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Subject: In continuation of Nacciyar thirumoli 3 - english
Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 23:33:22 +0530
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From: "Ramani Naidu"
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A few more words in continuation of the explanation to the Third Thirumoli.
Bathing is meant to clean the physical self. One has to undress to bathe. No
sooner than the bathing is over do we hurry to get back into our dress.
When bathing is taken to be symbolic of purification of the soul, the waters
of the pond become a symbol of devotion. When one immerses oneself in
devotion, renouncing all earthly ties, the soul is purified. But not able to
keep oneself immersed for long the soul rises free of devotion to again hold
on the worldly. So extricating oneself completely from the ties of the world
by oneself is impossible. Divine intervention becomes a necessity then to
remove the shackles of this life in this form. It is to symbolise this
necessity for divine intervention to achieve redemption that the drama of
taking away the dress off the shores is celebrated as part of the Krishna
cult.
Nammalwar has the following to say:
Give up, all together, and giving up thus,
Dedicate yourself unto the Custodian.
When you become aware that the forms the soul assumes
Are as fleeting as the flash of the lightning
You will do well to focus yourself entirely on God.
Interepreting the progress of thought from the first to the second of these
songs, traditional interpretation says the following.
The first song makes an appeal renounce all that stand in the way of
redemption. In fact it is not even giving up everything but to lay them in
dedication to God. But how is it possible to give up so much that one is
used to for so long? the exhortation is to look at them for their real
nature. They are by nature as fleeting as the flash of the lightning.
When one understands how fleeting is this life by its very nature, one is
able to understand the futility of anxieties on the part of the
shepherdesses in terms of what might their brothers do and what might their
mothers think. Those who achieve a transposition in life achieve a
corresponding transvaluation too. For both the transposition and
transvaluation, divine intervention is an absolute necessity. So despite the
desire for redemption and the periodical resorting to devotion, the soul
achieves redemption only when God intervenes and removes the shackles of
this life. Thus the soul, as long as it has an assumed form is caught in a
predicament of swaying between the desire for redemption which is synonymous
with union with God in theistic religion and the pull towards the worldly,
the pranks of Boy Krishna becomes a symbol of Divine Intervention.
The Buddhist and Jain philosophy speak about Perfection of the Soul. Such
Perfection is different from Redemption. Redemption speaks of the
annihilation of one state of being and attaining another state of being. The
second state of being is to be in the presence of a personal God. This
essential difference between the heterodox Buddhism and Jainism on the one
hand and the orthodox Hinduism is to be appreciated properly.
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