CHAKKANI RAJA
& RUDRAM
In the Sri Rudram, 7th Anuvaka, 7th Yajus,
we find : " Namah Shruthyaaya Cha, Pathyaaya Cha "- which means : "Salutations
to Him who is in the Narrow Footpaths and the Broad Highways". The narrow
footpath can be crossed only on foot. But the broad highway is fit to be traversed
by chariots or modern cars.
The above two words can be taken allegorically - narrow and tortuous religious
beliefs and practices, and the broad and firm ones inculcated by the great
religions and great teachers and prophets intended to be trodden by common
humanity.
Saint Thiagaraja has composed a famous song "Chakkani Raja Margamu Undaga"
- which means: " when there is the well--laid King's Highway of 'Devotion to
God', why do foolish men stray into hard, tortuous, and thorny footpaths and
suffer ?"
Saint Manickavachagar has set forth the same idea in the last of his cantos
: "I was straying in the company of fools who did not know the path to Mukti.
God pointed out to me the path of devotion and how to shake myself free from
my past acts. He washed the impurities of my mind. He made me Sivam or Auspicious
and ruled me with grace. I mistook wrong paths to be right ones. He prevented
me from following the small pathways and showed me the broad one for obtaining
His divine grace ".
Click on Chakkani Raja for
the song details.
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