Chapter 2 - From Karma to Love

I - The negative and the positive ways:

The mind gets purified through Cary a, Kriya and Yoga and the soul realizes its true status through such purgatory. The path of righteousness is not an easy one. Some traverse it by hating what is evil. This is a negative way and their code of conduct consists of a series of ‘Do nots’. The other way loves righteousness, having created for it a permanent interest therein. This is the positive way. Unless there is interest, the child does not learn anything by our insisting on mere negative discipline; nor, does it do the right kind of thing. The modern teacher therefore concentrates on creating interest in the mind of the child and inspiring it with love for the particular study and good conduct. Chastity is not promoted by any advice that extra marital love is sin; it is really promoted by the growth of love between the married couple, when there will be no whisper of extra-marital love. When this love is there, nothing appears to the mind or the eye except the beloved. Where can then be any room for sin? In the path of love when the Lord is everything for the soul, nothing else is seen and therefore there can be no sin. As love develops, old habits are forgotten and in the end become erased completely. The positive discipline of love makes the mind pure. Even the remembrance of the past habits becomes abhorrent. This is how the mystics become purified.

II - The Tapas of Love:

The soul or purusa lost its glory by identifying itself with prakrti and individualizing or finitising itself in the ahankara or the feeling of self. This gives rise to desire for sense pleasure and when there is an obstruction for hatred, frustration and confusion are the result. The whole thing ends in moral collapse. The descent must be reversed and that can be done ouly by achieving freedom from this false identity and selfishness. The saint does not speak of the ‘I’ or the ‘Mine’. The lovers in their ecstasy of union do not speak of the separatist ‘I’ or the ‘Mine’. The lover speaks of the beloved as the ‘I’ losing his separate individuality. Therefore, in this path of Bhakti or love, ahankara and mamakara and false abhimana or identification are all completely dissolved.

This process of spiritual purification is spoken of as ‘Tavam . But then that should not become egotism. Righteousness, when if is not also love, becomes priggishness. It is this sense Sri Vacana Bhusanam condemns self-effort when it is egotism. The smaller or minor self should die giving room to the higher self. In this sense ethics is a spiritual purification. Tapas thus may be good or bad.

We have already referred to the yogis and bhogis following this path of Tapas. Therefore, Tapas is not merely torture and practice of austerity. It is in this wider sense that TiruvalVuvar’s chapters on Turavaram are divided into two parts, Vratam (which is merely Tapas) and Jnanam. The spiritual progress is a spiritual discipline restraining the free license of the mind and thereby utilizing its energies in fruitful and spiritual ways. This process can be spoken of as renunciation in the sense in which Tiruvalluvar calls it ‘Tttravu’ because there is the renunciation of selfishness rather than the smaller self—the ahankara and the mamakara—“Yan enatu annum carukkaruttal” though in another sense this is a process of perfection and infinite bliss. The aim of this spiritual process is to awaken in us the universal consciousness which flows out as universal love—a love which cannot bear the misery and troubles of the people at large which therefore cannot think of doing any harm to others, though as a result of this ahimsa one has to undergo any amount of suffering. Kannaki, the heroine of Cilappatikaram was going through the desert. Her gentle feet had to tread on the heat of the stones on the midday path but the epic poet states that she did not feel the agony because of her care, pity and love for her husband who was walking beside her in that burning desert. So does it happen in the spiritual paths. Suffering will be there, but it augments the love and attenuates misery. It is this positive feeling that is expressed by Tiruvalluvar in a negative way in terms of its effect in putting up with all personal suffering and in doing no harm to others—“Urta noy nonral uyirkku urukan ceyyamai arre tavattirku utu . If this positive basis is forgotten and the mere negative aspect alone is emphasized, Tapas is nothing more than self-torture, not a mere discipline. Sometimes, people take pride in calling such kind of self immolation a Tapas,

