TIRUMANTIRAM - TANTRA SIX - Verses 1645 – 1664 of 1703

TIRUMANTIRAM

English translation of the Tamil Spiritual Classic by Saint Tirumular

 

 

TANTRA SIX - Verses 1645 – 1664 of 1703

 

 

7 JNANA FLOWS FROM GOD'S GRACE

 

 

1645: Fruits of Lord's Grace

 

If you have Lord's Grace, you have all riches;

If you have Lord's Grace, you have true Jnana;

If you have Lord's Grace, you have greatness too;

If you have Lord's Grace, you shall be the great God Himself.

 

 

1646: Jnana is Beyond Five Siva Tattvas

 

They go about the world

Exuding Jnana that is beyond Tamil mandalas; Five

Tamil mandalas are but Siva Tattvas;

There it is the blossoming mind

And attainment of Lord's Jnana.

 

 

1647: Jnana is Knowledge of Good and Evil

 

Good and evil, they are two in this world

As they seek God, some Jnanis know them;

As you cognize them two and uproot them

Then shall you perceive Lord's Abode Beyond.

 

 

1648: God Grants His Grace of Himself

 

At the hour ripe He of Himself appears

And blesses you with His Grace;

A Benevolent Force, He stands as life-center of world

Still standing by you, He ends your birth to be,

Lo! He stood before me, and bestowed Mukti on me.

 

 

1649: Things That Come of Siva's Grace

 

By Siva's Grace some become Devas

By Siva's Grace some equal Gods

By Siva's Grace Karmas near not;

When you have Siva's Grace,

You shall enter His Kingdom, indeed.

 

 

1650: Grace Decides Your Birth To-Be

 

The Holy One, the Immaculate One, Mine Father!

I sought His matchless Feet

And lo! Jnana shone forth as a beacon light;

You remain an earthly being

Or a Heavenly Being become;

All, as my Lord's Grace dawns.

 

 

1651 Grace Unites Soul in God

 

They mount the Body-Chariot

And Mind, the Charioteer takes the rein;

It is Illusion's-Chariot

That strange fantasies produces;

And they realize it,

And mount the Chariot of Love instead

And receive Grace of the Pure One,

They shall sure be drawn

In the triumphant Chariot of Unity

And be one in God, obliterating I and He.

 

 

1652 Tapasvins Will Receive Grace Even Hereafter

 

If born in body in the Other World

Tapasvins will pursue tapas there;

And will there reach Lord's Feet

And receive His Grace for sure.

 

 

1653 God is Beauty

 

Form within Sun-Stone is red hot ember,

Form within Moon-Stone is pearly drop of water,

Form within Fire-Stone is crackling fire,

Form of Lord that holds fire aloft

Is Beauty Surpassing.

 

 

1654 I shall hold fast unto Nandi

 

With love and yearning, I seek my Nandi,

Seeking Him, as Siva the Supreme, I will meet Him;

And then will I seize hold of His valorous Feet

And for ever hold to them,

Until He liberation grants.

 

 

8 FALSE ROBES

 

1655 Men of false robes know not Siva

 

You fools! With false robes you deceive people

Your pretension but helps you gorge yourself fast with food;

Well may you sing and dance and weep and wail

And thus may Siva seek,

Yet never, never shall you glimpse His Feet.

 

 

1656 Men of false robes bring famine

 

When those that have not acquired Jnana

Don the holy robes

And go about the land begging,

And evil ways pursuing,

The rains fail and famine strikes the land;

Better by far, these evil men are de-robed straight.

 

 

1657 Let Government lead people in the way of Virtue

 

A land's weal and woe are in its people

Out of good deeds and evil do they spring;

And so,

If the ruler unceasing leads the multitude in virtue's way,

That land in prosperity waxes ever.

 

 

1658 Why they don the Holy Robes

 

The lowly-born don the robe

That they may the high become;

The high-born don the robe

That they may the Gods become;

To infamy-born are the knaves in robes

That they be disrobed and cast away.

 

 

1659 Tapas--True and False

 

They who perform false tapas enter hell

They shall not become the holy ones;

False tapas is deceit and vain effort

A ruse for worldly enjoyment;

Only by Truth of Jnana can tapas firm abide.

 

 

1660 Discerning eyes see through false robe

 

They don the false robe their bellies to fill;

They don the true robe and receive exalted oblations above;

Even if false robes are donned to simulate the true,

The discerning see through, and make themselves free.

 

 

9 ROBES OF TAPAS

 

1661 True robe befits only true Tapasvins

 

The true tapasvins are the truly robed;

The sinful are but murderous hunters;

These are not for holy robe entitled;

None but tapasvins true deserve robe true.

 

 

1662 The insignia of Siva Yogins

 

To smear holy ashes is first step to tapas;

Rings of copper in ears, and garland of rudraksha beads around neck

--These too are other emblems to Siva reach;

Thus do the blemishless Siva Yogins for tapas prepare.

 

 

1663 Other insignia of Siva Yogin

 

A waist strip for an under-vest,

A long tunic for body's wrap,

A matted hair lock done in peacock style,

Ashes smeared all over,

A begging bowl of human skull shape

A cowl staff of hard cane

--Thus is Siva Yogi accoutred.

 

 

1664 Ten appurtenances of Siva Yogins

 

Kundala the ears to adorn,

Kamandala the water to hold,

Kandika the neck to fill

A conch to blow, a bowl to beg

And a Kappara to hold the ashes

The correct sandals and Yogic seat

The Yoga sash and Yogic staff

--These ten consist Siva Yogi's appurtenances.