Page:Introduction to Tamil Poetry.pdf/18

 showered your bliss on me, did you not see that I was ignorant? O! God! whether I am a learned man or not, give me your grace." In another verse (No. 98) of Thiruchathakam, he points out the totally undeserving nature of man to receive heavenly bliss and the sweet, condescending attitude of the Almighty who was anxious to bestow it on man. He says, "I have no enduring love of you, O! Sweet Lord! You have made me, however, a disciple of yours by the skill with which you can make fine fruits of hard stones. There is no bound to your gracefulness. Whatever I might do or whatever I might take, O! Lord, I beseech you to bless me and to show me your feet. In another place (verse No. 407) he implores the Lord to forgive his sins and to rescue him. He says thus:–"O! Lord, who has conquered the foes and subdued them and made even an ornament of them! O! Lord! who, out of grace, has taken the burden of bearing the Ganga on your head! When I do abhorrent things out of my nature to err, you will, out of your generosity, forgive me. By your grace, let there be no more birth for me. I am your slave. I will surrender myself."

In yet another place (verse No. 94) Māṇickavāchakar is hopeful that if he wept bitterly he would obtain God's grace. He speaks, "I am a phantom; my heart is nothing; my love is false. Yet, wicked as I am, if I pray and weep I can attain you. O! Sweet Lord, Sweet as honey, Sweet as Nectar and Sweet as sugar-crush. O! Almighty! Tell me how I can attain you and bless me!"

KULASEKARA ĀLWĀR in his devotional songs addressed to the Lord Vishnu (Perumāl Thirumozhi—5th decade) makes a fervent appeal for obtaining His grace pointing out his own helplessness if God does not come to his rescue. He says, "There is no succour but your own Feet, O! Lord of Vittuvakōḍu. If you do not destroy my distress where else can I find shelter? Even if the tender child's own mother casts it aside out of great wrath, the