appar-3

The Fourth ThirumuRai :Potu   : 

Appar 3

Dear Friends,

I have chosen as the third Patikam of Appar , the 14th in the Fourth ThirumuRai that abounds with mythical themes. Each verse describes a central mythical theme of profound meanings as an expression of the UNDERSTANDING of BEING. It must be mentioned here that metaphorical thinking that comes closest to the encounter with the Unconscious has been a basic element of Agamism right from the Sumerian days. During the times of logical positivism of the Buddhists it was this kind of thinking that was ridiculed and the Agama PiramaaNa that presupposes it was NOT accepted as a reliable mode of thinking that can lead to valid understanding of BEING. However during the bakthi revolution it was not only resuscitated but given great importance and made te central ingredient of Bakthi itself.

Bakthi as distinct from faith is founded upon an immediate and direct communion with BEING. The Baktas are quite often in a communicative relationship with BEING and in this dialogic interaction BEING not only discloses Himself in numerous archetypal forms that symbolically instruct the anmas on metaphysical truths but also discloses archetypal DRAMAS that become the themes of mythologies or PuraNaas. Quite ofetn these becomes the elements of tranductive perceptions, the visions of the Third Eye, to speak metaphorically here.

The genuine puraNaas as opposed to the fictitious and false that are invented by aberrant minds as a way of controlling the mind of the credulous commoners , distinguish themselves by being immensely profound and captivating. Once we put aside the unnecessary and supremely irrelevant rational attitude and seek out the TRUTHS these genuine puraNaas embody then we can enjoy metaphysical insights that disclose the grandeur of BEING , the infinite complexity of his personality, if we can speak of such a thing of BEING.

The following Patikam cut across the distinction between the classification of the puraNaas into Saiva and VaishNava and seeks to identify the profoundly meaningful themes and which would further induce bakthi in the mind of man.

The Fourth ThirumRai: 14: Potu.

    
      
   
      
    
      
   
      

:

     ,      ,                   .           ,                    ,        ,                  .              .

paruvarai onRu cuRRi aravang kaividda
    imaiyoor irintu payamaakak
tirumaal niRattai aduvaan vicumbu
    cuduvaan ezuntu vicai pooyp
perukida maRRu itaRkoor pitikaaram onRai
    aruLaay piranee enalum
aruLkodu maavidattai eriyaamal uNda
    avan aNdaraNdar aracee

When the Devas and Asuras churned the ocean of milk using the the hill of metaphysical illuminations as the rod and Vasuki the KundalinI snake as the rope , the devas fled in great fear on seeing the emergence of the most potent Poison and sought recluse with Thirumaal, the Black One. But He was unable to contain it but at that point from within him emerged BEING as the all consuming FIRE and spread the whole vast sky filling it full. And when the devas sought repentance for their misdeeds, out of GRACE, that becoming of BEING, He swallowed it but keeping it all at His throat escaped being burnt by it. Thereby HE also showed that CIVA who is capable of the Form of FIRE that can destroy everything is the Supreme Lord of the whole Cosmos that contains within itself all the universes.

Commentary:

There are amny Hermeneutic Semiotic principles at work here and we have to attend to them to get at the meanings . The devas and asuras are actually people but moved by the good and evil forces within the mind. The HILL stands for metaphysical illuminations , the axiomatic TRUTHS to attain which all human beings strive so hard, perhaps unconsciously . no body wants to live by untirths. This is the Primordial Intention for which they CHURN the Ocean of Milk which stands for the World of Knowledge. The Snake stands for the kundaliNi sakthi, the Power or Energy they expend in such efforts. While their intentions may be all right but unknown to themselves they also unwittingly bring out into the open the Intense Poison , the Poison of Hatred that presses human beings to seek knowledge that would destroy those whom they hate and despise. They may invent weapons of war immensely destructive, fan the fire of hatred thorugh propagamda that leads to terrorism wars of all kinds and battles and civil disturbaces in which people are killed mercilessly proeprties are destroyed.

Once unleashed the poison of Intense Hatred becomes something UNCONTROLLABLE as the whole situation becomes intensely irrational and hence beyond dialogic confrontations and settlements. Thirumaal, the Black One, BEING as the ONE who keeps the world in peace and happiness becomes powerless in the face of this irrational madness in which only uncontrollable hatredthat become intense sway the moods and issue forth in immensely destructive wars and terrorism of all kinds.

Thus BEING as the Black One departs and shows Himself as the consuming FIRE, the most Powerful Destructive Form of Rudra, destroying in that process the peace establishing and maintaining the Black or Blue Form. There is NOTHING that BEING as Rudra cannot contain or control but becoming merciful towards the devas who beseech Him, He swallows the poison of hatred but retains it in His throat so that He is NOT infected by it and continues to be the LOVING ONE, He who continuously engraces the world with HIS boundless kindness. There cannot the irrational hatred as the elememt of BEING.

Thus this Mythology informs us about historical processes where human folly which allows the irrational hatred to condition their existence -- the ideologies religious fanaticism inhuman aristocracies racialism and so forth -- are met with and controlled by BEING. In the face of such a poison of intense hatred , BEING does NOT remain the Peace maintaining Thirumaal, the Black One but becomes the FIRE that consumes all which is a metaphorical allusion to intense warfare in which countless number of people are killed but which at the same time has the effect of making people rational and peaceful loving again. Such wars , no matter how destructive they are, is the only solution for overcoming the poison of hatred that has become uncontrollable and beyond any rational approach to contain it and divert or transform it.

Appar 3-2

     
      
    
      
    
        
   
      

:

                    .                  .                      .                     .            ,    .

:        ''     .

kaalamum naaLkalum uuzi padaiyaa mun eeka
    uruvaaki muuvar uruvil
caalavum aaki mikka camayangkaL aaRin
    uruvaaki ninRa tazaloon
njaalamum meelai viNNodu ulakeezum undu
    kuRaLaay or aalin ilai meel
paalanu maayavaRkor parmaaya muurtti
    avaanaam namakor caraNee.

