Beautiful Thirumandiram
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirumandiram
Am giving a few extracts from Thirumandiram that I really love
Anbu sivam iranduenbar arivilaar
Anbe sivamavathu aarum arigilaar
Anbe sivamavathu aarum arinthapin
Anbe sivamai amarnthu irunthaare
To paraphrase the above, Love is God.
Marathai maraithathu maamatha yaanai
Marathin marainthathu mamatha yaanai
Parathai maraithathu paarmuthal bootham
Parathai marainthathu paarmuthal boothame
Ondre kulamum oruvane thevanum
Nandre ninaimin namanillai naaname
Sendre pugumgathi illainum siththathu
Nindre nilaipera neerninainthui mine
Says Thirumoolar, there is but one religion and there is but one god. Surrender to him.
Nadunin raarku andri gyaanamum illai
Nadunin raarku naragamum illai
Nadunin raarnalla thevarum aavar
Nadunin raarvazhi naanumnin rene
Kalla arasanum kaalanum neroppar
Kalla arasanir kaalan miganallvan
Kalla arasanaram oran
Nallaraik kaalan nanuganil lane
Adimudi kaanbar ayanmaal iruvar
Padikan dilarmeendum paarmisaik koodi
Adikan dilen endru achchuthan solla
Mudikanden endru ayan poimozhin thane
Paarpaan agathile paarpasu ainthundu
Meipaarum indri verithu thirivana
Meipaarum undai veriyum adanginaal
Paarpaan pasuainthum paalai soriyume
This is again a pretty metaphorical verse. Literally it translates to..
In the Brahmins house, there are five cows
They stray around without anyone to herd them
If they get a cowherd and if they are controlled
The cows will yield a lot of milk.
They stray around easily without control
If you try and control their activities
They will yield tremendous results
Literal english Translation can be obtained from
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/tirumantiram/TableOfContents.html
Thirumandiram, which literally translates to 'The Sacred Mantra', is the magnum opus of Thirumoolar, a saint and mystic who lived in Tamil Nadu in India sometime between the 4th and 6th century A.D. Thirumandiram is a series of highly metaphorical quadruplet verses (3047 in all) which talk about life, philosophy, yoga, tantras etc.. I've been reading this for some time and I just cant seem to get enough of these. More info can be found here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirumoolarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirumandiram
Am giving a few extracts from Thirumandiram that I really love
Anbu sivam iranduenbar arivilaar
Anbe sivamavathu aarum arigilaar
Anbe sivamavathu aarum arinthapin
Anbe sivamai amarnthu irunthaare
To paraphrase the above, Love is God.
Marathai maraithathu maamatha yaanai
Marathin marainthathu mamatha yaanai
Parathai maraithathu paarmuthal bootham
Parathai marainthathu paarmuthal boothame
Advaita vedanta has been so beautifully elucidated here. A child will call it an elephant but you and I will call it a wooden toy. If you see the elephant, you will not see the wood. If you see the wood, you will not see the elephant. Similarly, if you see the maayai that is this world, you will not see god. If you see god, you will not see the maayai that is this world.
Ondre kulamum oruvane thevanum
Nandre ninaimin namanillai naaname
Sendre pugumgathi illainum siththathu
Nindre nilaipera neerninainthui mine
Says Thirumoolar, there is but one religion and there is but one god. Surrender to him.
Nadunin raarku andri gyaanamum illai
Nadunin raarku naragamum illai
Nadunin raarnalla thevarum aavar
Nadunin raarvazhi naanumnin rene
The glory of taking the middle path is being extolled here. He says, that only the person who sticks to the middle path is the one with the most wisdom.
Kalla arasanum kaalanum neroppar
Kalla arasanir kaalan miganallvan
Kalla arasan
Nallaraik kaalan nanuganil lane
Here, Thirumoolar gives us a possible reason as to why the world is in a sad state today. He says, an uneducated ruler is worse than a bandit.
