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Subject: thiruppalliyelucci 4 english
Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 21:01:23 +0530
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From: "Ramani Naidu"
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THIRUPPALLIYELUCCI – DAY TWENTY FOUR - SONG FOUR
Transliteration
innicai vInaiyar yALinar orupAl
irukkotu thOthiram iyampinar orupAl
thunniya pinaimalark kaiyinar orupAl
thoLukaiyar aLukaiyar thuvalkaiyar orupAl
cenniyil anjali kUppinar orupAl
thirupperunthuRaiyuRai civaperumAnE
ennaiyum Atkontu innaruL puriyum
emperumAn paLLi eLuntharulAyE.
Translation
There are those -
Playing on the veena; playing on the yal;
Reciting the Rig Veda; singing the devotionals;
Holding flowers arranged in garlands;
Worshipping; melting and drooping in love;
Praying with folded hands held above the heads.
Lord Civa of Thirupperunthurai!
My Lord! Wake up from sleep!
You grace me too of all!
The fourth song of Thiruppalliyelucci gains significance in many ways.
Barnabas was a juggler. He used to go round places performing. There were
days when he earned and ate. And in winter and when it rained, he had to go
without food. He too was growing old. He wanted to work out his salvation.
He became a priest. The priests in the seminary were each in one way or the
other endowed. One could paint; the other could sing; the other could
deliver philosophic discourses.
And Barnabas was the only one who could do nothing in the service of God. He
became quite sad indeed.
He could bear with it no more. One day he went to the statue of Virgin Mary
and started juggling. He was performing as he had never done before. After
all he had grown old you see. He started sweating profusely. Still he
continued. The other priests who happened to see him took him for a madcap.
When he had finished, he stood sweating all over. Virgin Mary came out of
the statue and wiped his sweaty brow. The other priests understood the value
of the love of Barnabas.
That is a story.
John Milton was an English poet. He has written such epics like ‘Paradise
Lost’ and ‘Paradise Regained’. He became blind when in his forties. He wrote
a sonnet titled ‘On His Blindness’. Regretting that when everyone around him
was to do something or the other in service of God, he could not serve God
with the only talent of his - writing poetry. However he concludes the poem
saying that even those who stand and wait are serving God.
Here are a few lines of verse Ramani wrote in Tamil:
He remains the void within the void
And decides the dynamics of the void,
Teasing the mind into thoughts.
You remain the blade of the fan
Caught in flesh, mind, world and experience.
Hold fast to the shaft -
His concern for you.
Blessed will you be with the stillness
That negates even the effort to be effortless.
The fourth song of Thiruppalliyelucci is to be taken for a song on the part
of those who cannot express their devotion to God in one or the other
explicit form as all around them can do so.
There are those - Playing on the veena; playing on the yal; reciting the Rig
Veda; singing the devotionals; holding flowers arranged in garlands;
worshipping; melting and drooping in love; praying with folded hands held
above the heads. The song concludes with appreciation of God’s grace that
encompasses the singer who could none of these. The humility that the song
expresses is a special type of humility.
While elucidating the seventeenth songs of Thiruppavai and Thiruvempavai, I
had quote what I had written elsewhere. “...The maid calls herself a dog.
Let me quote my own words written elsewhere. “It is the most notorious on
the part of the most virtuous to consider themselves the most vicious”. I
had elaborated on it saying that the sin that such great devotees like
Gerard Manley Hopkins, St.Thomas of Assissi, Loyola had felt is one of
elemental nature. It is not the one of a particular act of commission or
omission. Man’s present is the sum of the accumulated merit and sins of
mankind and it is the elemental sin of Man that these people are ascribing
to themselves. I refer the readers to the powerful poem, “Man with the Hoe”
by Markheim to appreciate the point.”
Similarly, while relating the grace of God and man, I had quoted my own
words:
“Theologically grace is a free personal bestowal of unmerited favour upon
man by God. Phenomenologically it is a strength from beyond oneself, an
unexpected gift, a reneweal of spirit and response of deep gratitude. It is
a powerful guard against degeneration during desolation. Something from
beyond keeps one going. Also strength is provided against specific
temptations and evils. Patience and love are instilled by grace and the
sustenance of the individual against the evil and despair is looked at not
as an indication of self heroism but as a manifestation of the divine
action. Grace again teaches man to find purposes at work even in one’s
suffering. One such purpose which is immediate is the acquisition of the
ability to discover God afresh or in a deeper way. Grace works through
sufferings and privations to scourge the barriers of guilt and
hardheartedness, bringing patience and other virtues, turning man away from
passing frivolities to lasting goods, hammering out the true self to become
a return presentation to God. If these are the inward impacts of the divine
purpose, the outward accomplishment is God’s will in man, such a will being
love and most worthy of being accomplished. Such a prospective of divine
purpose offers a totally altered perspective of man, of himself, his mission
in life, his vocation, so much so, any worthy vocation can be a vehicle for
the grace of divine calling...... Grace also contributes to a growth in
spiritual sanctification. A deepening awareness of God’s presence and
steadfastness in spite of trials, tribulations, discouragements and setbacks
makes life more meaningful in that God with His grace is patient in spite of
our indifference, merciful in spite of our follies. ... He becomes the
sustenance of the whole natural order. He reaches out to us in the depths of
oceanic darkness.”
When one thus relates the grace of god and the state of man, the humility in
the penultimate line of the fourth song of Thiruppalliyelucci is clearly
appreciated.
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