The Chosen Ones
Chennai: Lord Narayana spared no effort in trying to save us, but we remained unresponsive. He gave us the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Agamas, the Puranas, and yet we remained aloof.
The reason is of the nature of a paradox. It is the sastras that give us gnana. But to understand the sastras, we need gnana. Thus there seemed to be no way out for human beings. So God came to the Earth and through His avataras, sought to open our eyes. In the Rama avatara, He showed the importance of anushtanas, and in the Krishna avatara, He showed both through His observance of anushtanas and also through His advice, the path to salvation. But still mankind continued to live in a state of ignorance.
There were those who could not look beyond the human form that the Lord took, to see His Paratva. Those who realised His Paratva, were dismissive of His observance of anushtanas as possible only in the case of God. How could mere mortals behave like God? So the Lord decided that He would send to the Earth, men who would reform the rest of mankind, for if He sent men, then people could no longer say that it was impossible for mortals to follow sastraic injunctions. And so He sent the Azhvars, said M.A.Venkatakrishnan in a lecture.
The Lord’s action was like that of parents, who, when they realise their children are not paying attention to them, get the children’s friends to advise their children. We respond to those like us. So the Lord decided that He would have to get human beings to reform us. Yet another example can be employed to explain God’s decision. When elephants are to be captured and trained, a trained elephant is used. So once the Lord picked 12 men and gave them gnana, they would bring others to the fold of the righteous.
But how did He decide whom to send? And why only these 12 people? The answer would be that one does not question God’s decisions. Take the practice of the palace elephant being blindfolded and directed to garland someone, who will be accepted as the next ruler. No one questioned the elephant’s choice. So also we do not question the Lord’s decisions 

courfesy the hindu dated10nov90