One of the problems with religions is that traditions are established on the basis of the compilations of the utterances of  a speciallygifted individual  who sounds very mystical along with some metaphysical claims he makes and  the whole compilation laterbecomes something very authoritative with the capacity to found a religion. The historical processes that go into the compilation,the uncertainties and ambiguities that pervaded originally become very soon forgotten and the compilation becomes something emotionally an IDOL,   something that mesmerizes a collectivity  conferring them  a separate social   identity . . We can see  this
in the histories of the Vedas, the Buddhists and Jain Agamas, the Saiva Tevaram Corpus, the Divvya Prabahntam of TamilVaisnavism, and in the middle East  Bible AlKoran and so forth. For a historian of thoughts this constitutes a problem,  aphenomenon that needs to be understood and made sense of. For the most bitter quarrels among people are actually between suchcollectivities where a presumed  THREAT to the religious identity and its survival is sufficient to call for a Holy War  , a Jihad or Crusade or something like that where killings ensue with heaven as reward for such warroirs  and where they are also honored as
martyrs.

In this I want to single out the Tamil scriptural tradition for one of the things I notice about it is that  though it has scriptures, theproduction of scriptures however has been CONTINUOUS with the later ones  ACCEPTED along with the earlier and henceNOTHING standing as the most authoritative like the Vedas Bible and AlKoran and so forth. There seems to a mechanism atwork where NO SINGLE scriptural compilation is allowed a pre-eminent place  in the religious life of the peolple and which hascontributed somewhat towards the unification of religions and sustaining of Bakthi, the genuine devotion to BEING that appears tobe inherent to all human beings as long as they don't allow it to be suppressed by other emotions.

The Openness of Tamil Scriptural Tradition

. Despite some over simplifications , I think I am essentially right in this for in the other traditions there hasn't been suchproductive processes at work . In Tamil we have in addition to the above also the 14th cent .Tirupukaz and the 19th cent.Tiruvarudpa  selections from which are sung even in the temples. There is also an  OPENNESS to accept such scriptures shouldthey be produced in the future. And it is this OPENNESS for scriptures, the readiness of the mind to accept NEW scriptureswithout being threatened and without being excessively worried and psychotic  about the place of the old that   I want tounderstand as I see that it has some relevance to the current world situation where  conflicst have come about because of an extreme emotional attachment to scriptures. Conflict seem to be precipitated by reading THREATS to one's religion and hence tothe authority of  scriptures that founds it and this only because there is a RELUCTANCE and REFUSAL to  FREE the mind ofidentities especially the religious. The more committed an individual is to a religion, the LESS FREE he seems to be  PURE of such tradition-fostered identities.

Organizing Culture towards TRUTH

Could it be  that the meaning of the present world crisis is precisely that -- to make human beings become more OPEN andthereby become LESS emotionally attached towards the religion that one  has been born into or has accepted as one's ownthrough the mechanism of conversion? And something the Indians have learned long long ago and because of which theyformulated philosophically the most meaningful phrase ( to me) " Satyam Eva Jayate" and which actually consists an antidote tosuch mystical-magical identities? For TRUTH stands always humiliating the intellect of man , as something that he must submit tobut without feeling the ego being hurt or bashed in the process.  TRUTH demands submission not by arresting and mesmerizing
the intellect but by giving maximum FREEDOM to it, something that stands as an important fabric of Indian culture no matter howuntidy it may appear at times.
 

The Sumerian Roots.

With such questions at the back of my mind the following words of Sulgi in Mutariibiyam or Mutariikam (Hymn B) caught myattention and made me reflect deeply about their significance in world history especially the Indian Cultural History.

327 nig-lul nig-gi-na nu-me-a sar-re-bi a-na-gin-nam

(If ) falsehood and justice (truth) were non-existent what for should I have written (them)

Ta. niga uuzal nig iina naa meyya caaRRubi engnganam? ( If there  no corruptions and lowly (and evil things in the world) how can there be the (writing ) of the  caattiraas?

