JNANA YAGJNA is a form of sacrifice by which we try to live in the light of Truth and realise the bliss of Quiescence. He who has coalesced his separate self in the Supreme Paraparam, he has come into his own, the realisation of the Truth that is Peace and Bliss. Sang St. Tirumular:
“The seed of liberation lies in the knowledge of the self
The urge to divine love is to hold fast in earnest worship.
The goal of grace is self-forgetting consciousness in Siva.
The way to awarenes is to sink in peace serene.
Beyond subtle matter embodying sevenfold efficient cause,
Beyond immense space of the sevenfold instrumental cause
Freed from the limitation of cause and effect, pervades
The serene beatitude of peace divine.”
The Sanatana Dharma makes every act, feeling and thought of our life a yagjna, an offering to the Devas. Deva in the Vedic language means the power giving life and light to different faculties, and the deva or devata of a faculty, indriya or sense taken cosmically--Adhyatmik and Adhidaivik. The devata of chakshu or sight is the sight of all beings called Aditya, and only symbolized by the material sun or the world's eye. The devata of feet is the power in all feet styled Vishnu.
Thus true Yagjna or sacrifice to the devas means offering or dedicating one's own individual faculties and senses to the corresponding cosmic powers. An offering to Indra would mean realising the presence of God in all eyes; honouring and respecting all eyes; offending no eyes by unworthy conduct; presenting smiles, blessings, love and kindness to whatsoever eyes may turn upon you; and offering one's eyes to the All-Sight with such a devotion, that the egoistic claim will entirely be given up; the All-Light Himself may shine through one's eyes. Sacrifice to Brihaspati is dedicating one's intellect to all the intellects in the land or thinking for the good of the land, as if oneself were none else than one's countrymen, merging his interests in the interests of the people and exulting in their joy. This is styled Atma-Yagjna.
According to Rama Tirtha, Yagjna implies realising in active practice, 'my neighbour to be my own self, feeling myself as one or identical with all.' 'losing my little self to become the Self of all.' Yagjna implies a crucifixion of selfishness and the resurrection of the All-Self. In this sense of total dedication, Our Swami signified that true action was not separable from true love and true wisdom:
“If you perform Jnana-Yoga,
You'll realise the bliss of quiescence.
Eternal is Truth.”
--Natchintanai. 261.
The Swami's Jnana-Yoga is suggestive of a sacrifice of self-knowledge as a Way to coalesce in Siva, and attain the perfect state of quiescence. The great mystic Tirumular throws light on the Wisdom of the Self as revealed in the Saiva Agamas. In the section on Upa-Santam of the Eighth Tantram of Tirumantram, St. Tirumular describes this state of quiescence as a station of the soul, when it enjoys tranquillity.
“Transcending the Ego and the thirty six categories,
The liberated soul comes to know the Self.
In the purified state of vigilant awareness,
Guruparan's grace pervades in radiant peace.
Steeped in the realised experience of peace,
In union with Siva in bliss divine,
Immersed in ethereal felicity of silence,
The manifest self is in tune with eternal beatitude.
--Tirumantram. 2509-2510.
We now wish to undertake a significant JNANA YAGJNA, and recall to the sessions of remembrance, the teachings of the great Saint of Columbuturai. “The Lord who has no defined name or form, quality or nature, action or will, assumes the countenance of Grace, His own attribute of Power, so as to rescue humanity to their hghest freedom of Being.” So sang St. Tayumanavar (24.30) in praise of the Siva-Guru. The Guru abides in the hearts of sincere devotees who have self abnegated, as the Life of their life, the Light of wisdom pure and inseparable and hidden deep within. He shows them the Path. He guides them step by step to the goal of Oneness with the God head.
Such a potent form of Grace is SWAMI. Natchintanai is the Word of Grace.
His code for life is based on vigilant discipline in the path of righteous living--Sanmarga, and the subjugation of the sinister power of the Ego. Discipline of the body--senses and sensations and, of the will and character, takes into account both the subduing of the desires, (that motivation which leads to evil), and the cultivation of the good. The beginning of Jnanam or wisdom is the knowledge of the self--”Ennai Enakarivithaan Enkal Gurunathan. The summum bonum of wisdom is the quiescence, the UpaSantam that floods the realised soul, in communion with the ParaSivam. This is the import of Swami's utterance to Realise the Self by the self, and that Sivam art All;
“All that we are bides His Will, He is All in All.
So why grievest thou, ignorant man?
--Natchintanai. 61.
It was the year 1932.
