English explanation by Mr. G. U. Pope

[For information about G.U.Pope, the reader is requested to consult Volume One (1984). In this series we have since come by the text of the epitaph inscribed in his grave. Siva Sri M.P. Somasundaram, popularly known as Somu, wrote a series of articles under the caption: “Akkaraiccheemayil Aaru Maathangkall” in the weekly called Kalki. The eleventh in the series appeared on 12-2-1961. It is about the extraordinary efforts taken by Somu to discover the cemetery where G.U.Pope was buried. Somu did well to copy the epitaph relating to G.U.POPE and publish it in his article. It is as follows:

“George Uglow Pope D.D. of South India; sometime lecturer in Tamil and Telugu in the University and Chaplain of Balliol College. Born 24th April 1820. Died 11th February 1908. This stone has been placed here by his family and by his Tamil friends in South India in loving adoration of his lifelong labours in the cause of Oriental literature and philosophy.”

At page 64 of “Saiva Siddhantam - Volume One” (1984) the date of his death is given as 12th February 1908. This is an error.

Pope was born in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia. His family migrated to England when he was a child. He left for South India in 1839. He stayed in Tamil Nadu for about four decades. He died in London. He is remembered as a South Indian.

His translation of St. Umapati’s Tiruvarutpayan formed part of the Introduction he indited for his translation of St. Mannikkavaachakar’s Tiruvaachakam. Ed.]

The Three Caiva Categories (Padartha)

In this first quatrain of his greatest work (the Civa-Piragacam), Umapathi, the ablest of the Caiva schoolmen, throws down the gauntlet and challenges the teachers of all the Hindu schools, declaring that the real and only intention of all the Vedas and other sacred writings is summed up in the three mystic words Pathi (the Lord), the three categories Caiva Siddhanta system. Though this systems received its final development some centuries after our sage, implicitly he held its principles, and it is necessary for the illustration of these poems and legends to bring together, connect, and illustrate the main dogmas of that elaborate, thoughtful, and influential religious philosophy which has been evolved in connection with these words.

The three eternal entities of the system are (1) the Lord, who is Civan Himself; (2) the aggregate of all souls or lives that constitutes Civan’s Flock, which, by His grace, He wills to conduct to the blessedness of the final disentanglement from all the embodiments; and (3) the Bond, or the sum total of all those elements which bind souls and hinder them from findings release in union with the ‘Lord’. These three-Pathi, Pacu, Pacam-are equally eternal, existing unchanged and undiminished through successive aeons. The idea of the ‘Lord’ is a philosophical refinement of that of the Civan of the older mythology. Among other titles given to Rudra we find that of Pacunam-pati (‘Lord of the flocks’) and from that has been evolved the ingenious allegory on which this system is founded. Umapathi’s doctrine in regard to the ‘Lord’ is set forth in many quatrains of his text book, the admirable Civa-Piragacam (I 1, pp. 59-63). This is the sum of his theology as to this topic:-

i.    Pathi is the Supreme Being;

ii.    He is neither permanently manifested, nor unmanifested;

iii.    He is without qualities or distinguisheing marks;

iv.    He is free from all impurity;

v.    He is absolutely one;

vi.    He is eternal

vii.    He is the souce of wisdom to innumerable souls;

viii.    He is not subject to fluctuations;

ix.    He is immaterial (indiscerptible);

x.    He is the essence of bliss;

xi.    He is difficult of access to the perverse, but the final goal of those that truly worship Him;

xii.    He is infinitely small and infinitely great;

xiii.    He is the true Civan, or ‘blessedness.’

The second of these statements is thus explained: Whatever has a visible form must be subject to the laws of production, maintenance, and decay; therefore the Supreme is without visible form. One the other hand, that which has no form by which it can become manifest is a mere fancy, like the ‘horn of a hare’ or ‘flowers of the atmosphere.’ But Pathi is real and makes Himself known to souls. This will be further explained in connection with another part of the subject.

Civan as thus described is said to be Nish-Kala, .e., without parts or adjuncts, perfect in Himself, the absolute Lord. But He is capable of manifestation and in order to energize in souls, and in the various constituents of that eternal aggregate of impurity which constitutes the bond. He assumes a Ca-kala nature, i.e., one composed of a species of spiritual body.

Chapter 1

THE NATURE OF THE SUPREME LORD : PATHI.

The Disciple asks :

What is Civan’s (Pathi, the LORD’S) essential nature?

I

The Guru answers:

Like the vowel A2, wisdom’s self, the matchless KINGS, everywhere3 ebides and all things fills.

Commentary : The vowel letter A is understood in all letters, and is their life; so the matchless Lord fills all souls, Himself, unchanged, and is their life.

Summary: Here is a statement of (1) the existence of the King:

And of (2) His inseparable union with all souls (all that lives).

If the Lord be thus beyond the reach of mind, speech, and touch, how can souls be freed from pollution4 and obtain deliverance?

II

The souls z may reach His state, His Ennergy6 gathers them in.

Our Lord, is (nevertheless) One and Indivisible.

Com : All souls are destined by Grace to dwell at length within the abode of pure and infinite wisdom; and this is effected by the ENERGY of Civan, called para-catti, which abides in Him, inseparable from Himself, and is the instrument of His gracious operations.

Sum. In this couplet it is taught (1) that the Lord exists in oneness with and Energy (Catti); and (2) that this Energy bears the form of Grace.

1. Tan-I yalbu [ = Sans. TATTVA – SUBHAVA] ____________________ pg 5

2. ‘Vowel’ and ‘life’ are in Tamil the same word: -------------. This imitates Tiruvalluvar’ Kurral I. See Pope’s Kurra p 184.

3. Alike in sentient and non-sentient being:--------------- See Unmai-Vilakkam, 30.

4. Sans. MALA-PARIPAKAM, PAKVAM : ---------------

5. ---------, lit. ‘ABIDING SOULS’. These change not forms as bodies do,-are indiscerptible. See T.A.P., plii.

6. Sans. Cakti: --------- Her gracious operation is explained by Umapathi in his Chapter IV.

Is you Lord then great and glorious?

III

In greatness, subtile nature, exceeding grace, and precious boon He grants.

He is the Incomparable.

Com :There is nothing to which He can be likened in regard to (1) His infinite greatness, which is beyond human thought, (2) His minutely penetrating, all-pervasive subtilty, which unseen carries on the five mysterious operations, His boundless grace, and the wondrous gifts thereby bestowed on devout souls.

Sum : Here the incomparable greatness of the Lord is asserted. [Kurral-7]

Why call Him the Incomparable? Is He not one of three?

IV

He creates, preserves, and to the power of Maya all consigns:

He is the Refuge that ne’er departs.

Com: The Supreme Lord ‘CREATES’ (or evolves) the world and its phenomena by the instrumentality of Brahma, His first creation. He sustains them through Vishnu, His next creation. In the end He will ‘DESTROY’ (or involve) the phenomenal universe by causing it to be merged in Maya (=chaos). He Himself, Refuge of all souls, nevermore departs.

Sum. Here it is shown that it is He who performs the three works of creation, preservation, and DESTRUCTION.

[Civa gnana-bodham, Aph.1.]

Is He Formless, or has He Form or is He at once the Formless and manifested in Form?

V

He is Formless, or has He Form. To those who know Him

He has the Form of Wisdom.

Com: His formless Essence is fourfold : Civan, Catti, Natham, and Vinthu. His manifestations in form are four: Maecuran, Uruttiran, Mal, and Ayan. In hearts that know Him the Lord wears the Form of Wisdom.

Sum: The Invisible Essence and Visible Forms of the Supreme Lord are here explained.

[There is a ninth state, or manifestation, of the Lord : as Sada-Civan. The two states are the Nish-kala and Ca-kala, p.lxvi. See Ci. Pira. I.I p.63. This Gnostic series symbolizes the evolutional character of the unfolding of the universe in each aeon.]

If He have aught, someone must have endowed Him with it. Is it not so?

VI

Innumerable souls through His indwelling fullness attain to know;

There is none above our King who to Him can thus impart.

Com : To all souls He gives suitable embodiments, and thus they gain self-conscious knowledge; but there is no Being who is like nammer could assign to Him form, or impart to Him knowledge. Our King assumes all forms He pleases.

Sum. Here it is taught that Civan’s divine nature is UNDERIVED.

[Com. Ci. Pira. I.3, p. 65 etc. This is in opposition of Vaishanvas and others (Panjarattiri, see Sarva-darcana sangraha), who hold that the Creator (Brahma) gave Him His form.]

Can all men attain the knowledge of this Lord ?

VII

As unfailing wisdom He never withdrawas Himself from His servants; though He is the King, WHOM THE HEAVENLY ONES SEE NOT.

Com. In the lotus of devout souls He ever inseparably dwells as unfailing Wisdom; yet is He not to be beheld even y the gods.

Sum. This declares the method in which the Lord dispenses grace.

[Comp. Kurral, 1,2, pp. 3, 184:

“His feet, Who o’er the full-blown flower hath past, who gain.

In bliss long time shall dwell above this earthly plain.’

The Tiruvacagam is full of this idea. Comp. Lyric II (pp. 8-16); with note on the Arunacalam myth, to which this is the key (p.198)]

Is the Lord confined to one spot, or is He all-pervading?

VIII

Everywhere through all He dwells pervasive, like fire in heated water; yet with none identified, abides alone.

Com. All worlds, and all souls, infinite in number, He pervades, as fire heats water, entering it and uniting with it. He is not confined by the limits of the natures He pervades, but exists alone, uncontaminated.

Sum. Here it is said that Civan fills all things, but is affected by none.

Does the Lord always manifest Himself to all in one manner?

To those who draw not nigh, He gives no boon; to those who draw nigh, all good : the great Cankaran knons no dislike.

Com: If men draw not nigh to worship and serve Him, He imparts not to them the sweetness of His grace, nor delivers them from embodiments, deaths, and sorrow. To those who draw nigh to Him He gives all these good things. He is ever the impartial Benefactor of all!

