POEMS AND POETS
27.Our Sweet Poets!
In the Tamil Saiva tradition, four saints are looked upon as the initiators and exemplars of a new trend in religious life-that of personal devotion,not necessarily based on ritual worship. Not that they decried it, but their way was simply different. They went from place to place, visiting the temples and singing hymns about the Deity, in various forms, gathering devotees along.. They were also poets, and the hymns they sang were their own, composed extempore, on the spot. Fortunately, thousands of such songs have been preserved, along with the tradition of singing them in their original tunes! They represent an earlier form of the present day Raga system of the classical music of India.
Their hymns are in a baffling variety of poetic forms, even if the tunes are somewhat limited in range. Collectively, the work of three of them are called Tevaram- meaning a garland offered to God. The work of the fourth one is called 'Tiruvachakam"- the Hallowed or Exalted or Blessed Word.
'Appar' ( meaning Father) (7th-8th century)is the senior-most among them, living up to the ripe old age of 80. He specialised in cleaning the temples he visited of the overgrown weeds. He is always depicted as holding in his hand that small tool used for the purpose.
His poetry is described as 'tender coconut water'! First, coconut has very holy associations for us- it is the best offering we make to our Deities at Puja. But tender coconut has special characteristics. It is cool.It does not require any preparation or cooking-it is taken as it is. It has medicinal value. And it is naturally sweet. So, Appar's poetry has all these properties!
But in medieval Tamil literature, Avvaiyar, a great woman poet sang a verse which has conferred literary immortality on coconut, besides teaching a great truth. She sang:
"When you do a good turn to others, do not
Go about inquiring when it will be repaid.
Look at the coconut palm- how tirelessly tall it grows!
And yet it repays through the head the water it has
taken through its roots!
taken through its roots!
There is something in the natural order which ensures that the kind acts and gestures are not forgotten. What is important is that we should not snap the chain of mutual help, but become part of it.
Says Walt Whitman:
Behold!
I do not give lectures or a little charity,
When I give, I give myself.
Adds Kahlil Gibran:
You give but little when you give
of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself
that you truly give.
Tirujnanasambandha- Sambandhar for short- is the youngest of the lot. He lived for just 16 years, having begun to compose and sing at the age of four. He and Appar were contemporaries- it was he who called the latter Appar and made that name stick, obscuring the natural name- Tirunavukkarasar, meaning the king of sacred tongue!
Sambandhar's poetry is tough, classical. He introduced many new forms of poetry in Tamil. His hymns are full of the descriptions of the country scene, the sound of the Vedic chanting by the Brahmins, and the activities of farmers and others observed all over, besides the observations of the rich flora and fauna of the countryside. The Deities he sings of are inseparable from the nature around them! His poetry is compared to the sugarcane! The juice is sweet, but it has to be extracted! Or one must have strong teeth to bite off the cane, and enjoy the juice, as the native boys do!
The next is Sundaramurti- the handsome one! He lived to be 18. He is also called 'Vantondar' or the tough or quarrelsome devotee. He had the temerity to call God, mad, when He had appeared before him in disguise. He would take great liberties with the Lord. His poetry is compared to milk, boiled and condensed, and sweetened! It just has to be taken and enjoyed! Somebody has done the boiling and all that! His songs embody such intense devotion.
Manickavachakar is the fourth, a category by himself. His hymns embody great majesty in form and content. They also have a deep mystic element, calling forth great maturity on the part of the reader. His poetry is compared to honey. What can excel honey in natural sweetness! And honey is a rare product of nature, becomes both food and medicine! It does not get spoiled even on long storage and preserves anything that is kept immersed in it! But one can only take small quantities of honey at a time, tasting it drop by drop for total enjoyment!
All divine poets, but we see such variety in their poetry! And their devotion is also classified, being taken as models for certain trends. Appar exemplifies the attitude of a servant- he supplicates God so movingly, pleading for Grace all the time! Sundarar is like the friend- taking liberties with God, as one would from a close friend. Manickavachakar is saintly and serenely majestic, touching the mystic element, and philosophical heights. He exemplifies the Santa bhava. Sambandhar is like the favourite son. He can do no wrong! He is love and grace personified.The father would melt at his sight! He is the Prince of the emperor! The emperor may reign by law, and put some one in prison for wrong doing. But the prince has access to the key, and may release the prisoner, and pardon the remaining sentence! The orthodox law says that one has to face the fruit of one's karma; there is no way out other than by bearing the effect. But our prince gives out a secret :
You fellows! Strange indeed ! You know and repeat
That you have to face here, now the present effects
Of your past karma. But do you not know
How to seek the remedy? What a shame!