After the childhood communication with Swami, there was a break of about five years, which were spent fruitfully in India. After obtaining the Master of Arts degree, my father took me to Swami and even as we entered his Ashram, He acosted with the query, how the time and years had been spent. My father hastened to unroll the record of gold medals and degrees and this and that in music and arts, when Swami interrupted his 'Pulugu,' by remarking that these were loads of fragmented knowledge which could only beget its own dark future. He smiled his sweet smile and said that he would give a new title by adding another letter to the coveted M.A. and pronounced clearly M.A.D.!
It was a cry of the GodGuru for enfranchising the self, to shed the rubbish of book learning and study Tirukural, Bhagavad Gita and the Tirumurais, and to graduate in Atma-Vidya--the knowledge of the Self--from the University of the world, his GuruKula. 'Find Me and turn thy back to Heaven,' as Emerson declared. The intensity of the mood of negativeness, and the shock treatment to the ego that was experienced, cannot be conveyed in words now. I felt the “Blank misgivings of a creature moving about in worlds not realised.” It marked the purgative stage in the inward journey of the self, from the Net-Post of the Unreal to the netless Post of the Real.
The voice, was it from outside or inside kept on whispering to break, break on the cold craggy rock of the threefold ignorance, the shell that covered the reality of the inner self. Would the breaking of a hundred coconuts at Nallur temple effect the transformation? That was the dilemma. The intellect or the heart, it was found, could not carry on any commerce with things relating to the light that was ne'er on sea or land. Outside the domain of objective relations, the intellect would involve the subject in nonsense, but how to get rid of all this hard earned rubbish, the assets of laborious toil?
Sophocles, Virgil, Shakespeare, Goethe, Kant or Spinoza were found inadequate to effect the escape from the experience of relational outlook, and to commune with the Truth of the Self. Therefore other avenues to promote Self-Knowledge were tried, in quick succession. The approaches by Plotinus and Eckhart, Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Ramana were found more appealing in this exploration of Reality and held more conviction, than the practice of the Dhyana Yoga in the Gita or the impersonal track of Tiruvalluvar whom Swami bade to study. While moving in these realms of attainable consciousness, Swami remained in the region of the unknowable till May 1939, with the passing away of the 'Pater Noster' from the scene of earthly activity.
Then began the exploration into the terra incognita which took a turn, where one felt equipped with new and delicate sensibilities; when Swami became the vortex of all sadhana to unveil the Self by the self. The study of Natchintanai became an all-absorbing quest. Swami's conversations, discourses, teachings and songs and interpretations that threw light step by step in the soul's confrontation, began to be faithfully recorded, and if and when He Wills, these would see the light of day as a compendium to this Testament of Truth.
Meanwhile, Swami's penetrating glimpses into the domain of the Anma delineated first hand in some of the most beautiful psalms in Natchintanai gripped our attention. Here He affirmed that the peerless Anma was not a concept but the attainable Real, and not a substance to be attained in a time process, but known here and now. The psalm on 'The Temple of the Heart'--Killi-Kanni which he made us sing so often exults in the truth of the Immortality of the Anma-- and affirms in undertones of ecstasy, that to know the Truth is to inhere in Truth, Bliss and Consciousness.
The best equipment to meditate on the Self is found in the study of the songs of Natchintanai, as they convey the revelations of the Guru's perennial experience of Truth. Swami's gems on the Self are so simple and so few, that they have the power to 'stab awaken' us into an intuitive perception of Truth, however faint or feeble their dart be, to percolate our impervious layers of falsehood. They contain the glimmer of something vast and real. This is the true justification for our translating Natchintanai Songs into English, and of our intention not to labour hard with metaphysical commentaries on this great subject of the Anma-Lapa. Swami speaks directly to the God in us. Let the whole world realize the God in the self.
Natchintanai has the certitude of the Guru's indwelling in the bosom of the Silence of Being. It was the year 1964. On a cold dewy morning in February, Swami came to Tiruvadi, our home, as was his wont, wheeled by Iswaran; Tiru and Ma greeted him in the porch with offerings of flowers. As that day was a 'very special day,' the overwhelming presence of the Guru lit up an ecstasy of joy immeasurable, and when he turned to go, Ma unfurled the red carpet in the traditional manner while the Master's Feet touched the cloth of honour (Nilapaavaadai). The Guru's wheel chair was wheeled on it, and the outer gate engraved with AUM was reached. Swami halted. He spoke. “In the beginning was the Word--The word was Truth.' So saying, he took the flowers from the tray on his lap, raised his hands aloft and thundered aloud--“I am Truth,” and showered the flowers on his head. The seven worlds reverberated, I AM TRUTH.