BEING was ONE without a second when there was NO TIME and the differentiations of it into days (and nights) times of creations (of annihilations) and so forth. This ONE BEING became the most Primordial THREE, the Brahma Thirumaal and Uruttiran in order to manage the world in terms of the processes of production sustenance and annihilation. And in this HE also became the Originating Ground of countless number of religions each created to cater for the different competencies and aptitudes of different individuals. This BEING of all consuming FIRE stands as such the Primordial Ground for even Thirumaal who swallowing the vast cosmos including the immense sky and all the universes rests as dwarf child on the leaves of the Banyan Tree. This BEING who is the head unto Himself is my final recluse and nobody else!

Commentary:

Many deep metaphysical insights, the Axiomatic Truths about BEING that remain deathless and which go to form the authentic kind of existence for human beings are unfolded in this mythical theme that is not often heard of.

BEING is one without a second as it is also repeated by Thirumular in terms of "OnRavan Taanee" with which Tirumantiram itself begins. But it is immediately said that HE became the THREE, the root archetypal presentations of Himself as Brahma Vishnu and Rudra. BEING is ONE , no doubt but HE assumes countless number of archetypal forms of which the above three are the root archetypes, popularly known as the Trimurties.

This verse provides a profoundly moving understanding into the mystery surrounding such an essence of BEING -- while being ONE , He is also understood as many .

The archetypal presentations are related to the notion of TIME or more accurately TEMPORALITY, the Intentional Time. When Human understanding leaps into atemporality, escapes from historicity within which it is trapped by a metaphysical exertion of great bravery, and understands BEING ahistorcally, then BEING would appear as the ONE, He who has no a second ," tanaukkut taanee talaivan", the Lord unto Himself , as Thirumular would put it most eloquently.

But the cosmological reach of Appar does not stop here. He brings in another mythical theme -- that related to Vishnu who is said to swallow the whole universe -- the vast sky and all the manifest universes and who at the end of it all is said to rest as a dwarf on the leaf of banyan tree. BEING as the FIRE is also the Causative Gorund of this Dwarf shaped thriumaal or Vishnu.

But why the dwarf? What metaphysical significance does this mythical theme have?

The Universe with its majesty grandeur and sheer expanse baffles the human imagination. We know now that even to reach the nearest star clusters it may take several light years. And we also know that there are signals from presumably the very edge of the cosmos that we are acquainted with, millions of light years to reach us. But this whole universe is swallowed wholesale and Thirumaal, also a presentation of BEING, who swallows it all remains compressed into dwarf the size of a small leaf. And this shows that even this vast universe that baffles the human imagination is just a dot or least compressible into a dot by BEING.

The scale of things of BEING is so so different that once we comprehend even vaguely this, it will make our human understanding look so punitive despite the egoistic pretences that we become genuinely HUMBLE.

And once we understand this MAJESTY of BEING, His infinite VASTNESS and POWER even a tiny bit , it will become clear that all no religion, all of which are founded by BEING, can claim to the most true infallible etc. Such claims are products of human ignorance , an ignorance born out of NOT grasping the bewildering vastness of BEING.

BEING is beyond all religions as He is beyond even this vast cosmos.

Appar 3-3

   
        
    
      
    
      
   
      

:

                    ,     ,           .           ,              ,            .               .

:    ; : 

niravoli veLLamaNdi neduvaNda muuda
    nilan niRu tambam atu ap
paramoru teyvam eyta itu oppatillai
    irupaalum ninRu paNiyap
piramanum maalum meelai mudiyodu paatam
    aRiyaamai ninRa periyoon
paramutalaaya teevar civanaaya muurtti
    avaanaam namakkoor caraNee

Like the whole world was filled with waters during the time of the great deluge, the Primordial Sound, the hum that contains within itself all the mantras, covered the vast universe and submerged into itself everything manifest. Then bringing forth the earth stood as the Pillar of Natam and BEING stood as that itself and thus making it the Civalingkam. The root archetypal beings Brahma and Vishnu thinking that it is NOT comparable to them sought the beginnings and ends of that Pillar but realized their ignorance when they failed in their attempt and after which they stood by its sides worshiping it respectfully. The BEING who has become the recluse to me is this BEING who is absolutely transcendental, ABOVE all as well as that which purifies all through breeding genuine humility and love .

Commentary:

This myth has appeared in many different shapes in the Saiva tradition and is also celebrated in the festival of ThiruvaNNaamalai Tiibam, the Flame of ThiruvaNNaamalai. The Pillar of Natam, the piercing mantric sound, the AUM is said to become the taaNu, the Pillar and which is also noted as the Pillar of Fire that has no beginnings and end, no base and no terminal extremity. When the mind beholds this FORM of BEING it realize that BEING is a complete MYSTERY and hence beyond the understanding of man. No matter how valiant and venturesome the mind of man is, BEING can assume a form in which HE always reains a a SURPLUS, a beyond and through that DEFEAT the Ego of man who thinks that he can COMPREHEND truly as to what BEING is through his thinking and reasoning. The reasoning thinking interpreting mind meets its defeat in the face of BEING when he shows Himself as Pillar that has no beginnings or ends. When the mind contemplates this and sinks into it, it just gives up thinking itself and thus exhausted allows itself to be formed completely by BEING. It loses all the resistance it builds up by way of seeking to comprehend BEING though thinking and reasoning.

The defeat of Brahma and Vishnu communicates this same message but within the language of mythologies. Vishnu in addition to being BEING-as-Manifest-World , is also that archetypal form BEING assumes to develop human understanding through providing the Night journeys that Siddhas speak about -- excursions into the metaphysical realms through what is called very aptly the aRituyil -- the sleep that instructs. Vishnu sleeping, on the coiled thousand headed snake, is said to enjoy this ARituyil in which he DREAMS and through which he understands the whole manifest world. The snake is Coiled Power , the KundaliNi , the Energy that is required for such cognitively very demanding transductive visions , the visions of the Third Eye in the Saiva tradition. The night journeys of the mind are actually explorations of the mindspace which is actually the mantra world, the inner movements that shape everything that is phenomenal and manifest. It is in such journeys that mantra complexes both audible -- the sounds and visible- the yantras are encountered.

