Introduction

In this part we take up Arurar s conception of Soul or ‘Atman’ and its progress. The Nature of the soul is not discussed separately but is shown only as revealed by its spiritual progress. Describing the means of attaining salvation or freedom as a spiritual ladder is found in all mystic literatures. The conception of the mystics of the world is as usual taken as our starting point and correlated with the Agamic conception which Arurar may be taken to have followed.

Carya, Kriya, Yoga and Jnana have been studied in our discussion of Arurar’s religion. Therefore, the philosophical implications of these alone are explained in this part of our study within the background of rituals of other lands. Cekkilar’s conception of Arurar’s married life as a spiritual yoga is also elucidated. The law of Karma becoming the law of love and Grace is also explained.

The ethical mysticism of Arurar emphasizing the importance of the moral path is brought out thus exposing the hollowness of the view that Arurar and other mystics are non-moral if not immoral.

The self-condemnation of Arurar is explained as a feeling of repentance and conversion rather than as confession of his moral depravity, a depravity which cannot be reconciled with the picture of a highly elevated moral life which the poet in all his sincerity places before his Lord in the isolation of his suffering and intimacy of his prayer. This alternating feelings of selfcondemnation and self elation are explained as the ebb and flow of the loving heart.

The spiritual process also becomes a process of love—a holy tapas as distinguished from ‘cetit tavam’ or vain torture. The doctrine of Grace which is one of the great messages of Arurar’s poem is explained in the light of the law of Karma becoming the law of love, where the Lord as the lover of the beloved becomes the insatiable nectar of divine bliss. Thus is the way paved for discussing the final goal of divine bliss in terms of love.