In the mighty explosion, the vividness of the time-space continuum receded, and in the morning shaft of sunlight was revealed the glory of the God-Guru. In the Guru's Supreme Awareness, the other did not exist. Then dawned on us that in the realisation of Being alone can the tangle of the other be ever solved. This is Swami's Way, and this is how he touched us! This is how he tapped the Ambrosia of the Sivam within each one of his devotees.
Truly, we must seek the support of Self first and last. When the mind is stilled, our actions, thoughts and feelings too become purified and selfless, and our desires lose their hold on us. Our self-love weakened thus, we begin to see ourselves as we truly are; love blossoms into an abiding love of Siva, Love for Siva and Love as Siva. It becomes the ruling power of human life. Such intense love begins to pervade one's thoughts and actions, that it blossoms in Siva Thondu.
The profound significance of service to Siva is that one learns to lose oneself in service, in order to find the Real Self. When life itself is offered in service to the inmost Lord, his shaft of light shall pierce the abyss. Then shall we realise the blissful, Ever Present Siva in the valley of pain and in the peaks of joy. It is to reach the Kingdom of Sivanagar. It is to attain the serene Awareness; Truth is its own proof. Expression fails us as we begin to falter with words, but the experience is a mystical one, and not an act of knowledge. It is our inalienable sovereignty. It is everlasting. It is intrinsic, pure consciousness; Sivam Is. That is the Testament of Truth, as testified by our Gurunathan--Siva YogaSwami--Muluthum Unmai.
In these ways did Swami share the sunshine of the Truth of the Self, with one and all who sought the solace of His Feet. Mukti Nalhume at the close of His Psalm on Good Living, signifies the embrace of serene Peace, as the supreme goal of Self-realisation.
The Anma is the rarest of the rare.
It is expansive in its vastness, undifferentiated.
It blends with the colours, black, red and white.
Inseparable not knowing the tempo of before or after.
It is the life of the virtuous who're free from bonds.
It is the Way that surpasseth all other ways.
It is the core of wisdom, from where emanates joy.
Divest of symbols and attributes, It pulsates with energy.
Immaculately pure in the exalted state of bliss,
The excellence of immortality doth It reflect.
The triple centres of Tripuram consumed, It freed the Devas.
It delights in transforming the jackals into horses.
It bides with those who have neither desire nor aversion.
It safeguards me from taking endless birth.
--Natchintanai. 287.
Swami glorifies the infinitude of the Anma as eternal luminousness, the incomprehensible wonder. In Samsara it becomes veiled and loses its pristine dignity. It wanders in chains that have had no beginning. Realisation of the Self is its communion with Infinite ParaSivam. This is the eternal meaning of its existence.
The impediment to the realisation of the self is the dark inhibiting power, the Karma of evil works. It is the power which binds all beings. The emphasis is on the overcoming of the (evil results of former works) effect and cause of good and evil acts, and on the incapacity for jnana (wisdom) as the greatest of all evils. Thus the Anma labours from this binding power, and the idea of release from such enchainment involves the need to worship a personal God, whose eternal Grace can be sought by blessed service to His Gracious Feet.
'Meditate,' exhorts Swami; 'Worship. See convincingly that everything pertaining to God and the faith of man is based on the edifice of Truth--Muluthum Unmai.' It is an appeal to a higher revelation which remains a secret--Naam ariyom. It demands the keen intuition of a Seer, self luminous and non-rational, and above all logical deductions. Swami is in the line of renowned Hindu Seers before whom, the numinous majesty and absolute transcendentality of the Anma unveiled Itself. His songs communicate his direct experience of the Truth of the Anma enjoying the bliss of Siva.
This is bliss indeed to melt in love
And realise for ever the Being true.
To rest in the calm of felicity--bereft of grief,
And live always without fear of birth or death.
Thou art not the five elements, nor the five senses:
Thou art not the five sensations: Thou art Anma.
May your life be an endless ecstasy of Being, illumined
By the Truth that Anma is inseparable from Siva.
Being is harmony, with mind subdued and serene.
Restrain desire, anger and arrogance on earth.
Be unattached like drops of water on the lotus leaf,
Thus enlightened, may you live in tremulous Awareness.
--Natchintanai. 303.
In Saiva Siddhanta, Anma equated by Swami with Atma is known as Pasu and connotes the immortal Soul. Anma by nature is infinite, all-knowing and all-pervading. It appears finite and ignorant, because of its leanings with impurities or malam. These are three in number known as anavam, karmam and mayai, and constitute the bonds of the Anma and are known as paasam.
