Saturday, August 6, 2011

Padmanabha, the richest – a few random thoughts…..





Lord Ananthapadmanabhaswamy has always evoked a sense of awe and reverence in me ever since my first darshan many years ago. In the beginning, it probably had to do with the gigantic size of the Lord in His deity form. Later, as I read Srila Prabhupada’s books, I gained more understanding about Lord Vishnu and His variegated energies and how the Lord goes about the business of material creation. Padmanabha lying down in all His Majesty is indeed a sight to behold. Every year, when I came to India on vacation, I tried to make it at least once to take His darshan. He has always been extremely merciful to me and given His darshan countless times.

Years rolled by and two years ago, my wife and children came to stay in Thiruvananthapuram, the city named after Ananthapadmanabha. Since then, our frequency of visits have increased and several times our children have got mahaprasadam bouquets taken directly from the deity and given by the pujaris. Padmanabha continues to cast His merciful glance upon His city and the rest of the world from His anantasayana pose ! I consider it a great privilege to be staying just 15 minutes away from His majestic presence here in Thiruvananthapuram.

Now it has been revealed that He is the richest deity in the world with treasure troves lying under His temple being opened and listed ! It came as no surprise to me, because, as far as I am concerned, the lakhs of crores that these people count is nothing compared to even an iota of the aiswarya of Lord Padmanabha. Also, it is standing testimony of how pious kshathriya kings served the Lord with all pomp and festivity, and notably the Marthandavarma family who have surrendered themselves completely at the Lotus feet of Lord Padmanabha.

We have read in sastra that the great saintly kings used to worship the Supreme Lord in a way that was befitting their position. I can only feel pity at those ‘experts’ who have a poor fund of knowledge and commenting upon this issue. They speak utter nonsense like “the treasures found under Lord Padmanabha’s temple is the loot from wars and money usurped from common man”. These people have neither knowledge of sastra, nor any knowledge about sastra. It is utterly laughable, but then this is Kali yuga, so….

Eventually, politicians and other unscrupulous people may get involved and manage to loot Padmanabha’s wealth as well ! However, as they will find out to their own detriment, the reaction of misusing the Lord’s wealth will not be a pleasant experience. An atheist commented on “Padmanabha’s indadequacy” to roll out welfare schemes to the public, but little does he know that he himself will meet Padmanabha at the exact time of leaving his body, but the only problem is that he will meet the Lord in His most fearful form…..that of death !!!

All said and done, rest assured that Padmanabha’s smile on His face shall not be disturbed under any circumstance, but the atheists, politicians and all similar ilk, beware ! Your smiles will be wiped out – of that you can be sure – as sure as death ! Hare Krishna !