Reading is tapas

Samvartha while giving upadesa to Parasurama, very beautifully sums up the very gist of spirituality like this:
'It is better you ask where the Atman is not rather than asking where it is. It is so pervading and forms the prior basic of the I thought. It exists prior to all the thoughts that crop up. It is the very pith-like awareness which makes possible all other things occur by meaning. It is wrong to take this body as Atman, because Atman is that which knows, whereas the body is something that is known. It is a contradiction in understanding to consider something that is known as something that which knows. So this kind of contradictory assumptions must be given up. Thinking of this body as oneself must be given up. One must rightly take to considering oneself as the knower. One who arrives at such a right understanding will come to realise that he has nothing to achieve in this ever-changing world. What is the proof that he has arrived at right awareness? Along with the right awareness there occurs automatically dispassion. Not wanting anything of this world, these worldly things and desires. A mentality of non-attachment, which doesn't give any value to the ways of the world. This is the noble path. Those who resort to this path definitely reaches the highest bliss. And this is the essence of everything to be known.' (Translation mine)
Tiripura Rahasya is wondering that even being told in such a simple way, the utmost essence of all the Sastras like this, Parasurama was not convinced and still lingered in confusion. Samvarta realised that Parasurama can attain to understanding only when given upadesa by Dattatreya and so he guided him to the great Master and went on in his way.
***


Sri Ramana Maharishi, I came to know when I was a boy through the book of Sri Ramana Vijayam, written by Yogi Suddhanandha Bharathi in Tamil. Excellent photos of Bhagavan and the Arunachala Hills and caves were enchanting to the eyes and engaging the mind. In the front even Yogi's photo was such an aura.
Invariably, all spiritual personages were given those days in books, a circular-light background to the head. So in the school days, the natural idea was spirituality means something fantastic, suffusing with brilliance, light and rays. It was more optical and luminary. After reading epic-like narrations of Yogi about Maharishi it added all the more to the irradiance. Even now Yogi's 'langue' is unforgettable.
And that too, appendixed by my father's memory of meeting Bhagavan, added still more to the depth of the event of my getting introduced to the Ramana's loka. My father Mr R Venugopal, used to have a photo of himself acting the part of Prince of Morocco from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, , where the still portrays the moment of the dialogue -- "Hey pluck the young sucking-cubs from the she-bear"- when he was showing the action of gripped right fist across his chest, along his left eye. I asked him one day, 'why do you keep this photo always in your purse?' Then he was telling it carries a story, associated with Sri Ramana Maharishi. I was all eager and babbled out - 'have you seen him? did you talk to him? what did he say? what did you ask?'
My father was saying, 'cool boy cool. There was no talk and questions. Once I went to the Hills to have his Darshan. First day it didn't click. Second day I tried, thinking, if not that time then to return back home, visiting temples. Fortunately I found entry among the devotees sitting in front. It was uniquely calm to watch him and just sit there. For some purpose, I took out my purse to take or place something there. Perhaps Bhagavan was seeing that, I do not know. This photo, a still of the just-staged play, I was keeping it there. He asked for the photo and stared at it for a moment. Then doing the same action in the photo by folding his fist and looking at me, he returned it. I consider this as his blessing and am keeping it as the sacred memory.

*

SiRiyaatthaan (சிறியாத்தான்) was a unique teacher in the consequent period of Sri Ramanuja. He was principles personified. The idea 'A devotee of Thirumaal, whoever he may be, educated or ignorant, irrespective of any social divisions or satus, commands one's highest adoration' was not just a piece of eloquence or a status message to be displayed in one's FB. He meant it every word by his action. When he was passing by in the streets of Srirangam, no prapanna or Vaishnavaite devotee was able to be at ease. For no body knew how, he will be the first person to salute prostratingly, unmindful of dirtying his own clothes and not only that he will rise up and stand in full pride, as if he had achieved great laurels of endevour. Periyavaachaanpillai more than once cites him as the exemplar. And SiRiyaatthaan's favourite was Sri Krishna. How the Supreme Soul, Paramaatma, was just like that loitering in the streets of Brindavan, doing pranks like a kid! It was an inexhaustable source of wonder for him. To understand his wonder we must first become aware that the highest understanding of philosophical contemplation, the Metaphysical Being Absolute. Then we must slowly bring to our minds the altercation that happens. Such a Being Absolue Metaphysical assumes a human embodiment, is born, grows up as a kid doing all sorts of pranks and lo! it is there running visible across streets and cars, crying 'Heyyyee !' Really it is the wonder of wonders !

***


Thiruvaimozhi is unique in various ways. It is a grand work by Illusion's Enemy - Sataripu. It is the great essence of all the spiritual canons, the Sastras. It is the dispeller of maya spreading by its threefold qualities, It is the land of hope for the beings immersed in the misery-sea of the world. It is the great treasure vouchsafed to beings visible in the presence of and showing the divine presence of the Eternal Couple Super-Conscious.
saara saarasvadhaanaam sataripu paNidhi:
shanti suddhaananda seema
maayaamaayaamineebhi: SvaguNavidathibhi:
panthayantheem dayanthii |
paarampaaram pareethoo bhavajaladhi
bhavanmajjanaanaam janaanaam
prathyak prathyakshayEnna: prathiniyatharamaa
sannidhaanam nidhaanam ||

(Dramidopanishad taatparya ratnaavali, Sri Nigamaantha Desika)
***

Savitri of Aurobindo is extending the English language deep into the inward reaches and inner pulsating resonances. The language made explicitly introvert.
***

In Savitri there comes a passage -
All that the Gods have learned is there self-known.
There is a hidden chamber closed and mute
And kept the record graphs of the cosmic scribe,
And there the tables of the sacred Law
And so even Gods are having a learning curve it seems ! What they have learnt is self-known in a hidden chamber. In that chamber are the library of the cosmic scribe. There are hung the calculation tables of sacred Law - such a corner closed and mute! Why closed? closed from whom or what? mute means no sound? silent for what ears, perhaps ears unhearing.
Once somebody told Thiruloka Sitaram, quoting Sivavaakkiyar, 'natta kallum pEsumO?'.
Thirulokam retorted saying, 'when the stone stopped talking? It is always talking voraciously. Do you have the ears to hear it?'
The other person asked back 'what do you mean?'
Thirulokam replied, 'yea! when the stones stopped talking? they are always in discourse. Perhaps sometimes a sculptor happens to hear its talk and lo! you get a beautiful Image! Sometimes an engineer happens to hear the talk of stones. And you get a wonderful bridge or building! The stones are never-stop talkers. Only we are stone-deaf !'

*

Say it is easy to talk glibly about the long period of matter-sleep and the uprise of will and praxeologic movements. But to mentally arrive at that point of realisation, to stand exactly in such a spot in awareness full and bare, the shock and shudders are steep and striking. Exactly standing at that very point can you mint the experience in words?
In the glow of the Spirit's room of memories
He could recover the luminous marginal notes
Dotting with light the crabbed ambiguous scroll,
Rescue the preamble and the saving clause
Of the dark Agreement by which all is ruled
That rises from material Nature's sleep
To clothe the Everlasting in new shapes.

