आमुक्तमाल्यदा (विजयनगर सम्राट् श्रीकृष्णदेवराय - गोदा देवी आण्डाल भक्ति एवं साम्राज्य-नीति)

Goda Devi 45
concentration. By worshipping Vatapatrasayi with soulful intensity
she would surely gain proximity to Lord Krishna.
The 143 hymns of Nachiyar Tirumozhi record this phase of
Goda Devi's life. She goes through the vicissitudes of desire, the
'existential shock' of meeting Him in person, the despair of rejec-
tion, and the physical and mental turmoil due to separation. There
are also the tribulations of living in a society of human beings
with the attendant gossip. Many of the verses that describe her long
vigil are spelt out in terms of despair and hope:
Light, colour, thought, sleep—
These have left me—O ye clouds!
I shall sing Govinda's praises
And ask my soul to wait.
I rest with the golden garlands
In the garden of Narayana
Waiting; when will I hear
The sound of the Lord's conch
And the twang of the Sarnga bow?
How does one prepare oneself for a tryst with the Divine?
The ancients have opened up several pathways to attain the Sup-
reme. Of these, the path of devotion has been closest to the human
heart because here an individual's entire experiential world can
be turned to the wave lengths of the Universal in terms of aesthesis.
There is the human psyche deep within us that responds per-
fectly to the call of the Spirit. A love of beauty in the universe—
in terms of service, art, nature—holds the secret of Bhakti Yoga
Goda Devi's pathway to the Divine was through a love of beauty
in nature and art. Krishnadeva Raya brings out this in his descrip-
tion of Goda Devi's Bhakti Yoga:
“The lotus-faced Goda Devi woke up at dawn from her
silent quietude. Along with her friends she carried a golden
plate with turmeric and soap-nut powder as also other toilet
preparations, freshly laundered clothes and towels to the
pond behind her house. She walked to the pond in her garden
reciting the Divya Prabhandha hymns. After her bath, she
dried her body glistening with the golden colour of turmeric.
Pushing her tresses to the back she drew an uprising mark of
white paste and a saffron image in the shape of pumpkin seed.