Now when such mantra-complexes become WORD, BEING becomes Brahma , the archetype of the scriptures in general. This mantras becoming the WORD is NOT a movement further into the primordial Ground but rather AWAY from it and which is shown symbolically in the icon of Brahma emerging from the naval of Vishnu indicating that without the world of Mantras, the realm of Vishnu, there cannot be realms of the Word or scriptures i.e. the world of Brahma. All scriptures are linguisticalized mantras.

When the understanding comprehends both the WORD and the Mantras , it may think that BEING can be comprehended within these modes and this mythology just simply shows that it is an impossibility.

There are levels DEEPER and more primordial than the world of the mantra-complexes and that world is the world of Primordial Logos, the Ongkaaram, that which is BEYOND the reach of the WORD as well as the mantra-complexes and hence beyond the reach of archetype favored understanding.

The primordial Logos is a Pillar of Flame hence something that would burn off every trace of egotism and hence that which thoroughly would HUMILIATE the mind and thereby make people become really humble and submissive and for which reason it is called civanaaya muurtti, that Form that really spiritualizes all.

Appar 3-4

    
      
   
      
    
      
   
      

:

       ,                .                        ,            ,           .

niidiuyar viNNum maNNum neduveelai kunRodu
    ulakeezum engkum naliyac
cuudiya kaiyaraaki imaiyoor kanagkaL
    tutiyooti ninRu tozalum
oodia taarakan tan udalam piLantum
    oziyaata koopam oziya
aadiya maanadattem analaadiya paatam
    avaiyaam namakkor caraNee

The vast sky and the earth that spreads wide and tall, all the mountains that stand like sharp spears and all the worlds were conquered by Taarakan, the Great Asura and brought great destruction that caused infinite sufferings all over. The Devas, unable to fight back and subdue and acknowledging their own inability finally surrendered themselves to Civa and approached him with raised hands , praising also while worshipping. Seeing this the BEING cut to pieces the very body of that Asura and danced the dance of Fire to remove the irremovable anger. This BEING who is capable of the dance of FIRE has become my recluse because of all these.

Commentary:

The issue of terrorism that brings about infinite sufferings is NOT something new. It has been a feature of historical processes from very ancient times. The world has seen many political tyrants inhuman and blood thirsty and without a drop of mercy in their heart , have swayed the credulous masses and through wars battles and terrorism of all kinds have caused great misery to the people in general. And this in the name of race religion language and what not.

The root cause of it all is intense anger , the "oziyaa koopam", something akin to intense hatred that has been seen as the powerful poison that kills people and the antidote of which is LOVE. But here it is the ANGER that swells in the heart and which burns intensively and makes even an ordinary person a tyrant, he who destroys everything as an expression of intense and inner anger.

Such an anger can arise for a number of reasons but all because the egotism that one nurtures. Such intense angers that makes one terrorize the world at large arise only because one feels intensely hurt for some reason or other and feeling very deeply humiliated, wants the avenge the humiliation by striking back at the agent of suc a humiliation and sometimes even the faceless world at large. Such angers arise because of EGO, the aaNavac Cerukku and once a person is caught by this kind of anger he becomes BLIND , and in this blindness also beyond REASON. It is at this point that he becomes possessed by the Asuras such as the Tarakan here, a phenomenon akin to being possessed by the devils and ghosts.

When anger swells to immeasurable proportions all human attempts at pacifying will fail. The general public , good hearted , the one possessed by the devas only then learn a lesson -- that against such monstrous beasts they are helpless, that they CANNOT do anything to change the tyrannies and terrorism . It is at this point also they become genuinely religious and acknowledge that BEING is the MOST POWERFUL and once we pray and invoke HIS kindness HE would certainly come to the rescue.

But how does BEING help? What kind of rescue doe He provide?

There will be wars in which the terrorists will attack each other kill each other and the blood that flows becomes that which pacifies. The anger of Asuras, the tyrannical individuals is pacified or cooled only by rivers of blood, the sacrifice of millions. The ordinary simple sacrifices are not sufficient.

The world has seen wars after wars right from the beginning -- the tribal wars, national wars, world wars , guerilla fighting, terrorists attacks and what not . The intensely angry cannot settle the differences through discussions debates and rational discourses. The have to fight it out to settle the differences and pacify themselves if they are still alive at the end of it all.

This appears the strategy of BEING to deal with such individuals , described here metaphorically as the dance of FIRE.

Appar 3-5

    
        
     
       
      
       
    
      

:

       .          ,           ,        .        ,      ,     ,         ,          ,    .     .

nilai valiyinRi engkum nilanodu viNNum
    nitanaj ceytu oodu puram muunRu
alai nali anjci oodi ariyodu teevar
    araNam pukat tan aruLaal
kolai nali vaaLi muuLa aravang kai naaNum
    anal paaya niiRu puramaa
malaicilai kaiyil olka vaLaivitta vaLLal
    avanaam namaoor caraNee

The false metaphysical castles, the Muppuram , are those which are generated because of the inherent constraints of the atomizing aaNavam, historicalising kanmam and the falsifying maayai. Because caught in these citadels, nothing is seen as permanent , all are seen transitory impermanent and hence throwing the souls into uncertainties metaphysical instabilities. Afraid of such a way of Life , Vishnu along with all the Devas ran away and took recluse in the Meru Mountain, the abode of immortality. But even here they were assailed by VaaLi, the Evil Power that enjoys killing and destruction. Taking pity on the plights of these Devas, BEING, the Absolute, singed to ashes the the False metaphysical castles, making the Vasuki, the KundaliNi snake beyond their reach and the Meru Mountain itself unbearably hot so that it could NOT be used. Such a BEING , the Supremely Generous, is our recluse!

Commentary:

Appar brings in here another famous Saiva mythological theme to explicate another dimension of the Historical and through that the need to ascend the historical and rest in the absoluteness of the ahistorical ground, the BEING itself. The phenomenal religions are historical and in being so, are NOT absolute and hence they are essentially False Metaphysics or more specifically what is called acattu as opposed to cattu, the absolute. Our historical existence, as long as we do not try to transcend and rise above it and reach permanence of the Absolute Ground, is bound to be supremely unstable and hence deeply unsatisfying, breeding a kind of restlessness within making us always search for this and that. Unsatiated we grope in the dark feeling miserable and seeking a way out of it and in that even unleasing terrorism and wars.