(Savitri, Book One Canto Five)
***


You need some attentive inwardness and spiritual gaze powered by intuition as per Sri Aurobindo in his Savitri. Otherwise all is screened, mystical, a voyage from the unknown to the unknown.
"But all is screened, subliminal, mystical;
It needs the intuitive heart, the inward turn,
It needs the power of a spiritual gaze.
Else to our waking mind's small moment look
A goalless voyage seems our dubious course
Some Chance has settled or hazarded some Will,
Or a Necessity without aim or cause
Unwillingly compelled to emerge and be.
In this dense field where nothing is plain or sure,
Our very being seems to us questionable,
Our life a vague experiment, the soul
A flickering light in a strange ignorant world,
The earth a brute mechanic accident,
A net of death in which by chance we live.
All we have learned appears a doubtful guess,
The achievement done a passage or a phase
Whose farther end is hidden from our sight,
A chance happening or a fortuitous fate.
Out of the unknown we move to the unknown."

(Savitri, Book One Canto Four, pp 57)
***

What is there in the Ultimate, a signal happens even in the undoubting sceptic life sometimes visible to the discerning chance vision. When we stop look and stop imagining and before we start to think the rigmarole begins to run again. And we hastily run from the moment of stop.
"Even in our sceptic mind of ignorance
A foresight comes of some immense release,
Our will lifts towards it slow and shaping hands."

(Savitri, Book Two, Canto Five)
***


How true of me presently ! Autobigraphical through a different hand? Or the Eternal Eye vieweth every several being, every several minute? Who knows...!
"A hope stole in that hardly dared to be
Amid the Night's forlorn indifference.
As if solicited in an alien world
With timid and hazardous instinctive grace,
Orphaned and driven out to seek a home,
An errant marvel with no place to live,
Into a far-off nook of heaven there came
A slow miraculous gesture's dim appeal."

(Savitri, Book One, Canto One )
***

What an existential predicament the human being is thrown into! An ounce of pure contemplation at what a cost!
"A packed assemblage of crude tentative lives
Are pieced into a tessellated whole.
There is no perfect answer to our hopes;
There are blind voiceless doors that have no key;
Thought climbs in vain and brings a borrowed light,
Cheated by counterfeits sold to us in life's mart,
Our hearts clutch at a forfeited heavenly bliss. "

"Here even the highest rapture Time can give
Is a mimicry of ungrasped beatitudes,
A mutilated statue of ecstasy,
A wounded happiness that cannot live,
A brief felicity of mind or sense
Thrown by the World-Power to her body-slave,
Or a simulacrum of enforced delight
In the seraglios of Ignorance.
For all we have acquired soon loses worth,
An old disvalued credit in Time's bank,
Imperfection's cheque drawn on the Inconscient.
An inconsequence dogs every effort made,
And chaos waits on every cosmos formed:
In each success a seed of failure lurks.
He saw the doubtfulness of all things here, "
(Savitri, Book One, Canto Five)
***

Down the memory lane

Down the memory lane
You stand some blocks away
Dipping into the heart
I behold your secret sway
Ripping all my pretences
Revel thee in thine ever-presence
Roaring laughter rearing a doubt
Round about ways of the winning fate
Abounding glory, abiding grace
Thwarted desires, thirsting passions
But ever and ever your Hand is there
Somewhere, somehow, salvaging me
Standing atop the Hills, south or north,
Reclining across the rivery beds
A rare stealth of vision I beg of Thee
Just to compose my hungry soul
That you are the self-same You
Down my memory lane.

***

From the reading table

Can you think of a saner piece of advice to anybody, rather than this? I find it hard to word it in a better way.
"To be clear-headed rather than confused; lucid rather than obscure; rational rather than otherwise; and to be neither more, nor less, sure of things than is justifiable by argument or evidence. That is worth trying for." -- Geoffrey Warnock

***

Reading Jeffrey R Timm's essay 'Scriptural Realism in Pure Nondualistic Vedanta'.
A very good point about the perceptual change that happens in the research circles is instantiated by contrasting the remarks of Eliot Deutsch in his work, Advaita Vedanta: A Philosophical Reconstruction, in 1969 with that of his own thoughts some twenty years later.
'The exegetical dimension of Vedanta is ..........of very little interest to Western students of philosophy. We do not accept the authority of the Veda (or, for the most part, the authority of any other scripture); consequently, we are not concerned whether one system or another best interprets certain obscure passages in it.'(p 5)
Jeffrey R Timm's comments over this:
'The question, of course, was never whether or not Western scholars could accept the authority of the Veda. The question was whether or not something akin to a Bultmannian demythologization could be invoked to isolate "kerygmatic" philosophical issues from the exegetical concerns that traditional thinkers had with the text.'
Twenty years later in 1988, in his essay, 'Knowledge and the Tradition Text in Indian Philosophy' which appeared in Interpreting across Boundaries, Eliot Deutsch obseves, (as commented by Jeffrey R Timm - 'marking not only a shift in his own thinking but the maturation of a field as well')
'Something important and essential is lost when we study (and teach) philosophy - as has unfortunately become typical in many contemporary analytic circles - as if it were made up of a series or set of alternative arguments, ideas, or isms capable of being abstracted from the concrete forms in which these arguments, ideas, and theories were presented and shaped.'(p 166)
The shift in the perspective does not only concern the primary Text as it were but also the commentorial traditions inherent to the subsequent and continued receptions of the Text by the engaged and involved community. This is very aptly marked by Jeffrey R Timm in his comments, paraphrasing Eliot Deutsch's words in the article (p 170): 'This effort includes not just a "primary" scriptural canon; the myriad commentaries, subcommentaries, glosses, and so on must be taken seriously because they "form, hermeneutically, integral parts of a continuing text" '
Reading Jeffrey R Timm reading Eliot Deutsch is interesting in its own ways. The field of research is so absorbing just for this reason that it is able to be self-critical as an ongoing process.
Is it just for fun that I like to say 'Reading is itself a unique yoga'?

*** 

Though everybody nowadays seems to know the x y z of everything nobody knows the a b c of anything.
-- Bernard Shaw
How true !
Any way to alter or give it a lie?
I don't hope so.
But who cares..! 

***

The concentration and fusion into the
whole being can never happen through me
nor can it happen without me. I become in
relation to the Thou, becoming I, I say Thou.
All actual life is encounter.

—Martin Buber, Ich und Du
What a pregnant statement ! An Upanishad in itself ! Mind is addicted to this statement now.

***

I thought of Dr Richard Dawkins while reading these beautiful and clear pieces of the great Darwin -
"Thus we can understand how it has come to pass that man
and all other vertebrate animals have been constructed on the
same general model, why they pass through the same early
stages of development, and why they retain certain rudiments
in common. Consequently we ought frankly to admit their
community of descent. .