Sum: Civan is without desires or aversions; dispensing to everyone according to his deeds. [See Kural 4]

Can those who worship and serve Him obtain that gift?

X

Ponder well! Doubtless there is a Wisdom, all pervading,-balm,-that clinging malady of ‘birth’ unfailing heals.

Com : Our Lord in the form of Wisdom, uniting inseparably with and joined to souls, is the sure remedy for the eternally clinging disease of human embodiment. This is undoubted. Ponder it well with ceaseless love!

Sum : The necessity and reward of devoutly serving the Lord. [Comp. Gita]

Chapter II

The Nature of the ‘Flock’, Pacu; or, The State of Souls.

This chapter expounds the nature and condition of the aggregate of all souls. The Lord (Pathi) is One; the Flock (Pacu) is manifold and made up of innumerable souls.

The Disciple asks:

Are there any who may bear this name?

XI

The Guru answers:

Days past, and days to come, are numberless; so is the company that have renounced, and hereafter will renounce.

Com: The aeons in which evolution and involution have taken place, and shall yet go on, are infinite. The number of souls that have gained and feet of the Supreme, and of those who in the unending future shall obtain Grace, is infinite. So this Flock cannot be counted.

Sum: Here the existence and multiplicity of souls is taught.

The exquisitely figurative word ‘flock’ suggests that idea of the Great and Good Shepherd, and of the time ‘When there shall be one Flock [fold] and one Shepherd.’

Are all these souls of the same grade?

XII

There are those with three impurities; those set free from one of these; and those who have but one.

Com: Darkness deeds, and delusion. –these three impurities exist in some. There are some who, delusion having been removed, are still under the influence of darkness and deeds, - subject to a twofold impurity. There are others in whom the impurity of darkness alone remains. Souls may thus be arranged in three classes!

The three classes are: 1. Ca-kalar [Sans. Sankala = ‘with Kalai’]. These are under the influence of all the three Radical impurities: Anavam, Kanamam, and Mayai, which constitute the threefold Bond. (Note XV)

1    Pralai ya-kalar [Sans. Pralay-kala]. These are under the influence of two Radical impurities: Anava and Kanamam.

2    Vigngnana kalar, who are freed from all but Anavam. A-kalar (opposed to Sa-kalar) = ‘those without Kalai.’

Sum : Souls are distributed into three categories, according to their different conditions from of old.

Are any of these above the others?

XIII

All the three classes are subject to the original impurity: to those who cling to Him the unseen Lord is Help.

Com : The members of all these three classes are a like subject to the original, eternal impurity of Anavam. They must all therefore look to the invisible Lord for ultimate deliverance.

Sum : Here it is taught that the original impurity of darkness clings to all, though one class has been set free from Maya, and a second class from Kanmam also.

[The second line of this couplet is obscure : my rendering is literal.]

Is there no knowledge in souls not devoted to Him?

XIV

Things seen daily are mingled confusedly in dreams! What can me do whose might of intellect is such?

Com: Things which men see in their waking hours are oftimes reproduced with strange perversions in their sleep. The author therefore asks, in contemptuous irony, what reliance can be placed on knowledge subject to such vicissitudes?

Sum: It is shown us in this and in the next couplet that the souls has neither knowledge, (self-consciousness) nor active faculty without primal Source from which these flow.

In slumber, it is true, comes forgetfulness; but in waking hours have souls no innate knowledge?

XV

Without organs of sense reason comes not into contact with the objective: how then can soul be said to know?

Com: The ear and other sense organs are required by the soul as necessary instruments of perception; this being the case, how can the soul itself be said to possess knowledge? Its knowledge comes to it from perception of the world of sense.

Sum: This is to be taken in combination with the former.

But has the soul no knowledge whatever save through the sense?

XVI

Light and darkness, and the phenomenal universe, are not perceptible to the eye obscured by cataract.

Com: Light from sun, moon, or fire: darkness which brings confusion: and the varied world of phenomena, appear not to the blinded eye. So, if the souls have no faculty of vision or perception, what can sense-organs do for it?

Sum: The souls of men have merely an imparted faculty of perceiving what is presented as an object of perception.

[An innate faculty, like power of vision, ____pg 13____ (comp. Kurral), is necessary to sense-perception. The soul, with material sense-organs, placed over against the object world, must have a divinely-given faculty of using those organs; alones with sense and objects it could know nothing.]

_____________________________________________ pg 13

Cat, Acat, and Sat-acat: What is there then that can perceive these three?

XVII

The ‘REAL’ draws not nigh the ‘UNREAL.’ The ‘unreal knows nothing.

Soul that takes cognizance of both these, must itself be both.

Com. Civan, who is abiding knowledge, has no need to contemplate and know the ‘Bond’, -inert matter,-the threefold impurities which imprison the soul. That Bond itself, with all the elemental categories, is material and unintelligent. The Soul (pacu), which puts forth energies and onctemplates both Pathi and Pacam, must partake of both natures, (that is, has affinities with both matter and spirit.)

Sum: Here we are taught that souls are not pure knowledge (like Pathi), nor mere matter (like Pacam).

Can you illustrate by a figure this twofold nature of souls?

XVIII

In this world are there not things which are dark in the darkness, and light in the light?

Com: There are things, like the eye, crystal and ether, which are dark when no light is she upon them, but kindle into brightness when irradiated from without. So the souls are intelligent or unintelligent, according as divine irradiation is given or withheld.

Sum: There exists something intermediate between pure intellect and insensible matter, which something has potentialities of knowledge.

[Civan is thus ______pg14 _______ ‘ life of life’, ‘souls of souls.’ It is ‘the inspiration of the Almighty that gives man understanding.]

Since light too is with the soul from eternity, why should the soul have any connection with darkness? Can light and darkness co-exist?

XIX

To the eye of an owl light itself is dense darkness, So are they whose eyes behold not Vaman.

Com: When the sun rises the eye of the owl receives not its beams; so the soul we have spoken of sees not the light of Civan’s wisdom, being veiled by Anavam.

Sum: This illustrates the way in which souls fail to recognize Him who is their Light and Life.

[See Ci.Gnana pira II.20, p. 313.=: Vanam, ______pg 15______ see Lex].

When shall the ignorance of these souls disperse and grace be given?

XX

From eternity until now souls bear the load. Alas! When shall they know the grace divine? Ah! Aiding woe!

Com: The couplet echoes the commiserating, exclamation, when dawns the day of grace?’

Sum: A piteous declaration of the sorrow that the Flock of all souls endures.

THE BRIDE, PARA-CATTI = CIVAN’S ‘PRIMAL ENERGY.’

In order that the supreme Pathi may energize in soul and in the Pacam (Malam) from which the universe is evolved, there proceeds forth from him which an energy (Catti, ______pg 15________, Sans, Cakti) which is its various manifestations will require attentive consideration. The doctrine is thus summed up: The supreme Catti, or essential energy that subsists in and one with Civan, sends forth in successive developments (1) the energy of desire, (2) the energy of wisdom, and (3) the energy of action. These powers in operation constitute the sacred body of Civan. This ‘the uncontaminated one approaches, manifesting himself as inscrutable grace, and thus joins himself to the pure Maya’. He then approaches ‘impure Maya, the causual one, and establishes bodies, organs, worlds, and fruition n all their plenitude, in order that deeds eternal and inexorable may be consumed’, - as it is curiously phrased. Thus souls are embodied, and involced in the bond from which, when deeds are consumed, they will be evolved. This is the mystery of the developed and undeveloped forms of the Supreme. What is specially important here is that the supreme divinity (Pathi) manifests Himself and operates in the universe only through his Catt, or energy. ‘Civan and Catti are as the sun and its radiance’. This noun is in Sansrit feminie, and thus the effective energy of Civan is represented as a female, -a goddness: and it is very wonderful what an amount of mythology and ritual has been accumulated around this one word. The question is repeated again and again. How is Pathi, Who is pure spirit, to mingle with and energize in souls and amid impurities? And the answer is, that He does so by sending forth an energy that is like a ray of light, a mightly influence that quickens, illuminates, and purifies all things: and this energy, personified as a goddess, has led to all the developments of Catti worship. This is in fact that way in which the Caiva philosophy bridges over the gulf between the finite and the infinite.

1    It is curious to compare the mysticism of Novalis (Les disciples a Sais, in Materlinck: P.47: ‘II est heureux ce fils ce favori de la nature, fils a que elle permet de la contempler ene cette dualite, sous la forme d’une force male et femelle, et en son unite, sous la forme d’une force eternal et sans fin… sa religion sera le vertible et essential naturalisme’.

There is hardly a glimpse of this idea in the Bhagavad Gita, and its development in the Siddhanta seems to mark a decided advance in theological science. The very precious germ-thought would seem to be that-so much emphasized in the Christian Revelation-of the Spirit of God moving oer, through, and in the entire creation, and especially energizing in human souls. It is curious to recall the Greek Caktis, the Eumenides, the Muses, and other feminine personifications. In Latin the names of Venus and Diana correspond to the Tamil Ammai. And in Dante, Beatrice seems almost to take the place of Umai, since from her all light, knowledge, and help proceed. Mary, Beatrice, Lucia, and Rachel and Matilda all resemble the Caivite Caktis. Indeed, if the magnificent hum ‘Veni, creator Spiritus !’ were translated literally into Tamil verse, it would seem to express in a much more appropriate, dignified, and forcible manner the whole idea which lies at the root of this part of the Caiva system, -that all light, knowledge, power, freedom, and sanctification are from the Blessed Spirit sent forth by the Father for the salvation of His children. Of course Christians do not regard the Divine Spirit as really dove, -and the representation of the divine energy as a woman is surely not regarded as essential to the fullest development of the great truth it is supposed to symbolize.

We must not omit reference to the personification of Wisdom in the Christian sacred scriptures as well as in the apocryphal books. Many of these passages could be used, almost precisely as they stand, by a Caivite in expounding his views of Cakti. The Alexandrian school of philosophy and theology has followed out this course of personification to a great extent, and it does not seem to be improbable that those thinkers were influenced partly by South-Indian ideas. Gnosticism in all its developments seems to have come from the East.