Adimudi kaanbar ayanmaal iruvar
Padikan dilarmeendum paarmisaik koodi
Adikan dilen endru achchuthan solla
Mudikanden endru ayan poimozhin thane
This excerpt is extremely metaphorical and I am yet to figure out the actual meaning. This is the base of a famous story that is often told to young kids in India (atleast in the part of India where I live). Most people would be aware of the story but not its roots. The story goes like this.
One day Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu had a fight to determine who is the better of the two. They couldnt decide who is the better and hence decided to get Lord Siva to judge. Lord Siva gave them a test and said whoever wins is the better. Lord Siva would increase his size into huge proportions and Lord Brahma has to find Lord Sivas head and Lord Vishnu has to find Lord Sivas feet. The first person to return after reaching their respective destinations is the winner. Once Lord Siva assumed the huge form, the two warring lords went in search of their respective destinations. After sometime, Lord Vishnu gave up after realizing the futility of ego and arrogance. But Lord Brahma continued to search. As he was searching he found a flower that had fallen from Lord Sivas head. So he decide to lie that he had found Lord Sivas head and decide to produce this flower as proof. When he showed this to Lord Siva, Lord Siva called his bluff, punished him for lying and explained to him the futility of ego and arrogance.
This is a good story if one wants to teach to children that arragance and ego or not good things to have. Or at the minimum, if we want to tell people that if you lie you need to cover your ass. Apparently Lord Siva told Lord Brahma that to take the flower from my head you have to cross my forehead whereupon I would have seen you. But then, as is the case with most mythology in India, the actual intended meaning is lost.
One day Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu had a fight to determine who is the better of the two. They couldnt decide who is the better and hence decided to get Lord Siva to judge. Lord Siva gave them a test and said whoever wins is the better. Lord Siva would increase his size into huge proportions and Lord Brahma has to find Lord Sivas head and Lord Vishnu has to find Lord Sivas feet. The first person to return after reaching their respective destinations is the winner. Once Lord Siva assumed the huge form, the two warring lords went in search of their respective destinations. After sometime, Lord Vishnu gave up after realizing the futility of ego and arrogance. But Lord Brahma continued to search. As he was searching he found a flower that had fallen from Lord Sivas head. So he decide to lie that he had found Lord Sivas head and decide to produce this flower as proof. When he showed this to Lord Siva, Lord Siva called his bluff, punished him for lying and explained to him the futility of ego and arrogance.
This is a good story if one wants to teach to children that arragance and ego or not good things to have. Or at the minimum, if we want to tell people that if you lie you need to cover your ass. Apparently Lord Siva told Lord Brahma that to take the flower from my head you have to cross my forehead whereupon I would have seen you. But then, as is the case with most mythology in India, the actual intended meaning is lost.
Paarpaan agathile paarpasu ainthundu
Meipaarum indri verithu thirivana
Meipaarum undai veriyum adanginaal
Paarpaan pasuainthum paalai soriyume
This is again a pretty metaphorical verse. Literally it translates to..
In the Brahmins house, there are five cows
They stray around without anyone to herd them
If they get a cowherd and if they are controlled
The cows will yield a lot of milk.
When we look into the metaphor, you can derive any meaning you want to. I believe that this verse has the following nice meaning...
Man has five sensesThey stray around easily without control
If you try and control their activities
They will yield tremendous results
Thirumandiram is verily a treasure trove of knowledge. The more you dig into it the more you learn. You can download thirumandiram in Tamil from
http://www.tamilnation.org/sathyam/east/thirumurai/thirumanthiram/introduction.htmLiteral english Translation can be obtained from
http://www.himalayanacademy.com/resources/books/tirumantiram/TableOfContents.html
12 comments:
First, congrats man. You did somethng i longed to do. [not with thirumandiram actually]. now that is saw this post, i will try. Now for the comment. you can call me a kudharkamaga kelvi ketpavan. but if we get answers for these we will relish these works even more.
Anbe sivamai amarnthu irunthaare
appo rudra dhaandavam enbadhu ???
Marathai maraithathu maamatha yaanai
..........
Parathai marainthathu paarmuthal boothame
With this all three vedantas can be explained. not only advaita.
Ondre kulamum oruvane thevanum
so why was caste system born.