Without going into the linguistic details, let me point out that the key terms are 'nu-me-a" and sarre (caaRRu). In TamilcaaRRuthal means both the announcing or composing  as well as the reading of written documents. Hence we can see the Ta.caattiram, (also available in Sk as sastra)  means scriptural utterances that arise by way of CORRECTING the wrong ways of thepeople, the corruptions ( kilul> Ta,. kiiz uuzal) and evil mentalities ( ki-gi-na. Ta.> kiiz iina). Sulgi here asks rhetorically : if suchthings are NOT TRUE in the world, who would ever write the sastras, the scriptural or scripture-like treatises? and thereby implying that such texts are answers to a historical situation and as such  are historically conditioned.

The Historical and Transhistorical

However Sulgi appears to have noticed that it is only within the historical that the TRANSHISTORICAL is accessed and hencesuch TEXTS can  become DEATHLESS and because  of which I take it that Sulgi means here by sarre-bi the scriptures ratherthan other kinds of literature. This notion is available both explicitly and implicitly.

Implicitly it is available in the name he gives to this hymn: mutariibiyam (mu-da-ri-bi-im) and mutariikam  (mu-da-ri-kam) both ofwhich are fortunately good Tamil to this day and which means  that (bi-im) which kills (arii) becoming old and obsolete (mutu).Thus he sees that his compositions have a peculiar quality about them, that of standing there UNDYING and AGELESS andforever meaningful and because of which people will value it,  praise it,  preserve it and so forth, notions available in many of hisother lines in the text.

This is notion is also stated explicitly by him in the following line:

326. nig-de-a sag-kal mu-da-ri-kam

(They are ) my favorite (opus) , of the first rank (and ) lasting fame

Ta. nittiya caangkaL mutariikam

The most important word here is nig-de-a which corresponds to the Ta. & Sk nittiya, the permanent , the everlasting,  a term ofwide use in the philosophical tradition of India. The sag-kal (Ta. caangkaL) perhaps carries the same meaning  as samkhya,derived from Su. sag meaning the head, the Ta. caan. The foremost, the lofty is that which is Nittya, the permanent and because of which it stands as mu-da-ri-kam, that which conquers death .

The scriptures thus are both historical and transhistorical -- the reaching of the absolute grounds by way of RESPONDING to the historical demands. When we become forgetful of the historical conditioning of their genesis and fix ourselves  on the transhistorical  our mind  becomes mesmerized and fixated and hence BLIND to the future and OTHER such possibilities. However once we keep this truth about the scriptures  fresh in the mind, it  remains OPEN as well as respectful towards the scriptural  texts awaiting such productions under new historical conditions and as responses to the novel demands.

This attitude may be  what is available among the Tamils and as part of the Agamic tradition. This may also be pan-Indian as this attitude  seems to prevail the whole of non Vedic India, including the Tantric, Buddhist and Jaina. Perhaps this is also the attitudethat is having a painful birth in the world today.

Dear Friends ,

I have already pointed out that right from the Sumerian times, hymns played a very central role in the metaphysical life of theAncient Tamils, the Sumerians and because of which there has been important investigations of music . In the list of booksbelonging to the Second Academy , probably located somewhere in the North of India  are many treatise on music, Icai NuNukkam  Peria  Pammam   and so forth. This dimension of life was lost  or submerged during the positivistic times of Buddhism and Jainism in the Tamil country   and was recovered very strongly to become again an integral part of religious life during Bakthi revolution. In the Bakthi  up-heavel  that recovered Hinduism for India and for the world, we see an important role for Hymnology and for which purpose the Teevaaram and Divvya Prabantam were mainly composed as HYMNS that can set to music and SUNG to the accompaniment of instrumental music . This tradition still survives having given rise to the tradition of Carnatic  Music and so forth. Throughout the Tamil world now   there is great revival and in Malaysia almost every other child can sing at least a few Teevaaram hymns and in ragas appropriate to them

Epistemological investigations alone are not only useless but can also serve as mental blocks towards enjoying genuine spirituality. The discursive rational mind cultivates, unknown to itself, egotism and because of which they hunger after various kinds feighned supremacies : the racial Aryan, the casteic Bramanah , the linguistic Tamil Purists and Sanskrit Deiologists and what not.  All such struggles, even in the name of objective science,  are  ultimately various attempts of man to feed more his ego needs rather than seeking out truth , mey kaaNal.