The Metaphysics of Saiva Siddhanta , as an UNDERSTANDING that has reached the Fundamental Ontology provides an EXPLANATION of such human condition in terms of the concept of Mummalam, the aaNavam Kanmam and Maayai. The aaNavam is that which atomizes the mind by making the soul metaphysically BLIND and hence that which breeds DARKNESS in understanding that we articulate as IGNORANCE. This ignorance is NOT Avidya of Vedanta as the the metaphysics of Vedanta does not acknowledge the Mummalam satisfying itself with using more the ancient notions of mukkuNam, the Satviikam Rajasam and Tamasam, concepts which are NOT metaphysically fundamental. The Guna concept does not serve to explain the presence of Metaphysical Darkness which is quite different from what issues forth because Tamasam Guna.

The atomization of the mind caused by the infection of aaNavam is that which which makes the soul Historical and hence infected with karma, the need to ACT and through actions LEARN and through that illuminate oneself and through that REDUCE the inherent atomicity, the human finititude. However the need for PRAXIS as a factor of existence makes it DESIRE the physical and hence become infected with maayai. These are Mummalam in the sense that they are the factors underlying the generation of false metaphysics and hence false religions.

Such false metaphysics or false religions fixate the mind to historical and hence seen as the products of Vishnu and the devas, the Vishnu being Lord of the manifest world, the Purusha, BEING-as-the -Manifest -World. As long as the mind gets trapped by these false metaphysics, it can take only the impermanent as permanent, the non absolute as absolute , the false as true, i.e. live in the world of Acattu, described here metaphorically as the Three Castles, the Muppuram.

The mind caught in the uncertainties CREATES , through its efforts the Meru Mountain, the Universe deemed IMMORTAL, deathless . But this is NOT the absolute, the Cattu for in this Mountain crops up the devastating religious madness, fanaticism articulated here as the workings of vaaLi, another Asura but now that which enjoys killing mercilessly, the kolai nali vaaLi. The deep metaphysical uncertainty that false religions create generate also the notion of immortality which is STILL within the historical understanding and hence dangerous in a way. For to establish that one is RIGHT, one false religion has to vanquish another and hence virtually KILL OFF those who differ. The immortality of one's false religion can only be established by KILLING off anything that challenges it.

So life continues to be oppressive and miserable and it is only at this point that BEING , the Absolute comes to the rescue of these people. Through creating and promoting wars in which the FIRE burns intensively, HE destroys all the False Metaphysics and hence all the false religions. In the heat of the battle and the consequent RETHINKING of a fundamental kind, the historical is make to evaporate, turn to ashes and become NOTHING allowing thereby the ABSOLUTE to emerge and hold the Ground.

The mind that rests in the Absolute, in the Cattu, attains the real Santhi that is the root desire of all and also makes the soul full of LOVE for all.

Appar 3-6

    
      
    
      
  
        
   
      

:

      ,      ,         ,           .   ,             .       ,              ,  ,                    .                  .

niila nanmeeni cengkaN vaLai veLLeyiRRan
    arikeesan teedi varunaaL
kaalai nanmaalai koNdu vazipaadu ceyyum
    aLavin kaNvantu kuRukip
paalanai oodavoodap payameytuvitta
    uyir vavvu paacam vidum ak
kaalanai viidu ceyta kazal poolum aNdar
    tozutu ootu cuudu kazalee

Kaalan, the God of death appears with a large Black Body as the embodiment of the Dark Stuff , the aaNavam itself , with burning eyes indicating immense anger, with long and warped teeth indicating immense greed, and also as one ready to chop off the head of the living creatures and kill them mercilessly. Once when he came while MarkaNdeeya, the ever Youthful was preparing himself to worship the Civalingam, early in the day and with a garland of flowers indicating Pure Love, the Kaalan spread the net of desires , the paacam, to snatch away his soul, making him run and run away from his worship in the process. BEING on seeing this injustice, disclosed Himself there and kicked away Kaalan and thereby allowed MarkaNdeeya to live without the fear of death. This BEING, the Cataaciva who stands as the world itself and who wearing the brilliant anklets keeps away the death from the creatures, is the ONE who ought to praised and worshipped by all.

Commentary

This mythical theme is also a famous one among the Saivites and rightly so. It brings out the secrets underlying the worship of Civalingam and how it is related to living long and in good health, a theme very much emphasized and explored by the Siddhas who are mainly Saivites. In order to bring out the message hidden in the names and incidences mentioned , let us look at everything closely.

First we see that the Agent of Death is named Kaalan where Kaalam in Tamil means time. Thus the agent of death is TEMPORALITY itself or that which throws the creatures into temporality, historicity. Here it is indicated that DEATH as such belongs to historicity and hence to the temporal ways of Being-in-the World. As long we EXIST in temporality, there comes a moment where such an existence is snatched away from us and that moment being the moment of Death.

But who is really the AGENT?

What is personified as Kaalan is actually the Black One, the true Satanic Force , the Dark Stuff , the aaNavam, that non sentient thing just as uncreated and eternal ( anaati) as BEING itself, the real Anti Christ. It is DARK only because it BREEDS DARKNESS, engulfs, if allowed, the whole cosmos in utter Darkness, the simple primordial NOTHINGNESS where nothing is allowed to show itself as there.

Now when its function is thwarted and something is allowed to be AS-THERE, there emerges intense ANGER as indicated by the burning red eyes. When men are overpowered by this FORCE of Death and become Satanic, they becomes murderously angry when their desire to KILL is NOT allowed to be concluded by being thwarted on the way. This anger is also related to immense GREED, the Greed to EAT UP or consume everything and through that OWN everything as ones own body, i.e. disalienate the foreign through devouring , eating up and digesting as one's own. Now when this possibility is denied, then there emerges the MURDEROUS instinct, arikeesan, the desire to kill everything that does not allow being assimilated.