When there is not that deep love, the Tapas becomes cruel. Therefore, Arurar calls such tortures, cruel Tapas, ‘Cetittavam’ as against ‘Atittavam’ (ibid.), which is the self-surrender of love where like Kannaki, the soul forgets its own separate existence, and living and moving in God, it feels it is God and not itself that lives and moves and does all its acts. This is the Tapas of truth —‘Meyttavam’. He shows the way of truth so that we may not be drowning ourselves in the cruel hell—“Vennarakattaluntamai namakku meynneriyait tankattum Vetamutalan”. He shows us this good path. He is on the path devoid of birth. He is the Lord of pure and holy path—‘Tuneriyan’ l In this path of love the means and the goal are nothing but God. He is not only the goal to be reached through the path of goodness and purity and the great guide showing us this way and taking us through that path but also the path itself, the straight path, ‘Cenneri’; the beautiful path, ‘Anneri’v and the path of truth, ‘Meynneri’,

III - Hide and seek:

1. Ebb and flow:

In the path of love we were told that God plays a hide and seek game with the soul, now showing His face to the soul and then witharawing it, which are spoken of as union and separation, ‘Saihslesa’ and ‘Vislesa’ creating respectively a feeling of joy and confidence and a feeling of misery and self condemnation.

Arurar also speaks of the Lord agreeing to save our poet and then hiding Himself away. We have seen the working of these feelings in our saint when he was giving expression alternately to his feelings of moral greatness and moral despair. In other places also where he refers to the other aspects of spiritual progress, we find these feelings alternating.

As Acarya Hrdayam says,

“Jnanattil tan peccu; premattil pen peccu” —

‘In the path of Jnana there is the speech of the poet as himself; in love there is the speech of the poet as the lady who loves.’

We have referred elsewhere to the utterance of the love-lorn lady but we may note the cries of joy and despair proceeding from the poet as the poet.

2. Self-surrender:

Speaking of his complete self-surrender to the Lord, he says that he had not relied on the relationship of the mother or the father; he was satisfied with his relationship to the Lordship of God.

He has practised this tapas or self surrender to the Lord.

“I have offered my head, my tongue and my mind all to Himself and to His service and I have lived through serving His feet as His slave”.

“I am yours by right”, cries he. “My mind, my heart melts in love”.

In the 15th hymn and in the 54th hymn, he speaks of his imperishable attachment to God in terms of his serving Him, praising Him and singing Him even if the Lord does not care for him.

“I shall not murmur that you have made me suffer. I accept everything”.

“There is the target to be aimed and I have tried to reach that goal. I have taken refuge in You so that I may be saved as long as the mind exists”.

“I shall worship You even by force”.

“I shall not praise anyone but You”.

“Whom shall I think of except Yourself”?”

“Can I say ‘no’ after having become Your slave?”

“Shall I slight You even for a minute?”

“Is it possible to forget the Lord of Arur?”

“Forgetting God, is death” is our poet’s conviction and feeling.

This complete self-surrender is expressed in the 95th hymn where the poet says that he has become the irredeemable slave of the Lord without thinking of any one and he cries, “You may sell me, O, Lord, I have come to serve You with all my heart”. In another hymn he says, “The five rulers of the senses are there to prevent me from going away from the wrong path. But in spite of them my tongue praises You and I bind You to my mind with the garland of words.” He speaks of the pleasure of the company of the followers of the Lord and his spiritual regeneration thereby. “I shall become the slave of Your followers”. “Having become Your servant, I have served Your followers and have heard all that has to be heard” “I shall become the slave of Your followers” is the refrain of H. 52. “Your followers are those who save me also” is the refrain of H. 75. He speaks of his worship through music and poetry, begging of the Lord for the path of Tapas. “He comes with the followers, with flowers in the hand, love in the heart and tears in the eye”. He is sure of his salvation and birthlessness “I thought of You and You at once entered my body” and “You have ordered me to think of You and I have become devoid of all anger and disease” “Wherever I may think, there You become one withe me”. The 58th hymn gives us an idea of the Lord coming and saving him.

IV - Self-condemnation:

In moments of selfcondemnation, he cries in despair; “Tell me a way of escape” is the refrain of hymn No. 3. “I am frightened, O, Lord” is the refrain of hymn No. 8. “I have not thought of You for many days and wandered about like a devil”. He speaks of his fear of the delusion of a false conclusion and torment of doubts all through the varied births and deaths and through the persisting progress in spite of them: “Tuyakku mayakku”. “I am afraid of the karman”—This he repeats very often. In such moments, he feels sulky and cries, “Should You not excuse my faults”? “Is there no Lord but You, if You cannot excuse my faults”?—The 14th hymn is in this strain. So also are hymns Nos. 89 and 95.

