Faith in Hinduism

[Palaniappa at aol.com]

In a message dated 97-08-14 08:23:14 EDT, mrabe at artic.edu writes:

<<  As you may know, it is said that the Vaisnava (?) parallel to the
 Christian debate over Predestination vs Free Will turns on the motif of
 mother love:  does one have faith in an all-controlling Divine that carries
 one, like it or not/unmerited favor, by the scruff of the neck, or must one
 hold on for dear life, like the baby monkey? >>

While this cat vs. monkey debate is generally associated with Vaishnavism,
here is a zaivite context where it is discussed by paTTin2attAr.

mantik kuruLai ottEn2 illai nAyEn2 vazakku aRintum
cintikkum cintaiyai yAn2 enceyvEn2 en2ait tItakaRRip
puntip parivil kuruLaiyai Entiya pUcaiyaippOl
entaikku uriyavan2 kAN attan2E kayilAyattAn2E

Here, paTTinattAr explicitly says he is not a baby monkey but belongs to
father ziva  who is like a mother cat holding the kitten.

Regards

S. Palaniappan