‘EVOLUTION’, ‘PRESERVATION’, AND ‘INVOLUTION’ IN OPPOSITION TO ATHEISM

The doctors of the Caiva Siddhanta are strenuous opponenets of the atheistic shool, or Lokayatikas, as is seen in the Sarva-darcana Sangraha, chapter I, where they are called Charvakas. These deny the existence of a Creator, and the argument against them for the existence of a supreme Being, who evolves,sustains, and involves the phenomenal universe, is as follows: ‘The whole universe, with its entire compleemtn of beings, male, female, and without life, comes into phenomenal existence, subsists awhile, and then subsides: this is our experience. It is therefore necessary to assert the existence of a Lord, or Pathi who creates, maintains, and destroys. The reappearance, after dissolution, of the phenomenal universe in a new aeon is the result of the bond, - impurity. For souls must again and again have embodiments; there must be a long chain of metempsychosis in order that these impurities may be matured, work out their legitimate tendencies, and produce their various results in the experience of each being. Only when these are exhausted, may souls be released from their power. Since then these embodied living ones (souls) come upon the stage of being, act awhile, and then pass away, there must be a Lord (Pathi), who directs their course; especially as every element of the bond is unintelligent, and cannot seek out for itself the souls to which it clings; nor can the souls themselves select their own appropriate forms and successive embodiments, and cannot of themselves select the deeds which pertain to them. It is therefore necessary that the Supreme, the Uncontaminated One, should preside over the direct each embodiment. We thus see in this universe a succession of living beings with material environments. Now, what is thus manifestly subject to decay, and is ever being renewed and changed must have an intelligent Author, Sustainer, and Restorer of its manifold frame. Therefore the Lord exists, and is first, and midst, and last.’

This teaching is a strong and necessary protest against the atheistic Sankhya school of Kapila, who gives to his primordial matter ______pg 19______ the power of self-development, while the Siddhanta most emphatically and with powerful reasonings teaches that the whole universe must be ever inert, unintelligent, and lifeless without the operation of Pathi and his manifested energy.

Anavam, or the ‘Bond of Finite Ignorance’ (_________pg 19______) .

This is in later Caiva books called Anavam (=m’nu.teness), an abstract noun from Anu ____pg 19____ ‘anything minute, subtile’. It is a word in its metaphysical sense coined by the Tamil Caivites, and corresponds in some ways to ‘original sin’ : Sahaja-Mala.

Presented in this formal way it is the latest development of Caivism. (Thirteenth century.)

The following from the –Tiru-arul-payan, Chapter III, throws as much light upon this conception as it is perhaps capable of receiving.

The Nature of the Bond (Pacam); or, The Impurity of Darkness.

The author has spoken of the Lord and of the Flock (Note XII), and here he speaks of the Bond, which is threefold : darkness, deeds, and delusion. But especially he speaks of Anavam, the first of these :ignorance assuming a concrete form.

The Disciple asks:

What is the sorrow that clings to the souls?

XXI

The Guru answers:

That which denies the grievous round of the unceasing embodiment and bliss, and means of help, is ever existent through ever hidden.

Commentary. There is an eternally clinging impurity of darkness (Anava-malam) that conceals all that the soul should know in regard to afflictions from birth, the joys of release, and the help of Lord imparts.

Summary. In this and the following couplet (1) the reality of Anavam and (2) its bewildering power are shown.

Unto what may this Anavam-impurity be likened?

XXII

Nothing except Darkness while showing itself, hides all else, so as to make them one with itself.

1    The Tamil name Aviccal (Sans. A + vidya) is used as a synomym of Anavam. It is also called ‘darkness’ irul. For which arul (=grace) is the remedy. Comp Bhagavad Gita.

Com: Darkness, and it alone, has the power to manifest itself, hiding things so that their distinctive differences shall not appear, Anavam hides birth and death, the way of release, and the means of deliverance.

Sum: the bewildering effect of Anava.

Is it in all things the analogue of darkness?

XXIII

Darkness hides objects of vision, but shows itself;

Anavam hiding all else, itself also remains concealed.

Com. Darkness in the phenomenal world, though it wraps all things in concealment, is itself clearly perceived. This mental darkness conceals both divine knowledge and its own presence in the soul. [See _______pg 21_________]

Sum: The spiritual darkness of Anavam is more cruel in its effect than ordinary darkness.

Does this power which conceals, and itself lies concealed, affect the Lord?

XXIV

This darkness exists from eternal ages, permeating the souls, together with the inner light, and abides till now.

Com. From eternity the darkness of Anavam co-exists in the soul, with the inner light of divine mystic wisdom. It spreads not indeed over the divine Essence, but dwells persistent in the souls, and obscures it even until now.

Sum. Anavam is from infinite ages, and does not pass out of the soul like ‘deeds’ and ‘delusion’. (Note III, and p.ii.)

Is this Anavam really unknown to the souls it enshrouds?

XXV

‘My Lady Darkness’ has an infinity of lovers, but hides herself from even her spouse with strictest chaste reserve!

Com: Though this ‘darkness’ pervades and interpenetrates all souls, yet to the soul in which it dwells the ‘energy of ignorance’ reveals not herself.

Sum: This teaches the mysterious power of Anavam.

[Anavam is one, though pervading an infinity of souls. (______pg 22_____. There is a personification here, as in the next. In Tiruvacagam IV. 43-45:

‘Soon as I thought of that Being, free from hate,

Unique;

Delusive powers in ever-changing millions

Swarmed,

And straight begain their every-varying, delusive-play.’

In Manikka-Vacagar’s days the theory of Anavam had not been fully worked out.]

How can one know this Anavam?

XXVI

No need of many words! This ignorance of all that souls should know is the gift of the ‘sons of darkness.’

Com: What good can come from using many words? The condition that is ignorant of the difference between temporal and eternal things must be caused by the powers of black darkness. Anavam is the parent of innumerable active energies of unwisdom.

Sum: This root-impurity is the cause of a mighty power of darkness, and so is known by its effects.

If any one deny the existence of Anavam1, what is your reply?

XXVII

If there be no darkness, why sorrow? If it be nothing but soul’s essence it departs not; or, when it departs the soul must perish too.

Com. If you deny the concrete existence of this darkness of ignorance, why was the soul subjected to this sorrow of embodiment, which is the source of the life of sense? If you say that it is merely the natural condition of the soul, then if divine mystic wisdom be given, this ignorance departing, the soul will itself cease to be. (Cleansing would mean destruction!)

Sum: A refutation of those who deny the existence of a specific impurity to which the name of Anavam is given.

If one say, ‘Anavam came incidentally in the course of development,’ what reply is there?

XXVIII

If this impurity had a beginning, how explain its appearance? And may it not silently, reappear even in the realm of release?

Com. If Anavam has sprung up incidentally, there must be some cause for its appearance, as there is for a stain on a white garment, or for a tarnish on the surface of a mirror; nor in that case can there be any absolute and final deliverance for the souls, for Anavam may again spontaneously appear. [The crucial question of the origin of evil.]

Sum. A refutation of those who teach that Anavam has a beginning.

If it be from eternity, surely it never will depart?

XXIX

Though darkness grow and spread, light will disperse it. If not, it never can leave the mind.

Com. Material light ever dissipates the darkness that admits it; if it were not so, perpetual darkness would brood over all things. Even thus, if Anavam yield not to the successive operations of grace, ignorance can never be dispersed. If Anavam yield not to successive impartations of grace2 , the office of the guru is useless. But this office does rid the soul of it. The soul must have a faculty of receiving effectual grace.

Sum. The means of deliverance from Anavam.

How would you answer a person who deemed that primal delusion, and not Anavam, concealed things?

XXX

Like a light that illuminates till the dayspring arise, ‘delusion’ takes form, and associates itself with deeds.

Com: Till divine mystic wisdom is imparted by Civan, and so the darkness of Anavam is dissipated, ‘delusion’ (Tirotham) appears, and, for the sake of deeds wihich have to be consumed, is the cause of the phenomenal universe. Even so is it when one lights a lamp, and awaits the dawning of the day ! [Note V.(5).]

Sum: Here ‘delusion’ and deeds in their relation to Anavam are explained3’

1    ‘The Aikkiya-yathi school, See Civa Piragadam, II 22. This school is the second in the ‘refutation of heresies by our author.

2    Lit. ‘Kalai and the rest’.

3    The use of the word Anu ____pg ____ by the Caivites.- The word Anavam (from Anu) signifies ‘the state or character of the Atom’. As far as can be ascertained the word Anu, which ahs the meaning of ‘souls, is not used in any such connection in Sanskrit, or inearlier Tamil. In searching for its history I have found it used in a striking manner in the Jain system. It may be remarked that probably the best account of the Jains can be gathered from four Tamil books and these are the ‘Jivaga Chintamani’, the ‘Cilappatigaram’, the ‘Mani-Megalai’, and the ‘Civa-gnana-ciddhyar’. From these we learn that the Jains (or at least the division of them called Ajivigar, or Cuvethanar) held that the whole universe consists of five species of atoms (____pg 25___- Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Soul, It must be noted that the same word is used for life, breath soul and spirit. This word Uyir _____pg25_____ is also used for Aanme, a corruption of Aatman. The five species of atoms are eternal, uncreated, indestructible, indiscerptible, and incapable of missing with one another, though combining in every variety of substance in the phenomenal universe. They are invisible save to the eyes of divine beings dwelling within the circle bounded by the golden walls,’ the home of spirits made perfect. As these atoms combine without direction or control, they form bodies into which the soul, itself an atom, passes. Thus every soul having an eternal burthen of deeds which have to be consumed, expiated and so annihilated, enters the body thus provided for it by a blind, restless, and utterly inexplicable fate.