It is only our natural prejudice, and that arrogance which made our forefathers declare that they were descended from demi-gods, which leads us to demur to this conclusion. But the time will before long come, when it will be thought wonderful that naturalists, who were well acquainted with the comparative structure and development of man, and other mammals, should have believed that each was the work of a separate act of creation
Some of the most distinctive characters of man have in all
probability been acquired, whether directly or more commonly
indirectly through natural selection
The difference in mind between man and the higher animals,
great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind. We have
seen that the senses and intuitions, the various emotions and
faculties, . . . of which man boasts, may be found in an incipient,
or over some time in a well-developed condition, in the lower
animals."
(The Descent of Man)
Really a spectacular thinker, Darwin is !

***

Really Gadamer is highly interesting ! I could not have expected such a bouncer on 'prejudice' -
" Prejudices are not necessarily unjustified and erroneous, so that
they inevitably distort the truth. In fact, the historicity of our
existence entails that prejudices, in the literal sense of the word,
constitute the initial directedness of our whole ability to experience.

Prejudices are biases of our openness to the world. They are
simply conditions whereby we experience something-whereby
what we encounter says something to us. "

***

It is customary to talk of seven sages of Greece, like Solon and others. But Richard Schacht talks of seven great philosophers who characterize the classical modern period in philosophy. He expresses beautifully how pivotal their contributions are, in his book Classical modern philosophers Descartes to Kant.
"Philosophy had a two-thousand-year history prior to Descartes, and has had a career of nearly two centuries since Kant; but these seven men had so profound an impact upon its course that it is almost impossible to conceive of the very existence of the various forms of inquiry which collectively constitute the enterprise of philosophy today—as well as the diverse issues debated and positions taken by contemporary philosophers of all persuasions—had they not made their different contributions to it."

How nicely he divides the whole time of philosophy as 2000 years before Descartes and 200 years from Kant.! This stream has received a definite and unalterable impetus of change in more than one aspect by the seven philosophers' inputs.!
Really a clear way to meditate on the course of philosophy's history !

***

Umberto Eco, an author of many thought provoking novels like The name of the Rose', Foucault's pendulum and more so, of a theory of semiotics, is no more. I feel sad even though fully aware of our common existential predicament. But few authors have ventured on theories and employed novel as means of articulating them. U Eco is one such.
A sentence I like very much in his 'Semiotics and the philosophy of language' is --
"The ability of the textual manifestations to empty, destroy, or reconstruct pre-existing sign-functions depends on the presence within the sign-function (that is, in the network of content figures) of a set of instructions oriented toward the (potential) production of different texts."

As a reader I do feel the bereavement.

***

Sometimes academic philosophers do describe some interesting pictures of abstract ideas. Here is one, on virtue, by Simone Weil, resorting to a quote from the ancient Book of the Dead -
"There has never been a more moving definition of virtue than the
words, spoken in The Book of the Dead by the soul on the way to salvation:
Lord of Truth . . I have brought truth to thee, and I have destroyed wickedness for thee . . I have not thought scorn of God . . I have not brought forward my name for honors . . I have not caused harm to be done to the servant by his master . . I have made no one weep . . I have not struck fear into any man . . I have not spoken haughtily . . . I have not made myself deaf to the words of right and truth. "

(while reading a quote in - Pragmatrism and non-scientific knowledge, by Hilary Putnam)

***

Putnam seems to conceive of Pragmatism as containing some characteristic features like anti-scepticism, fallibilism and the like. Not only beliefs need justification but also doubts, which is what he terms as anti-scepticism. And one can never say that a given belief will never need revision, which is what he terms as fallibilism. Yea it is interesting like tying the mammoth, which anyway needs some bindings. (while reading Richard Warner)

***

Remember the days

Remember the days
when as a child I was involved
with playthings
and caught in my own self-talk;
Haven't I crossed that fool's paradise
and only the playthings
varying over time;
doing self-talk or talking about self
the foolish child lost in play;
Alwars talk about a Child
playing creation games
again and again;
The Great Masters of the Faith plead
'don't make us objects for your play;
rather deem to consider us
objects of Thine causeless pity!'
The divine swan of Dakshineswar
is talking of a child remembering
its mother and all the playthings
thrown afar;
'a day gone waste!
yet I have not seen thee!'
so Gadadhar plunged
at the hanging sword of the Mother;
but here am I dulling all the swords
hanging or in action
to escape realisation
that may occur
perhaps by any chance,
this way or that way;
only the butter-thief knows
how to falsify my game
and conquer me against my plans;
for he knows how to play
and break any design
by his playmates;
waiting for that Child
kills all my grown up airs
and I really begin
to grow to His childhood
and become His playmate again;
but what a task!
breaking me through the spine;
but never will he give up,
I hope,
till he becomes all mine.
***

Srimad Vedanta Desika on twilights

Twilight-reddish waist-cloth of Sri Ranganatha enchants Thiruppanazhwar in his poem Amalanathipiran. The colour of the waist-cloth is reddish like the twilight sky.

Which twilight? Morning or evening? 'Both twilights' so saith Srimad Vedanta Desika in his commentary on this poem. The morning twilight-red indicates the dawn of knowledge prior to the God-realisation. The evening twilight-red indicates the flood of love streaming forth after the Realisation. Both hues of reddish-twilight exemplify the waist-band cloth of Our Lord. 

How beautiful this explanation !

’அந்திபோல் நிறத்தாடையும்’

***

Mother!

 

Mother!

You are Pure Consciousness;
Destroy my ignorance.

You are Pure Bliss;
Destroy my sorrow of worldliness.

You are the Real Truth;
Destroy my falsehood which is I.

You are the Supreme;
I shame myself
by soiling me with worldly cravings.

What hope do I have
or power in myself
of my own accord
to remain a pure child of Thee?

But what power
and what cause can change Thee
from being a True Mother?
None and nothing Maa
Hence my plea!

***

Rangan's Grace

Rangan is so much showering His Grace on me. Me? Better not to comment on me.

I follow Raja Yoga when there is heavy crowd to see Rangan. I become Bhaktha when there is no or thin crowd. I follow Jnana Yoga when the Sannidhi is closed. I become Karma Yogi when I don't go. He is laughing at my foolish pranks :-) 
 
Yesterday He somehow drew me into the Sri Pandaaram Mandapam and placed some oil on my head too!

Ranga ! Are you not becoming angry on seeing me? Sure? I wonder! But with Thayaar (The Divine Mother) I take all my liberties. But who is more compassionate? A foolish question of me - how can you say 'more' when both are One?

Tears which you, The Divine Couple, evoke in my eyes I offer as my (as if it is mine!) offering at Thy Blessed feet!

Today is Uriyadi !(27-8-2016) Just been to Thirumanjana Kaveri Mandapam place. Heavy crowd. But such a joy to see my Rangan rejoicing in the milling crowds ! Got the Holy Theertham from ISKCON people's car, stationed just opposite to the Mandap. In some one and half hours the childish pranks of Krishna alias Ranga will start hitting the pots. But who will hit my pot of Ignorance which is fastened firm down the ages through many many births. Only the Great Lady of Beautiful Eyes must recommend !

*

What to say! Words fail when the eyes become eloquent in tears. Rangan and Krishnan, facing west and north, have immersed the whole place in vibrant dancings of spirituality near the old Vani Vilas, adjacent to the Uriyadi mandap. For full half an hour, an immense drama of Grace. Thirumal and Kannan, Azhagiyamanavalan and Sri Krishna, twice-fold infinity of the Eternal Sriman - sanity is poor in such valently mapped levels as for reception, madness is much to be coveted. !

