Nanjeeyar was a Sri Vaishnava preceptor who lived nearly 900 years ago. Often the king would come to listen to his discourses. One day, the king took exception to one of Nanjeeyar’s explanations. Nanjeeyar was speaking on the Ayodhya Kanda of Valmiki Ramayana. Here, in the first chapter, Valmiki describes the many splendid qualities of Rama. He says Rama is none other than Vishnu Himself come to earth to kill Ravana. Rama is mighty, courageous, without envy and given to speaking in gentle tones and words. Rama remembers only the good that people have done for Him. He does not keep in mind any harm that people might have done Him.

Valmiki lists many such qualities of Rama and says that in His good qualities, Rama is like Dasaratha. The king could not accept this comparison of Rama with Dasaratha, said P.T. Seshadri in a discourse. How could Dasaratha, who had weakly given in to Kaikeyi’s wishes, ever be equal to Rama, the king asked. Nanjeeyar quoted the following line from the Ramayana: AtmAnam mAnusham manyE rAmam dasarathAthmajam. Here Rama declares gladly that He is Dasaratha’s son. The line is from the Yuddha Kanda. When the celestials tell Rama of His divine qualities, He replies that He thinks of Himself as human, as Rama the son of Dasaratha. Would the Lord have so declared if He did not have regard for Dasaratha? When the Lord Himself had regard for Dasaratha, how could anyone think otherwise?

Our words must always be in tune with the Lord’s wishes, explained Nanjeeyar to the king. The message here is that one must not go against the Lord’s wishes and learn to accept His decisions. We must not contradict Him. If He has regard for someone, we cannot question Him.