The Religion and Philosophy of Tevaram (Thevaram)
by M. A. Dorai Rangaswamy | 1958 | 410,072 words
This page describes “thiru edirkolpadi or tiru etirkolpati (hymn 7)” from the part dealing with the Pilgrim’s progress (with Paravai), which represents the development of Arurar’s Mysticism as gleaned from his hymns. The 7th-century Thevaram (or Tevaram) contains devotional poems sung in praise of Shiva. These hymns form an important part of the Tamil tradition of Shaivism
Chapter 39 - Thiru Edirkolpadi or Tiru Etirkolpati (Hymn 7)
I
In the last hymn, our poet sang of the universal vision, assuring the readers of the hymn that they would rule this world and the other. The assurance took that form, because the world before him was hankering after such rulership and the pleasures which that rulership brought in its train. The world forcibly comes back to his mind and this hymn is addressed to that mind or the people of such mind. This hymn also belongs to the period of his political power and greatness as is made clear by the very opening lines of this hymn addressing those who come surrounded by kings riding on the elephant. It is significant that in the previous hymn our poet described himself as the famous Aruran of the great elephant, if our interpretation is correct, and that in this hymn he addresses his mind or the minds of those in great power like him in similar terms as riding on the elephant (1). The difference between himself and others is that our poet, as a freed soul, is conscious of the ephemeral nature and the temptations of the world and of the certain Grace of the Lord which takes the form of all these things of the world. He is, therefore, a Lord and not a slave of these temptations whilst others being unconscious of the illusions become a prey to them. It is this distinction which is the message of Arurar’s life which suggests a comparison with the great Janaka.
II
“Oh! Ye, who go about on elephants surrounded by the kings, when death comes, there will be none around you. Pray, keep this in your mind. Once you have fixed your mind thus on Him you need not change it (as we do in relation to the worldly things). Come along. Let us reach the Temple of our Father in Edirkolpadi” (1). The fear of Death, our poet knows, haunts the chiefs, and our poet takes advantage of this fear in addressing them. Next comes, in addition, the miseries of the world. “If there is birth there is always death. The household life is full of misery. (Do not begin talking and arguing and deluding yourselves. Word is not always expressive and revealing; it comes also to deceive and confuse. Hence all the warring philosophies). If there is word, there is pretension. (Or, it may mean if there is enmity there will also be stratagem and cheating). Oh! Ye, of mind and heart. Let us reach the temple of the Lord” (2).
The net of passion spread out by cunning women hastens death for the pleasure hunters. “This body of sins goes and goes; decays and finally falls down, all of a sudden. Before that happens, without getting entangled in the net of the deceit of the beauties of the well shaped (or shaped like the innerside of the tender mango cut longitudinally) eyes, let us reach the Temple” (3). This attack is not on the righteous women.
Women symbolize the life of passions, the life of slavery to the five senses; leading one astray till that one becomes a laughing stock to all. “Look! There live the great Five in our minds. Ah! Ye, of the deceitful mind! Before you fall into the slough of Despondency, slighted by all, let us reach the temple of our Lord” (4). The same idea continues enforcing the old fear of ignominious death. “These Five, way-laying us in their high-way robbery, are eating us away. Before our white skull of grinning teeth and mouth reach the grave, let us reach the temple”. (5).
“Those whom you esteem as leading a glowing life are but false pretenders. To fill up your bellies, you are deluded, though you move with us. But you need not cry over this. Let us reach the temple of the Lord” (6).
“(There the false sense of prestige and shame prevent you from mixing with the followers of God). Get rid of the sense of shame or false prestige. (You must get yourself reformed and become pure). Get rid of your faults. (The greatest danger, the very negation of this love is vengeance and anger and) this you must get rid of. (If the mind were to catch hold of the Lord, it must get rid of what it is at present holding on tightly)—the passionate selfish attachment to the deceitful household life of the damsels of sweet smelling tresses of hair. The place made thus vacant must be filled with the love of the Lord. Let us reach the temple” (7). Thus our poet describes the Pilgrim’s Progress.
“If there is pleasure, there will be misery (they are the two sides of a coin). Ah! this poor household life! Ye of foolish mind! It will be sheer foolishness to speak of the aspect first. Let us reach the temple of the Lord” (8).
“The worldly relationships however dear and divine, come to naught except in relation to God. Fathers and mothers they cannot be our props even to the extent of the tiny seed of the sesame plant—(an idea which our poet mentioned once before). Let us reach the temple of the Lord” (9).
(The poet makes a distinction between ‘cintai’ and ‘nencu’, the contemplating mind and the feeling heart. He also speaks of ‘manam’ (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8)—as that which thinks and of ‘ullam’ (1), the mind as the internal organ—antahkarana).
III
This hymn is not a negation of life but a plea for a fuller life, once it glows with the love of the Lord. That is why he assures us, “Don’t feel miserable. Our father will become one with us through and through and show the path of Heavens. He is the Lord who when we praise Him herein, blesses us with life hereafter” (6). “But take note, none but His lovers will ever reach the feet of the Great Master and Guru of konrai” (8). “He is the Father (1), our Father (9), the Master (3), the Deva (4), the Chief (6), the God (7), the Beginning (10), the Great Light” (10). “He is the Lord who has thought of this Temple for saving us” (10). “He is the Lord of Edirkolpadi caught in the bondage thrown out by the Bhaktas” (11). He is full of the love of the Bhaktas to worship whom our poet has fixed his mind, upon Them—our poet the slave of the followers of the Lord, himself a Bhakta, the son of Cataiycin” (11).
IV
The Puranic references are also here—the blue throat (2), the mat-lock with water (2, 11), the bull (2, 7). the loin cloth (3), the destruction of the three cities (5), the bones (7), the crescent moon (9), the Fire unknown to Visnu and Brahma (10), the Lord of the coral form besmeared with pearl like sacred ash (11), the Trinity and the Two (4) (male and female) turning out to be the one Lord of all these (4).
The experience of this hymn, whilst singing it, inspires our poet to assure the readers that those who are masters of this hymn will certainly come to worship the feet of the Lord—converting thus even Emperors into the slaves of the Lord, taking refuge in His feet. No other assurance is necessary or proper in this context (11).