***

Translating Nammaazhvaar

ஞாலத் தூடே நடந்தும் நின்றும் கிடந்திருந்தும்,
சாலப் பலநாள் உகந்தோ றுயிர்கள் காப்பானே,
கோலத் திருமா மகளோ டுன்னைக் கூடாதே,
சாலப் பலநாள் அடியேன் இன்னம் தளர்வேனோ?

- Nammalvaar

You walked on this very world
You were staying here on this earth
You were residing very much on this soil;
Not once, not by chance
But again and again
For many and many a days;
To protect the souls ages after ages;
Am I, your own, to tire out
vexed and vexed yet again
many and many more days to come
Not joining you
in eternal company
of Thirumaamagal
shining in and through
Thy Wondrous Form.

***
(Trans : mine)

Yearning like flames !

From Sri Aurobindo's A God's Labour - how pregnant the lines are !

"He who I am was with me still;
All veils are breaking now.
I have heard His voice and borne His will
on my vast untroubled brow." 

And aspiration is symbolised by flames! Flames always move upwards, never downwards. They leap as if to their original home, the sky.

"Heaven’s fire is lit in the breast of the earth
And the undying suns here burn;
Through a wonder cleft in the bounds of birth
The incarnate spirits yearn
Like flames to the kingdoms of Truth and Bliss:
Down a gold-red stair-way wend
The radiant children of Paradise
Clarioning darkness’s end."

Reading Sri Aurobindo and The Mother by Kireet Joshi.

***

The poetry of Nammaazhvaar

What a poetry is in Nammaalvaar!

The cricket is going on. The ball has gone past the pavillion line. The fielder picks up the ball and wants to throw it to the hands of the bowler, precise, without fail. What he does is to take an angle and throw the ball slantingly to the sky, judging precisely the falling edge of the ball onto the hand of the bowler. The ball goes into a sort of parabola, going the sky then coming down sharp to the bowler's hands.

Like this, somebody is there in the East.
That person has thrown a precious red stone, shining, Manikkam,
at an angle into a parabola to the setting west. 

OOfff...there is darkness, stark over there in the west.
This glowing red stone has hit that darkness head-on and splash,
so many spray of sparky patches over the west!
Just because of this.

Yea that is how Nammaalvaar describes the evening scene of the west.

Somebody has thrown at an angle parabolic
a manikkam to the sky
and lo ! it falls over there in the west
hitting sharp the darkness
and spraying the western horizon;
In such an evening
Oh my Manikkam!
You who have
measured the world all
My sufficing and soothing saffire!
Incomparable peerless Gold, pure !
Me, your slave,
my life, which is thine
is offering at Thy Blessed Feet !

***
(Tr mine)

மாணிக்கங் கொண்டு குரங்கெறி ஒத்து
இருளோடுமுட்டி,
ஆணிப்பொன் னன்ன சுடர்படு மாலை,
உலகளந்த மாணிக்கமே!
என்மரகதமே!
மற்றொப்பாரையில்லா ஆணிப்பொன்னே,
அடியேனுடை யாவி யடைக்கலமே!
(திருவிருத்தம் 85, நம்மாழ்வார்)

***

Apriori-case between God and the soul !

In one status dialogue I was referring to the mugdaga of Sri Parasara Bhattar during the Bath Ritual of Lord Ranganatha. Let me explain the mugdaga (solitary verse) so that others who may not know already also may enjoy.

One day Sri Parasara Bhattar was worshipping Lord Ranganatha during the Bath Ritual. The Lord will be donned in a waist cloth and a garland of Tulsi in the neck during the ritual. Sri Bhattar used to have mystic communions with the Lord, who appeared just as an Idol to the people's eyes. In that communion the Lord asked Sri Bhattar why he was having a secret laugh at Him?

Bhattar answered : " My Almighty Lord! you just resemble in your present get-up a pathetic loser in the Court of Law, who is about to lose his hereditary property fond to him. Such a pathetic loser (in those days!) will resort to the last desperate measure of donning just a waist cloth and a garland of tulsi leaves in the neck and pour some water over on their head and take a very cruel oath of verocity saying if what he was claiming turns out to be a false claim, not only he but all his clans and lineages will go to cruelest hell - like that.

So you also in your losing battle with the soul, of claiming the soul as your own and unable to answer all the rational interrogations put by the soul and all your much believed proofs turned just heresy and same-sided testimonies, you are about to lose the Soul in the metaphysical court of Eternity. So as if to take the cruel oath in custom you also have donned yourselves in the same waist-cloth ans Tulsi garland and about to pour the holy water on your head ! Alas! it is so resembling and the case is nearly similar!"

Is it? Come on what were the arguments between Me and the soul?

My Supreme Lord! You were saying to the soul that he belonged to you. You had a secret plan in that. You thought that this Jiva, (soul) is always non-submissive and rebellious. So if You say that he belongs to you, then immediately his tendency will be to refute that and in turn, as a tit for tat, to say that it was not he who belonged to you but really You, who belonged to him. You were anxious he must say so and immediately before he chooses to change his views you wanted to agree to his twist of the clause and get it signed on the spot by both of you, in the presence of great Sages.

But this Jiva, soul is clever like hell. What he did you know! He didn't say as you expected. What he said was 'neither you belong to me nor I to you. But I belong to myself.

Even at that step You became crestfallen my Lord! How to win-over this soul became your killing passion. You immediately replied to him - Hi! I have strong documentary evidence to claim that you belong to me. Do you know that? Don't brag too much man! 

But the Jiva, soul was doubly clever and adamant. He asked You, 'What! what is that evidence?' 

You replied, 'It is the great Revelation, the Vedas, from Eternity!' 

The soul pooh-poohed your authority saying, "Hey! Come-on, Don't be so innocent! The Vedas are only words of mouth you know! The great Revelations are not written evidence. They are only pronounced and heard in a cycle from eternity. How can that stand as a evidence in a court of law? So your claim that I belong to you is only your words against mine. Come-on show something better!" 

Then you became worried and asked him in retort - "Hi ! how can you, in your turn, show evidence for your claim also, that you belong to yourself and not to me?' 

The soul replied, 'Hurrah ! simple... I need not show any. I have been having uninterrupted experience of myself as mine. Continuous enjoyment of property itself is valid evidence, Old Man! Compose Thyself.' 

Then You said, "Hi Hi,...wait wait don't think you are too smart... too smart....I also know some court matters boy! Even in continuos enjoyment of property, that property should not have been objected to by the owner or the PoAs. But I have myself have objected to your claim many times in addition to my PoAs doing so every now and then. 

But your PoAs? leave them you may call them your PoAs... but actually they are also souls and they also do remain as souls... so no bother on that account... but you were saying that you yourself has objected in person. Where and when? Come-on, this is something news to me! - so said the soul. 

You were jubilant that at last You have made a dent in his case. You said :' why not buddy? I came as Krishna and in the battle-field in the presence of so so many persons I openly stated my claim on you. Don't you know? 