Anavam is beginningless and is a connate impurity of darkness, which deludes the Anma. Karma malam is the bond brought about by the deeds of the embodied Anma. In the course of its repeated births, the Anma gathers merit and demerit, which in turn conditions its birth and action. Maayaa malam is the impurity which is responsible for the cosmic evolution, and is its material cause. It makes out man's objects of experience. These three malas thus limit the freedom of man during his life on earth.
There are three categories of Anma. The Sakala jiva is endowed with all three malas and from the stage of empirical existence, it moves throught he pralayaakala stage, where it is freed from Maya; and again by spiritual discipline is gained the vijnanakala state, where the Anma is only conditioned by the Anavam. Thus it is made mature for the working of Siva's Grace.
The Anma is said to take on the nature of that with which it is associated. When it is in contact with malam, it becomes asat (evil); when it faces the light of Siva, it becomes sat (good). During its countless births, it is poised between these two ends and is therefore termed Sad-asat. The true nature of Anma is to be in inseparable union with Sivam. It is non-separateness, sharing the nature of Siva; The goal of life is to regain the soul's liberation from the triple impurities.
Swami enunciates that liberation from bonds can be effected through any one of the enjoined Saiva disciplines, which are found efficacious by an individual in the course of his spiritual progress. Some will find temple worship and external rituals conducive to spiritual progress.
Some others will offer their heartfelt adoration and intimate acts of service such as a son would do to the father:
“Adore Him morn and eve,
And get rid of grievous errors.”
--Natchintanai. 98.
These disciplines called Sariya and Kriya in Saiva literature, follow the paths known as the dasa-marga, the path of service, and the satputra-marga, the path of filial affiliation. Nevertheless these stages may not appeal to some aspirants, who yearn for comtemplation and remembrance of Siva, leading to union with Him--Siva Yoga. This is termed the saka-marga, which is the path-way of friendship.
Then comes the last discipine of Jnanam, which is wisdom, and this is the path of Sanmarga delineated by Tirumular as the Unmai Neri, the path of Truth, because it takes the Anma straight to Sat which is Sivam.
Swami depicts the progress of the Anma from paasa-jnanam, which is attachment to the knowledge of the world, to pasu-jnanam, with its inquiry into the knowledge of the self. Finally the soul attains the Pathi-Jnanam, the goal of the wisdom of Siva. At first the individual enjoys the bounty of the world and learns to equate empirical good and evil, merit and demerit. In the terminology of the Saiva Siddhantin, it is known as Iruvinai oppu.
Repetition of the sacred letters Five, the Siva mantra of Namasivaya-Sivayanama, and the contemplation of the Lord transforms one's life, by purifying the external and internal instruments of thought and action. The seeker after Siva-jnanam, the wisdom of God, gets rid of all attachments and aversions, and filled with a benevolent attitude towards the world, exposes himself to receive the Grace of the Lord. then appears the Siva-Guru who enlightens the Anma with the serene felicity of well Being:
This illumination is the descent of Grace--Saktinipata, when the Anma sees with the luminous Eye of God. It knows through Siva, and experiences the light of His Wisdom. This is release. This is Mukti acclaimed by all saints and seers.
The Anma-Jnana which is Self-Knowledge, is one of the fundamental themes of Swami in His Natchintanai songs. Self Knowledge differs from any empirical knowledge of an object, in as much as the self is always the subject, and can never become the object of knowledge. By Anma, Swami conveys the luminous principle, the ultimate essence in all things; anma also acquires the secondary sense of self which may be either corporeal, psychic or spiritual. Therefore Anma connotes the Real Self. Swami's Natchintanai deals with the immortal Self as 'the dewdrop on the lotus leaf, tangent but not adherent.'
The Indweller of all beings, the Supreme Paraparam, whom Swami endearingly addresses as Avane-Thaane is the Divine Truth, the ultimate Reality and the Absolute Siva.
“All you have been, seen, done and thought,
Not you but I have seen been and wrought…
Come, you lost atoms, to your Centre draw…
Rays that have wandered into darkness wide,
Return, and back into your Sun subside.”
--Montigu't--Tair (tr: Fitzgerald)
It is the greatest of the great,
Yet 'tis the smallest of the small.
It is the rarest of the rare,
That is the Anma rare.
It is not one, neither can it be said
That It is dual as well.
It is neither beneficent nor can you deem
It as solely malevolent.
It is the perpetual infinite Being,
Never separate and apart fom us.
It brings forth endless ecstasy and in all,
It wipes out temporal grief.
It procreates not the seeds of duality,
'Tis verily Truth devoid of birth and death.
The Devas and Sages sought and failed
To apprehend that which is, yet
In the depth of my heart is the abode of the Real,
Amidst seeming fetters of Immanence.
