Tirumantiram - TANTRA ONE - 6 NOT KILLING, 7 MEAT EATING—FORBIDDEN, 8 NOT COMMITTING ADULTERY, 9 EVIL WOMEN'S IGNOMINY, 10 IN VAIN PURSUIT OF ACCUMULATION

Tirumantiram

English translation of the Tamil Spiritual Classic by Saint Tirumular

 

TANTRA ONE

6 NOT KILLING

 

197: Don't Kill Even an Atom of Life

 

Flowers many to dear, loved Master's worship;

Even one atom of life, kill not:

The lovely garland, the steady flame, the firm will,

The passionate heart--such the worship's crowning part.

 

 

198: They Who Kill Reach Hell

 

The men who shouted,"Kill and stab,"

Them with strong ropes Death's ruffians bind;

And stationing them at the fire-gates of Hell,

The agents yell, "Stand, go; and in the fire pit roast."

 

 

 

7 MEAT EATING—FORBIDDEN

199: Meat Eaters Will Have to Face Hell's Torments

 

The ignoble ones who base flesh do eat,

Death's agents bind them fast for all to see;

And push them quick into tthe fiery jaws of hell,

And fling them down there for ever to be.

 

 

200: Shun Sinful Living

 

Killing, theiving, drinking, lusting, lying--

These horrid sins detest and shun; to those

Who Siva's Holy Feet attain and the Bliss eternal,

They come not; such men in Wisdom's bliss ever repose.

 

 

8 NOT COMMITTING ADULTERY

201: Seek not the Thorney Date; Ripened Jack-Fruit is at Hand

 

The dear, wedded wife pines within the home,

But the lusting youth covets the guarded neighbour's mate;

Even as one, declining the luscious ripeness of the jack,

Yearns for the tamer taste of the thorny date.

 

 

202: Seek Not the Sour Tamarind: Sweet Mango is at Hand

 

The sweet, ripe mango, tended with loving care,

They bury deep, deeming it unripe still;

And up the gnarled tamarind they climb for the sour fruit,

Only to break their limbs--they whom the senses beguile.

 

 

203: Adulterers Rush to Doom

 

The king of treasures vast, and the lordly souls

Whose light of wisdom dispels the encircling gloom--

Even such yield to woman's sensuous charms;

Their judgment thus enslaved, they rush to their doom.

 

 

9 EVIL WOMEN'S IGNOMINY

204: Pledge not Your Heart to Lust

 

Fine though the leaves be of the nux vomica tree,

Its wealth of fruit is bitter on tongue, unfit to eat;

To them with rounded breasts and luring smile,

Pledge not your wavering heart in passion's heat.

 

 

205: Incontinent Passion Spells Ruin

 

The worldly folk who seek connubial delights

Are, like eddying water, sucked into whirling pool;

Such is passion, incontinent, fleeting as a dream;

Real it is not; let not its siren spell you befool.

 

 

206: Lust Destroys

 

Decoyed into passion's snare by tender woman's grace,

They fell into her arms and swooned in the warm embrace;

"This is life's crowning glory, fit for the gods to share--"

Thus speaking, they parted leaving not a trace.

 

 

207: Sweet Beginning, Bitter End

 

"What are the joys that in woman's charms we seek or find?"

The truly wise of heart pronounce thus their course:

"In the hand like the sugary juice from crushing mills,

But in the body bitterer than bitterest neem."

 

 

208: Irretrievable Loss in Lust

 

Those unfirm of mind who, in folly vain,

Struggle to plant seeds deep in moss-covered tank--

If such betimes we bind not and restrain,

Irretrievably lost are they in lust of sex, sordid and rank.

 

 

10 IN VAIN PURSUIT OF ACCUMULATION

209: Misery of Making a Living

 

Garments to tatters torn, life a joyless desert becomes;

Loved ones and dear friends forsake, with no more love to spare;

Nothing more to give or ask, void of glory and pomp,

Neglected, like automatons they walk, sad and bare.

 

 

210: Pre-Occupation With Filling Stomach-Pit

 

Even as the day dawns, men strive the stomach-pit to fill;

With needed tools, they seek hard the hungry void to stop;

But our only way is to praise Him whatever the way of life we pursue;

Sure then that pit is filled when, what in us is impure, is swept off.

 

 

211: Seek not to Fill Stomach's Pit; Fill the Birth's Pit

 

To fill the stomach's stony pit, they seek the precious gold;

But little do they know how hard it is to fill births' pit;

Only when true wisdom you attain that pit to rule,

Then that pit is filled, when life is washed clean and rendered fit.

 

 

212: Light of Wisdom's Lamp in Good Time

 

Our kith and kin, unrelenting, like Karma stern,

Unrelaxing us pursue; so, ere life from body goes,

In good time, light thou Wisdom's lamp,

And intent thus, to that new-lit track, keep close.

 

 

213: Lord Alone is Refuge from Harrying Births

 

Him the Six harried, Passion's form assuming,

Him the Five maligned, countless miseries giving,

Him Karma tortured through birth after birth pursuing--

Thus he learned to despise life--in the Lord alone refuge finding.