The soul replied - Oh There.... ohohhhho you are so funny! I was a little afraid for a second. But your joke...hahahhaa...Old Man!... That was in a battle-field, definitely not any solemn place of oath or status-claim! a din of cacophony of spears, war-cries, conches, weeping and cries, horse-laughs, elephent-calls -- you mean to say in that wretched place of war and noise.. You were serenely and piously stating your claim on me? Come-on.... My Sweet Old Man! Cheer up..... Losing and winning are part of nature! Take them in good spirit! OK! You are saying so. But who were at least witnesses to your claim in that horrid place? 

My Lord! all colour drained from your face and you looked bleak and anxious! You said: "all the great sages are witnesses... what can I say..." 

The soul replied: 'My dear dear Man! who is a sage? come-on tell me! Is he not one who has sided eternally with the Lord God? Can a sage ever say I am neutral to God? Then how can you cite the sages as witnesses? Oh poor...poor Old Man!" 

Then in that grim moment when you were about to lose your claim over the soul unable to stand against his rational interrogations, an idea seemed to have striked you. Hence You adopted this measure of Customary Oath Taking. I am not saying that it is so. But your get-up at the present moment, when You are about to take Your Bath is very much resembling that.....

Just I thought of that ..........and I couldn't control my laughter. Hence the secret glee. 

***

(Of course the commentary of Sri U Ve PBA Swami is an essential aid in understanding the four-lined verse of Sri Parasara Bhattar)

Nobody is there for me...

No place to own up
No piece of land to property
No relations to claim
In the wide world
I have not held fast
to thy Lotus Feet;
O Supreme Being Transcendent!
Thee of radiant complexion
of rain-cloud benevolence!
Kanna !
Crying am I
who is there to save?
Supreme Lord
of the Town wide
Arangam.! 

***
(my Tr of Thondaradippodi Alwar's verse)

A sparrow

A sparrow a sparrow
on the banks of the ocean
sipping the drops
emptying on the sands
a sparrow a sparrow
on the sands of time
why do you do it?'
so asked the Sage,
for what reason?
My egg dropped there
into the ocean
I want it back so said
a sparrow a sparrow
on the banks of time
eh..but aren't you foolish?
to empty the ocean
and get back the egg!
pooh! poor thing..
I don't care
all I can do is try
rest is with God,
so said the sparrow
between shores and the sea
God watched the scene
grace abounding
shook by the simple faith
of puny wings beating
A huge cleavage came
rending the ocean
the floor's patch was dry
and lo! on it the egg!
The sparrow dived and got it
the flapping wings
muttering thanks
a sparrow a sparrow
on the shores of time 

(on reading a story told by Sri Ramana Maharishi)

***

Yatiraja Vimsati - English Translation

Yatiraja Vimsati - English Translation of the twenty slokas on Yatiraja by SriSri Manavala Mamunigal

Srirangam Mohanarangan

(Pillai Lokam Jeer's commentary is the great help in understanding and translating this wonderful piece.)

Yatiraja Vimsati is a wonderful little work of twenty stanzas, written by SriSri Manavala Mamunigal, otherwise known as Periya Jeer. He was called Periya Jeer, for the reason that he was the Jeer of the Temple, Srirangam. Anything of the Temple is termed as "Periya", the great. He was also known for the same reason as 'Koyil Manavala Mamunigal'.

Sri Sri Manavala Mamunigal has written scintillating commentaries on the puissant Rahasya works of Pillai Lokacharya and the incomparable and masterly work of Acharya Hrudayam by Sri Alagiyamanavalapperumal Nayanar (brother of Pillai Lokacharya). And also he has written commentaries on Sri Ramanuja Nootrandadhi, a major portion of Periyalwar Tirumozhi, for which the commentary of Periyavacchan Pillai was lost even in the times of Periya Jeer. Not only that, Koyil Jeer has penned some of the exquisite verses in Tamil in the form of Upadesa Rattina Maalai, Tiruvaimozhi Nootrandadhi, Aarthipprabandham and some singular pieces of venbas on occasions of wonder and intimacy. He has proved himself as the commentator nonpareil, always having the starting reader in his mind in his commentaries. Also he was able to realise the predicaments of the future reader, in whatever future he might come and he has taken enough pains to make room for clarity even for such readers yet to come. And greatest of all he never minces words and never his words hurt even by way of criticisms. And even when he differs from his superiors, few may be such instances, it is really an art, how he is able to combine precision with reverence. And these remain very valuable lessons for the modern scholars also.

In this work, Yatiraja Vimsati, Periya Jeer is pleading on behalf of one who is steeped in worldly attachments and pleasures and at the same time wanting to liberate himself from all the snares of worldliness and devote fully for ever to the service at the lotus feet of Sri Ramanuja. That one is not able to free himself/herself for he/she realises that he lacks the knowledge proper to do that. Such a person is not able to elicit help from the pious Sadhus of great spiritual acumen for the reason he lacks totally the Atma Gunas, or the qualities spiritual, without which the Sadhus will not tolerate the lay person. So such a person's last resort is nothing but the humble prayer - craving the only possible salvation, viz., the mere spontaneous sympathy of Sri Ramanuja on oneself, caused only by the kindness of Sri Ramanuja himself and for no other reason at all. The faults and blemishes are aplenty. No need for counting. It is innumerable. No qualities of head or heart to stake any claim by right. There is every reason and more so, to give up such an unworthy soul. But Periya Jeer believes that the grace of Sri Ramanuja flows upon the soul exactly for that, that the soul has become irretrievable by any other consideration or means. That is the greatness of Sri Ramanuja that his heart flowed towards the lowliest of the low.

This is the prayer, what I should have made, you should have made and that person over there, should have made. We have not been awakened enough to realise our predicaments and state and we are joyfully ignorant of our banalities. More than that, we imagine ourselves safe in all illusory confidence and this is a good wakening call, if only we choose not to close our ears. When waken up to our dire circumstances, fortunately we have this pleading and prayer ready-made, all we have to do is just recite this or read this with full heart and who knows wonders may happen!

*
Stanza 1

Sri Maadavaangri jalajadvaya nithya sevaa
prema vilaasaya paraankusa paada baktham |
kaamaadi doshaharam aatma padaasritaanaam
Ramanujam yatipathim pranamaami moordnaa ||

*

Sri Ramanuja is full of love
for the service
at the lotus feet of Nammalvar
who is merged in love
of eternal service to Sri Madhava;
Sri Ramanuja, even by his graceful look
destroys all the blemishes
like lust, of the soul
which resorts to him for protection;
To that Yatipathi,
leader of the renunciants,
I bow down my head,
laying all my cares to him.

*
Stanza 2

Srirangaraja charanaambuja raajahamsam
srimadparaankusa padaambuja brungaraajam |
sribhattanaatha parakaala mukaabhjamitram
srivatsachinha saranam yathiraajamidE ||

*

Royal swan residing on the lotus
of the Holy Feet of Sri Rangaraja
Splendid bee enjoying the honey unique
of the lotus feet of Paraankusa
Sun in the sky, friendly to the lotuses,
seeing whom the flowers bloom forth,
the lotus faces of Sri Bhattanatha and Parakala,
He, the Yatiraja, whose lotus feet,
the ideal scholar-disciple Sri Vatsachinha
resorted to as the only refuge,
Unto his lotus feet I pray. 