--Natchintanai. 135.
“If at all you should desire for anything, desire for Truth.
You will attain that by cherishing desirelessness.”
--Kural. 37.2.
In Tirukural, Sage Tiruvalluvar urges the necessity for man to aprehend the Real--'Mei Unarthal':
“Whatever be the nature of whatsoever an object,
Wisdom lies in seeing the subtle essence hidden in it.”
He follows this chapter with the section on weeding out desires, because desire appears to be the root of all misery on earth, and the cause of man's failure to apprehend the Real. Tiruvalluvar assures us that unfailing bliss is the reward of the wise, who are blessed with the virtue of desirelessness:
“What is called purity is only desirelessness;
It will be gained by those who follow the path of Truth.”
--Kural 27.4.
St. Tirumular in the section on works and right behaviour, exhorts man to eradicate all seeds of desire in a well known Tirumantram:
“Cast out desire, Cast out desire!
Even for the love of God, root out desire.
Desire breeds desire and begets suffering.
Bereft of desire you attain undying bliss.”
--Tirumantram. 2615.
The virtue of non-covetousness hailed in the Isa Upanishad is vividly reiterated by Swami in this song”
“If ye should desire anything desire for desirelessness.”--15.
When the heart of a devout votary of Truth swings to the rhythm of the Guru, in an intense yearning for the wisdom to apprehend the Real, then it is that the Gurunathan unfolds the secret of desirelessness and the fruits of detachment. List to Swami's song, which we have rendered for clarity sake in a simple prose:
“Aspire for desirelessness and that alone.
The company of virtuous persons will certainly prove helpful
to cultivate detachment in life.
Do you yearn for the refuge of His Feet in meek submission?
Do you take up the incantation of the divine
Name, the Letters
Five--Aum Sivayanama?
Recollection of the Grace of my majestic Gurupara, who enlightened me with One Word, overwhelms me.”
“Do thou long to give up attachments in the world, and practise
contemplation to gain the harmony of yogic union?
Understand thou the voiceless vibration of the spheres, and
what it is to be in inseparable union with the resplendent
One?
Do Thou long to sing in praise of the Lord, who is a sweet
blend of the cadence and melody of music?
Oh beatific Guru-para, who fills my soul with gracious love!”
“Tune me to desire that my craft and cunning be transformed
to the cosmic vision of strength, so that mySelf in thySelf can
mingle in unison.
Let me pray for the limitations of relativity, delusion and
egoity to be consumed, so that I can behold the Lord God in
an unchanging infinitude.
Do I not long to serve in fealty all preceptors great, in servitude
so that I may realise the goal of my life?
Lo, the bounty of His Grace wiped the penury of my life!
Salutation to Thee, my illustrious Guru-Para.
“My desire soars up to contact the radiance of Thy Immanence,
when I can ignore the company of ignoble friends.
Is it not meet that I enjoy the quiescence of contemplation
in all the yogic centres within me, and learn to restrain
the power of desire?
When can I apprehend the truth of Reality?
That I may gain clarity of vision, Thou did'st bestow grace,
Oh Kingly Gurupara adored by the Gods!”
“Intense is my yearning to pass my days in austere penance,
so that my innate desires of lust can be wiped out.
Girt with intrinsic purity and renunciation, I long to generate
the current of power to flow from my crown to mingle with
the cosmic powers outside in pulsating activity.
Ah! Bliss it is to chant the primordial mantra,
that leads to
the goal of liberation.
Salutation to my exalted Guru, whose divinity
the world doth
praise.
--Natchintanai. 15-16.
In these Natchintanai lyrics, Swami brings out most lucidly, the discipline elaborated as ten stages called Dasa-Karya in the Siddhanta Sastras. Umapathi Sivacharya in Sivapragasam says that 'Knowing the true nature of the anma, its purification, and its supreme gain of being face to face with God, are the three results of attaining Divine Wisdom.” Unmaineri Vilakkam by Sirkali Tattuvanathar also describes succinctly the three results of winning the Divine Grace:
“Great ignorance removed, one sees Jnana and it is atma-rupam.
It is darsan when you alone stand of all actions shorn of agency;
Losing self and its nature and merging in truth,
It is atmasuddhi. Arulnool (Agamas) say so.”
--Unmaineri Vilakkam. 2.
