Tirumantiram - TANTRA ONE - DIVINE INSTRUCTION

Tirumantiram

English translation of the Tamil Spiritual Classic by Saint Tirumulat

 

TANTRA ONE

 

1 DIVINE INSTRUCTION

 

113: He Descended From Heaven and Filled Me With Grace

 

He come down from Heaven, clothed in body,

Karma to match, stretched forth His cool Feet of Grace, planting them firm

On my head; and lo! inside me He stood, melting my yielding heart;

And filled my eyes with peerless bliss, past all compare,

All impurity dispelled.

 

114: He Planted His Feet on My Heart

 

All impurity He shattered--our Nandi, Forehead-eyed,

Shattered to pieces before His opening Eye of Grace,

His Eye, at whose radiant light impurity quails;

So transfixed He His Coral Feet on heart of mine,

Crystal turned.

 

115: Pati (God), Pasu (Soul) and Pasa (World) are Eternal

 

They speak of the Three--Pati, Pasu and Pasa;

Beginningless as Pati, Pasu and Pasa are:

But the Pasu-Pasa nears not the Pati supreme:

Let but Pati touch! the Pasu-Pasa is as naught.

 

116: He Shattered Impurities Three--Egoity, Illusion and Karma

 

Like the spark that within the bamboo indwells,

So, Nandi Lord, from this body-temple flamed;

With sweet compassion gentler than a mother's,

He shattered the Impurities Three

And like unto the sun on the ocean of mercy arose.

 

117: At His Glance, Impurities Vanish

 

The sunstone sleeps in cotton enclosed,

The sunstone burns not the fragile stuff;

Let but the sun's rays fall! How it shrivels and flames!

Even so the impure wilts before the Lord's cathartic glance.

 

118: He Broke Into My Soul's Silent Depths

 

"All impurities we shall expell," said the Lord in Grace

And saying so, from Sadsiva of the Five Spheres came down,

In the sovereign Sabha through His Five Acts Divine,

He broke into my soul's silent depths, Knowing all.

 

119: He Made Sensory Consciousness Merge in God Consciousness

 

Consciousness hanging on to the senses five,

Knowing not its course as on deep waters drifting,--

Consciousness sensory merging in the Consciousness deep,--

Thus He pointed the Way,--He, the Guru Supreme.

 

120: He Roasted the Seeds of Recurring Births

 

Like unto the swan that from milk the water parts,

So the Lord, Himself, alone, in this Sabha unique,

Grasped the senses many that scorch like fire,

And thus the Seven Births unto roasted seeds rendered.

 

121: Sivayogins Attain Turiya State in Mortal Body

 

Sivayogins are they that the seed destroy,

Who, in waking state, the pure awareness induce;

Who in harmony unbroken, achieve the tranced breath,

When life, senses, body--alike simulate death.

 

122: Sivayoga is to Attain Self-Lumination

 

Sivayoga it is to know the Cit-Acit,

And for the Yoga-Penance qualify;

Self-light becoming Self,

To enter undeviating, His lordly domain;

He granted me this--Nandi of the Nine Yogas.

 

123: He Granted Me Bliss Supreme

 

He made me see the truth that He pervades all,

Granted me the vision of the world that even Devas know not,

The vision of the Sacred Feet in Holy Sabha's cosmic dance,

Granted me His infinite Grace and the Bliss supreme.

 

124: Who Are the Siva-Siddhas

 

Space intermingling with space,

Nectar drowning in nectar,

Light dissolving in light--

The elect are they, the Siva-Siddhas,

Who these splendid visions perceive.

 

125: Siddhas Ascend the Thirty-Six Tattvas

 

Siddhas they that Siva's world here visioned,

Nada and Nadanta deep in them realized,

The Eternal, the Pure, reposing in Bliss unalloyed,--

Thirty and Six the steps to Liberation leading.

 

126: They Walk Into Light of Siva

 

Ascending thus the steps,

Thirty and six of Freedom's ladder high,

Into the peerless Light of Bliss they walked;

And Siva, the inexplicable, they saw--

Having seen, realized and so stayed.