*
Stanza 3

vaachaayatindramanasaa vapushaa cha yushmad
padaaravindayugaLam bajataam gurooNaam |
kooraadhinaatha kurukesa mukhaadyapumsaam
paadaanuchintana parassatatam bavEyam ||

*
Yatindra! I must remain always devoted
to the lotus feet of those illustrious masters
like Kuresa and Kurukadhipa,
who ever and ever worshipped thine holy feet
by their words, minds and bodies.
Kindly bestow thy grace.

*
Stanza 4

nityam yatindra tavadivya vapus smrdau mE
saktam manO bavatu vaak guNa keertanE sau |
kruthyancha daasyakaraNE tu karadvayasya
vrutyantarEstu vimukham karaNatrayancha ||

*
Yatindra! let my mind be able to
think of your divine form always
let my words sing your divine
qualities ever and ever
let my two hands be always
doing service to thee and your cause
let my three functions, mind, word and body
withdraw from all other activities.

*
Stanza 5

ashtaaksharaakya manuraja padatrayaartha
nishthaammamaatravitaraadya yatindranaatha |
sishtaagragaNyajana sEvyabavatpadaabhjE
hrushtaastunityam anubooyamamaastabuddhi; ||

*
Yatindra! three meanings
of exclusive devotion and service
evinced in the eight-lettered mantra,
and those meanings through Bhagavan
culminating full in His Bhaktas,
let me become deep in conviction
and practice of those meanings full!
Oh my Lord! let my intellect
always rejoice at thine holy feet,
which even the ideal pious great men
devoted their loving service to.

*
Stanza 6

alpaapimEna bavadeeya padaabhjabakti;
sabhdaadiboga ruchiranvahamEdhatEhaa |
matpaapamEvahi nidaanamamushya naanyat
tadvaarayaarya yatiraja dayaikasindhO ||

*

Yatiraja! the great Master of comprehensive knowledge!
Not even a little do I have devotion for thy lotus feet
But, alas, the taste in worldly enjoyments
grows more and more, day by day;
this embarrassment, is due to my sins alone
and not due to any unconcern by God;
Oh Thee! the very ocean of sympathy!
remove these hurdles in me.

*
Stanza 7

vruttyaapasur naravapustvaham IdrusOpi
srutyaadi siddha nikhilaatma gunaasrayOyam |
ityaadarENa krutinOpi mitha: pravaktum
adyaapi vanchanaparOtra yatindra vartE ||

*
O Yatindra!
my activities are animal-like
but my form is human
such a lowly being am I
but, see! even the great wise sages
are extolling me
with great affection among themselves
'what a unique saint,
full of spiritual qualities,
enumerated in scriptures like Vedas!'
So much full of deceit and hypocrisy
do I live day by day, even now, Yatindra!

*
Stanza 8

dukkhaavahOham anisam tavadushtacheshta:
sabhdaadiboga niratassaraNaagataakhya : |
tvatpaadabakta iva sishtajanaugha madhyE
mithyaacharaami yatiraja tatOsmimoorkha: ||

*

O! Yatiraja!
I am a cause of unending worry for thee,
I am of evil ways in life,
steeped in worldly enjoyments,
bieng 'one who has surrendered to thee'
just only in name;
but alas! what a wicked person am I
among the illustrious great ones of devotion
I dare move about
as if I am also equally devoted to thy holy feet.

*
Stanza 9

nityamtvaham paribavaami guruncha mantram
taddEvataamapi nakinchidahO bhibEmi |
itthamsathOpyasathavadbavadeeya sanghE
hrushtascharaami yatiraja tatOsmi moorkha: ||

*
Oh! Yatiraja!
Daily, day in and day out
do I slander Guru and Mantra
and also the Devata evoked in the mantra;
not even an iota of fear do I seem to have;
I remain in truth such a slothful person;
but among your fervent devotees,
See! how I move about in joy
as if I am exceedingly pious !
there lies my wickedness.

*
Stanza 10

haahantahanta manasaa kriyayaacha vachaa
yOhamcharaami satatam trividhaapachaaraan |
sOhamtavaapriyakara: priyakrudvadEva
kaalamnayaami yatiraja tatOsmi moorkha: ||

*

Ha! alas, alas..by mind, actions and words
who, that is me, move about
committing grave blunders
in all three ways without rest;
that same me,
by the very same reason of that
should remain a cause of displeasure for thee;
But, what happens,
I am passing time
as if I behave pleasing to thee!
hence am I a wicked person,
Yatiraja !

*
Some thoughts on Stanza 10:

The beginner in devotion is pulled back by his past impressions and he behaves in mind, words and actions anti to all that he has been taught and anti to all piety. This should cause serious displeasure to God or Acharya, to whom he has surrendered himself. It is almost intolerable. That is how he himself reads the situation. But to his utter dismay he sees that the Master is unperturbed and even evinces more sympathy on him as if he has done something very pleasing to him. The beginner takes it upon himself that he has acted in such a covert manner that even the Master is taken by the impressions. Periya Jeer is packing wonderful poetry and deep psychology in this verse.

Let us take an example, a child beginning to learn alphabets from its mother, or father or teacher. The teacher or mother shows the child how to write rightly and wait for the child to do it by itself. But the child scribbles bizarre and realises that and expects extreme displeasure from its teacher or mother. But when it raises its head and sees, lo! what has happened? The teacher or mother is laughing at him pleasingly, as if he has done something worthful! The reaction is not normal, so it seems to the child which after all expects a scolding at least. But the loving teacher or mother is all patience and sympathy and can wait happily till the child learns by itself, not causing any unwanted trauma in the child by way of showing anger or chastising. That shows the best teacher or ideal parent.

Here Periya Jeer is trying to say that Yatiraja is such a loving mother or the graceful Master, who takes our failures in our attempts in all love and kindness and knows no end of patience and hope.

*

Stanza 11

paapE krutE yadibavanti bayaanutaapa
lajjaa:punakaraNamasya katham ghatEta |
mohEnamEna bavatIha bayaadilEsa :
tasmaat puna: punaragham yatiraja kurvE ||

*

If some one commits sins
and fear, repentance and shame occur,
then how can that person do again such acts?
But in me due to illusion and ignorance
no trace of such fears occur
and hence again and again, Yatiraja!
I go on committing sins after sins.

* 

Stanza 12

antarbhahi: sakalavastushu santamIsam
andha:purassthitam ivaaham avIkshamaaNa: |
kandarpavasya hrudaya: satatam bavaami
hanta tvadagra gamanasya yatindra naarha: ||

*
Like a man born blind
does not see the person standing before him
I, being ignorant-blind do not see
That Supreme Person who stands always
in and out of everything in the world.
My heart is swayed at all times by desires
Alas, Yatindra! I am not fit to come
before thee in thy presence.

