Chapter 1 - The Light of Light

I - Illumination of Love:

The blissful love is not an emotional outburst but the joy of jnana or realization of the Real, the Truth, the God, the Absolute. Therefore, the Tamilian Saints are not so emotional as others, for, in them we find a harmony of emotion, wisdom, and moral activity; if at all there is relatively a greater emphasis on jnana it is on jnana as love. This is a realization which is born of firm faith and knowledge devoid of all doubts and erroneous vision. There is the firm resolve of the mind—“Titankoi cintaiyinar”, where the Lord removes the doubt—“Cankaiyai ritnka aruli’—for, otherwise nobody can come near Him; “Cankaiyavar punartarkariyan” When there is this firm conviction and knowledge and unswerving contemplation He dances as they sing—“Niccayattal ninaippularpal patum kattil atalullir’. The Lord is the pure form of true knowledge. All the books of knowledge—“Arankam”, “Marai aran-kam'’ are revealed by Him, or He is their very form. Real knowledge as experience rather than as theory is considered to bo ‘Uram' or the greatest strength of intellectual conviction born of experience which cannot be removed by any means. ‘Uram’ is the word for strength and this has been interpreted by Pinkalantai and commentators on Tirukkural which speaks of ‘Uran ennum totti” as referring to our knowledge and our poet calls the Lord the only Real which is this strength and spiritual knowledge—“Uram ennum Porulan”?

II - Purgation as Illumination:

Karma and other fetters are from one point of view fetters of ignorance and darkness, a darkness which disappears when this light of divine knowledge blazes forth—“Tolvinai tirkkinra coti”; “Irularuttarulum tuya coti”'. These references imply that the saint is equating “Vinai” and “Irul” probably as effect and cause. Tiruvalluvar speaks of “Irul cer iruvinai” and “Irul ninki inpam payakkum”. That cause or the seed of all the miseries is described as “Katu irul” —‘the terrific darkness’ and the Lord Himself as the “Katu irutcutar” —“the light within this darkness or the light which dispels this darkness”—a phrase which by the way will appeal to the psychologists like Jung. The real is obscured in this darkness and therefore the name and form of the various things in the world are but a kind of darkness hiding from vision the Reality; this darkness is torn away by the pure light of real knowledge which is the brightness of the Absolute—“Corpatapporul irularuttarulum tuya coti”

III - Arurar’s Light:

This is how the path of purgation becomes the path of illumination which we see is also the path of love. God is the only great Light for all the eight points of the compass—“Enticaikku oru cutar”. Light, flame, brightness are all various ways of describing real knowledge which is the form of God as Cit, for, even the Vedas express the inexpressible, only through similes and metaphors as, “Curutiyarkkum collavonnaccoti”; “Nanavilakkoli”, “Coti”, “Tikal oil”, “Coti enum cutar” “Parancoti”. The idea of this Absolute Light being also the Blissful Absolute is described poetically as “Amararkkiniya coti”; the idea of Absolute Beauty is expressed as “Cuntar ac-coti”. It is eternal, never going out—“Nonta oncutar”It is the Truth of truth, the Light of all lights—“Cotiyircoti” though one however great may not see that Light of all lights by egoistic self effort, even when searching through the great lights—“Cut ar munrilum onrit turuvi mat piraman arty ata Mattan”. Its purity and holiness are referred to as ‘'Macaru coti”. That the Absolute does not depend upon anything else is spoken of in terms of a self luminous light—“Tunta vilakkin narcoti" That it transcends everything else, even the lights of the world and the soul is brought out by the phrase, “Parahcutar”; and “Parah-coti”.

IV - Light sees Light:

According to the Hindu theory of perception, the like alone can perceive the like. The tongue tastes the element water because the tongue itself is a form of this element. The ‘eye is a form of the element of fire and that is why it perceives light and fire. If there is the experience of ‘Cit’ or real knowledge it is experienced by that ‘Cit’ or real knowledge itself. For, there is no duality in that experience. He is the eye of our eye, the eye of our mind and the eye of our soul and the eye of the real experience of true knowledge—“Nana kkan” Thus is expressed His All Pervasiveness and His being the quintessence of everything, physical, mental and spiritual—“Kannay elulakum karuttaya aruttamumay”.

