within the rules set; if we are undergoing a problem, there must be a reason for it. For us to stay away from sorrows and problems, we should surrender at Ambal’s Feet”.

Ambal is never a sadist. We should never think of Her that way. She is ever our friend and relative, who is our Mother and Father too.

This article is a snippet from the Book Thus Spake the Divine, is available online at www.giri.in and across Giri Trading Agency Private Limited, A chain of Speciality Stores dealing in all kinds of products needed in Indian Culture and Tradition.