THIRUMANTHIRAM - Payiram Proem Verses 21-45 of 112 by Saint Thirumular

Thirumanthiram

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE TAMIL SPIRITUAL CLASSIC BY SAINT THIRUMULAR

 

PAYIRAM: PROEM

(Verses 1 to 112)

1 IN PRAISE OF GOD

 

21: Comes Speeding

 

Sing His praise! Oh how quick He comes!

He, the Lord, who in one fell sweep the wild elephant slashed,

The Lord who ends this muddy vesture's mortal coil,

Of the Heavenly Hosts, of Brahma Divine,

Of Mal, hued like the clouds rain-borne.

 

22: Seek Him, He Seeks You

 

This Lord of Maya-land that has its rise in the mind,

He, the Being without thought, knows yet all our thoughts;

Some be who groan,"God is not to me a friend;"

But, sure, God seeks those who seek their souls to save.

 

23: Infinite Grace

 

The Mighty Lord, the God of Fire, set amidst the seas,

Whom the comprehending souls never deny;

He, the Lord of the Heavenly Beings all,

Who, day and night, pours forth His Divine Grace.

 

24: Firm In Minds Firm

 

Sing His praise, Sing of His Holy Feet!

Pour all your treasures at Siva'a Sacred Feet!

And they who shake off the clouded eye and disturbed mind,

With them He ever stood, benignantly firm.

 

25: Illusions Vanish

 

The Birthless is He, the Divine Mad, of Compassion vast,

The Deathless is He, the Boundless One, Granter of Joys all,

To Him kneel, and, kneeling, shall find

Naught becomes Maya, the bond immemorial.

 

26: Attain Grace

 

Adore the Lord, who in unbroken continuity stood,

The Lord who protecting over all earth expanded,

Transcending all He stood; over the lotus bloom aloft,

In smiling glory He sat; Holy be His feet!

 

27: He Enters Into You

 

The Infinite of Lotus-Face, rivalling twilight ineffable,

May ours be His Grace Divine!

And they who thus Nandi daily beseech,

Into their Heart, creeping, He comes! He comes!

 

28: Your Guide

 

Beckoning He stood, He, the All-pervading;

But they who, doubt-tossed, in self-contention lost,

They stood withered at the root;

To those who freely give themselves to the Lord on High,

To them is He the certain, immutable Guide.

 

29: Axle-Pin

 

Oh! You, the Unseen, only kin to this forlorn slave,

Let me not falter to embrace Your feet!

For to the heart of Your servant, pure and true

You ever stood even as the axle-pin.

 

30: Yearn For Him

 

As the Heavens draw the rains;

Even so will my Lord draw me to Him?

Thus, doubting, many ask.

But like to the mother-cow, for my Nandi I yearn

And all the world, all the world know it too!

 

31: Seek Him In Love

 

Of the Earth is He, of the sky is He! Well He be!

Of the Heaven is He, of truest Gold is He! Well He be!

Of sweetest song's inmost rapture is He!

Him my love besought, from heart's central core.

 

32: Sing Of Him

 

The Lord of Gods, and of ours too,

The Lord who all space pervades,

And the seven Worlds, ocean-bound, transcends;

None do know His nature true,

How then may we sing His Grace Divine?

 

33: Adore Him

 

Many the Gods this hoary world adores,

Many the rituals; many the songs they sing;

But knowing not the One Truth, of Wisdom bereft

Unillumined, they can but droop at heart.

 

34*3Chant His Names Thousand

 

Like the fragrance of the musk the musk-deer constant emits,

Is the True Path which the Lord to Celestials imparts.

Sitting or moving, I chant the rich essence of His Name,

His thousand Names that are with spark divine.

 

35: Path Crossed

 

Even the Path impassable is foot-easy made,

If you the Lord praise and Him adore;

The East and West and directions all

He does transmute--and thus dances He the Lord.

 

36: Praise And Be Blessed

 

Oh, Heavenly Father, Nandi, the unsurfeiting nectar sweet,

Oh, Bounteous One, Unequalled, First of Time!

Praise Him ever; and even as you praise,

So thine reward will also be.

 

37: Throbs Within

 

Daily I kneel and chant Nandi's holy Name;

Envisioned, He stands, the Fire-Hued One,

Flaming like the moon in sky; into me He comes,

And throbs and breathes through my mortal flesh.

 

38: Greatness Unceasing

 

I will not cease to speak of Him, the Great, the Rare,

I will not cease to prate of Him, the Form Unborn,

I will not cease to talk of Nandi, the Mighty,

I will never cease, for pure and great am I then!

 

39: Adore And Attain Grace

 

He, the Divine Light, shining bright in devotee's heart,

He, of the Holy Waters, wherein He sports,

Him shall we praise, Him call, "Our Lord,"

And, thus adoring, His Grace attain.

 

40: In The Heart Of The Pure

 

Humbled and meek, seek thou the Lord's Feet,

Feet that equal the rays of purest gold serene;

Praise Him with songs of the humble heart

And unpenurious tongue;

To such He comes, the all-fashioning Lord.

 

41: In Depths Of Devotee's Heart

 

To them He comes, who, in heart's deep confines

Treasure His Name,

The Lord who consumed the deathly poison of hatred born,

Consorting with Her of the gleaming brow,

Conjoint, like the pairing deer in amity sweet.

 

42: Grants All

 

They alone attain His Feet, who seek and praise;

To them He shall grant the world the Four-Headed one made;

Full well the elect come, the world of Maya girdling,

One is He with Her of the shoulders reed-shaped.

 

43: Eternal Grace

 

To them that speak of Hara's Holy Feet and weep,

To them that daily muse at the Great One's mighty feet,

To them that, in deep devotion fixed, wait to serve,

To them comes the Eternal's all-filling Grace.

 

44: Shines In Love

 

"Glory to the Holy Feet," the Devas chant,

"Glory to the Holy Feet," the Asuras hymn,

"Glory to the Holy Feet," the humans, too, echo,

Thus I gloried Him, and in my love He shone.

 

45: Divine Path

 

Except by Fate He decrees this sea-girt world revolves not,

Except by Fate He decrees do joys and age arrive not,

Daily pray to the Light Effulgent;

The Divine Path He'll prove, the Sure Sun He'll be.