Show Me a Place Without God: Avvaiyar's Lesson on the All Pervading Divine
The Story
Avvaiyar, the revered Tamil poet saint and devotee of
Murugan, was once resting with her legs stretched toward a temple. A priest
passing by was startled and asked her how she dared to lie with her feet
pointed at the deity, considering it disrespectful. Avvaiyar, without
hesitation, replied, "Show me a place where God is not present, and I will
turn my feet in that direction." The priest had no answer. Her words were
not born of irreverence but of the deepest reverence, one that recognized divinity
in every direction, every object, and every space, leaving no corner of
existence untouched by the sacred.
Here, the teaching “Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam” (“All this
is pervaded by the Divine”) finds its complete expression.
Teaching and Philosophy
This anecdote rests on one of the oldest and most central
ideas in Hindu thought, that the Divine is not limited to an idol, a sanctum,
or a single direction. The opening verse of the Isha Upanishad states this
directly: "Isha vasyam idam sarvam yat kincha jagatyam jagat" (Isha
Upanishad, Verse 1), meaning all that moves and exists in this universe is
enveloped by the Divine. Avvaiyar's reply is a living commentary on this verse.
She does not reject temple worship; rather, she expands it, showing that the temple
is everywhere because the deity pervades everywhere.
The Bhagavad Gita echoes this same vision when Krishna
declares, "I am seated in the hearts of all beings" (Bhagavad Gita,
Chapter 10, Verse 20), affirming that consciousness and divinity are not
confined to any one form or location but exist within all that lives.
Symbolism and Meaning
The feet, often associated with humility or even disrespect
when pointed at sacred objects, become in this story a symbol of the
impossibility of separating the sacred from the ordinary. Avvaiyar's gesture is
not carelessness but a quiet demonstration that the search for a
"godless" direction is futile. The story dismantles the false
boundary between the sacred and the secular, reminding seekers that holiness is
not a property of certain places alone but the very fabric of existence.
Comparison with Visoba Khechar and Namdev
A strikingly similar episode appears in the Varkari
tradition of Maharashtra. The saint Namdev once found his guru Visoba Khechar
resting with his feet upon a Shiva linga and rebuked him for the apparent
disrespect. Visoba calmly asked Namdev to move his feet to a place where the
divine was absent. Each time Namdev shifted them, another linga arose beneath
them, until the whole sanctum was filled with the symbol of Shiva. Namdev
understood then that no place exists without divine presence. Both stories, separated
by region, language, and century, arrive at the identical realization, that
conventional ideas of sacred direction dissolve before the truth of
omnipresence.
Importance and Modern Day Relevance
In an age where devotion can become mechanical, reduced to
ritual correctness rather than inner awareness, these stories ask a deeper
question, whether reverence lives in posture or in perception. The same
principle finds support in the Chandogya Upanishad's teaching "Sarvam
khalvidam Brahma" (Chandogya Upanishad, Chapter 3, Verse 14.1), all this
is indeed Brahman. Recognizing divinity in people, nature, and daily life
encourages compassion, environmental respect, and a sense of unity that transcends
rigid boundaries between the holy and the everyday.
Life Lessons
These narratives teach that true devotion is an inward
orientation rather than an outward formality, that judgment of others'
practices should yield to understanding their depth, and that seeing the sacred
in all things naturally leads to humility, kindness, and reverence in every
action, not merely within temple walls.