This part of the doctrine seems somewhat to correspond with that of the Caiva Siddhanta; but again the Jains speak of the colours of atoms, which are pure white, red, golden, green, blue and ordinary white. The six colours belong to the four elements of earth, water, fire and air. As the body is compounded of these in various proportions the indewelling soul has innate qualities or dispositions, symbolized by these colours. The pure and absolute which when gained at last entitles the soul to liberation and conclusive blessedness. Thus the soul is dependent for its condition and character upon a fate which started it with a burthen of ‘deeds’ good or b ad, and varying in every case; and also upon its environment, which is the necessary irresistible influence of its constituent atoms.

There is a further doctrine, as in the other systems, of virtue and vice, and in this it does not differ essentially from the Siddhantam.

Note: The Ajivagar are not Jains. They are of a different faith. –Ed.

Catti – nibatham : __________ pg 26__________ = ‘Cessation of Energy’. Cessation of Energy means Cessation of Tirodhaana Sakti pat upon the Emergence of Arul Sakti. Ed.

The souls of me are found here in a state of bondage called the ‘combined state’ __ pg 26____ . The Caiva Siddhanta system traces their passage thence into the ‘free, eternally a gracious interposition of the Supreme, made subject to vanity, combined with material forms, and launched forth into a world of action, in order that, the effect of deeds (eternal, a parte ante ) being removed or cancelled, the Soul might at length be enlightened by special grace, and so become gradually disentangled and purified; the consummation of which is Mutti (Note III), or final emancipation, and mystic, ineffable, eternal union with Civan.

In this second stage of embodiment, the passage into which is the great crisis in the Soul’s secular pilgrimage, it is prepared for the third and final stage. The man is now no longer of the world, but a devotee (Jivan-muttan, ___pg27---, ), emancipate, yet in the flesh: one in whom a great work of grace is being wrought, and is near to its consummation. Comp. Theologia Germanica1, ch.xxviii. This work, dated about 1350, by an unknown Christian saint, who was thus contemprorary of Uma-pathi (Note VII, and p.xciii), should be studied by all earnest ‘seekers after thrugh’!

1    Theologia Germanica’. Translated from the German by Sussanna Winkworth. With a preface by Charles Kingsley. Macmillan’s Golden Treasury Series.

In Bhagavad-Gita, ch. Li this state of Jivan mutti desoribed It is called Canti -----pg27----, ‘repose’. The next and final stage Nirvana ____pg 27----- ‘blowing out) which is used for Mutti.

In the Sankhya Karika, (LXVII) this doctrine of Jivan-mutti (or Canti) is enunciated: ‘By attainment of perfect knowledge the causes of deeds, virtuous and otherwise, cease ----pg 27------. Yet for a while the body lasts on, as a potter’s wheel continues for a time to revolve after the impulse has ceased : sanskara vacat chakrabhramavat dhrita carirah’.

In the Sankhya aphorisms of Kapila, Book III 78-83 the subject is discussed: ‘The emancipated sage goes on living, as the potter’s wheel revolves for some time, in consequence of the motive inertia resulting from previous action. This is necessary; for such a living, yet liberated, sage is the only competent teacher-the only Guru.’

The steps by which the devotee has reached this threshold of a new existence are2 –

1)    His being awakened by the energy (Catti) of Civan, which si, in intention and in fact, entirely gracious; but as it arouses the Soul to painful conflicts in varied experiences of successive embodiment, it is spoken of as an energy of (divine) anger (Tirotham).

2)    The second step was his coming under the power of Maya, both pure and impure (matter or its underlying essence and sense organization), whereby he has obtained successive bodies, spheres of being, organs, and experiences. In these embodiments he has consumed the fruit of his works, -those which are actually his, and those which have been imputed to him and laid upon him by the Supreme Power (by an eternal fate).

3)    The third step is, that the impurities in which from all eternity the Soul has been involved have thus ‘ripened,’ or their fruits have become mature -----pg28------. This is an idea profound and far-reaching, but which it is difficult for us to comprehend. It rests upon a figure. The Soul has to partake of the results of these deeds which are its eternally destined inheritance. This is compared to the eating of fruit; but these fruits can only be eaten when they are ripe, when the Soul has been placed in circumstances where their whole effect and deserts have been pg--------------28----------- The corresponding Buddhistic formula is hetuprabhava-dharmam in Tamil ------pg 28--------. Camp. Mani Magalai I.1. brought out and experienced brought out and experienced. The whole effect of any deed is slowly evolved and matured, and the Soul must encounter from aeon to aeon, these mysterious powers which constitute its destiny, in all their developments and in their fullest maturity.

4)    In the fullness of the time, as the fourth step, there comes a ‘balancing of deeds’. (T.A.P. 51.) The notion of this seems to be, that there is a point in time when the sins and merits that cling to the Soul and are its fate, become equal, and balance one another, or are made equal by the grace of the Supreme. There are now gathered into one the three kinds of deeds, the eternal accumulations of fate, the assignment for expiation during the present birth, and those which will yet accrue before the consummation is gained. These threefold deeds are at once cancelled; and freed from them, the Soul enters upon its last stage of embodied existence. (Pope’s explication is, alas, incorrect. Ed.)

5)    The energy of Catti, which is commonly called ‘the veiling’ energy (Tiotham), is now changed into a gracious energy of enlightenment and repose from physical perturbations; this is called Civa-catti-nibatham, or cessation of Civan’s ‘veiling’ energy. (Note XIII on Catti.)

6)    And thus the Soul passes into another human form, of the purest and most orthodox Caiva lineage, and is in the third and pure state. Its course and discipline therein must be considered in another place.

GRACE

The prominence given in the Caiva Siddhanta to the operations of Divine Grace is remarkable. The Tamil word -------pg 30----------------- Arul is used in every sense given to Xapis in the New Testament. As Manikka – Vacagar uses the word constantly, I have translated Umapathi’s Chapter IV, and append it.

The remedy for Anavam is Arul : --------------pg 30------------- (Note XV.)

The Fruit of Divine Grace

Chapter IV

THE NATURE OF GRACE

This treats of divine and mystic Wisdom imparted in the shape of Grace. In order to dissipate the darkness of Anavam, and to show the way of deliverance, the doctrine of grace, the remedy for Anavam, is here expounded.

The Disciple asks:

What is meant by the ‘dawning of the day1 ‘?

XXXI

Than Grace is nothing greater; as in this world

Nothing is greater than that one’s soul requires.

Com : There is nothing greater than Divine Grace. This may be illustrated by the fact that in the world the things each one needs and desires are to him the greatest.

Sum: Here the dignity of Grace is shown.

1    Song of Solomon ii. 17, ‘Until the day break, and the shadows flee away.’

Explain how Grace operates.

XXXII

Grace as the sun appears, and sheds everywhere great light for deeds and their effects.

Com: There are ‘deeds (KARMMA) of accumulation’(Cancitam); there are also ‘deeds ripe for fruition in the present birth’ (Pirarattam): there are also ‘deeds now accumulating within man’s consciousness’ (Agami yam). Grace sheds everywhere light for the performance of new deeds, and for the consumption of the fruits of former deeds, even as the sun by shedding light enables men to accumulate and to enjoy.

Sum: Here it is stated that Grace is the source of all action.

There is an ambiguity in the couplet. It seems to read : ‘increase and consumption of deeds’; i.e. ‘Civan’s Grace, through the operation of His Catti, affords light of understanding by which men (otherwise utterly unintelligent) perform the actions of life, thus at once accumulating new stores of deeds (meritorious or sinful), and experiencing (eating, consuming) the fruit of deeds done in former organization.’

The whole doctrine is epitomised in Popes’ Naladiyar, pp 66-69

If one should say, ‘No need for Grace to effect these results; the soul of man can do its own work,’ what is your reply?

XXXIII

The flesh knows nothing, and the soul knows nothing of itself : since these know nothing; who, of himself, can know?

Com: The material elements of the phenomenal universe are unintelligent; souls have no knowledge of their own; therefore, if Grace do not take cognizance of their state, and import to them mystic knowledge, whence can they in this world obtain saving knowledge?

Sum: In this is given the answer to those who say that Grace needs not to know, or take cognizance of, the Soul; It needs to know that it may make known!

XXXIV

As fish in the sea of milk conduct themselves, though with Grace endowed, souls sink back in the sea of bewilderment.

Com: As fish in the ‘sea of milk’ not drinking of it, seek lesser fish for food, so souls, even in the sea of Grace through bewilderment know not Civan’s Grace! They seek the mean enjoyments of earth, while spiritual delights and divine communion are disregarded.

Sum: Here the degradation and suffering of souls even amid Civan’s Grace is shown.

How is it that souls know not His gift of knowledge?

XXXV

A traveller often knows not the helper drawing nigh.

The five senses know not the soul to which they are instruments of perception.

So the soul knows not its Lord.

Com: Like one who walking by the way is not aware of a helper that has drawn nigh; the soul is not known by the five senses it employs. Even so souls know not the Grace which is their life and illuminator.

Sum: Here also the ignorance of souls in regard to the help and direction of Grace is shown.

What illustrates the soul’s ignorance of the way it is guided?

XXXVI

Men know not that earth upholds them as they tread; so embodied souls know not Grace that inspires.

Com: Men who walk on the earth say of themselves, ‘we walk’, and think not that it is the earth which upholds them; so, in this world, though embodied souls are under the influence of Divine Grace, they reflect not that it is Grace that works all in them.

Sum: The insensibility of souls.

Can they by seeking discover Grace?

XXXVII

Those who have lost the mountain, lost the earth, lost the sky, and lost themselves are alike!

Com: Such is the state of men,-who on the mountain, behold it not; on the earth, see it not; in the sky know it not; possessed Divine guiding wisdom, discern it not; and, finally, are ignorant of their own being!

Sum: The bewilderment attendant upon embodiment.

How is it that men wander ignorant of Grace?

XXXVIII

The way of men under the tyranny of falsehood is like that of him who stands in the flood with parched tongue; or like his who after the dawning is in darkness still.

Com: It is possible to stand in the midst of a stream of sweetest water without testing it, and so to remain parched with thirst. It is also sometimes that case that fools are bewildered as in the dark, even when day has dawned. So, those that are under the power of deceit taste not the Grace, and see not the light of the Lord.

