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Subject: thiruvempavai 10 english
Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 23:38:08 +0530
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From: "Ramani Naidu"
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THIRUVEMPAVAI – DAY TEN – SONG TEN
Transliteration
pAthALam Ezinum kIL coRkazivu pAthamalar
pOthAr punaimutiyum ellAp porul mutivE
pEthai orupAl thirumEni onRallan
vEtham muthal vinnOrum mannum thuthiththAlum
Otha ulava oru thOzan thontar ulan
kOthil kulaththu aranthan kOyiR pinAp piLLaikAL
Ethu avan Ur Ethu avan pEr yAr uRRAr yAr ayalAr
Ethu avanaip patum paricu ElOr empAvAy.
Translation
His feet are farther down the seven netherworlds
And beyond the meaning of the ultimate of words.
One of His forms has His consort as the half
And yet He is not confined to one form.
>From the Vedas through the words worship by the gods and men
Cannot describe His aspects and yet
He is our Friend and lives in the hearts of the devotees.
You maids serving Him in the temple!
Tell us, what is his name? Which is his place?
Who are his relatives and who aliens to him?
What is the prize for our singing His praise?
The maids are on their way to the temple and the temple pond for the pavai
observance. They are singing in praise of God as they go. They are always
conscious of Him. They try to give a new form to their God-Consciousness in
the tenth song.
The poet enjoys the poetic potential of words. He establishes himself in the
poetic bliss again and again as he explores the potential of words.
Similarly when God consciousness becomes an experiential reality, it is
given a word picture in the tenth song.
His feet go beyond the depths of the underworlds. They go beyond the reach
of the ultimate word. If the feet are such, how about His forms?
He has His consort as His half in form. But then, is it possible to list out
all His forms? It is not possible since He assumes not just one form.
He does not have just one name, just one form. Even if He is celebrated in
thousand names and thousand forms, He transcends all such. Appar also would
say that He is not just One and not of just one place.
Word explains meaning and scene as experienced. The purpose of words is to
represent perception clearly. Kalithasan would describe the relationship
between word and meaning as that between Siva and His consort in one form.
But we are not able to express our day-to-day experiences in their totality
with the help of words. It is because of the limitations inherent in words
that we always seek the help of gestures. We shake our heads; shrug our
shoulders; spread our eyes; wrinkle our foreheads and do what else not. If
words are not capable of conveying day-to-day experiences in their totality,
how could they explicate the experience of the One who is beyond even the
ultimate word? Can words arrest the form of God in a graphic evocation? At
least can words bring out the nature of the effort towards realisation of
God consciousness? Thayumanavar would say, “Word and meaning are a burden
even to those who remain an embodiment of knowledge.”
God is the experience of the love of life. God is the honey for the mouth
of thought. We ascribe arms and legs to him couched in words. Look at the
felicity of the expression “beyond the ultimate of words”.
Even if the other world and this world come together and recite words that
stand for His names and forms, Siva would not be confined to the
prison walls of words. Though beyond words, He remains our Friend as he has
been to Sundarar, the devotee. And he has as his dwelling the hearts of the
devotees. When the heart gets rid of its impurities, it can see the God
within.
The tenth song is in the form of an address. The women serving at the temple
of Siva are addressed here. The speakers are not able to confine the
qualities of God in a list. So they ask them, ‘What is His Name? Which is
His place? Who are His relatives and who are alient unto Him? We are not
able to get into the right path of celebrating Him. Teach us the right way,
please!” That is their appeal. The temple servants are said to be uruthira
kanniyar.
Look at the sense of helplessness of another devotee:
“God! I brought a pot of water to bathe you. There were forty two thousand
crores organisms in it. And You were in each of them. With what water am I
to bathe you?
“God! I brought a garland made of choice flowers. But you have already smelt
the flowers as a bee.
“God! I brought ghee to offer to you. I have milked the cow myself, boiled
it, churned it and made the butter from which I obtained the ghee. But then,
you have already tasted the milk as the calf.”
Those are the words of Namadeva, who feels helpless when he wants to
celebrate God in a form. God is the thing in everything.
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