The Positive Side

The positive side

By Damal Ramakrishnan

When Narayana Bhattathiri asks his guru what dakshina he wants, the guru replies that he does not want anything. But Bhattathiri insists that he would like to relieve his guru of the paralytic stroke by getting it transferred to him. The guru asks Bhattathiri how he (Bhattathiri) will be cured. The sishya replies that while his guru, being an acharya, will not seek treatment, he himself is not bound by such rules. The guru then transfers his disease to Bhattathiri,

But Bhattathiri remains uncured, even though he takes treatment from the best doctors of the time. An astrologer then tells Bhattathiri that he must go to Guruvayur, and sing of Lord Narayana’s 10 avataras there. Bhattathiri goes to Guruvayur, and settles down to sing in praise of the Lord. The mantapam, where he sat down for 100 days, coinciding with the number of chapters for his Narayaneeyam, is referred to as Bhattathiri mantapam.

Bhattathiri asks Guruvayurappan Himself to give him the first word of his work. Guruvayurappan tells Bhattathiri to offer a sloka of thanks, an invocation to God or his guru. But Bhattathiri says it is his paralytic stroke that deserves to be thanked.

With his scholarship and brilliance, if Bhattathiri had not been afflicted by stroke, he would have gone from one king to another, singing their praises, and he would have been rewarded by them. But now, because of his affliction, he is here in Guruvayur to sing of Narayana’s avataras. So it is his stroke that has saved him from singing the praise of human beings, and has brought him to sing the praise of God. So it is the disease that deserves to be worshipped.

When we face troubles in life we do not realise that they too might lead to some good, as it did in Bhattathiri’s case. When Pareekshit is cursed to die of snake bite, and realises he has only a week to live, he asks Sukha Brahmam to narrate Srimad Bhagavatam to him. Had Pareekshit not been cursed, he would probably have been like any other king, waging war, managing his empire, expanding it and administering his territory. But the curse resulted in his listening to Srimad Bhagavatam.