Tirumantiram - TANTRA TWO - Verses 411 to 430 of 548

Tirumantiram

English translation of the Tamil Spiritual Classic by Saint Tirumular

 

TANTRA TWO - Verses 411 to 430 of 548

 

10 SUSTENANCE

 

411: The Spirit Pervades All

 

As Light and Darkness He pervaded,

As Fame and Blemish He pervaded,

As Body and Life He pervaded,

As my constant thought He pervaded.

 

 

412: He is the Totality

 

Himself as space and celstials stands,

Himself as body, life and matter stands,

Himself as sea, hill and dale stands,

Himself--all worlds' Lord Supreme.

 

 

413: The True Way

 

As body, life, and world,

As sea, cloud and cloud-laden sky,

Permeating all, indestructible and continuous

The Lord stands in Majesty

The True way that never closes.

 

 

414: Sadasiva is in the Heart of Even Those Who Doubt Him

 

He is Nandi the Great;

In directions eight,

He is life pervasive;

He brings body and soul together in birth;

Even in the heart of those who doubt Him, He is;

And from there He seeks them;

This I have known Him oft perform.

 

 

415: Lord is Diverse

 

At the end of aeons,

Once He stands as Pure Light,

Once as the tempestuous typhoon,

Once as incessant rain,

Once as Vishu, floating on the deluge.

 

 

416: He Stands in Divine Love

 

As love, wisdom and meekness He stands,

As pleasure and pleasureable union He stands,

As Time's Beginning and End He stands,

As Five elements filled He stands in love divine.

 

 

417: He Fashions Things Big and Small

 

Himself fashions worlds all in detail minute

Himself fashions life, conferring birth

Himself fashions things big and small

--The cauldron, the pitcher and the pot

Himself He fashions these and more

--He the Architect Almighty.

 

 

418: He is Nandi

 

He is Life within; He is the body corporeal;

He is Spirit Pure; He is space Infinite;

He is Light Radiant; He is Consciousness inside;

Animating life in the body

He supports me;

--He is Nandi.

 

 

419: He Supports All Worlds

 

A miracle indeed it is

To sustain the myriad lives in the Universe;

Not less so,

When after total destruction

He draws them unto Himself;

He supports too

That Seventh World

The Path of yoga leads to.

 

 

420: He Grants Immortal Body to Those Who Seek Him in Love

 

Well may you seek Him

Through rituals before fires,

Distant only shall He be;

Seek Him in yearning love

Bend low on ground

Hanker after Him life after life,

The great One Shall Grant you the body immortal.

 

 

11 DESTRUCTION

 

421: Fire is Lord's Shaft

 

With fire the Lord burnt all Space

With fire the Lord burnt the Oceans,

With fire the Lord burnt the Asuras

Fire, verily, is the Lord's shaft on hand.

 

 

422: Three are His Layas

 

Three are His layas--the moments of Repose

Of them one, karpandha--the end of aeons,

I witnessed;

All things fell uprooted in destruction

This orb then was unto a boiling rice pot

Its mountains and valleys alike burnt to ashes.

 

 

423: The Fire Spreads

 

The earth on which we tread

The snow-clad mountains eight.

The seven seas whose ebbing tides roar,

Over all these and else

The Fire that resides in Muladhara spreads;

And the spreading conflagration turned

Earth and sky seem alike;

--This the truth, imagination none.

 

 

424: The Fire Spreads to the Seas Also

 

From aloft the cloud laden mountains

She descended--

The benign river Ganga;

Into the earth the waters seeped

In directions eight,

Emptying itself eventually

Into the deep pit that is the Ocean,

That Constant sings the praise of Lord

With Chant of "Aum"

--That Ocean too the fire gulped in fury.

 

 

425: Four Forms of Death

 

Four are the forms of death

Daily death is the state of sense loss in sleep;

Fated Death is no-return to waking;

Pure Death is when the Soul reacheth inertia;

Redeemed Death is being in Lord's Grace True.

 

 

426: What Transpires in the Four Deaths

 

In Daily Death, are bodies gross and subtle transcended;

In Fated Death, is the Mayaic body annihilated;

In Pure Death, Mind and cognates merge in Infinite

In Redemption Death, Siva's Grace descends true.

 

 

427: Four Forms of Death

 

When but birth--impediment uprooted,

Daily Death is unto Fated Death

And Fated Death unto Pure Death

And Pure Death unto Redemption Death

In that alone is the Truth--Jiva becoming Siva.

 

 

428: Thus Four are the Deaths

 

Thus are Deaths Four;

The Daily Death in deep Sleep;

The Fated Death that gives the soul a longer rest;

The Pure Death that puts the Soul in primal quiescence;

The Redemption Death that steeps the Soul in Lord's Grace.

 

 

429: Void the Beginning and End

 

Out of Void, a plant (soul) it sprang,

To the Void it returns;

Yet shall it not be Void again;

In that Void, exhausted, it shall die;

That the fate of Hari and Brahma too,

Who the holocaust of Samhara survvive not.

 

 

430: Scorch Your Karmas

 

Scorch the gathering Karmas

And exhaust them;

There is One who annihilates them

And the city where He does it

He fashioned the body, He pervades everywhere.

He placed the Mind and cognate tattva group besides,

He gave us Wisdom ample to discriminate.