*

Stanza 13

taapatrayI janita du:kha nipaatinOpi
dEhasthitau mamaruchistu natannivruttau |
Etasya kaaraNamahO mamapaapamEva
naathatvamEva haratad yatiraja sIghram ||

*

Deeply steeped in miseries threefold am I,
Yet the taste in the body and its maintainence
never seems to fade and disappear;
Alas, the reason for that is my own sins, I am sure;
My Saviour! Yatiraja! you alone can remove
such distractions in me.

*
Stanza 14

vachaamagochara mahaaguNa desikaagrya
kuraadhinaatha kathitaakhila naichyapaatram |
EshOhamEvana punar jagatIdrusastat
Ramanujaarya karuNaiva tu madgatistE ||

*

The lowliness narrated by the great teachers
like Kuradhinatha of wonderful qualities,
inexpressible by words,
all such lowliness of oneself
can be found in full in me
and only in me, in this whole wide world;
Hence, our Supreme Master, Ramanuja !
My only refuge is thy reasonless grace.

*
Stanza 15

suddhaatma yaamuna guroottama kooranaatha
battaakhya desikavarOkta samastanaichyam |
adyaastyasankuchitamEva mayIha lokE
tasmaadyatindra karuNaivatu madgatistE ||

*
Pure souls like the teachers great
Yamuna, Kuranaatha, Sri Bhatta,
whatever lowliness out of imagination
have they uttered in their verses
all that in full measure, unshrunk,
is here only in me in this world;
hence Yatindra! your sympathy
is the sole refuge for me.

*

Stanza 16

sabdadhibogavishayaa ruchirasmadheeyaa
nashtaabavatu iha bavadhdhayayaa yatindra |
tvadhdhaasadhaasa gaNanaa charamaavadhaumya
tadhdhaasataika rasataavirataa mamaastu ||

*
Yatindra! by your grace
here, in this life itself
should the taste in sensual pleasures
disappear from me;
and the involvement in serving
the servants of your servants of your servants
down to my time should never slacken in me
and be always on the increase.

*

Stanza 17

srutyagravedhya nijadhivyaguNa svaroopa:
pratyakshataam upagatastviharangaraja: |
vasyassadhaabavatitE yatiraja tasmaat
saktasvakeeyajanapaapa vimOchanEtvam ||

*

Yatiraja!
One who is known in His true nature,
His divine qualities and splendor
through Upanishads,
verily He resides, Rangaraja,
coming in Srirangam,
visible to all our eyes for ever;
and He is, out of your love limitless,
happily in your control;
so, by that you are able
to liberate from sins
your devotees, surrendered to thee.

*

Stanza 18

kaalatrayEpi karaNatraya nirmitaati
paapakriyasya saraNam bhagavat kshamaiva |
saachatvayaiva kamalaa ramaNertthitaayat
kshEmassa Eva hi yatindra bhavachchritaanaam ||

*

For the sins committed
in the past, the present and the future
by the triple ways of mind, word and actions,
the only refuge is the pardon
of the Almighty God, Bhagavan,
Was it not in such a vein,
that your great prayer
to the Lover of Kamala went forth?
That very great prayer is the sole refuge
for the devotees who have surrendered
unto thine holy feet, Yatindra!

*
Stanza 19

Sriman Yatindra tavadhivya padhaabja sEvaam
srisailanaatha karuNaa pariNaamadhattaam |
taamanvaham mama vivardhaya naathatasyaa:
kaamamvirudhdham akilancha nivartayatvam ||

*
Oh Yatindra,
rich in abundant wealth of divine service!
Please bestow thy grace
so that my involvement
in the deep service of thine lotus feet,
kindled in me by the sympathy
and evolved due to the blessings
of my teacher Sri Sailanathaa,
may grow more and more, day by day;
and by your grace
let the distracting desires
of all other things
be removed from me.

*
Stanza 20

vijnaapanam yadhitam adhyatu maamakeenam
angeekurushva yatiraja dhayaambhuraasE |
ajnOyayam aatmaguNalEsa vivarjitascha
tasmaadhananya saraNO bhavateeti matvaa ||

*

Yatiraja!
Ocean of empathy, which suffers
with the sufferer!
considering that I am chronic ignorant,
and that I am totally devoid of
any shred of spiritual qualities
and hence having no other refuge than thee,
kindly accept my prayer here,
this supplication from a person like me.

***

Here comes to completion this great poem of Yatiraja Vimsati. All together it is just twenty. But what an ocean of frank and excruciating self-repentance, which is a necessary stage in the mystic paths of spiritual progress. This repentance forms the purgatory for the soul. In zen-language it is 'emptying the cup'. Many masters have penned such pieces of repentance, here and there. Even the illustrious fore-masters like Alavandar and Parasara Bhatta have given vent to such emotions of 'deserted state of the soul' and 'keen awareness about the faults'. Human life being as it is, and the divine state that is becoming visible in the horizon being immeasurably great and pure, the poor soul shudders at the realisation. Any qualification is not a sufficient claim and no claim has any right to back it up. There dawns His grace which says the quite opposite to the soul - 'when have you separated from me? why this strangeness? I have been chasing you all along and trying to win over and tell you that you are mine.' 

But here Periya Jeer is so full of compassion for the modern man's predicament, who professes his devotion and turns empty in his soul. Ignorance, habits, mental associations and lack of genuine commitment and sincerity, all these characterize the modern man of religion, whatever name by which he may call the Supreme God, Sriman Narayana. There is no redemption for these anywhere. Even such are saved by the abundant grace of Sri Ramanuja, if they openly confess their state and surrender to him. 

'Not a soul to be lost' seems to be the mission of Sri Ramanuja, at least as per the understanding of Periya Jeer. Such seems to be the import of this unique composition.

***

No compromises, be yourself !

Their soul is made of

endless compromises

who claim perfectionism in their lives;

what they can't be in reality

they claim to be in narrations, whitewashed.

They excuse themselves infinitely

and they punish others endlessly;

That is the pity of them;

They have to carp and carp at others

to engine their complex

of being always perfect;

poor souls! who have traded poorly

their real self

for the gilded tin-work of the society;

Be happy, my dear soul!

to be always imperfect;

never covet any encomiums

to live your ordinary banal life

here on this dirty soil;

don't breath for claps!

don't sweat for laurels!

don't dance to the tunes of society

and make yourself a showpiece!

just live your dirty little life

for yourself and by yourself;

The slave-catchers are aplenty
and come in so many forms;

don't sell yourself for any of the charms.

You need never be a god or goddess

just be an everyday being,

smelling the dirt of life;

traders in rackets are many

and beware of hackers of soul;

Just be yourself,

a dirty human being born of the dust.

***

Srirangam V Mohanarangan

*

Translating Tiruvaaymozhi 5.1.10

'Oh! He has come back!
And become devoted to me!'
So thinking and happy over the thought
and so much full of it
He came to me of himself,
gave His grace of himself
and made me full of Him.
Yea, the same black-hued God
who became a fish,
a turtle, a man-lion and a dwarf
and even a wild boar and the future Kalki
yea he came and made me full of Him.

***
ஆனான் ஆளுடையான் என்று
அஃதே கொண்டு உகந்து வந்து
தானே இன்னருள் செய்து
என்னை முற்றவும் தான் ஆனான்.
மீனாய் ஆமையுமாய்
நரசிங்கமுமாய்க் குறளாய்
கானார் ஏனமுமாய்க் கற்கி ஆம்
இன்னம் கார்வண்ணனே.