When once the anma detaches itself from the evolutes of matter, (Tattvas), it begins to be aware that it is not bound by their modes of matter. Then will dawn the light of wisdom when it realises its own nature and gets purified from the grip of the tattvas. This is called Atma-rupa and Atma-darsan. When after detachment from the tattvas, the anma identifies itself with the Supreme God, it is known as Atma-Suddhi, and then the anma takes shelter in the Grace of God, as has been conveyed in these two songs of Swami on EN GURUPARA and NATGURUPARA PUNKAVA SINGAME--Natchintanai 5-6; 15-16.
“The Atma Suddhi stage is a turning point when the anma leaves off identifying itself with the tattvas, and realises its own true nature. It gets established in its union with God. It is then that the anma sees God within itself and in everything. This is known as Sivarupa. When it sheds off the sway of Ahankara or Ego-hood, everything appears Sivamaya. This perception is granted by the God-Guru, whose grace floods the purified soul, bereft of all desires. This is termed Siva-darsana.”--Sivapragasam. V.4.
From this stage onward, the anma looks upon all experiences as accruing from God's grace. In lowly surrender, it abides in the shelter of God's Feet, in an attitude of 'Not as I will, but as Thou willest.' Sivapragasam calls this stage as Siva Yoga:
“Realising that all knowledge and sense experience
flows from God's grace, and that nothing
moves without it, the anma becomes a willing
instrument of its operation. This is Siva Yoga. V. 5.
How exquisitely has Swami worked out in these songs, the supremacy of Grace bestowed by the God-Guru. Beaming with self-knowlege, and armed with purity and continence, the anma gets infused with the light of God's Grace:
“My peerless Gurupara!
Pre-eminent, and majestic
Lion in the lines of Gurus!”
--Natchintanai. 15.
St. Umapathi Sivacharya propounds this experience in a lucid way:
“The highest state of pure consciousness in waking moments is attained, when the anma is not affected by any of the senses and instruments of perception and when it does not sink into unconsciousness. When submitting itself fully to the control of the highest wisdom realised, it gives up its egoistic efforts, identifying itself with the Supreme Being whose vision it then commands.”
The realised man, being aware that God who is inconceivable even by the highest contemplation, can only be experienced by His Grace, and because of the potency of the egoity inherent in him, supplicates for perpetual remembrance of Aum Sivayanama--His Name, and remains in praise of Siva:
St. Manicavasagar conveys a similar experience in the Tiru-Tellenam Ode:
“When He and His spouse whose eyes shine bright,
Illumined my soul and made me His,
Deeds and environment faded out;
Upon this earth confusion vanished.
All other memories ceased, and my doings ceased.
Sing we His Praise and play Tellenam.”
--Tiruvacagam. 11
Swami gloats in the joy of the realised saints of God, who rejoice in the felicity of the God-Guru's Grace.
He pays an undying homage of love to his Guru, who by one word had revealed to him the priceless treasure of bliss infinite.
St. Tayumanavar in a picturesque canzone has expressed this eneffable experience of Grace, embodied in the power of the single word of the Guru to effect an exalted transformation in the soul of man:
“Deeming this false and fleeting frame to last,
Hugging as truest bliss the joys of sex,
Of woman's charming eyes and lightning form,
Taking his mansion-house for heaven itself
And gold and treasure for unfailing wealth,
Indulging in this false bombastic show,
Allowing patience, wisdom, abstinence,
Bounty and virtues all to go their way--
Thus lives the godless worldling, here on earth,
Obsessed by greed, accursed beyond compare,
Oh Teacher that did'st warn me 'gainst this creed
With but a Word and in thy love tunes me
To realise the All-embracing Love,
The end of all Vedanta and Siddhant!
Oh Teacher of Truth! Oh Master of Yoga's lore!
Oh Thou my silent sage of Moola's line!”
--St. Tayumanavar-Guru Vanakam IV.
Gurunathan's voice steals into the stillness of the heart, and trumpets there the melody of man's aspiration. Wonderful is the garland of plaintive yearnings, which is offered at the kingly Feet of the mighty lion of the Guru Paramparai. He revealed the knowledge of the Lord as the knowledge of our Being, freed from the seeming cords of body and mind. We are one in essence with the Lord. We are inseparable in the actuality of living. We dwell in the heart of His being, even as He inheres in the core of our inmost soul. List to Swami's symphony on the Truth of Being, which clearly transcends all embraces of experiences:
To know the Self by mySelf, to become
One with ThySelf, all pervading and immanent.
I yearn, aye I yearn.
To reject the lure of wealth and charm of women,
And ignore the enticing wordly gains,
I yearn, aye I yearn.
To follow righteous code and worship Thy Feet,
Restraining all thoughts, I yearn, aye I yearn,
Oh Guru, valiant like a lion!
