Translated by Sri Ramanan Rajagopalan

Are the close relatives our saviours or it is Him, as always?

"mAthaa pithAkkal rakshakargal allar enbathai kaikeyi pakkalilum hiranyan pakkalilum kAnalaam."

Mother:

Swamy Pillai Lokacharyar clearly highlights Kaikeyi in the case scenario where even a mother cannot protect her son. Kaikeyi was the one who commanded Rama through Dasaratha to go on exile. She also requested Dasaratha to make Bharata the king of Ayodhya. Bharatan's vaibhavam in Ramayanam is even more than that of Lakshmanan and Raman in some instances. Rama was the most dearest son of Dasaratha. He always used to concern about his father's happiness. On the other hand, Dasaratha always used to concern about Rama and his happiness. Azhwars also were in the same state with Perumal. They used to joyously sing on Perumal with parivu, and in fact pongum parivu (PeriyAzhwar) whereas Perumal used to worry more about Azhwars' happiness.

Rama though was an AgyAkAri putram, still was not able to satisfy Dasarathan as he did not bother about himself. In this aspect Dasaratha used to be proud of Lakshmana as Lakhmana used to completely take care of Rama. Lakshmana showed complete ShEshatvam to Rama. Bharata's vaibhavam is much more than this one. He showed complete pAratantra jnAnam. He behaved like an object without life in front of Rama. He was ready to do whatever Rama commanded. At one point of time in Ramayana, he said that "rAjyamum, naanum Ramanukku sondham". He combined both the life-less object and himself in the above statement.

Kaikeyi was supposed to have facilitated ishta prApti and anishta nivrutti for her son. Instead she acted the other way. Ishta prApti refers to the means to nitya kaimkaryam where as anishta nivrutti refers to eliminating the obstacles in the way of attaining nitya kaimkaryam. Considering the vaibhavam of Bharata, even the son of that calibre was not protected by his mother. "peRRa thAyinum Ayina seiyyum..." 1-1-9 of Periya Thirumozhi.

Father:

The story of Prahalada is well known to everyone. He was tortured by all means to recite Hiranya's name instead of Narayana mantram. Again, a son of the calibre of Prahalada who showed complete bhakti on Perumal was not protected by his father.

"mElAith thAi thandhaiyum avarE ini AvArE" ThiruvAymozhi 5-1-8.

Husband:

"sthrIgalukku bharthaakkal rakshakargal illai enbathai dharma putrargal pakkalilum nalan pakkalilum kAnalaam."

When pandavas went for the game of dice with kauravas, they lost everything. During that time, Dharmaputra did not want to accept the defeat. He wrongly perceived Draupadi as his property and gambled with her. Eventually they lost the game and Draupadi was ill-treated by kauravas before she was protected by Krishna when she surrendered to Him.

Nalan was a great king. Due to some reason he had lost a war with the king of another desam, and had to leave the entire kingdom to him. One night, he and his wife were staying in a choultry. Naln was very much disturbed and was not able to sleep properly. He thought that he will no longer be able to protect his life, and hence left her alone. Later he became a charioteer for a king. He made his wife to live in dire circumstances. He showed her the path to her parents' house, thus leaving her in distress - "neRi kATTi nIkkudhiyO!" Periya ThriuvandhAdhi 6.

Pillai Lokacharyar has clearly highlighted examples of how all the close relations fail to protect a soul. In fact in all the cases, only Perumal has protected these souls finally. Let us look into the aspect of how other devatas also fail to protect a soul, in the following postings.