(திருவாய்மொழி 5.1.10)

***

Translating Tiruvaaymozhi 10.2.1

Say Kesava
all the troubles will disappear
the squads of death
who in very many ways
try to harms us everyday
even those will become powerless
and cannot come near.
Come on, let us go
and enter the town of Ananthapuram
today itself
where reclines willingly our Lord
on the bed of venomed snake
and the bees are ringing
round the water puddles of fields.

***
கெடும் இடராய எல்லாம்
கேசவா என்ன
நாளும் கொடுவினை செய்யும்
கூற்றின் தமர்களும்
குறுககில்லார்
விடமுடை அரவில்
பள்ளி விரும்பினான்
சுரும்பலற்றும் தடம் உடை வயல்
அனந்தபுர நகர்
புகுதும் இன்றே.

(திருவாய்மொழி 10.2.1)

***

Translating Sri Ramanuja Nootrandaadhi 2

I do not know
what has happened to me
something great I sense;
My heart will never feel
for anything else
other than
the graceful simplicity
of Ramanuja;
He is such a lover profound
worshiping deep
the holy feet of Kuraiyal's Chief;
and He is away from men,
whose heart is strange
to the Lotus Feet of Blissful Ranga
reclining among
the honey-brimming groves of Srirangam.

*
கள்ளார் பொழில் தென் அரங்கன்
கமலப் பதங்கள்
நெஞ்சில் கொள்ளா மனிசரை நீங்கி
குறையல் பிரான் அடிக்கீழ்
விள்ளாத அன்பன் இராமானுசன்
மிக்க சீலம் அல்லால்
உள்ளாது என் நெஞ்சு
ஒன்றறியேன்
எனக்கு உற்ற
பேரியல்வே!

(Kuraiyal's Chief - Thirumangai Alwar, who was the Chief of Thirukkuraiyal)


***

Translating Sri Ramanuja Nootrandaadhi 1

My heart Come Come !
we will chant His names
to live for ever
at the holy feet of Ramanuja
who came
as the final resort of scholars
and who considers himself blessed
by surrendering
at the divine feet of Maran,
whose songs exude
ever and anon
the glory of God,
whose chest is the coveted place
for the divine Lady of lotus.

*
பூ மன்னு மாது
பொருந்திய மார்பன்
புகழ் மலிந்த
பா மன்னு மாறன்
அடி பணிந்து உய்ந்தவன்
பல்கலையோர் தாம்
மன்ன வந்த இராமானுசன்
சரணாரவிந்தம்
நாம் மன்னி வாழ
நெஞ்சே!
சொல்லுவோம் அவன் நாமங்களே!

(ஸ்ரீராமானுச நூற்றந்தாதி, 1)

*

Translating Tirumaalai 1

Keeping the senses in control

transcending the gaping wides of bad times

we dance on the very heads

of the messengers of death;

You, the Primal God !

It is because

of the proud jubilation we feel

on close reading your Names
Lord of the divine town of Srirangam

***

Translating Tirumaalai 26

I do not worship
all the time
your golden feet
with flowers chosen
with love;
I do not chant
your blessed qualities
with chosen words
blemishless
My heart does not throb
with love and mix with you;
when such is my life
it is not proper,
alas! my Ranga!
auf,,,why then I was born!

*

போதெல்லாம்
போது கொண்டு
உன் பொன்னடி புனைய மாட்டேன்.
தீதிலா மொழிகள் கொண்டு
உன் திருக்குணம்
செப்ப மாட்டேன்;
காதலால் நெஞ்சம்
அன்பு கலந்திலேன்,
அது தன்னாலே
ஏதிலேன்,
அரங்கர்க்கு எல்லே!
என் செய்வான் தோன்றினேனே!

(திருமாலை, 26, தொண்டரடிப்பொடி ஆழ்வார்)

***

Translating some songs of Perumal Thirumozhi

I am mad, for my Thirumal !
I don't mix with this crowd,
which takes this world
of deception as real.
My Master! My Ranga !
So do I call and call
losing me in longing for Him!

Joy for food, joy for dress
enjoying, this world runs about
I am away from it
And I am  a lunatic
of one who sucked
the ogre's breast;
In Him lives the Universe full,
He, my beloved Ranga.

The perfect path,
with no blemishes
I am onto it
And I don't get mixed up with others;
The primordial Cowherd,
He, my Ranga!
I am mad for Him,
who is the lover
of the lass on the lotus.

Ghostly they look,
everybody to me;
and of course I am so
to them in return;
what is the use,
talking about this?
I call and call
Hey Cowherd! Hey Ranga!
and for my Lord
I am rid with spirit!

These are my translations of Perumal Thirumozhi of Alwar Kulasekara, 3.1, 3.4, 3.5, 3.8

மெய்யில் வாழ்க்கையை
மெய் எனக் கொள்ளும்
இவ் வையம் தன்னொடும்
கூடுவதில்லை யான்.
ஐயனே! அரங்கா!
என்று அழைக்கின்றேன்
மையல் கொண்டு ஒழிந்தேன்
என் தன் மாலுக்கே.

உண்டியே உடையே
உகந்தோடும்
இம் மண்டலத்தோடும்
கூடுவதில்லை யான்
அண்டவாணன் அரங்கன்
வன் பேய்முலை
உண்டவாயன் தன்
உன்மத்தன் காண்மினே.

தீதில் நன்னெறி நிற்க
அல்லாது செய் நீதியாரொடும்
கூடுவதில்லை யான்.
ஆதி ஆயன்
அரங்கன்
அம் தாமரைப் பேதை மாமணவாளன்
தன் பித்தனே.

பேயரே எனக்கு யாவரும்
யானும் ஓர் பேயனே எவர்க்கும்
இது பேசி என்?
ஆயனே! அரங்கா!
என்று அழைக்கின்றேன்
பேயனாய் ஒழிந்தேன்
எம் பிரானுக்கே.

***

Translating Periyaalwar Thirumozhi 4.10.1

Why do we go for help
to persons who are capable?
Their help will be timely,
So we expect, is it not?
I have come to you for help,
may be, I fair poor,
in comparison with that elephant,
which you saved on call;
when the death comes
and knocks me down
I will not be mostly
in any position
to remember thee and call;
So, my Lord, I am telling you now.
when able and willing,
You who recline on the Snake
In the Island of Srirangam.

***
(My translation of Periya Alwar Thirumozhi, 4.10.1)

துப்பு உடையாரை அடைவதெல்லாம்
சோர்விடத்துத் துணை ஆவர் என்றே
ஒப்பிலேன் ஆகிலும்
நின் அடைந்தேன்
ஆனைக்கு நீ அருள் செய்தமையால்
எய்ப்பு என்னை வந்து நலியும் போது
அங்கு ஏதும்
நான் உன்னை நினைக்க மாட்டேன்
அப்போதைக்கு
இப்போதே சொல்லி வைத்தேன்
அரங்கத்து அரவணைப் பள்ளியானே!

***