Chapter 73 - Thiruvamathur or Tiruamattur (Hymn 45)

I

The sufferings are not completely over, but the poet is very much overpowered by the Grace of God; for, as we have seen, he has received a prop of a walking stick and partial eyesight. In this hymn at Thiruvamathur, the cloud of pessimism clears away and we hear in this hymn the poet almost dancing in joy of a new found bliss; he repeats every verb. The Grace is always identified with the Mother Goddess who is said to share the very form of the Lord. It is the Grace which leads us all to the Lord. This is spoken of as the Lord out of His love for His consort condescending to save us all, Her chilaren. The very name of the Lord Shiva which is considered to be a mantra is explained in this way: ‘Va’ represents the Grace of the Lord, and ‘Si’ the Absolute Brah-mam, whom one attains through ‘Va or Grace which is finally dissolved in the ultimate unity of the Absolute.

II

The poet sings: “I have seen Him; I have seen Him, who is acting according to the whims and fancies of the beautiful damsel or rather having the same ideas as that of the beautiful damsel. He had saved me. He had saved me by accepting me as His slave and servant. I have assumed the role, I have assumed the role of the servant of the Lord of Amathur. This is not a falsehood what I am asserting; pray, listen to me. I have returned away from those who are not blessed with the wisdom of His Vedas” (1).

“I sing, I sing of Parvati, catching hold of her feet. I go in quest of Him, I go in quest of Him, finally catching hold of Him. I dance, I dance to become one with Him. Devoid of all faults, devoid of all faults with all my consciousness or ideal, I shall embrace, I shall embrace our Lord of Amathur” (2).

What faults were removed, we are next told in the third verse by referring to the two great victorious feats of the Lord, as though these feats were performed for our poet’s sake, viz., conquest of passion and death: “That day with the power of His eyes He burnt down, He burnt down Kama. That day with His leg He rushed, He rushed on the Lord of Death. The Lord of Amathur. He has scrutinized carefully, He has scrutinized carefully (His servants). He shares He shares the form of the Mother Goddess” (3). The idea seems to be that the Lord was in search of a follower free from all defects. His Grace tempted Him to be merciful and to accept any soul, for, He could destroy their passions and their fate of Death.

Our poet in this very happy mood gives us the real relationship that existed between Cankili and himself, a relationship which he in a mood of care-worn pessimism began to condemn in his previous hymn: “I have realized, I have realized the shining truth standing inside my mind. I went, entered, and I reached, I reached Thiruvottiyur and I have attained, I have attained the soft shoulders and broad bosoms of Cankili; thereby I have enjoyed, I have enjoyed the Grace of the chief of Amathur” (4).

Our poet turns to state to the Lord going in search of the loving souls in the Bhikshatana form while even great men if they are egoistic, He destroys. He attributes all these to the Grace of the Lord, to the Mother rather than to the Lord Himself. “He conquered, He conquered in that sacrifice the denizens of the Heavens. He went about in the streets for paltry alms. He stood firm, He stood firm on the side of those full of Dharma. It is not He, It is not He. It is the Grace He showers. Ah! Our chief of Amathur!” (5).

The same contract involved in saving the poet whilst refusing to reveal Himself to Visnu and Brahma is further emphasized in the next verse: “He appeared, He appeared as a God impossible to be seen. He went higher up whilst Naranan and Nan-mukan went in quest of Him. He accepted, He' accepted Amathur and myself. He has adorned, He has adorned His chest with the sacred thread rolling on it” (6). This probably refers to the Lord coming, in the Brahmin form or to the fact that the Lord who to frighten Visnu and Brahma stood like a pillar of fire, accepted our poet as His servant making Himself known as the Lord of the Vedas through the symbol of the sacred thread. Our poet continues, “He is the thought, He is the thought of all the lives of the seven great worlds. To those who undertake to see Him, He is their eyes, He is their eyes. In His form, one half is a woman, one half is a woman, The Lord of Amdttur is He who is nearest, He who is nearest” (7).

“He is the gold, He is the gold. He shines like the lightning, He shines like the lightning, He who does not leave me depart after having given me the gold. He is that great thing, He is that great thing, the esoteric significance of the Vedas, He is mine, He is mine. Out of love in my mind, I shall enjoy the Lord of Amdttur and be full of bliss” (8).

“I go in quest of Him, I go in quest of Him. Every day, four finger-widths above the naval, I search for Him, I search for Him and His feet like red lotus. I will reach Him, I will reach Him. (Mdttu is the transitive form of the root ‘matu’. Mattu is to bring two things together through a hook, etc., to make two things to become attached to one another. The original form ‘rnatu’ must therefore mean to come together). I will come together with Him or I will be in communion with Him. Catching hold of Him I shall dance, I shall dance happy in my heart” (9). The poet is in this way referring to the yogic path where the yogis through kindling and controlling the nerve-centres reach the super-conscious spiritual stage where they are said to be embracing the Lord.

“Leaving all other relations, I reached inside my mind. The substance there, I caught hold of, I caught hold of. For reaching His lotus-like russet feet, I became devoid, I became devoid of other attachments, so that I may not be born again and again. I received the blessing, I received the blessing of becoming the servant of the servants of the Lord of Amdttur” (10). Thus the poet hints at the truth that the culmination of Sivabhakti is the Atiyar Bhakti.

III

In this hymn the poet has given us the various stages of spiritual development which he himself had undergone. The poet is so overpowered by the experience whilst singing this hymn that he assures those who will, without any false pretensions and so moved as to be in tears, recite these words of Uran, Vanrontan, praising the Lord of the dark throat, our elder brother, and father, the Lord of Amathur, having all of us as His servants who are true, the blotless—will reach the golden feet of the Lord. The poet speaks here of ‘Pulampuvar , i.e., they will feel penitent and cry—i.e., those who find nothing else except the Lord as their refuge (11). Though the hymn expresses the joy of the poet, it is in another sense the expression of his self-surrender to God.

IV

Our poet speaks of the Lord as ‘Maiyan’ after speaking of Him as the blotless and before referring to the blue throat. It may mean that He being the Absolute in which must exist everything, is also the blotful. He swallows away all the blots and miseries for saving others and purifying the world. Or, it may refer to the Ardhanarisvara form where the Mother’s form is beautified by collyrium or ‘mai’.the mother whom the poet refers to in the first three verses and the seventh verse directly and in the other verses indirectly as the blessing or Grace of the Lord saving us. Or, does it mean He is the centre? It is for consideration whether that meaning is as old as Arurar,

V

The Puranic references as already given are His company of the Mother (1, 2, 3, 7), His destruction of Kama (3), and the Lord of Death (3), His destruction of Daksa’s sacrifice (5), His begging in the streets (5) and His pillar of fire (6) appearing before Visnu and Brahma (6), His sacred thread (6) and His blue throat (11). The poet refers to his own life, his company with Cankili, the Lord’s gift of gold. He also refers to God being our father (11), our brother (7), our Lord (11), the Lord being the embodiment of truth to the truthful, the embodiment of Dharma (11), the eye unto those who want to see Him (7).

This hymn is important in bringing out the significance of Grace or Mother. It is one of the important hymns giving a picture of our poet’s spiritual development.