Sum: The fault is in the soul, and not in Him!

How can this ignorance be removed?

XXXIX

Here with undistracted mind ! This folly is that of the cat standing on the milk-pan, and springing at the insect on the wall.

Com: We should calmly and collectedly listen to the teachings of Grace. The folly that listens with divided mind is like that of the cat, which having reached the milk vessel, and standing on its edge, drinks not the sweet milk, but darts at the wall in pursuit of a worthless spider at the risk of its life, breaking the vessel in the spring1’.

It is on a cockroach the cat springs. Ed.

The cat makes a spring at and insect. If it catch the prey, it is but poor food; and if it miss, its labour is lost, and the milk vessel thrown down and broken; so Souls do not hide themselves within the Grace which from eternity is conjoined with their being, and thus fail to obtain the supreme delight.

Sum: This and the four preceding couplets illustrate the assistance, governance, and support of Grace which souls are ignorant of and so incur loss. The common title of these five couplets is ‘Souls’s Fault’.

Is this not known to the unthinking also?

XL

How can ‘deliverance’ be attained by empty souls that have no real sympathy with Grace, though theirs from eternity?

Com: From everlasting ages until this day have they been recipients of Grace, but not in the least; have they come under its influence, and are thus souls devoid of good; how can such ______pg 35_________ Deliverance?

Sum: This couplet reproves those who, though recipients of Civan’s Grace, yield not to its influence, and seek not final ‘deliverance’[Comp. Gita II. 52-64]

“THE GURU.” (Sans. = Veneralbe)

The guru plays a most important part in all Hindu religion. He is the venerable preceptor, master, and embodied. God. In the Caiva system His dignity culminates. He is one who is successive embodiments has drawn nearer and nearer to final deliverance (Mutti), and is now in His last stage of embodiment. Civan lives in Him, looks lovingly on the meet disciple through His eyes, blesses with His hands, with His mouth whispers into the disciple’s ear the mystic words of initiation, and crowns with ple’s ear the mystic words of initiations, and crowns with the lotus flowers of His feet the bowed head of the postulant, who thus is to become as his Master. (See Hymn IV.95).

The exact doctrine is set forth in the following ten couplets, being Chapter V in Umapathi’s authoritative work, ‘The Fruit of Divine Grace’ _____________pg 36_________

THE FORM OF GRACE

This chapter speaks of grace in the form of the guru (divine Teacher) Who is mystic knowledge made manifest. This manifestation is the ‘fruit of the Grace’ spoken of in the last chapter. (See Note VI for chapter IV.)

CHAPTER V

The Disciple asks:

Who comes when twofold deeds are balanced? [Catti-nibatham, Note V.]

XLI

The Guru answers:

Grace that in the times of ignorance abode within; now made manifest by visible signs, - the King who departs not.

Com: While man was in this state of ignorant bondage He by latent grace abode within, now the Divine Lord, the very centre of knowledge, appears in bodily shape as a Guru. Neither from before the eyes, nor from within the Souls, does this King henceforth depart.

Sum: Divine grace assumes the form of a Guru.

Is it essentially necessary that He Himself should come as Guru? Will not learned men suffice?

XLII

None can know the disease within but those of the household. Can the outer world discern it too?

Com: In any house if one be diseased, those in the house will be aware of it, but the distant world knows it not: so, if Civan, who swells within the Souls, come as a Guru, our disease shall be healed.

Sum: This removes the doubt as to the necessity of Civan’s advent as a Guru.

Can all recognize the Guru thus appearing?

XLIII

Who born on this earth is able to discern such a Divine Dispenser of grace not ever given before?

Com: He performed the works of creation, preservation, destruction, and veiling (Note XIII, Catti) without any manifest appearance; but now His work of grace is performed in a way not known before, while He wears a human form as a robe, and thus conceals himself. This men know not.

Sum: Men think of the Guru, who is Civan Himself made manifest, as though He were a mere man like themselves.

How is it that inferior souls know not the Guru?

XLIV

Souls immersed in the false darkness of sense perception cannot see the two: teachings of Grace divine and the Teacher.

Com: Those who live in the enjoyment of fleeting, worldly enjoyments, and whose understandings are veiled by the darkness of Anavam (Note XV), cannot know the two great truths of the blessedness of mystic Wisdom, and of the grace embodied in the Guru, by which it may be reached. [Comp. Bhagavad- Gita IX.II]

Sum: The reason for men’s ignorance of the Guru.

Is it necessary that His sacred form should be visible like ours?

XLV

The world does not discern the bodily form as the cloak assumed to take and hold men fast.

Com: It is common in the world to ensnare beasts and birds by exhibiting their own shape as a lure. Here men world dread any appearance manifestly Divine; and so Grace clothes itself in a human dress, beneath which men, alas! Fail to discern the Divine.

Sum: In this and the two preceding verse, the ignorance of men in not recognizing the Guru is reproved.

May not any teacher be thus a cloaked image of Civan?

XLVI

What would thus accrue? Who knows anything?

Seek Him, and be freed. The true meaning is known only from Him.

Com: Whether you ordinarily rely upon a particular Guru, or not, signifies nothing; seek Him who alone can interpret the truth. So only can you escape from impurity and emerge into pure light.

Sum: The real meaning of any scientific treatise cannot be understood without the assistance of the true Teacher.

Is it not enough that divine Grace is the core of your knowledge? Must He come as a Guru too?

XLVII

To those become ca-Kalar He gives precious gifts of grace, and cancels deeds.

To those still ca-Kalar, as a Guru, He gives His grace.

Com: To the vinnana-kalar and to the Pralaiya-kalar, who are freed from Kalai (sense-deception), He reveals Himself in their inner consciousness, and removes Anavam. To others, in the form of a Guru, He comes and bestows grace.

Sum: This shows why, and for the sake of whom, He puts on the vestment of humanity.

Cannot salvation be effected without the coming of the Guru?

Who can know unless the gracious Revealer of the wide extended way, the great Knower, shall appear?

Com: Unless the Lord, possessed of the wisdom surpassing the six Attuva, and the Revealer of the way of release, shall come in the form of a Guru, who can know these things?

Sum: The knowledge of the really existent can only be given by the manifested Lord, possessed of perfect knowledge.

Is it necessary that He should come in the form of another devotee? Is it not enough that He is within my sentient mind?

L

Mystic knowledge may visit us without His intervention-when the fair crystal kindles fire without the sun!

Com: The crystal may be faultless, but will not act as a burning glass in the absence of the sun; even so divine and mystic Wisdom enters not the mind, whatever knowledge it may possess, without the Guru, who is Civan’s grace made manifest.

Sum: In this it is taught that religious knowledge has no excellence without the teaching of the Guru.

Chapter VI

THE FIRST STEP-THE WAY OF KNOWLEDGE: ANMATARICANAM, ‘SOUL’S ENLIGHTENMENT.’

This teaches the way in which we come to understand the Reality of things, that is Pathi. Since this is by grace, it naturally follows the chapter that treats of that subject.

The Disciple asks:

When will he come as a Guru?

LI.

The Guru answers:

When the vast mass of twofold deeds is balanced, the ‘Energy’ of the King shall exert its power.

Com: When the time arrives in which opposing sins and merits exactly counterbalance one another, Civan’s gracious emancipating Energy shall begin Her work. (Note V.p.xiviii).

Sum: Here we are taught that for the understanding of the Reality the Divine Energy is imparted as needed.

1    St. Augustine (deeply imbued with Alexandrian thought) in his treatise ‘De Doctrina Christiana,’ lib.ii. cap.7, gives seven steps by which the soul comes to God. The first these is ‘the fear of God ‘ _______pg 41______ . The second is ‘the reverent study of the Divine revelation.’ The third is ‘love of God and of our fellow-men.’ The fourth is ‘steadfast self-discipline.’ The fifth, sixth, and seventh correspond to Chapters VI, VII, VIII of the T.A.P. The fifth is ‘purgatio animae:’ ‘purgat animam tumultuantem quodammodo atque obstrepentem sibi de adpetitu inferiorum conceptis sordibus:_______pg 41_______. The sixth is ‘purgatio oculi cordis:’ ______________. The seventh is that in which ‘talis filius adscendit ad sapientian……. Qua pacatus tranquillus perfruiw_______ pg 41____.

When the Lord appears as a Guru what will He teach?

LII

The One, the manifold, darkness, deeds, twofold Mayai:

Com: There are six entities which have no beginning. The first of these is the Lord (Pathi), Who is One. The second is the aggregate of Souls (Pacu): an infinite host. The third is the impurity of Anavam, wearing the form of darkness. The fourth is twofold Deeds (Vinai). The fifth and sixth are the two kinds of Mayai, the pure and the impure (the unreal, changeable substratum of the phenomenal universe). [Gita XIII.19.]

Sum: This teaches us of the realities which have no beginning. (These are six.)

[Here is a grand divergence from much Western theology and philosophy: (1) The aggregate of all ‘souls’ with their undeveloped potentialities of thought and act, interpenetrated by a divine but hidden influence, is without beginning, and thus Civan is not their Creator,- is not ‘the Father of all Spirits.’(2) A corruption call Anavan (as essential to the Anu , or Soul) is also uncreate,-from everlasting. (3) A shadowy, inconceivable host of unoriginated deeds, merits, and demerits from all eternity waits to require consumption by these souls. ($) The Maya, the substratum and material (?) of the phenomenal universe, is also from everlasting.]

Of these six entities which have not beginning, which must you know?

LIII

Doer; Deeds done; Fruits; Lord, who brings deeds home to soul : these belong to thee to know, O disciple!

Com: In order to be saved it is necessary to consider (!) the spiritual essence to which deeds are attributed; (2) the twofold deeds which are supposed to have been don; (3) the joys and sorrows of embodiment which are their fruit; and (4) the Lord, who at the appointed time brings these deeds home to the soul that it may experience their effects.

Sum: This and the two following show how the world is guided.

N.B. It is ignorance of these four ‘things that leads to the self-assertion which says, ‘I’ and ‘mine’.