The language of music serves to break lose from this ego enchantment,  FREE man from the blinding rationality , melt his heart make him egoless  by lifting him up into deep metaphysical realms and make possible the direct experience of BEING.

Sambantar was not just one who sang  hymns and combated the positivistic Jains and Buddhists (quite ferociously perhaps)  but a brilliant thinker, a profound metaphysician.

The following  verse is a tiny drop from his enormously deep metaphysical reaches where he talks about music and metaphysics.
 
 

Sambantar  11: Tiruviizi Mizalai

paNNum patam eezum palavoocait tamiz avaiyum
uL ninRatoor cuvaiyum uRu taaLattin oli palavum
maNNum punalum uyirum varu kaaRRunj cudar muunRum
viNNum muzutaanaan idam viizim mizalaiyee

Meaning:

BEING stands over an above the basic elements  of Earth, Water, Wind and Space also the three forms of Fire: that which dispelsthe external physical darkness, the internal darkness of Ignorance and that which burns to ashes the dirt within and therebypurifies the souls. HE also stands as the animating principle within the  psychic entities  that have  assumed existence throughinheriting a physical body. But over and above all these HE stands as the Ragas that elevate ordinary language into somethingesthetically appealing and for this purpose HE becomes the seven basic tunes and the numerous hymnal compositions in Tamil. Furthermore through providing the different kinds of beats HE also brings to these compositions a function as  as melodious songs
so that they are not just objects of linguistic studies but rather someting enjoyed as moving hymns. In this HE also becomes the hidden meanings that surface to the fore from the hidden depths as one melts into the beauties that unfold spontaneously. You ought to know that  the place of residence of such a BEING is Tiruviizim Mizalai

NOTES

Sambantar may be a Brahmanah  but he was Tamil first , a Tamil who brought out the immense spiritual wisdom buried withinTamil language  and because of which he called himself Tamil Virakan., a master of Tamil language, a title he richly deserves. Inthis verse he also articulates a Theory of Aesthetics and the reason why right from ancient days music was cultivated as an integral part of Temple ritual and why there are so many excellent musical compositions in Tamil and sung in order to enjoy for oneself the spiritual depths. Saivism was never a dogmatic religion but rather something that helped every person to experience for
himself the God within and through that become truly purified and uplifted. For it is the direct experiencing of BEING that is truly uplifting.

It is interesting that in connection with this,  singing the songs with the appropriate ragas and to the accompaniment of instrumental orchestra is deemed very important ,  the songs become one of the best sadhanas in the spiritual journey of man.

BEING stands as the physical world as well as the LIGHT and HEAT in the physical and metaphysical  realms that dispels the darkness and thereby purifies the souls. But most importantly he DISCLOSES Himself in the language of music and emerges in the understanding when the songs are sung with the appropriate melodies and to accompaniment of right kind of instrumental orchestra.

How and why this?

Language exists in a variety of stylistic forms: natural speech where they occur as part of speech acts, i.e. something effectedthrough language. It  also exist as literary language: the compositions  narratives dialogues announcements, declarations, asrecords of fine thoughts, as vehicles of philosophical disputations,  scriptural utterances, legal deeds , political pronouncements , judgments in the court of law and so forth.

Compared to the hymns, all these forms of language lack a certain quality -- in having the EGO reigning supreme in these forms , they strengthen the Egotism and in that fail to touch the soul,  melt the heart and through that breed humility by subduing the strong presence of the ego.