The FORCE against this Agent of Death is BEING who appears as Civalingam and who is worshiped as thus in moments of sun rise and with a garland of fresh flowers i.e. with genuine LOVE at heart. Again this notion of worship is immensely symbolic and we have to wrest out the meaning implicit.The Sun Rise indicates the flooding of the soul with the LIGHT of illumination for it is the metaphysical illuminations that we gain that is capable of driving away the inner darkness and hence the Kaalan itself. Temporality and historicity slip by when metaphysical illuminations are gained.

And this is possible only with LOVE as shown by the offering of garland of flowers. The metaphysical illuminations are granted only for those who have killed their EGO and in all humility LOVE BEING and moved by this bakthi also love the whole of humanity.

Now we are ready to understand the message hidden in this mythical theme: it is LOVE unto BEING and hence to all that drives away the Agent of Death and that even when death approaches in terms calamities diseases disasters and so forth and thus FRIGHTENS the soul but some how or other such individuals will be rescued from being snatched away by death.

The story of Markandeeya that this verse refers to, has also another message built into it and it is shown by the name of Baalan, the ever youthful MarkaNdeeya. This carries the message that LIVING is a struggle , a struggle between the Death bringing forces and Life renewal forces. The Civalingam, as the embodiment of Natham and Vintu, the conjugation of the MALE and FEMALE is that which ensures eternal youthful vitality though conferring undying sexual virility. This virility is lost when we succumb to the Death bringing forces. However we can RECOVER it through gaining the GRACE of BEING who will burst into the life of the deserving individuals and drive away the DEATH bringing forces through lifting up the soul into realms of TIMELESSNESS where the temporal Kaalan cannot enter. These metaphysical excursions are also life renewing for each such excursion drives away the Dark Stuff within that is ever ready to bring death.

Appar 3-7

     
      
    
      
   
      
     
      

:

                    ,       ,          ,         .    ,        .                     .    .

= :   ; : ; ""   ;  , 

uyar tavamikka Takkan uyar veeLvi tannil
    aviyuNNa vanta imaiyoor
payamuRum eccan angki mathiyoonum uRRa
    padikaNdu ninRu payamaay
ayanodu maalum engkaL aRiyaamaiyaati
    kamiyenru iRainjci akalac
cayamuRu tanmaik kanda tazalvaNNan entai
    kazalkandu koLkai kadanee

When his daughter Tatsaayani loved Civa deeply, out of intense anger Takkan, who did not approve of it , organized a massive VeLvi for insulting Civa. But Civa burst out as immense FIRE within that pit of fire and on seeing which, even the celestial beings like Indra Soma and Agni who came to enjoy the sacrificial offerings, FEAR stricken withdrew and went away. On seeing this FEAR of even the celestial beings, Brahma and Thirumaal, who were in support of that activity realized their ignorance and submitting themselves to Civa begged His Calmness and mercy. This BEING who can vanquish even the mighty Devas and who always emerges victorious, the BEING of the Dance of Victory is the ONE that we all ought to UNDERSTAND

Commentary:

This is again another famous myth that the Nayanmars, in the thick of the social struggles to bring back Bakthi have sung in many places. They must have seen a MEANING in it that enabled them to understand the HISTORICAL happenings around and in which they were caught. A revolution was on the way and there was turbulence all around. The social decadence was being fought and though largely philosophical but the biographical sketches of Nayanmars indicate that there were bloody clashes and perhaps arson and terrorism. There must have been individuals tyrannical and out of immense arrogance suppressed by violence the burst of bakthi, a loving devotion to BEING.

Takkan hates LOVE unto Civa and hence is understood here as one who would NOT foster LOVE among the people and hence bakthi as such. For after all it is in the transmutation of human love into Divine that bakthi is rooted in. Takkan stands as who one who would arrest the normal expression and evelopemnt of the immensely powerful sexual libido represented here by the adamncy of tatcaayani.

The meaning of this myth as seen as Appar, who was one of the chief architect of this Bakthi revolution and also who has eloquently about the human love especially that a woman towards aman , is what we should be after.

There are TWO important elements in this myth that we should note very carefully. One is the LOVE of Tatsaayani, his own daughter to CIVA and something he DISLIKED very much and which he opposed vehemently. The second is the INTENSE ANGER that the obstinacy of the LOVE for Civa that Tatsaayani expresses.

A normal father who UNDERSTANDS the psychodynamics of a female and who is not EGO intoxicated would consent to the marriage and hence will NOT do anything that would be an insult to the person she loves. However this is NOT the case with Takkan -- he simply cannot allow in the life a person under his control something BEYOND his own WILL. He becomes TYRANNICAL because of this unbending and unyielding EGO -- he wants everything within his reach also to function within his WILL at the rsistance and opposition to which he becomes intensely angry

The Massive VeLvi he organizes symbolically may mean the various wars and battles and other atrocities that he commits by way of subduing his daughter and making her forget Civa and thus emerge victorious in the expression of his own WILL. Perhaps he was ready to make the nation a pit of FIRE with arsons and terrorism everywhere just to pacify his own unbending and unyielding EGO.

The ordinary elemental forces in nature as well the Indra Soma Agni and so forth stand together with him in the sense that they become the WEAPONS that Takkan uses in his arsons, VeLvi. Indra stands here for grandiose ambitions, as the one who nurtures the DESIRE to become the KING not just of the world but also the celestial, the metaphysical realms. But as the VeLvi proceeds there emerges CIVA within that FIRE pit itself as the immense FLAME that strikes TERROR in the heart of Takkan as well as the celestial beings. They become FEAR stricken and thus subdued and humiliated at long last. FOR the FORM of FIRE that BEING assumes is not the ordinary elemental fire, it is FIRE within FIRE, that primordial fire, the uuzit tii, that would consume all including the elemental fire , the Agni along with all the others including the whole of the cosmos. Thus it is Uzit tii that can turn the whole of the COSMOS into a NOTHING, into that primordial darkness again.

This Primordiality of the Destructiveness , the Mahaa Cangkaaram is that which is beyond the reach of Brahma, the archetype of scriptures and Vishnu, the Lord of Manifest World. The mind trapped within the scriptural disclosures and psychological including the depth psychological, the ARituyiL of Thirumal CANNOT grasp that the world of the COSMOS holds the possibility of being annihilated and resolved back into the primordial darkness. BEING stands always BEYOND the scriptural and the metaphysical, HE stands always as the SURPLUS, as something that cannot be understood within any way of life and hence even all the religions.