Can the living one Himself know these?

LIV

Flesh lives though its connection with the living soul. Understanding souls live through union of the embodied soul with Divine Grace.

Com: The body is in life inseparably conjoined with the spirit, and living and moving as one with it. So this embodied soul is united inseparably with the Divine Wisdom, and thus lives and moves.

Sum: This also teaches Civan’s method of guiding men,

How does Grace operate upon souls?

LV

Crystal retains its own clear brightness. The sun shining on it shows also many varied hues.

Thus earth bears the colours of its King!

Com: The crystal under the sun’s light reflects many colours while retaining its own transparent brilliancy (which also it owes to the same sun); so the Energy of Wisdom, the light of the Supreme, irradiates the soul, and permeates the world. [Comp. LXVII. P.Iv.]

Sum: This and the two preceding couplets show how the Lord acts upon the world.

[In ‘bondage’, and in ‘release’ alike, the Lord is the cause of all.]

May I not say, ‘I need not Grace to see by; I myself will see?’

LVI

Easy the way of vision; but ‘twixt eye and object light must be. Without the light of Grace ‘twixt soul and Known, soul sees not !

Com: In the midst of the soul’s thought the light of mystic wisdom must be set up and shine; without this, if you regard the sense merely, you will obtain no real knowledge. The soul is unintelligent without Civan.

Sum: This teaches us that words heard impart no understanding without the Guru.

How is it we see by the Grace of Civan?

LVII

In your feeble perception by the senses, the soul’s under the guidance of the active Energy of the Supreme, even as the soul perceives through the senses as its instruments.

Sum: We live and act under the guidance of the Lord.

How are we to know under the influence of Grace?

LVIII

Ponder not! Think of nothing! See not thyself in the foreground!

What thou beholdest, let it be That.

Com: Inquire not of things in their abstractness, of what nature mystic wisdom may be. Think not of anything in its concreteness, nor seek to interpret the symbols as thou dost of material objects. Put not thyself forward as one who sees. Regard steadily the Loving Wisdom that regards thee.

Sum: Remaining thus moveless, the vast expanse of mystic knowledge shall be thine.

Shall I obtain joy by thus comtemplating the Divine Grace?

LIX

Regard that joy itself as the one object of contemplation; and hide thou thyself in the mystic light of wisdom.

Com: Regard the gladness of mystic knowledge as though it were an object of sense (an objective reality); but, that there may be for thee no other light than that of mystic knowledge, enter thou within it, and lie hidden there!

Sum: This teaches the absolute mingling of the soul with Grace.

And when shall we part with these intuitions of sense?

See, as thou hast seen! The unseen seek not to see! As thou hast been taken, rest!

Com: In whatever way Grace hath appeared to thee, even so regard thou it. What thou canst not see, strive not to see. In whatever way Grace absorbs thee, wholly yield thyself.

Sum: In this and the two preceding verses we are taught how to behold, how to become commingled with, and how absolutely to yield oneself up to Divine Grace. [Gita XVIII]

Chapter VII

THE SECOND STEP-THE ‘SOUL’S CLEANSING:’ ANMA-CUDDHI

The last chapter spoke of the Soul’s knowledge, and in this we are taught how to apply knowledge for the Soul’s Cleansing from Self.

[After illumination comes purification]

The Disciple asks:

When comes perfect resignation of the soul?

LXI

The Guru answers:

Those in pure shade need not bid one in noontide glare come hid himself; the fainting soul will resort to the shadow of Grace of its own accord.

Com: No one need say to him who is fainting in the oppressive glare, ‘Haste hither to hide thee in the refreshing shade;’ of his own accord the hastens towards it. Even thus those suffering from the heat of earth’s delusions will seek the relief of Grace. [Hymn V.(iv) pp.58-61]

Sum: The reason for resorting to Grace.

[This is in substance Ci. Pira. II 26-29; and Ci. Gna. B. Curtram IX: ‘Let me hide myself in Thee!’]

How is it his sacred Grace is not enjoyed by all alike?

LXII

To jaundiced taste even sweet milk is bitter; when tongue is cleansed the bitterness is gone.

Com: When the sense of taste is vitiated by disease, even sweet milk seems bitter. Cure the disease, and the bitterness disappears. Thus under the influence of Anavam all religious observances are distasteful; when Anavam departs, (the Guru, the Lingam, and the Sangamam will be desired.

Sum: This shows that when Grace reveals itself, the healed soul at once recognizes it.

When ignorance departs is it I that knows?

LXIII

Though light amid the darkness is to the see-er shown, he still regards a vain phantasm. When will this cease?

Com: Though grace in form of light, reveals itself to souls lying bewildered in the darkness of Anavam, to the intent that they may see the Lord, they see Him not, but contemplate Themselves! When shall such vain imaginings ceases!

Sum: The fault of not steadily beholding Grace alone.

What are the respective actions of the enlightened and the unenlightened?

LXIV

Both light and darkness make all things seem alike: to distinguish between unity and multiplicity is the work of the enlightened.

Com: In perfect light and in dense darkness the distinctions of things are equally lost. The distinguishing them and the confounding them are the signs of the intelligent and unintelligent respectively.

Sum: Those under the influence of Grace, and those who are not, are alike in this; nothing else appears to them: all light , or all darkness.

Do all understand the way of clear knowledge and mystic union?

LXV

Save in the case of the good and loving ones doth it ever happen that one is found to bear the whole burden you would impose?

Com: None but good friends bear the burden wholly which is imposed upon them in aiding others. Can such friendship be easily attained?

Sum: We are told that the deeds of those loving souls that approach Him, are His. Such a loving one is the Knower, and His Grace is easy of attainment.

[A quotation is given which seems to give an Antinomian turn to this couplet. Does the mystic renouncer of selfhood cease to be morally responsible?

-------------pg 48 ------------------------

‘Civna abides with me, destroys “birth,” saying “This man’s deeds are wholly Mine; what is done to him is done to Me! If faithful commit sin He makes it service.”]

Is He who imposes the burden diverse from him who bears the burden? Is not all Piramam

LXVI

One placed a treasure in your charge; deceitfully someone with guile appropriated it.

Say, were you asleep, or had you gone elsewhere?

Com: Civan gave thee body, organs, a world to energize in, and faculties for enjoyment-in trust. He comes to claim them. You say, ‘Some one came with guile and filched them from me.’ Were you asleep or absent when the robbery was effected? You have lost yourself and the Known.

Sum: The denial of the reality of Pacu and Pacam is treachery to Catti.

To the wise, who have thus become ‘Servants,’ do not ‘impurities’ arise?

LXVII

As the crystal pillar receives the sun’s light, with no shadow at all; so no darkness remains to lay hold on him.

Com: At noon, when the sun is in the zenith, its perpendicular rays fall on and are absorbed in the crystal column, without shadow or refracted rays of many hues; so under the full influence of Grace the darkness of impurity abides not. [Comp. T.A.P. 50, 55.]

Sum: Here we are taught how Grace brings the soul under its absolute influence.

[The beautiful couplet requires much study in connection with the whole system. The soul, the crystal column, has potentialities of splendour; but only ‘in the Divine Light does it see light.’ It must stand upright under the direct rays of the Divine Sun, with no intervening mist or cloud, and no reflected, coloured, refracted cross-lights from the sense-world. Then only is it filled with pure essential radiance, in which its own crystalline lustre shines in its perfection, yet is undistinguished, being merged in the glory that excelleth, the Infinite All-in-All.]

How may one abide so that ‘impurity’ shall not appear but Grace remain?

LXVIII

Those under the influence of Grace stand BEHIND the light of reality, like jewelled hand that bears a gleaming torch.

Com: Those that bear aloft before them a blazing torch can see whatever they desire: torch BEFORE, themselves BEHIND it. Thus till the Known shall appear, men must put the torch of Grace before them, and tread carefully behind it.

Sum: The method of remaining in union with Grace.

It is Grace that knows. I need not know?

LXIX

If it be not anything one can perceive by the Five Sense, deprived of This what can the Five Senses perceive? What can self perceive?

Com: If it be not an object which can be discerned by the body, as is the case with the Bliss supreme, which is the Known, how can the Sense assist us in gaining it? Or how can souls attain it?

Sum: Since it is out of the sphere of sensation, how can it be within the power of the Sense to gain it? [Things spiritual can only be spiritually discerned.]

Is it necessary for Grace to show itself? Can I not myself see it?

LXX

Those that freely give must not be thought of as those forced by us to give.

Think rather: ‘Who are we to obtain this boon?’

Com: One does not think of those who spontaneously and with desire bestow anything upon us as though they had yielded to our violence. And thus it is through Grace only that the known is revealed to the apprehension of the soul.

Sum: This and the preceding couplet teach that supreme felicity is the gift of grace; and that souls, whether with organs or without them, cannot of themselves ain it.

Chapter VIII

THE THIRD STEP—THE STATE OF BLISS: ANMA LABHAM.

This signifies the way in which the soul’s ‘gain’ is obtained. ‘Soul-purity has for its fruit ‘Soul-gain,’ which is union with God. Thus the chapters are connected. [Man dies to live]

The Disciple asks:

In what way can the soul obtain bliss?

LXXI

The Guru answers:

Those that put BEFORE them the light that arises in the darkness enjoy bliss; those that put it BEHIND them endure suffering.

Com: Those that once (in a lower stage) put divine and mystic knowledge BEHIND them, and went before it, have suffered afflition. Afterwards, if they place the lamp of mystic wisdom, which has arisen amidst the darkness of natural impurity, BEFORE them, and walk in its light, these shall obtain supreme felicity.

Sum: Here we are taught who they are that shall obtain supreme felicity.

For this, is not Grace sufficient? Over and above this what need of the ‘Know’?

LXXII

Nothing results when souls and Grace are without the Known, when the soul and the Known combine is bliss.

Com: The known is supreme, and it is through Him that the soul derives blessing. (This seems to need no further explanation: but the idea of a mystic marriage is introduced in a fantastic and untranslatable fashion. The soul is feminine. So is Catti, or, Grace. The soul must be introduced by Grace to Civan, the Known, the mystic Bridegroom).