 

127: Siddhas Lose Themselves in Divine Impassivity

 

In Siva they remained, seeing themselves in all,

Remained thus mutely gazing at Siva's works manifold,

In silence witnessing Time's three tenses,

They remained, lost,

While Divine Impassivity spread its sable wings.

 

128: Nature of Divine Impassivity

 

In space pure is Impassivity seated,

In space pure It does repose,

Impassivity begins where Vedas end,

Who Impassivity saw, inside Vedas they slept.

 

129: Sleeping Still They Perceive

 

Sleeping, in themselves they saw Siva's World,

Sleeping, in themselves they saw Siva's Yoga,

Sleeping, in themselves they saw Siva's Bhoga,

How then describe the minds

Of those who sleeping saw?

 

130: As Much as You Strive, So Much is His Grace Bestowed

 

Even as you strive to reach Wisdom's bounds,

Even so on you, Hara, the Being First, His Grace bestows,

In Sabha unique He dances for Uma to behold.

Like a Flaming Ruby in the Flaming Sky.

 

131: The Glorious Beauty of Divine Dance

 

Inside the ruby like the emerald flaming

Inside the ruby like the emerald inset,

He dances the Holy Dance in the Sabha of purest gold

What oh the reward, to those who Him adored!

 

132: Attainment of Deathlessness and Birthlessness

 

In this world they received the Deathless Way great

In this world they attained the Birthless End great

The Gift unique of inseparateness from the Sabha pure

The ineffable rapture, the glory beyond reach of words.

 

133: Senses Controlled, They Saw This World and Next

 

Who there be who, like our Lord, distinct know

The great and the small, the difficult and the facile?

They, unto tortoise, drawing in senses five under the shell,

They heard and saw This and Next, all impurities dispelled.

 

134: Silentness of Waveless Thought

 

Like the ghee subtly latent in purest milk,

Into the waveless Thought the Lord in silentness speaks;

They who, in silentness realise, this mortal coil shuffled,

Purity they become, in Limitless Light mingling.

 

135: When the Five Senses Take Cit's Way, They Reach Cit

 

When the senses Five, sound commencing, Cit's way take,

Where shall the Cit go but to the Cit?

In space light mingles but with Light,

Note this, as doth salt in the sea vast.

 

136: Jiva Lies Enclosed in Siva

 

The fierce rays of the sun beating upon the water,

The incontained salt does in crystal shapes emerge;

Even as that salt is in the water contained,

So does Jiva in Siva lie enclosed.

 

137: As Atom Merges in the Vast, Jiva Merges in Siva

 

The tiny atom, swimming the Universe vast,

Merges in the Vast--no separate existence knows;

So the Spirit's plastic stress sweeping through bodies all,

At sight of His Holy Feet, discovers its Ancient Home.

 

138: Lord's Feet is the Final Refuge of Souls Illumed

 

The Holy Feet is Siva, if you but know,

The Holy Feet is Siva's world, if you but think,

The Holy Feet is Freedom's bliss, truth to say,

There is the final refuge for souls illumed.

 

139: Guru's Role in Soul's Illumination

 

It is but to see the Guru's Holy Form,

It is but to chant the Guru's Holy Name,

It is but to hear the Guru's Holy Word,

It is but to muse the Guru's Holy Being

--Thus it is the soul its illume receives.

 

140: Seek His Grace, the Senses Get Controlled

 

Surely then the senses five under your control come,

Surely then the senses five back to their native homes retreat,

Surely then the senses five change their course,

If, alone, you seek the sole felicity of our Lord's perfect Grace.

 

141: Fill Thy Thoughts With Nandi

 

All they see is Nandi's Holy Feet twain,

All they think is Nandi's Holy Form divine,

All they chant is Nandi's Name, I trow,

In all their thoughts Nandi's golden Words and wise.

 

142: Thus They Reached Heaven

 

Who, in their minds, kept our Nandi's Holy Name,

Nandi, Wisdom's Lord,--they holy became;

As the Lord danced, they beheld Him with eyes enthralled,

While the Vedas sang in praise,

Reached Heaven's sacred shores.