This myth also discloses a Fundamental TRUTH -- that the Whole World in which our existence is written is after all a GIFT, a blessing, an aruL , and hence something that we should NOT abuse out of unreasonable arrogance.

This myth also shows that FEAR and TREMBLING that such cosmic destruction BEING is capable of effecting is also a strategy, a Tantiram in the repertoire of BEING to subdue the excessively arrogant individuals.

Appar 3-8

  
     
  
      
  
      
   
      

:

                   .       ,           .            .           ,        ,        .      .

nalamali mangkai nanagkai viLaiyaadiyoodi
    nayanat talangkaL karamaa
ulakinai eezum muRRum iruNmuudamuuda
    iruLoodu neRRik orukaN
alartara vanjcimaRRai nayangkaividdu
    madavaaL iRainjca matipool
alartaru cootipoola alarvitta mukkaN
    avanaam namakoor araNee

Meaning

The WOMAN the source of all the good things, was amusing Civa with the form of a tantalizing and alluring Beauty and immensely pleasing and good natured Angel. But while playing thus she inadvertently closed the two eyes with her hands, and the whole universe became engulfed in thick and growing DARKNESS so that there was NOTHING manifest as there to behold with the eyes. But at that point only the right and left eyes were closed but not the Third Eye, eye on the forehead. But noting this Darkness , the frightened WOMAN saw with the remaining Third Eye and implored Civa and at which point He restored the Left Eye of the Moon and Right Eye of the Sun ( Vintu and Natham respectively) and made her happy. This BEING with the THREE eyes has become our recluse

Commentary.

A very difficult mythical theme, something that is immensely puzzling specially in connection with the general theme of this Patikam, viz. the genealogy of monstrous irrationalities that underly the emergence of the tyrannical in world history.

To make sense of this myth we have to note that BEING does not have eyes in the ordinary human sense and also that Umai does NOT play to amuse BEING in the ordinary sense. So these mythic figures are prototypical and say something about the historical man and woman and hence stand for any man and woman just as the Hero and Heroine of the Sangam Poetry stands for the typical man and woman of all times. Thus we have to understand the meaning in terms of Hermeneutic Semiotics, the meaning communicted in the language of mythologies without ridiculing them as senseless and meaningless only becuase the meanings are not immediately obvious.

All human beings are endowed with THREE eyes, the Left Eye related to right hemisphere , the Right Eye related to left hemisphere and one in the Forehead to the Deep Brain, the point where the brain stem meets the cerebellum etc., called the localized Citambaram or CiRRambalam by the Saivites. The Siddhas also explain that the Right hemisphere of the brain is given over to Vintu and the Left to Natham which respectively establish the inner pressures for sexual enjoyment and intellectual achievements. The third eye related as it is to Deep Brain, is concerned with metaphysical desires , that which underlies the birth of the ASCETIC in man ( and woman) and the attaining of Mukti.

The typical man is subject to TWO different kinds manipulations by the typical woman, the Play that arouses sexual desires and that which arouses interest in cognitive competencies. These are two fundamental DESIRES that sustain EXISTENCE but which can unfortunately be made UNAVAILABLE under certain circumstances. The Woman can close these eyes of a man and at which point DARKNESS engulfs. What what does this mean?

The darkness means here NOT the absence of the world but rather psychological darkness , a total DISINTERESTEDNESS, a metaphorical darkness. The world even if i there, it is made supremely unappetizing and irrelevant and hence psychologicalyl something inexistent. Hence there seems to be NO EXISTENCE as well.

But fortunately even at this point the Third Eye remains open for it appears to be an eye in man that a woman cannot close or shut down with her tantalizing PLAY and which means the pressure for metaphysical desires remains something in man beyond the reach of the sexually and otherwise alluring females. It remains , becuase of that, forever OPEN and hence that which gives meaning to existence but not the physical but the metaphysical.

Of course this means ASCETICISM, being closed to the worldly and being mindful only of the metaphysical. But why should this be frightening?

It is here that we see the relevance of this mythical theme to the general theme of the Patikam. For such an asceticism can not only generate a blindness to the world and its charms, but also make the person become DESTRUCTIVE towards it. He does NOT have EYES to see them and if it thrusts itself forcibly, will only provoke the desire to ANNIHILATE and turn it really into an inexistent.

Here lies another genealogical account of the tyrannical, the intense desire to wipe out the whole world, to make the whole universe desolate and nothing.

But nothing to fear. The Woman learns her lesson and realizes the worldly eyes must NOT be closed and she should not even playfully close them. Once the sexual and intellectual desires are made ABSENT in the world, there is a possibility that TERRORISM would result. There will be the destruction of the world becuase of monstrously powerful instinct in that direction.

In order to avoid this and sanity and balance to prevail in the world, the sexual and the intellectual that comes along with it, the right and left hemispherical functioning of the brain must go on .

Appar 3-9

142

    
      
  
      
   
       
   
      

:

      .       ,   ,     ,         .              ,                        .    ,             . (      .)         .      ,          .

: ; :  ; : 

142

kazai padu kaadu tenRal kuyil kuuval anjcu
    kaNaiyoon aNaintu pukalum
mazaivadi vaNNan eNNi makavoonaividda
    malaraana thodda matanan
ezilpodi ventu viiza imaiyoor kaNangkaL
    eri enri iRainjci akalat
tazalipadu neRRi oRRai nayananj civanta
    tazalvaNNan entai caraNee

Meaning:

Manmatan, the archetype of Sexual desires has as his weapons : the sugar-cane that installs the desire for enjoying the pleasant, a bed suitable for the conjugal act, the garden that provides the mood, the breeze and pleasant music such as that of Kuyil that arouse sexual desires. When once Civa isolated Himself from Parvathy and concentrated as Makayogi in Kailash, there was lack of happiness and enthusiasm to live among the living things all over the world. Seeing this Brahma and the Dark-hued Thirumal and Indra implored Manmatan to aim his weapons at Civa, arouse sexual desires in Him and make Him unite with Parvathy. However when Manmatan attempted this , he and his weapons were singed to ashes by Civa when he opened His Third Eye, the Eye of Fire. ( Then Civa , on the pleading of Rati, the consort of Manmatan, restored life to him but only to be visible to Rati) . The celestial beings realizing now the BEING can be FIRE ran way in fear pleading for grace. This BEING who appears with the Single Eye on the Forehead and in the form of FIRE, is my Father and recluse.