Sum: We learn here the limits within which supreme felicity can be attained.

[This is Ci. Pira. II 24.]

When the soul is united to the Known, does the Known through the soul obtain bliss?

LXXIII.

He gives bliss to those that draw nigh to Him.

His Form is perfect blessedness; not can this be enhanced.

Com: The Lord imparts supreme felicity, to those who draw near to Him; but since His Form is the fullness of infinite felicity. He partakes not of the blessedness He imparts.

Sum: The King IMPARTS, and does not RECEIVE.

Does the soul, the, obtain that bliss as one alien from the Supreme?

LXXIV

As in the compound Tadalai, by combination of letters L+T=D, and these do not remain but coalesce;

So, know thou, that in the supreme felicity thou shalt be one with the Lord.

Com: When the words Tal (‘foot’) and Talai (‘head’) are written as on compound (‘head and foot’), the letters l and t combine, and are not separated, but coalesce in d (G.37): so the soul shall enjoy blessedness in mystic union with the King.

[Foot is souls, and Head is Civan.]

Sum: The soul sinks down into the Known in mystic eternal union.

[See Ci. {ora. II 37]

Do they not yet obtain absolute unity?

LXXV

If they become one, both disappear; if they remain tow, there I no fruition; therefore there is union and non-union.

Com: If you say that the Lord and the soul are one, there is neither an obtainer nor boon obtained. If, on the other hand, they are two there is no blissful consummation for the soul; therefore the condition of such souls must be a compound of duality and non-duality; mingled, not merged.

Sum: In release the soul is not merged in the Supreme1

1.Comp. Kingsley’s preface to Theologia Germanica, referred to in Note V. See Inge’s Bampton Lectures, 1899, pp. 189-191.

What then is the mode of the soul’s approach to the Supreme and unity with Him?

LXXVI

None say we have drawn nigh; and none say we have obtained; in speechless rapture.

When bonds are loosed, embodiment returns no more.

Com: Those who obtain the Supreme felicity of release, and those who have attained the state of Samathi which directly leads to it, never for a moment leave their Lord, by self-contemplation. Those who beyond the power of speech, have laid hold of Him are born no more.

Sum: Here the state of those who have obtained release is explained.

[Comp. Ci. Pire. II. 34, 43; CL. Gna. Bi Ven.62]

What is meant by the speechlessness above?

LXXVII

Till you are in a state like that of one possessed remain destitute of all action.

Com: One possessed by a spirit is under that spirit’s absolute control, and is incapable of any independent action; so remain thou inactive till all thine acts are under the control of the King.

Sum: Here we are told what mature Samathi is.

What is the cessation of action on the part of the absorbed mystic like?

LXXVIII.

To those who obtain that resplendent possession that gain alone suffices; all else is as something in the hands of those that sleep.

Com: When the devotees have gained the glorious and true possession of the Lord, therein is supreme delight; and any works, such as the observances of Yogam and the like, are as things handled by one in sleep.

Sum: Specific sectarial observances cease, or are Performed mechanically.

[Comp. Ci. Pira., p.385; II 45,46]

Can the rapture of this union be described?

Absorbed in the delight of the state when the three appear not, what words can tell the bliss?

Com: When the knower, the mystic knowledge, and the Known appear no more as distinct, being mingled in one happy fruition, that absorption is a rapture inexpressioable by words.

Sum: The overwhelming nature of the Supreme felicity. [Gita X.]

In what way can that possession be obtained?

LXXX

The bliss that is named as above all bliss is the bliss which the abiding in divine love bestows.

Com: This supreme felicity is praised as surpassing all delights. The enjoyment of it even now is the result of abiding in the state of reverent loving services.

Sum: Love makes the attainment of supreme felicity easy.

Chapter IX

THE MYSTIC FORMULA OF THE FIVE LETTERS (OR SYLLABLES); THE CAIVA ROSARY.

An amazing amount of ingenuity has been displayed in devising a quasimagical system founded on these five Sanskrit syllables.

Syllables. The following, which is Chapter IX of Umapathi’s great work entitled ‘The Fruit of Divine Grace, gives authoritatively the whole mystery of the ‘The Grace of the Five Letters, that is the grace gained by the use of the invocation consisting of Ci-va-ya-na-ma (= Adoration to Civan).’ ‘A help to those vortaries who cannot otherwise attain to thebliss of mystic quietude (Samadhi)’. These syllables, with their various times and methods of recitation, give rise to many subtle disputation. Much is arbitrary, the method is cryptic, and very much seems puerile; but some REAL TRUTH is hidden in the sumbols.

Note. Pope’s comment is unwarranted. Ed.

Each of these sections consists of a questions, an answer by the Guru with its commentary, and a summary. The answer is the Master’s teaching, and is a couplet of exquisite Tamil, in imitation of Tiruvalluvar.

The Disciple asks:

If the unutterable rapture has not been gained by the means already explained, is there any other method?

LXXXI

The Guru answer:

The systems of grace, the Vedas, and other sacred scriptures, have as object the mystic meaning of the ‘Five Syllables.’

Commentary: The substance of the teaching of the sacred ‘Five Letters’ is the Lord, the Flock, and the Bond. Such is the conclusion of those mighty in the Agamas (the twenty-eight Caiva Agamas), the Vedas, and other sacred books. (Note XII).

Summary: The substance of all Truth is included in the ‘Five Letters’.

What does this pentad of letters (syllables) declare?

LXXXII

The King, the Energy, the Bond, fair Maya, Soul-all these are contained in the Om-garam.

Com: The Piranavam (see. Lex. ___________pg 58________) contains within it. (1) the grace of Civan, and (2) of Catti (the devine Energy, Note XIII), with the (3) knowledge of Anavam (Note XV), and (4) of fair Maya, and (5) of the Soul. These are symbolized by the ‘Five Syllables’. And in Om the whole are concentrated.

Sum: Here is expounded the doctrine of the mystic Om, which is the subtile form of the’Five Letters’.

What is the order in which the ‘Five Letters’ stand?

LXXXIII

On one side mystic dance of ‘Weakness’. – On the other, dance of mystic ‘Wisdom’, - Soul between the two.

Com: The syllables Ma and Na represent the energetic whirl of impurity in itself, and as operating in the Soul; the syllables CI and Va represent the mystic action of Civan and of Grace. Between these stands Ya, which represents the Soul,

[The ‘dance’ is the divine impulse and guidance given to the Soul in this state of bondage, and in the state of emancipation Note1]

Sum: In this the significance of the ‘Five Letters’ is explained.

How is it that by means of the ‘Five Letters’ The Soul does not (at once) obtain the ‘Known’?

LXXXIV

Ma and Na prevail over the mind; thus it returns not to Him; whenever it obtains Ci its deeds are cancelled.

Com: (This couplet admits of two distinct interpretations. The more authoritative is given.)

When Ma and Na, which are ‘Impurity and Tirotham’ _________pg 59________ Note V) bind the Soul tight (or the mind is dissipated). It (the Ya) cannot return; when their great; Bond is loosed it obtains CI, which is supreme blessedness.

Sum: The Bond and the method of release are shown in the ‘Five Letters’.

[Compare Ci. Pita II 41]

How is it that, though there are these ‘Five Letters’, Anavam (Impurity) does not depart?

LXXXV

While bewildering powers of the veiler and Impurity stand first, how can it depart? Not unless the dominant Anavam change its place.

Com: While Na and Ma, representatives of Tirotham and Impurity, are pronounced first, can these be removed? Put these after and Ci first: then Anavam will cease to obscure.

Sum: They who would be set free must utter the formula thus: Civya-Nama, and not Nama-Civaya. [God must be first!]

[Compare Un. Vil., 44]

Will Impurity depart from those who repeat the ‘Five Letters’?

LXXXVI

Ah, worship; but if the foundation be not known since Ci precedes not, Impurity will still assert itself.

Com: When men repeat the sacred formula unmindful of the foundation, which si Civan, desire will reassert itself, still clinging to Na and Ma.

Sum: Here he commiserates those who thus recite them, and still suffer, having no Divine assistance.

Why is this pentad of letters recited thus?

LXXXVII

If Civan come first, and thou so recite it,

Embodiment will cease. This is your method.

Com: If the devotee recite the pentad so that Ci and VA precede, by this position the embodiment will be removed. Thou, O disciple who desirest release, recite it thus!

Sum: This reaches that the released say, Ci-va-ya-ma-ma, and never Na-ma-ci-va-ya,

What benefit accrues from this order of recitation?

LXXXVIII

VA will in grace give Ci, and bring properity. To such souls this is the spotless Form which will appear.

Com: When thus recited, Va, which is grace, points out Ci, which is Civan, and establishes Ya, which is the Soul, in the abode of delight. And that is the faultless sacred form of Civan.

Sum: Here the significance in the sacred formula of Va (= the Energy of Grace) is taught.

How will that soul exist in the heaven of liberation?

LXXXIX

No longer placed between the spotless Na and Va, the Soul will stand in grace between Va and Ci

Com: The Soul (ya) standing no longer between the spotless ; it may be read ‘Acin Na’ or ‘Acil Na,’ i.e., spotted or spotless ; and each of these presents an orthodox view of Tirotham’ Na and Va (Catti), now stands between Va and Ci (Comp. Note V).

(It is said that this arrangement must be learned from a guru.)

Sum: This defines the position attained by those who rightly use the formula. [See Un. Vil, 46]

Is there any manifest evidence of our being in this state of deliverance?

XC

The sacred writings teach in every possible way to fix the mind on the path that leads not away from Him.

Com: The sacred writings teach us all methods, so that we should ponder them, and never forsake the sacred influence of Civan and of His Catti.