In singing a hymn and being carried away in the spiritual mood it creates, the soul is TRANSPOSED into a higher existentialrealms which is simultaneously purifying. For in such experiences the soul gets transported into the realms of BEING Himself andthe understanding that becomes available at that point makes the soul less egoistic and thereby really humble. Only theUNDERSTANDING of the Depths and the MYSTERY surrounding existence can make one really humble.

While the ordinary forms of language HIDE the reality of BEING and hence the source of endless and meaningless egoisticdisputes, the hymnal form especially when brought to life by being SUNG, lights up the soul through providing metaphysicalilluminations of a  profound kind. For as the MEANING that comes ALIVE when the hymns are sung properly, BEING whoremains normally FAR AWAY, becomes CLOSE, within the reach of the EXPERIENCE of the ordinary individuals.

While all art forms has this capacity, hymns , being close to the language Mantras, are the best and most effective. For BEINGpervades the world in the mantra-body, the mantirat tirumeeni, as Tirumular has observed.

Dear Friends,

There is an urgency to distinguish carefully the cosmological views with those of astrological and depth psychological.Hindu life, at the moment,   is dominated by misleading astrological notions which constitute an impediment forfurtherprogress in the genuine  Way of Life, the ThiruneRi.  It is also very unfortunate that the current Vedism continues to  promote Astrology despite knowing that is is a species of pseudo science, a thing of the deep past but somehow promoted mainly because it is an integral part of the Vedic  tradition.

Astrology probably arose from early days where  there was the absence of differentiation of the heavenly bodies fromthe celestial beings. This we see clearly in Sumerian times itself where for e.g.. Gudea in the edict concerned with erecting a temple,  mentions very clearly the favour of the gods in terms of good constellation of the stars.

12. dub (the tablet )   mul-an-dug-ga  im-mi-gal ( showed the favour of the stars)

The Ta. muulan tunnga ( mul-an- dug-ga) , the favour of the stars clearly shows astrological thinking where the starcluster  of a kind was  taken taken as the language of the stars  read  as favorable or unfavorable for beginning amassive undertaking.

The Bakthi revolution that was initiated in Tamilnadu was not only a disconstruction of the godless metaphysics of theBuddhists and Jains of the times but also astrology in all its shades and all other such pseudo sciences. . Sambantar, aBrahmanah of the Kaundinya Gotra was probably well aware of the damage Astrology , so well entrenched as part ofVedism, was doing  to the genuine belief in God. If there is true belief in BEING and the understanding that HE isthe real POWER, then what is required of the baktas is TRUST in BEING and NOT any other as the determiners of one destiny.

Below I provide Sambantar's disconstruction of what can be called Planetary Astrology, the belief in Navagrahas, thenine planets as the powers that bring the good and the bad in one's life. This is certainly a misunderstanding of DepthPsychology where the Kundalini ,  normally known to take of the form snakes in dream experiences as well variousglobular forms of different colors and radiance  are  confused with the planets in the sky.
 
 

Sambantar 2-1 (The Second TirumuRai, Patikam 85)

veeyuRutooLi pangkan vidamuNda kaNdan
    mika nalla viiNai tadavi
maacaRu tingkaL kangkai mudimeel aNintu en
    uLamee pukuntavatanaal
njaayiRu tingkaL cevvaay putan viyaazan veLLi
    cani paambu iraNdum udanee
aacaRu nalla nalla avai nalla nalla
    adiyaarkku mikavee

Meaning:

BEING who has as HIS equal half the WOMAN, the Umai of bamboo-like  frame has implanted Himself within mein thearchetypal forms as the ONE who plays the faultless Veena, and as the ONE wearing the pure Half Moon andGanges onHis tuft. And because of this for devout people (like me) the forces like the NjayiRu (Sun) , TingkaL( Moon) Cevvaay (Mars),  putan( Mercury  ) viyaazan (Jupiter), VeLLi (Venus), Sani (Saturn) and the Snakes Ragu and Keetu will NOT do anything evil but only good, the  really good.
 