Commentary:

This mythical theme also well known, brings out another aspect of the Third Eye normally associated with BEING-as-Civa but not so far as as know, with Brahma or Thirumal (Vishnu). The close linkages this Eye has with the Form of Fire BEING assumes and these forms in order to burn off sexual desires, the root cause of all desires is being brought out in this verse. And for obvious reasons: even tyranny and terrorism are products of desires probably twisted and misdirected forms of the sexual and hence once if this desires is eliminated from the interiority of the psyche, real freedom and humanity can be enjoyed and anma also rescued from becoming a tyrant.

The Third Eye is the metaphysical eye and when that eye alone is open we have BEING as Makayogi, BEING as Cattan (derived from' 'cat", the Absolute)) , BEING as totally withdrawn unto Himself. There is SELF-CLOSURE and because of which he becomes forgetful of Parvathy, which literally means the Woman of the World. The Manifest World becomes forgotten, to speak metaphorically here and hence the world made insipid and lacking in every motivational dynamics much to the disappoint of Vishnu, the BEING of the Manifest World, the Purusha. All the living creatures languish and and suffer without any interest in whatever.

It is realized now that it is sexual desire that is the ROOT CAUSE of it all and that all living things derive their motivation or energia from this desire. So the archetypes of the worldly pleasures Brahma Vishnu Indra and so forth, to restore this primordial impulses to act, implore Manmatan to aim his weapons at Civa as Makayogi but who gets burnt to ashes along with his weapons when HE opens the Third Eye, the Eye on the Forehead that always emits Fire of intense heat. This simply means that when the anma is imbued with the intense desire for metaphysical illuminations, the desire to unravel and become clear about the hidden mysteries of Existence and which are beyond the physical and available only in the metaphysical realms is or can be so consuming that all the worldly desires . including the sexual, the most primordial of all, can be burnt off and singed to ashes.

This myth discloses a hidden aspect of BEING, that He can assume forms that would kill even the very obstinate and difficult to overcome sexual desires; that man and woman can attain real freedom , the freedom from desires by the Grace of BEING when he bestows the vision of the Third Eye for the creatures. This also means rescueing the anmas from becoming tyrants of a sort because of twisted nature of the sexual libido, it becoming morbid and thereby immensely destructive.

Civayoga understood here as the discipline that is concerned with opening the Metaphysical Eye and seeing everything with that Eye appears to be the solution Appar offers to prevent the emergence of the morbid individuals , somewhat psychotic and tyrannical, individuals who would never hesitate to kill even innocents to achieve their own desires . Morbidity of the mind is perhaps a product of sexual libido twisted and corrupted for lack of proper channels of discharge which consists in enjoying it within LOVE, that weapons that Manmatan installs and that too with the blessings of Thirumal etc.

Appar 3-10

143

   
       
    
      
   
      
    
      

:

        ,     ,                 .    ,           .               .            .      ,    

143.

tadamalar aayirnagkaN kuRai onRataaka
    niRaivenRu tan kaN atanaal
udan vazipaadu ceyta tiumaalai entai
    perumaan ukantu mikavum
cudaradiyaal muyanRu cuzalvittu arakkan
    itayam piLanta kodumai
adalvali yaazi aaziyaan avanukku aLitta
    avanaam namakor caraNee

Meaning:

Tirumaal, one of the root archetype of BEING is said to sleep over the KundaliNi snake over the ocean of milk. When such a BEING was disturbed by an evil force, Calantaran, Tirumaal to combat and defeat him, began to worship Civa to procure the disk, Cutarsan , as a blessing from HIM. When he started his worship with a thousand flowers and when he noted that one was missing, he plucked out one of own eyes with that as flower completed the prayer. Civa pleased with it generated the disc by creating a whirlpool of light with his brilliant feet and granted to him. This disc, the Cutarsan, a powerful and terrible weapon split open the chest of Calantaran and killed him. This Civa who is capable of this is really our recluse.

Commentary:

Now Appar takes up the problems men face and sometimes even become tyrannical as a result of what can be called the night journeys, journeys into the Depth Psychological World, the metaphysical realms and which world is said to be ruled by Tirumal, or Maha Vishnu , He who is known as the archetype of aRituyil, the false sleep in which seeing continues however. This seeing is NOT the ordinary seeing with two flesh eyes but rather the Third Eye, the eyes of night dreams and lucid dreams, visions of transductive perceptions that erupt in the case of some individuals and catches them by surprise and where the world of conscious becomes visible for the first time.

Such experiences emerged when the soul is possessed or taken over by this Tirumaal who is said to govern this world. He is said operate sleeping over the coiled thousand hooded SNAKE, Atisesha and over the Paarkadal, the ocean of Pure Milk, mythic themes that need to be interpreted and understood. The Snake, Atisesha is the Coiled Power, the Kundalini, the enormous psychical ENERGY that is required for enjoying and persisting in the realms of transductive perceptions. It lies on the PaaR Kadal, the ocean of Pure Milk and which means Pure Consciousness or some kind of deep metaphysical understanding. Thus it explains the PRECONDITION for an individual to be blessed with the grace of Tirumal and hence gaining illuminations about the concealed metaphysical realms.

However even here emerges the evil force Calantaran, which literally means "he who resides in the waters". For sometimes individuals forgetful of BEING and that whatever extraordinary metaphysical illuminations that they enjoy are actually gifts of BEING and that there can many such individuals, in fact any who satisfies the preconditions can enjoyit. Such individuals become EGO-INFLATED and begin to think that they are UNIQUE and SPECIAL and hence someone like a messiah who has come to rescue the whole of mankind and so forth.