V - Repentance:

This self-condemnation is the sincere repentance of a soul reaching higher spiritual spheres when it looks back on what till now appeared to be an eternal past, which will have no end. This repentance moves the heart of the readers. Even when we read the enumeration of the gruesome faults, there arises in our mind that the heart from which this cry of sincere repentance has gone forth, has become completely purified and spiritualized.

This repentance is a sure and certain sign of conversion—moral and spiritual. There can be no trace of evil or sin, all of them having been burnt away in the divine spark of this repentance, this fire of love, bearing no separation from the Lord. This cry of despair is the surest way of attaining God, says Manikkavacakar: “Alutal unnaip peralame”, In the very hymn of selfrealization where Arurar had the vision of God at Kalumalam, he gives expression to this great truth; “Except to those who contemplate on Him, and weep with tears in their two eyes, His two

VI - Purification:

Therefore, it is clear the process ultimately consists in purifying the mind and the heart. You think of Him for a minute and He makes that heart His abode. He exists as the unique one to the mind of those who think of Him: “Karuttara urrulanam oruvan. If the mind is oriented towards Him, He rushes into it. If soul is hungering for God, God is also hungering for soul. Our poet speaks his hankering after God, in terms of his hunger—“Paciyai otte nan kanten” God’s hunger is greater than the hunger of the soul. ‘If you just think of Him in the corner of your heart, He rushes and fills up the whole heart’—“Pavippar manam pavikkontan” a statement reminding us of the Prophet Mahommad’s saying, “When man walks towards God, God runs towards him”.

It looks as though he has no grandeur elsewhere.

‘He shines’, our poet says, ‘in the mind of those who ever think of Him’—

“Cintittenrum ninainteluvarkal cintaiyir rikalum Civan”.

‘He is in the mind of those who worship’—

“Vantippartam manatti-nullan”

‘He never leaves off His attachment to the mind of those great loving souls’—

“Metakutan pattar manattiraiyum parru vittitavan”,

‘His abode, for ever, is the heart of those who have taken refuge in Him’—

“Tamakku enruni irukkai caranataintar nencankontan”

It is not only contemplation and self-surrender but also love and hankering after Him that are emphasized—

“Urukil ulluraivan” —

‘If you melt in love, He resides in your heart’.

‘Thereafter, He is in their mind, He is in their tongue and He is all the Subject matter of the whole world’—

“Narpata-menrunarvar corpatamar Civan”;
“Vayar manattai ninaikkum avarukku aruntavattil tuyar”.

Therefore, once He takes possession of the heart, the saint does not think that he thinks, he acts or he sees, or he moves in the world; God alone thinks, lives and moves thereafter. Has not St. Paul said, “It is not I that live, but Christ dwelleth in me”? And the Shaiva Siddhanta Philosophy speaks of this stage as the transformation of the ‘Pasukarann’ into the ‘Patikarana’ the organs of the soul becoming the organs of the Lord.

VII - The Markata and the Marjara: The Monkey and the Cat:

All this process of spiritualizing or sublimation is looked upon only as the work of the Lord. It is true in some places the saint speaks of his going to the Lord, but the Lord leaving him in the lurch. This may remind us of the ‘markata nyaya’ or the way of the monkey, where the young one of its own accord clasps and embraces the mother monkey. The other way is that of a cat, ‘marjara kisora nyaya’ where the mother carries the kitten by its own mouth from place to place. It ought not to be concluded that our poet advocates the former way as the real truth. What he speaks in a sulky mood, is a cry of despair.

He has been emphasizing again and again the doctrine of Grace. In one verse he clearly states:

“The Lord had come without my knowledge to make my stony heart melt, showed His feet and removed my fetters”.

VIII - The companion:

Our poet feels that the Lord has been with him always as the invisible companion even when the poet has been leading the path of faults. He was his support and help in times of his danger—“En itarttu'nai”, when the Lord appeared to him as though He was the friend of the poet and none else. He was his comrade—‘Toland a comrade who however was a saviour too—“Ennaiyal tolan”™ The poet speaks of the Lord as his envoy or ‘tiltan’ perhaps the invisible messenger whispering in the hearts of others and changing their minds to the benefit of the poet. In this connection the tradition is that this word ‘tutan’ refers to the Lord going as a messenger to Paravai to appease her jealousy against Cankili. These terms ‘tunai’, ‘tolan’ and ‘tutan’ are emphasized by the traditionalist so that the path of our poet’s worship may be described as the path of the friend.