To pursue the noble arts eschewing doubts,
And reap the fruits of ripe scholarship,
I yearn, aye I yearn.
To give up friendship with the unworthy,
And worship at Thy Feet morn and eve,
I yearn, aye I yearn.
To know my true nature, my inmost self
Ever in inseparable union with Thee,
I yearn, aye I yearn.
My Gurupara who disclaimed all duality,
Most valiant and wondrous Lion of Gurus.
To link the Three in One and open the gate
Of inner vision and slumber at Thy Feet,
I yearn, aye I yearn.
To surge with the deluge of bliss,
And mingle in thy refulgence,
I yearn, aye I yearn.
Sweet Guru who gave Thy wondrous Feet,
And made me Thine, Beloved lion of Gurus!
To perceive Thy immanence everywhere,
And dwell in Light with darkness receding,
I yearn, aye I yearn.
To know the Truth and pay my homage,
To cast aside all falsehood and envy
I yearn, aye I yearn.
Shelter me from vain deluding joys,
And bestow Thy Grace, my benign Guru.
I yearn to know the spell of five and three
To subdue the pride of Ego, I yearn.
Thou primal One adored by Ravana of Lanka.
Oh Thou who held the poison in thy throat.
Our peerless Protector of infinite love
Thy perpetual Grace I need, I need.
Oh divine Guru with tender soft Feet,
Oh valiant One who enslaved me so unworthy.
--Natchintanai. 5-6.
In the hour of meditation, the voice of the Guru from within is heard. The morning air breathes of exhilaration, as all living things greet the Dawn, the harbinger of light and activity. The chorus of a mighty music of adoration resounds from Swami's hermitage, following his Good Counsel;
My sweet one, dear as a parrot,
Arise awake, for 'tis dawn.
With fresh flowers come thou
To worship at the Guru's Feet.
Adhere not to lust, anger or desire;
Search not, pursue not.
We are That my dear, We are That.
Naamathu Edi--Naamathu Edi.
My sweet one, dear as a parrot,
Gird up your loins to overcome
The wiles of the capricious mind.
Then shall all darkness flee.
Fear not, beg not,
Chase not here nor there.
We pervade everywhere my dear,
And in all art we; we art in all.
Ellaam naamedi, Ellaam naamedi.
My sweet one, dear as a parrot
If you know thySelf, who you are,
There's none to equal thee.
It's the end of charity and penance.
Close up thy commerce with finitude
And come here, my Thangam Dear.
He is all-pervading--Doubt not,
He is That, yea He is This.
Chime the refrain ever and anon.
Thanathaam, Thanathaam.
Swami gives a remarkable key to destroy the kingdoms of separations, by meditating on God as the sole doer of all our actions. He is the Mid-point of all things. When the soul merges in the realisation of Siva, there is no return to divided life. All embraces of experience are ignited by Him. Every act is perceived as His act--Oru Pollappumillai. It is true wisdom to turn inward to the crucial centre of action, which is the intrinsic Truth--Muluthum Unmai. God Is. The seed thought of I, the ego-self that makes up the sad texture of our lives, dissolves in this Illumination of all forms. Verily in Truth, there is nothing to be known. It is the serene awareness of thySelf in HimSelf.
Ye learn and chant--'Tis thySelf you experience.
Ye deal with justice--'Tis thySelf you recall.
Ye discuss castes--'Tis thySelf you alienate.
Ye seek the Primal One--'Tis thySelf you search.
In tranquillity--'Tis thySelf you become aware.
In discernment--'Tis thySelf you realise.
In thought unceasing--'Tis thySelf you reflect.
In conversation--'Tis thySelf you discover.
Ye ponder on Siva--'Tis thySelf you reveal
Ye abandon evil--'Tis thySelf you venerate.
Ye perform penance--'Tis thySelf you know.
Ye quell likes and dislikes, 'Tis thySelf that equates.
In disputation--'Tis thySelf you judge.
In wanderings far--'Tis thySelf you perceive.
In the elements five--'Tis thySelf you adore.
In the axis of nada-bindu--'Tis thySelf that yearns.
Ever hastening-- it is thySelf that delights.
Ever searching--it is thySelf that discerns.
Ever seeking--it is thySelf that eludes.
Ever uniting--it is thySelf that attains.
--Natchintanai. 17.
The incandescence by which Swami unveils tremulously the transcendence of ParaSivam in Natchintanai, is so strikingly similar to the setting of the transcendental Splendour reflected in the Upanishads, that we shall give parallel versions where Truth speaks in different voices, and the Eternal Truth becomes self-evident. It is equally true that in Truth, there is nothing to be known.