Though the metaphysical journeys have the capacity to destroy all the mental constraints and delimitedness of understanding, and chages the personality in the direction of transpersonality, but sometimes it so happens that they become intoxicated with such revelations and mesmerized by such visions begin also their political activities in which they seek to REALIZE the new image they have of themselves. They become like a politically ambitious warriors who set out to conquer the whole world and bring it under his ONE umbrella and hence messianic individuals of a kind who set out to conquer the whole of the Spiritual World so that the whole of humanity become submissive to him and ONLY to him. In fact he makes people FORGET the true source of all greatness -- BEING Himself -- and worship also becomes displaced , from being unto BEING ONLY to the messiah-like individual.

This is being possessed by the Evil Force Calantaran and about which Tirumal cannot do anything. For it requires someone TRANSCENDENT to the realms of of the Night Journeys, transcendent to the world of the transductive persons. Tirumal knowing this prays to Civa , who is noted here as BEING itself, the Absolute that beyond and above which there is NOTHING. He has a prayer and with sacrifices appropriate to the boons he praying for, the Disc of Cutarsan. But for this he has to give up one of his own eyes and which means that he has to give up being caught up in the world of Night journeys and look BEYOND and ABOVE with the understanding the realms of night journeys do NOT exhaust the WORLD as such.

The word "cutarasan" means cudar - tarisanam, the witnessing of BEING as Radiance or cu-tarisanam , authentic seeing or Truth-Seeing. It is forged by BEING Himself out of a whirlpool created by the DANCE of His feet of Light, cudar adi. And this means that the WEAPON that can finally KILL ego-inflation and thus reduce such paranoiac individuals to become REALISTIC and humble is the vision provided by cutarsan, the vision of TRUTH as such, that which makes an individual truly mystical and at the same infinitely humble and gentle and of course a True Bakta.

In the iconography of Tirumal we have this Disc on the left shoulder and Conch on the Right. The conch stands for CALLING people unto to metaphysical world through the art of Upatesa, metaphysical discourses. But now he is also endowed with Cutarsan which means that Upatesam is combined with search for TRUTH, it is organized so that it ceases to be purely imaginary , a flight into the world of fantasy but rather a meaningful delving into the depths always mindful that only TRUTH must sought and that one should NOT be misguided on the way into becoming the messiah and so forth.

Appar 3-11

144

  
       
    
      
   
      
   ()
       

:

         ,                    .         ,             . .    ,       .                      ,          ,     .           .

144.

kadukiya teercelaatu kayilaaya miitu
    karuteel un viiramozi nii
mudukuvatu anRu tanmammena ninRu paakan
    mozivaanai nanRu muniyaa
viduvidu venRu cenRu viraivuRRu arakkan
    varaiyuRRu edukka muditooL
nedunedu viRRuviiza viraluRRa paata(m)
    ninaivuRRatu en tan mananee

Meaning:

Thinking that there should be NO rivals to him, including the Godhead, IraavaNaa dared to visit on a chariot Kailash itself where resides Civa with Parvathy and to shake it down destroy. The charioteer noting this with regrets advised IraavaNaa saying that no chariot can ever enter Kailash and also such an act would be supremely unethical, IraavaNaa nevertheless urged on further being also very angry with him. On reaching the mountain he bent down to shake the foundations but Civa noting this pressed a little with his toes whence IraavaNaa s' crown as well as the body shattered to pieces. Unable to bear the pains he cried loudly. The feet of Civa that made IraavaNaa cry thus is something I recall now in view of the current circumstances.

Commentary:

In almost every patikam Appar never fails to recall IraavaNaa and how he was humiliated by Civa and made submissive to him. Perhaps in the personality of the Mahendra Pallava, the mighty emperor who persecuted him , Appar saw the presence of IraavaNaa, the archetypal figure, the embodiment of the Evil and Unethical and in this a Saivite Anti-Christ or a sort. IraavaNaa, as the archetypal figure is something that all us are capable of becoming and hence something deep within us and hence something that can erupt into our consciousness and take possession of us and transform our personality into something evil and of course extremely arrogant, a ten-headed fierce figure.

IraavaNaa wants to shake the very Kailash where resides Civa with his Parvathy, the WOMAN who is His equal half. Residing there HE RULES the whole universe making sure the Tanmam or Tarumam (Sk Dharma), the ethical principles are NOT violated but adhered to. Everything in the world is ruled by ETHICS with a stubbornness that we cannot overcome and hence be free. No matter how powerful politically we are, finally there is the transpersonal ETHICALITY of the actions we do and hence ultimately we are accountable to BEING in terms of the actions we do. We CANNOT transgress the ethical regulation of our praxis and which is NOT purely a matter of economical issues or even that of sharing political powers and so forth. The Ethics is there guiding our journey into the metaphysical realms and finally the Kailash , the Saivite version of the Paradise the mythical rendering of CiRRambalam, Citambaram or Tillaiampalam , the realm of absolutely Pure Consciousness and where shines Civanjanam.

IraavaNaa in the Tevaram corpus is the prototypical figure who DARES to challenge even this ethical foundation of existence itself and after destroying it rebuild it as HIS OWN, i.e. Displace Godhead and emplace himself in His place so that his will becomes that which is GOOD for everybody and hence that which is ethical. In other word, IraavaNaa becomes the prototypical figure of a man who would, instead approaching BEING with genuine Bakthi, would try to become God Himself -- nsaying or implying "I am God" , "I am the Way" etc.

But of course IravaNaa is taught a lesson -- though mighty as an Emperor but in comparison with BEING who has the Cauldron of Power itself, Parvathy, as His equal Half, his is infinitesimal and on account of which Civa just has to press a little the Hill with his toe to destroy everything that is the source of power for IraavaNaa.

He loses his Crown i.e. all his political powers. And on top of that he loses his mighty shoulders , that which stands for the extremely strong physical body. For the body can become weak through diseases and old age which begin to afflict a person if he is arrogant and UNETHICAL. What is IMMORAL elicits the aaNavam the poison that kills if not regulated and kept under control by the Dancing Feet of BEING as Civa Nadarajah. Diseases that make a person shudder with fear and lose all the bodily strength is what comes to prevail when the ethical principles are violated.

HOME