Sum: This couplet sums up the teachings of the last four chapters (VI-IX)

[On the subject of the ‘Five Syllables’ the remarks of Oldenberg (Buddha), p.27, may be consulted with advantage. There hs always been among men a strong conviction of the mystic power of quasi-sacred syllables, uttered in a certain way, of the inherent power of spells and charms deadly to hear and deadly to tell,’ – some such a feeling as Sir Walter Scott illustrates in the Lay of the Last Minstrel. In the Chhandogya Upanishad II; 2 it is said, ‘Let a man meditate on the fivefold Saman as the five worlds. The hinkara is the earth, the prastava the fire, the udgitha the sky, the pratihara the sun, the nidhana heaven. Let a man meditate on the fivefold Saman as rain. The hikara is ‘wind (the udgitha is ‘ it rains:’ the pratihara is rain for him, and he brings rain for others, who, thus knowing, meditates on the fivefold Saman as rain. This may have given rise to the use this invocation to Civan, - Namacivaya, -as a kind of magical formula. The intention at any rate, is the same, to emphasize doctrines and to bring them into practical workings.]

THE SOUL’S EMANCIPATION _________PG 62__________

In Sankrit, Mukti or Moksha

The best explanation of the Civa Siddhanta doctrine of Mutti, or the Soul’s final emancipation from embodiment (erlosung von de weltlichen baden, -Seligkeit), is found in the treatise called Civa-Piragacam _______pg62__ by the same great sage Umapthi (I.38, &c), and has been translated (though from a very imperfect MS). By mr. Hoisington (American Oriental Soc. Journal 1854) This is a commentrary on the Civa-gnana –bodham. Mr. J.M. Nalla-sami, a learned Caivite of Madras, has recently pyublished a translation of Civa gnanabodham, with valuable notes, which is a most, useful compendium.

Ten faulty (or imperfect) theories of this consummation, so devoutly wished for by all Hindus, are enumerated in these works, or in the commentaries on them:

1)    There is the bliss aspired to by the Lokayattar (‘Worldlings’). This is simply gross sensual enjoyment in this world. These heretics are continually attacked in the Siddhanta books. [See Sarva-darcana-sangraha (Trubner’s Series)]. They were atheistic Epicureans, followers of Charvaka.

2)    There is the cessation of the five Kandhas. This is the Buddhist Nirvana, and is always considered by Tamil authors to be mere annihilation. The South-Indian view of Buddhism is illustrated in Note IX (Sarvadarcana sangraha, p.31)

3)    The destruction of the three (or eight) qualities is pronounced to be the final emancipation by some Jains, and by the teachers of the atheistic Sankhya system. This would reduce the human Soul to the condition of an unqualified mass, a mere chaos of thought and feeling.

4)    There is the cessation of deeds by mystic wisdom. This is the system of Prabhakara (sarvad-arcana-sangraha,,p.184). The deeds mentioned are ‘all rites and services whatsoever’. The devotee becomes in this case, so the Caivite urges, like a mere image of clay or stone.

5)    ‘Mutti is represented by some Caiva sectaries as consisting in the removal from the Soul of all impurity, as a copper vessel is supposed to be cleansed from verdigris by the action of mercury. There is a good deal of abstruse reasoning about the pollution aforesaid. ‘Copper is not really in this sense purified by the removal of the green stain on its surface; the innate weakness of the metal is in its constant liability to this defilement. Gold is never coated by such impure matter. Copper will always be so;

It is, as it were, congenital. Now these sectarians preach that, by the grace of Civan, the innate corruption of the Soul may be removed, from which will necessarily follow permanent release from all bonds’. This seems to resemble very closely the Christian idea of the sanctification of the souls of men by divine grace infused. The Siddhanta, however, insists upon it that for ever, even in the emancipated condition; but it is still there, -dead, unilluminated, the dark part of Souls, turned away from the central light, like unilluminated part of the moon’s orb Personal identity and the imperfections necessarily clinging to a nature eternally finite, are not destroyed even in Mutti.

6)    Another class of Caiva sectaries taught that in emancipation the body itself is transformed, irradiated with Civan’s light, and rendered immortal. This system supposed that intimate union with Civan transmuted rather than sanctified the Soul.

7)    There is then the system of the Vedantis, who taught that the absolute union of the Soul with the Infinite Wisdom, its commingling with the Divine Spirit, as the air in a jar becomes one with the cirucumambient air when the jar is broken, was Mutti. But here personality is lost.

8)    The doctrine of Palkariyam (followers of Bhaskara) is, that in emancipation there is an absolute destruction of the human Soul, which is entirely absorbed in the supreme essence.

9)    There were some Caivites who taught that in emancipation the Soul acquires mystic miraculous powers; that, in fact, the emancipated one is so made partaker of the divine nature and attributes, that he is able to gain possession of and exercise miraculous powers which are called the eight ‘Siddhis.’ Persons professing to wield such magical powers are not unfrequently found in India, and there is in them very often a bewildering mixture of enthusiasm and fraud.

Chapter X

THE FOURTH STEP-THE STATE OF THOSE WHO HAVE ‘DRAWN NIGH’

Here the condition of those who have attained to Samathi (Mytic Slumber) is spoken of. What this slumber is has been shown in the preceding chapter, and how men may gain it: here the condition of the already liberated mystic explained. These are the devotees whose condition is described in Note V.

The Disciple asks:

What is the thought of the Knowers1 who never for sake the Known?

X

Sinking in the Supreme Understanding, while, delight sinks into their souls, they slumber in sacred peace. What other words are there?

Com: While they themselves sink down into the full tide of Mystic Wisdom which is the Supreme); and while infinite rapture flows down into their souls, they abide in a state of blissful slumber.

Sum: It is taught here that knower sinks down into and abides in the Known.

The knowledge, the Knowers, and the Knonw: Gnanam, Gnatur, and Gneyam.

Will those who have attained this state desire higher stations of felicity?

XCII

Assuredly they perform not the ‘five great works’; not the ‘causal works’; not the employments of any abodes of pleasure.

Com: The works of Civan (Note I), the Supreme, are creation (I) conservation (@) destruction (3) ‘Veiling’ (4) and bestowal of grace (5). They perform not these. The minisiterial works of Brahma, Vishnu, Ruttiran, Magecan, Sathacivan (Cio. Pira.I.9) they do not; nor do they engage in any of those dreaded acts which lead to future embodiment.

Sum: This teaches that they rest from all work.

Do these attain to omniscience and the other attributes?

Though they have attained to the knowledge of everything;

These ‘knowers’ here know nothing but the ‘Known’

Com: Though these perfected devotees by mystic union with Civan gain omniscience and other qualities; yet, while on this earth, they know nothing whatsoever except the Supreme, the one object of mystic knowledge.

Sum: In every place they see Civan, and contemplate Him alone.

When objects of sense present themselves to the Knowers of this kind, how do they act?

XCIV

They restrain the organs of sense; and entering, sink, into their Source.

They follow not the sense, but act as the tortoise does on land.

Com: When the world of sense obtrudes itself, the devout man fears, goes not out after it, checks the perceptions of his mind, draws near and enters into the Known, and from That turns not away. An illustration of this is the tortoise, which walking on the earth, if any one approach it, fears, draws in its head, and lies motionless.

Sum: This shows the way in which the devout dread the power of sense, and withdraw themselves from its influence.

[Comp. Ci. Pira., p.382]

But are there any who have left the ‘known’ and departed from him?

XCV

There is no place or world where the Lord is not. There is no place to which men can withdraw from Him.

Com: There is no place in which the soul can dwell apart from Civan. Civan Himself throughout all rational and irrational beings abides, so that nothing and no one is apart form Him.

Have these persons then seen that Existence within (themselves) or without?

XCVI

Within and without the same Divine Grace stands revealed. Those who possess this mystic visions despise nothing.

[Commentators differ, and the text is ambiguous. WE give the later.]

Com: Both within and without, That which Mystic Wisdom reveals exists unvarying; to those who have obtained it no means of communion with Him, even through the sense, must be despised.

Sum: This shows us that to the mystically enlightened the phenomenal universe is only seen in God.

[Comp. Ci. Pira., p.369, To those who have attained to Gnanam (Mystic Wisdom). Civan is revealed within, and is seen equally in forms, such as the Lingam, etc., in which He reveals Himself. ‘The perfected mystic despises not any means of realizing the presence of the immanent infinite’. This is Carithai (traditional observance) in Gnanam.]

But, tell me, do these ‘mystic knowers’ engage in no employment?

XCVII

To those who engage in the world’s work comes worldly requital. To the absence of such work the result is the True.

Com: To those who follow as they are led, and under the egotistic influences which say’1’ and ‘mine’, perform acts, there accrues the reward of worldly enjoyment. To those who perform penances and give gifts (with no egotistic desires) the result is the imperishable pleasures of the world of deliverance.

Sums: To those who abide in This, the Truth, no work (apart from Him) is possible.

As old deeds are consumed (eaten), does not the effect of new deeds accumulate?

XCVIII

Old deeds disappear with the body; if in the interval deeds accumulate, Divine Grace burns them up.

Com: Here the division of deeds into the three classes of Pirarattam, Caneitam, and Agamiyam must be remembered. The two former of these disappear with the death of the body (of the saint), As for those deeds of merit or demerit which have accumulated in this present state, the Divine Grace dissipates them.

Sum: From this it appears that the consummate devotee is freed from the influence of every species of deed.

Is the infinite liberation obtained when the body dies?

XCIX

To men of matured knowledge the works that yield the three return not; to them this world is absolutely as that world.

Com: The threefold deeds which compel a man to live in the present embodiment, or in the next embodiment, or in any future state, are removed by Grace; and thus he enjoys, even while still in the body, the infinite deliverance.

Sum: This teaches that in the condition of the jivanmuttan he enjoys, on earth the bliss of the infinite liberation.

Have these no desire to save others?

C

Reflecting upon the sorrows of those under the influence of deceit, they are agitated by a flood of compassion.

Com: When these devout and blessed persons behold the multitude of souls that, under the influence of the deceits of the sense-world, are suffering affliction, they themselves are agitated by a feeling of irrepressible compassion.

Sum: In the souls that desire the heavenly emancipation there is a loving Grace like that of their King.

- THE END -

See Also: 
1. Explanation of Tiruvarutpayan