In the Katha Upanishad occurs a famous passage which extols the glory of the transcendental Splendour of Being:
“He who cannot even be heard of by many, whom many, even hearing, do not know, wondrous is he who can teach (Him) and skillful is he who finds (Him) and wondrous is he who knows, even when instructed by the wise. 1.2.7
Not by reasoning is this apprehension attainable, but dearest, taught by another, is it well understood. Thou hast obtained it, holding fast to truth. May we find, Naciketas, an inquirer like thee. 1.2.9.
Realising through self-contemplation that primal God difficult to be seen, deeply hidden, set in the cave (of the heart), dwelling in the deep, the wise man leaves behind both joy and sorrow. 1.2.12
The knowing self is never born; nor does he die at any time. He sprang from nothing and nothing sprang from him. He is unborn, eternal, abiding and primeval. He is not slain when the body is slain. 1.2.18.
Smaller than the small, greater than the great, the self is set in the heart of every creature. The unstriving man beholds Him, freed from sorrow. Through tranquility of the mind and the senses (he sees) the greatness of the self. 1.2.20.
The one eternal amid the transient, the conscious amid the conscious, the one amid many, who grants their desires, to the wise who perceive Him as abiding in the soul, to them is eternal peace and to no others. 11.2.12--13.
The sun shines not there, nor the moon and the stars, these lightnings shine not, where then could this fire be? Everything shines only after that shining light. His shining illumines all this world.” 11.2.12--15.
Kena Upanishad adores the Brahman thus:
“There the eye goes not, speech goes not, nor the mind; we know not, we understand not how one can teach this.
“Other, indeed, is it than the known; and also it is above the unknown. Thus have we heard from the ancients who have explained it to us.
That which is not expessed through speech but that by which speech is expressed; that, verily know thou, is Brahman, not what (people) here adore.
That which is not thought by the mind but by which, they say, the mind is thought (thinks); that, verily, know thou, is Brahman and not what (people) here adore.
That which is not seen by the eye but by which the eyes are seen (see); that, verily, know thou, is Brahman and not what (people) here adore.
That which is not heard by the ear but by which the ears are heard (hear); that, verily, know thou, is Brahmanand not what (people) here adore.
That which is not breathed by life, but by which life breathes; that veriy, know thou, is Brahman and not what (people) here adore.”
1.3-9.
The Mandukya Upanishad further elucidates the changeless Atman.
“All living beings are spontaneous, steadfast peacemakers
Uncreated, immortal Self, evenminded and undivided.
The Self is unborn, endowed with equanimity and purity.
They are the renowned seers--those few who realise the
Self thus--
The world does not comprehend their way.
As far as our intelligence can comprehend,
We knowingly pay homage to that state,
Which cannot be apprehended by the eyes or through othersenses,
A state where reigns peace and serenity.”
--Mandukya Upanishad--Gaudapada Karika. 4.93.95.
Swami reverberates the incomprehensible nature of the Supreme Reality in many an Ode in Natchintanai. He uses the means of the empirical world to cross it, and attain to the trans-empirical. this view reminds us of a verse in Blake's Auguries of Innocence:
“To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower;
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.”
In Swami's poem on the transcendence of Sivam, the axle of stainless sound rests on the tranquil dance of Silence. He extols the Supreme who is the source of all light as the master light of all our seeing.
the wise man who knows that the Anma though embodied, is the seat of the Imperishable Omnipresent Siva, has no cause for grief. He goes beyond all fear and sorrow.
The Supreme is the plenitude of Truth. Absolute Truth--Muluthum Umnai, according to Swami, transcends the concepts both of fetter and freedom. The endless ecstasy of being is the theme of his canzone on the Luminous ParaSivam.
“It cannot be seen by the eye
And yet it is the eye that illumines.
It cannot be heard by the ear,
And yet it is the ear that activates sound.
It cannot be clasped by the hand,
And yet it is that which moves the hand to grasp.
It cannot be reached by the feet,
And yet it is that which moves the feet to action.
It cannot be uttered by the mouth,
And yet it is speechless speech.
It cannot be conceived by the mind,
And yet it is the impelling thought,
It cannot be smelt by the nose,
And yet it is that which makes the nose smell.
It is Primal One without past or future.
It is free from age and sickenss.
It takes the form of father and mother;
And yet is pre-eminently the unique one.
It cannot be praised as one or two:
And no artist can delineate it.
It lies betwixt good and evil.
It dwells for ever in the hearts of the wise.
It distinguishes not 'twixt Vedanta and Siddhanta.
The axle of sound rests on the tranquil dance of silence.
--Natchintanai. 292.