Commentary
 

In this,  one of the most remarkable and revolutionary patikams, a complex of issues are brought in to make the point that for the devout people who have succeeded in having implanted the archetypal presence of BEING in their mind and body, no evil forces can be effective but on the contrary they are transformed into the GOOD, forces that  become benign and immensely benevolent. Hence it is declared that the ACTUAL presence of BEING in  certain archetypal forms within   can TRANSFORM the evil forces that are destructive and oppressive into something good and beneveolent.

This immediately rules out that these socalled astrological planets are actually the planets in the sky for obviously they being inert,  if at all they in some combinations bring about misfortunes and miseries akin to earthquakes storms dry spells  and so forth, they will be INEVITABLE whether the person is  devout or not, and has succeeded in IMPLANTING certain  archetypal forms of BEING within his mind and body or not.

Another added reason to reject these astrological planets being identified  with astronomical planets is that the
SNAKESRagu and Kethu are also considered as astrological while there do not exist anything equivalent to them in the  sky circulating in definite orbits.

The mention that these as  SNAKES gives a clue as to their REAL nature: they are forms of KUNDALINI, the Libidinal Force for it is as Snake that it makes its  appearance in dreams  and mythologies. Thus it also makes it clear that the astrological planets are MYTHOLOGICAL and hence something that are encountered in dreams and dream-like experiences. They are, in other words, ARCHETYPAL FORMS of a peculiar kind  that are in the world and also in the mind and body of the people.

Here we should recall that Sani is understood by the Siddhas as  the Anava Malam appearing as this astrologicalfigure indreams and mythologies but actually a force of destruction and disintegration that  also exists in the body and most probably in the spinal cord and which ultimately is the cause of death.

We may also understand the remaining astrological planets in terms of the shape Kundalini acquires under the impactof Bindu and Natham (Yin and Yang) It is clear that the Sun is the Kundalini with the Naatam while the Moon that with Bindu. Sani, as the DARK Planet is the presence of aNavam and hence as that which SWALLOWS any presence of Kundalini, or the Primordial Libidinal Energy. The remaining planets can be seen as the various combinations of Naatam and Bindu and how they structure the structureless Kundalini

With this understanding of what are  in fact these astrological bodies , we can understand better the claims of
Sambantar.

BEING as the ONE who has the WOMAN as HIS equal half is BEING with the WHOLE of KUNDALINI, the Cauldron of  ALL the POWERS,  of ALL ENERGY for she is PARASAKTI, the transcendental POWER. And He appearing as the ONE  playing the VEENA shows that HE  can be BENIGN  and KIND and who can WILL happiness and pleasures for the souls  through the fine arts and so forth, i.e through aesthetics. That He is the BLUE throated shows that HE , and only He can  swallow and keep in the throat this death and miseries bringing aaNava malam, that which destroys everything by eating  up every libidinal energy transforming it into nothingness. The archetypal  forms wearing the crescent moon and the  Ganges are the forms that can bless one with longevity, virility, vitality , good health and so forth, ie. that which CONTINUES the supply of KUNDALINI in an uninteruppted manner.

Now it becomes clear why the PRESENCE of these archetypal forms  in the BODY and MIND can tranform the socalled astrological forces and into those that bring only the good for the really devout.

For the presence   of BEING in these archetypal forms , either DRIVES away Sani or weakens it 's presence and hence the  hold of aaNavam itself , the root cause of all the miseries in life. Functiong WITHOUT aaNavam inwhatever situation, no  matter how challenging it can be, can only bring success and not failure. It is thisunderstanding that appears to be behind  the IMMENSE COURAGE with which he entered Madurai and challenged the Jains who were even  ready to kill him.

