Reward for devotion

Saint Vallalar prays to Lord Shanmukha that He should

help him keep away from those who gossip and those who

indulge in purposeless chatter. We are never content with

what we have in life, and most of our time is spent in

envious talk about others. But those who recite the names

of God and spend their time talking about His greatness or

about the goodness of His devotees are people who spend

their time sensibly, said M.A. Manickavelu in a discourse.

There was a ruler in Tirunelveli, in the far South of Tamil

Nadu. He had a corrupt and arrogant minister. Among the

temple employees was a man whose duty it was to light the

lamps in the temple.


One day a devotee of Goddess Parvati visited the temple

and taught him the 52nd verse of Abirami Andadi, which

talks of diferent kinds of wealth which will come to the

devotee of Abirami. From then on, the temple servant

recited the verse every day.


One day, the king visited the temple and, in the silence of

the temple, he heard a faint whisper. Upon investigation,

he found it was the temple servant reciting the Abirami

Andadi verse.


The King, impressed by the man’s devotion, stripped his

corrupt minister of his post, handed over the minister’s

seal to the temple servant and made him the minister.

In accordance with the respect to be shown to a

minister, the man was carried to the palace in an ivory

palanquin and was given a horse, an elephant and jewels.

All the riches mentioned in verse fifty two of Abirami

Andadi were now his!


All this came to him through bhakti. Had he spent his

time in self pity and in jealousy, he would have never have

reached such a lofty position.


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