We devotees will engage our hands
(and all faculties ) in acts of
Worshipping the Feet of the Lord! Let me see
How the past karma comes and touches us!
I promise you in the name of the Lord!
( Hymn: Avvinaikkivinai)
This is remarkable assurance indeed. How many saints have said that?
There is an intense debate in our religious circles about Karma. Orthodox stand is that karma will not get exhausted unless its effects are experienced.This birth is due to karma and it has to follow its course- this is the unavoidable Prarabda. This is often called the Brahmalipi-what Brahma ,the Lord of creation writes on each one's head as his destiny. None can escape it. The body is the result of karma, says Arunagirinatha: "vidi kaanum udambu". Ilango Adigal, the Jain monk and author of the Tamil epic Silappadikaram declares that one moral of his epic is to establish that the effect of karma will pursue one through births: "Oozhvinai vuruthu vandu oottum".
Jnanis say that so long as one identifies oneself with the body, one has to suffer the effects of karma attending on the body. But are you the body? If this is investigated and the truth is experienced, then may you see whether there is karma, what are the effects,etc. While we retain our identity based on body consciousness, karma is inescapable.
The Bhaktas or followers of the path of devotion say that the Lord's grace can do away with or at least reduce the intensity of his law. It can save any one. They hold up examples from our scriptures like Markandeya, Ajamila,etc.
But the Jnanis point out that in our entire lore there is but one Ajamila,one Markandeya! It is God who has ordained the law of karma and He is not capricious or arbitrary to interfere in its working.
It is in the light of such debates that the categorical assurance of Jnanasambandha assumes significance! And holds out hope!
Manickavachakar is the fourth, a category by himself. His hymns embody great majesty in form and content. They also have a deep mystic element, calling forth great maturity on the part of the reader. His poetry is compared to honey. What can excel honey in natural sweetness! And honey is a rare product of nature, becomes both food and medicine! It does not get spoiled even on long storage and preserves anything that is kept immersed in it! But one can only take small quantities of honey at a time, tasting it drop by drop for total enjoyment!
All divine poets, but we see such variety in their poetry! And their devotion is also classified, being taken as models for certain trends. Appar exemplifies the attitude of a servant- he supplicates God so movingly, pleading for Grace all the time! Sundarar is like the friend- taking liberties with God, as one would from a close friend. Manickavachakar is saintly and serenely majestic, touching the mystic element, and philosophical heights. He exemplifies the Santa bhava. Sambandhar is like the favourite son. He can do no wrong! He is love and grace personified.The father would melt at his sight! He is the Prince of the emperor! The emperor may reign by law, and put some one in prison for wrong doing. But the prince has access to the key, and may release the prisoner, and pardon the remaining sentence! The orthodox law says that one has to face the fruit of one's karma; there is no way out other than by bearing the effect. But our prince gives out a secret :
You fellows! Strange indeed ! You know and repeat
That you have to face here, now the present effects
Of your past karma. But do you not know
How to seek the remedy? What a shame!
We devotees will engage our hands
(and all faculties ) in acts of
Worshipping the Feet of the Lord! Let me see
How the past karma comes and touches us!
I promise you in the name of the Lord!
( Hymn: Avvinaikkivinai)
This is remarkable assurance indeed. How many saints have said that?
There is an intense debate in our religious circles about Karma. Orthodox stand is that karma will not get exhausted unless its effects are experienced.This birth is due to karma and it has to follow its course- this is the unavoidable Prarabda. This is often called the Brahmalipi-what Brahma ,the Lord of creation writes on each one's head as his destiny. None can escape it. The body is the result of karma, says Arunagirinatha: "vidi kaanum udambu". Ilango Adigal, the Jain monk and author of the Tamil epic Silappadikaram declares that one moral of his epic is to establish that the effect of karma will pursue one through births: "Oozhvinai vuruthu vandu oottum".
Jnanis say that so long as one identifies oneself with the body, one has to suffer the effects of karma attending on the body. But are you the body? If this is investigated and the truth is experienced, then may you see whether there is karma, what are the effects,etc. While we retain our identity based on body consciousness, karma is inescapable.
The Bhaktas or followers of the path of devotion say that the Lord's grace can do away with or at least reduce the intensity of his law. It can save any one. They hold up examples from our scriptures like Markandeya, Ajamila,etc.
But the Jnanis point out that in our entire lore there is but one Ajamila,one Markandeya! It is God who has ordained the law of karma and He is not capricious or arbitrary to interfere in its working.
It is in the light of such debates that the categorical assurance of Jnanasambandha assumes significance! And holds out hope!
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