Saivism in its historical developments  is not only the most complex but also contains elements that are ugly , terrible revolting andnauseating.  Even in the Teevarat TirumuRai we have mention of such sects as Maviraties, Kapalikas, Akooras Bairavas  andsuch other Saivites noted for their fondness for burning grounds,  decaying dead bodies, disguished cannibalism  and such otherunsavory practices. They seem to have been preoccupied with the question of DEATH and appear to have developed theseaesthetically unappealing practices by way CONFRONTING death and accommodate that as  a reality , that no matter how fearstriking ,it is nevertheless a fact of life. The ordinary life with its magical spells of various kinds makes one FORGET that death iswaiting around the corner and may bounce upon one any time.

But what underlies this forgetfulness of DEATH ?

We just don't want to think about it for fear of LOSING everything  and when we are forced to remember it, then we  createFALSE metaphysical castles where one places oneself  as a supremacist of a kind: I am an Aryan, a Brahmanah , a Muslim  whofollows Al Koran, the words of God Himself as revealed by the Last Prophet, a Jew,   one of the Chosen people, a Christian whowould be rescued from  Hell by Jesus Christ, the ONLY Saviour and so on and on.

All these  false pretences appear to be related to the notion of DEATH and a FEAR of it.

It is really amazing how the human mind can  trap itself  in such fixations and lose its naivete and become mad in a way. Againstthis  it is not surprising that Atheism is just as old as Theism, the nastikas just as vibrant and ancient  as the Astikas. Perhaps it  the design  of BEING  that the madness that is possible in religion should have Lokayatas as its antidote  to maintain a kind ofsanity.

Saivism appears to have  understood these possibilities and  for which reason it has insisted upon the life FREE INQUIRY as thecentral part of  metaphysical life. It has seen that the human minds not only can be trapped  within  certain dazzling insights  butalso can go crazy through becoming fixated. Questioning the  foundations , the basis  of the believe systems is the only way tokeep sanity in religious life.

This may be the reason why it was the Pasupatas, an ancient sect of Saivas who developed Logic in India. In the following verseSambantar reiterates this principle of Saivism with the beautiful expression " aayaata pala camayam  pala aRiyaatavan" ; BEINGas Siva is simply beyond the reach of the religions that do not allow free inquiry.

Sambantar 3-5

aayaata camayam pala aRiyaatavan neRiyin
taayaanavan uyirkadku talaiyaanavan maRai mut
tiiyaanavan civan em iRai celvat tiruvaaruur
meeyaanavan uRaiyum idam viizim mizalaiyee

Meaning:

 BEING stands as the ONE who is beyond the reach of religions that curb the freedom of  inquiry where questions after questionsare posed about the meaning of existence and so forth. HE stands also the MOTHER who illuminates abundantly those who go the right WAY with metaphysical illuminations tirelessly and unfailingly. In showing the WAY through guarding the ETHICS inherent to all he stands as the LEADER of all the creatures. Civa,  the way I understand BEING also stands as the THREE fires in the yagas of metaphysical contemplations : the FIRE that burns off all the dirt within and purifies, the MOON that allow the flow of ambrosia and the SUN that dispels the DARKNESS and ushers LIGHT of CONSCIOUSNESS. BEING who pervadesall the places that are sacred and prosperous,  is also  a permanent resident here in Tiruviizi Mizalai!

NOTES:

It is NOT an accident that Saivism has becomes WORLD SAIVISM and also transcendent to all phenomenal
religions by reaching the UTSAMAYAM, the religion within the religions. For unlike the worldly religions that have founders andbooks, Saivism stands founded by BEING Himself  and HE remaining the Mahaguru, the teacher of all teachers, the RISHI of allrishies. And because of this while SAIVISM can comprehend and accommodate all world religions , the phenomenal religions narrowly defined by a founder or a book or both, cannot comprehend it.