V - Self-luminous:

Lord is self luminous as this real knowledge. He is within our mind and is everything and when the darkness disappears through Tapas of cutting and polishing the gem of a heart; He blazes forth as the beautiful light of that great gem. Our poet calls Him as “Mama niccotiyan” —a phrase used by Appar and explained by him in his famous verse “Virakirriyinan” This simile of a gem brings out not only the self luminous aspect but also its precious worth as the ultimate value and also the aspect of bliss because it is only endearing things and persons of love that are metaphorically spoken of as precious gems. He is the great precious gem of beautiful colour—“Kurumamani”. Here is a pun on the word ‘kitru’ which means when read as Guru, the spiritual master. The Lord is therefore the great precious gem of a master. Our poet is very fond of the precious stone—‘'Manikkam”— the red carbuncle (a ruby-like red stone but considered to be self luminous in the light of which the serpent as its owner is said to go about in darkness in search of its prey). He calls God the rare gem, “Arumani”; the beautiful and wealthy gem—“Tirumani” the great gem—“Mamani”, good gem—“Nanmani”, the great gem of the Devas—“Vanar mamani” The purity which appeals to our poet inspires him to describe the Lord as “Macilamani” He calls the Lord ‘muttu’ or pearl, gold and ‘Cempon’—pure gold. He rolls into one, these ideas of precious gem and of the precious metal and speaks of the Lord as ‘Ponmamani The Lord is all pervasive, towering head and shoulders over others; therefore, our poet calls Him “Manik-kattin malai”, the mountain of carbuncle; “Kanakamal varai” — the mountain of gold, an idea which elsewhere our poet brings out through the words, “Parametti”, “Paraman”, “Paramaya paramparan”, “Periyaperuman”, “Mattan” “Mattan” may also mean He who is the Lord of Mahat, the evolving Prkrti.

VI - Transcendental light:

He transcends everything else and all forms of ordinary knowledge. He is realized as an experience through intuition or mystic ‘ananyabhava’. Therefore, He is described as One who has no equal or comparison, One who has no relation—“Oppamarac-cempon”, “Tannoppilan”, “Inaiyili” “Uravili”. That He transcends other kinds of knowledge excepting mystic experience or Brahmanubhava is also brought out by our saint in a most poetic way—“Onravarivonna Murti” He is the Lord of the form which cannot be known as anything distinct and which cannot be classified according to our ordinary sources of our knowledge. It is impossible to produce any evidence—“Canru kattutarkariyavan” God or Absolute is not something objective like the things of the world.

It is the pure experience and that is why it is impossible to produce any objective evidence:

“Etukka latum etutta moliyalum mikkuc
Cotikka venta cutarvittulan enkal coti
Matukkam ninka luruvvr manamparri valmin
Catukkal mikkir iraiye vantu carminkale”

says Campantar:

“God is impossible to be reached even through contemplation by the mind; for, mind is but matter”.

“Acattila tariyatu” is Sivajnanabodham He transcends matter. Even the Vedas cannot describe Him positively because He transcends all words: “Curutiyarkkum collavonnac coti”. Even people who have reached higher spheres cannot measure Him, measure His infinity. He is a rarity to them—“Amararkkariyan”?

VII - Contradictions resolved:

The insoluble philosophical problems relating to God from the point of view of ordinary knowledge lead to series of contradictions which are all however harmonized and solved in the real experience of the Absolute. With reference to the Bhikshatana form, the form of a beggar, this problem is mooted and the final solution of the real experience is given. “He becomes the beggar because He has nothing. Further He has become the beggar because He has everything”— Inriye ilaravar; Utaiyaray ilaravar”. He is everything in the sense He is the basis, the adhisthana, the quintessence. He has nothing because none of these—the forms and names—is His true self—“Inriye ilaravard, anri utaiyaray ilaravard?”™ He is the eternal youth—“Kulakan”, but yet the most ancient person—“Palaiyan”There is no beginning or end but He is the beginning of everything. He is the root, the true cause in its entirety and the overlord of everything: “Adi”, “Mulan”;“Mutalvan”; “Mulumutal”.

That these contradictions and conflicts being ultimately resolved in a higher harmony is attempted to be explained by another simile—“Akaramutalin eluttaki ninray” —a simile used by Tiruvalluvar. ‘A’ is the first of the alphabet and God is the first of all the things trancending everything. In another sense the letter ‘A’ is the natural sound, first coming out when the mouth is opened.

The other sounds are its variations, produced by various kinds of obstructions in the organs of articulation. So also God as the basis of everything is the only pure self luminous thing; the other forms of the world are its Vikrti or transformations due to obstructions or veils. From this point of view all the letters are His form as the form—the ‘Vikrtan’. But this may not satisfy the dialectics. This is poetry; and our saint is a poet giving expression to his experience aiming at no philosophical explanation.