79. vAyil kaiyittEnO embAraip pOlE

The acharya Embar was known as Govinda Bhattar prior to getting the name Embar. He was a maternal cousin to Ramanuja. In the early part of his life, he had gone on a yatra to Kasi. There, as he was bathing in the river Ganges, a Shiva lingam came into his hand. As such he became a devotee of Shiva, He seettled in the town of Kalahasti and began maintaining the Shiva temple there.

At that time, due to the request of Ramanuja, Periya Thirumalai Nambi engaged Embar, corrected him and returned him to the Srivaishnava fold. Embar then moved to Thirumalai and lived with his acharya Periya Thirumalai Nambi and performed services to him. At that time, Ramanuja was also at Thirumalai learning the inner meanings of Sri Ramayanam from Periya Thirumalai Nambi. Therefore, he got opportunities to observer Embar's characteristics.

One of the qualities of a Srivaishnava is feeling empathy for others. This quality was complete in Embar. One time, Ramanuja noticed that Embar put his hand inside a snake's mouth, then take a bath and continue his services to his acharya. He asked "O Govinda! What did you do with the snake?" Embar replied "I noticed that the snake was keeping its tongue out and suffering. When I went near it, I saw that a thorn was stuck in its tongue. So, I pulled the thorn out. The snake then ran away". Ramanuja was amazed about his sense of mercy and blessed him.

Normally a snake instills fear in most people and they tend to keep away from it. Yet, in this instance Embar did not fear it and was more worried about its suffering.

Thirukkolur Ammal is asking "Am I capable of showing the level of mercy that Embar did by sticking his hand in a snake's mouth?"