Saivism has raised itself to this highest state possible for any religion to be only because right from the ancient days it has NOT been mind-enslaving but rather mind-opening. It has promoted a culture of FREE thinking by remaining OPEN throughout to newdevelopments always guided in this by a search for TRUTH, the mey kaaNal and because of which those who follow this way become the meykandan, he who has seen TRUTH.

This fearless excursions into metaphysical realms is gently guided by ensuring that the individuals do NOT transgress the WAY, the way that is the  ethically RIGHT in addition to being that which furnishes illuminations that light up the understanding and thereby dispels the darkness of IGNORANCE. The LOVE that is  shown by BEING unto such brave individuals would make Him MOTHER.  Also  because of the tirelessness with which BEING provides the illuminations that would spiritualize the individuals , it is also the FEEDING of MILK  that is done by BEING unto those souls hungry for metaphysical illuminations.

While there is  LOVE in the metaphysical life, there is also ethical regulation -- the erring individuals are punished but punishments not as expressions of anger but rather by way of INDICATING that one is NOT moving the right way and that one should pause and ponder and make the necessary amendments. Because of such regulativity BEING is also the LEADER, the true KING.

The term 'maRai mut tii" should not be just looked at  as the ritual of yajna done by the Brahmin priests with three kinds of fire , a practice as part of  the temple rituals mentioned also in the Sumerian Sirbiyam ( 2200 B.C.) This must be seen  as  a ritual or ametaphorical allusion to the kindling of the INNER FIRES of HEAT that burns off all dirt within, the MOON that gently showers the ambrosia that allows the enjoyment happiness as well as good health and longevity and the SUN that illuminates the mind by violating the darkness within.

Such a BEING is NOT local and peculiar only to those who worship BEING as Civa. HE is universal and is seen wherever thereis the quality of SACREDNESS and PROSPERITY , the celvat  Tiru aar uur.

Thus we can see the mind of Sambantar moving on universal dimensions despite or because of being a Saivite ,  seeing andworshipping BEING as Civa , a habit of mind so well entrenched in Saiva Siddhanta.

It was said , I think by Louis Dumont , that Hindu society is Homo Hiearchicus and he may be right. However it should also bepointed out Hinduism is also  Homo Mono-archicus , if I may invent a new term. While there are  differences among individualsbut there is also a SAMENESS running through all, a sameness that is recognized as the potential capacity all have towardsb becoming a mumuksu, one desirous of Mukti at a very high stage of development. This is already there in all human beings and the differences are only on the way. As individuals develop  the differences become minimized and in the end there being no difference at all. Thus there can be  individuals in different cultures but emerging the SAME in personality on reaching this FINALGROUND of Being, of Existence. And it is characterized by the language of Deep Silence , that accompanies the Monamuttirai, or the Cinmuttirai, the language of GESTURES that communicate Abslute Understanding  that surface to the fore now subduing the verbal languages including the scriptural.

The understanding is always formed by the linguistic both verbal  and gestural and in which finally it is the gestural that remains in the form of the Mudras to instruct the anmas on Civanjananam, the understanding that destroys ALIENNESS that comes alongwith CudduNarvu, the the-tic consciousness hence consciousness infected with temporality and directional spatiality.

The processes in the world and which shape the texture of EXISTENCE, the episodes in life are ultimately designed to bring about the evolution of all anmas into this final existential state, if only they will suppress their ego and allow to be formed by these natural forces and processes. It is here that Sambantar sees a role for the romantic flute of Tirumaal as Kannan and scriptural lore of the world and attributed to  Brahma. The movement unto the  final  has its own stages of development and Sambantar articulates this by introducing some innovations in the ancient Saiva mythology - that of Civa as Rudra  destroying the castles of Asuras. The functions of Brahma and Thirumaal  have their place in this existential evolution but the finally one has to  transcends all to ebjoy Mukti.
 