As such, the poet describes the Lord as having been his companion in all his faults—

“Tolanumay yan ceyyum turicukaluk kutanaki”-
“Tolamai arulit tontanen ceyta turicukal porukkum natan”

The spiritual significance of this will be explained later on when we quote Sri Vacana Bhusanam, where how the faults are transformed into the good efforts of the soul is explained.

IX - Jivanmukta:

The alternating feelings of elation and self depression are found even in the stage of Sivoham Bhavana. In a moment of depression he says, “Unnaippol ennaip pavikkamatten” but in a moment of confidence of joy he speaks of “Nanaya paran”, The soul is ultimately purified and gets itself lost in the Absolute. Everything is felt to have been performed with nothing more to be achieved—“Ketten ketpatellam piravamai kettolinten”; “Yatinukkacaip patuken” This is the feeling of the victory of the absolute achievement and perfection. The jivanmukta feels he is a ‘krtakrtya’, one that has performed all that has to be performed and exclaims, ‘Purnoham’—‘I am the fullness of a plenum’.

X - Progressive Sublimation:

The working of karma has been described in terms of love. The law of karma is, from one point of view, the law of cause and effect based on the uniformity of nature. This is, however, mechanical and does not appeal to our sense of justice and fair play though it is necessary for preventing crimes. Therefore, the idea of a divine ruler holding the scales even arises. This leads from the preventive theory to the retributive theory of punishment which is one way of looking at the worth of the theory of karma. The individual has a worth of his own and he cannot be sacrificed completely for the group, in the name of prevention or retribution for attacks on the group. The conception of reforming man emphasizes the fact that apart from the group there is the individual to be saved. The reformed or purified individual glorifies the group as well. Punishment becomes thus reformation. Today crime is more often looked upon as a disease of the mind and reformation itself is spoken of in terms of cure. Today this cure is becoming a matter of education and culture, through the provision of proper environments and experiences. Sometimes, people even speak of changing the world through conditioning the reflexes but if the individual worth and freedom are forgotten when man is made a machine, there cannot be any moral grandeur. Therefore, freedom of will is asserted and the erstwhile conception of the ruler or king becomes now the conception of a doctor and a teacher and the method adopted by the Lord for saving the world is spoken of as a medicine or ‘maruntu’, the Lord Himself being described as Guru or Master. But in all these cases, the Lord or God stands away from man. Therefore, the ruler is feared; the teacher is revered. To make this relationship between God and soul very intimate, God is spoken of as the father and the mother, but the relationship even here is not so intimate as to be one of communion. To avoid this, God is spoken of as an intimate friend and comrade. Even this appears to be a kind of exterior relationship. The most intimate relationship is that of the lovers and, therefore, God is spoken of as the beloved of the soul Love works such a great transformation that all the erstwhile selfishness is completely destroyed. There is a complete self-sacrifice and self-surrender in love. Here, there is no slavery but freedom. God also ceases to be dictating from a higher pedestal. He becomes the Soul of the soul inspiring every oner of its acts.

Karma thus becomes Dharma and the divine play of His Blfi of krpa (mercy). As Appar says,

‘Mountains of sins disappear by a spark of His love even as mountains of firewood are burnt away by a spark of fire’—

“Vimura atukkiya virakin vevvalal unniyi pukil aval onrumillaiyam panniya ulakinil payinra pavattai nanninin naruppatu namaccivayave”,

Therefore, even this, is only according to the law of karma when it becomes the law of love. It is not the outward act but the intention that is important in judging the karmas. When the intention is deified, when every act of the saint is inspired by the Lord, there is really no act of the saint and there is no karma to be enjoyed or suffered by him. Thus is karma transcended.

The feeling of self-condemnation, is a feeling of repentance revealing a purification of heart, a purity which is also expressed by our poet. The poet feels in a moment of self-condemnation that the Lord’s Grace is so powerful as to pardon all sins. Even the faults of his, are, he feels, loved by the Lord even as the dirt of the calf is licked away by the mother cow. This is the doctrine of Grace. Saktinipatam is the descending of this power of Grace on the soul.