Sambantar 3-6

kallaal nizal kiizaay idar kaavaay ena vaanoor
ellaam oru teeraay ayan maRai puuddi ninRu uyppa
vallay eri kaaRRu iirkku arikool vaasuki kal
villaay eyil eytaan idam viizim mizalaiyee

Meaning:

The Devas  tortured by the Asuras came running to BEING who as TaciNamuurtti was instructing the rishies , in theshadows of the Bothi tree, Canakan  and so forth through Cin Muttirai. They  all came  mounted on a chariot with thescriptures of Brahma  fitted as the horses, imploring HIM to rescue them from the Asuras. BEING graced them and this ishow HE did it : HE singed to ashes the fortresses of Asuras by aiming at them intensely burning Fire, Strong Winds, andalso the seductive sounds of the flute  of Tirumaal  that attracts  all magnetically  . That BEING is also here in the templeof Tiruviizimizalai

Commentary:

There is reference again to a mythological theme,  one of the most famous in Saivism but here with a twist. The burningof the fortress -- the puram muunRu erittan-- is normally understood as burning the castles of IGNORANCE that arecreated by the Mummalam, the aaNavam kanmam and Maayai ( muppuramaavatu mummala kaariyam-- Tirumular). Herewhile the theme of destroying is retained as also the fact these are castles erected by the Asuras, the fiendish powers thatare always in combat with the Devas, the celestial beings,  there is mention of Brahma and Thirumaal for a importantreason where a RELEVANCE is seen for the contributions of both in this process of redemption.

This is what we have to elucidate here. What is relevance of the SCRIPTURES of Brahma and the magnetic powers ofThirumaal in the redemption of the Devas from the oppressive Satanic forces that would seek to arrest and imprison all thedivine qualities hence the Devas  within the castles they build?

One thing quite clear: it is through a journey or travel in a chariot that has scriptures as the horses that brings even theDevas to BEING as TadciNamuurtti to the place where INSTRUCTION on Absolute Understanding proceeds throughSilent Conversation and through the language of Mudras, especially the Cin Muttirai

This simply means the scriptures not only make people escape the hold of ordinary speech, the mundane and worldly byushering them into the metaphysical but also eventually TRANSCEND even the scriptural lore  by showing above themselves that for ultimate redemption they have to ascend to enjoying Civanjaanam that is possible only through theexercise of Deep Silence , that which destroys the ALIENNESS and hence the objective stance as a fabric of the mind. The cudduNarvu , the thetic consciousness is at last overcome when language as such  becomes impossible and also a FISSURE with BEING. The scriptures must be transcended for being at this final stage of development.

This is what BEING graces the suffering Devas and only HE can do that. The scriptures in this way have a function of bringing all including the celestial beings ultimately to feet of Civa, the only one who can impart Civanjaanam, the mukti bestowing Absolute Illumination.

But even this stage is a very high stage of development, states of Being that  are not cherished by many who are given to other and mostly worldly pursuits , metaphorically put here as Devas locked in the castles the Asuras build and becuase of which suffer.This simply means that as long people remain  not moved by the Devas but by the Asuras, there will be sufferings and hence miseries of all sorts.

It is here the remaining activities of BEING become relevant. BEING establishes in the bosom of such people that they OUGHT to aim at being within Meru , the hill of TRUTH and which is always INVISIBLE to Asuras, the forces of evil. For they simply do not value TRUTH as such and hence will not care for it.  But this requires tremendous Psychic Energy and hence the  service of the Snake, Vasuki, the form of Kundalini  as sexual libido ,is required here. The arrows cannot be aimed at without this Kundalini Power, the sexual libido.

This sexual libido emerges initially as the enticing Romantic Things in Life -- the music dance the love play and so forth.But after the initial joys of love Sex and Romance, it turns into storms of strong winds, burning fires of intense heat. Theseare elements that introduce quarrels , heated arguments, even fights within the romantic life and hence SEPARATION , a DISLIKE for the sexual and with it also for the worldly in genral.  The person disenchanted with sexual enticements and such other worldly matters turns in desperation to the SCRIPTURES and which in turn lead them to move even beyond to
the Absolute

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