Nadunin raarku andri gyaanamum illai
Nadunin raarku naragamum illai
Nadunin raarnalla thevarum aavar
Nadunin raarvazhi naanumnin rene
In geethai, krishnan says "in this battle you either be on side of dharma or adharma. there is no middle path. if one is abstaining from this war then he is in the side of adharma." contradicting ??? :)
an uneducated ruler is worse than a bandit.
not doing mismanagement is good management. In the court, the ministers, what are they supposed to do???
Adimudi kaanbar ayanmaal............
May this confuse you more. :D. check the 845 kural. http://www.geocities.com/dr_sidd_x/KURAL/ADHI/adhi_85.html
what i guess is this. when a supposedly learned man talks about something he has not learned it shows. and this leads the listener to doubt even what the person has learnt. [crude meaning]
Continue reading and understanding the works.
"appo rudra dhaandavam enbadhu ???"
guess this is totally irrelevant.. coz sivam here does not refer to Lord Siva.. it refers to god.. rudra thaandavam is probably just a legend built around Lord Shiva... like so many other legends in Indian mythology
"With this all three vedantas can be explained. not only advaita."
Definitely NOT. This talks about the concept of 'maayai', which is something unique to advaitam. Dvaitam and Visishtadvaitam do NOT have the concept of 'maayai'. Also with a bit of knowledge of other aspects of Thirumandiram and Thirumoolar himself, we know that Thirumoolar is a hard-core [:) forgive the language] advaita proponent.
"so why was caste system born"
There could be many reasons. There could have been a historical perspective. History often hides this from us. For e.g assume there is a society where man:woman ratio is 1:4. In such a society there might have been a rule that every man should marry atleast 3 women. If that ratio is gone then this rule might be obsolete, stupid and outrageously sexist. Also every society discriminates in some form or the other. No matter how well the system is designed, it deteriorates. So, the caste system as we see today could be that; an extremely deteriorated version.
Also, the main intention of this verse might have been to help us realize the stupidity of casteism and shun it in our lives.
"In geethai, krishnan says ... "
This talk of middle path is not for trivial cases.. trivial as in open and shut cases. You cant say Ill support a rapist for the purpose of following the middle path. It is for more subtler issues which we encounter so many times every day.
"In the court, the ministers, what are they supposed to do???"
An uneducated ruler will have uneducated ministers. Even if he has educated ministers, he will not listen to them.
For e.g. will you work under a stupid Project Manager? You will probably not stay there for more than a year...
and lastly.. I was definitely expecting a big comment from you for this post :)..
:-)
Sivamum sivanum veru veru. true
we can explain all three actually. :) It is all just interpretations. Thirumoolar sang it in advaita principle but the one giving explanation can take it anyways...
lemme give this scenario.. take some grp of ppl and leave them on an island. they form groups is it not. [our class in school or college. how many gangs were there eh??. this is how it should have started]
there should always be a path which is in accordance with dharma and the other path[s] for all issues even in our day to day life. We may not follow "the" path but atleast we should be aware that we are digressing...
A wise minister will try to educate the king/make him a puppet and rule himself/remove him altogether if he is non-cooperative.
hey where is the reply for the last one ???
regarding the kural one.. I dont see how it links to the manthiram..?
guess all points are debatable.. So ignoring all threads except one.. I am totally not able to accept how 'marathai ..' explains dvaitam and visishtadvaitam.. pray can you plz explain...?
Dvaitam says that jeevatma and paramatma are two different things. So the world that we see is real. Jeevatma has to strive to reach paramatma and liberate itself.
Visishtadvatiam says that jeevatma and paramatma are the same and the world that we see is also real. Paramatma has a lot of attributes and they manifest as the real world.
Only Advaitam says that the world that we see is not real. Jeevatma and Paramatma are one and the same except for the fact that jeevatma sees this world and believes that this is real due to maayai. So it fails to realize that it is god.
So, I think, the manthiram under question explains only advaitam. I am really intersted to know how it explains the other two vedantas also.
ok. kural. it says if one learned person talks abt something which he has not learned in a manner of having learned the topic, it casts a doubt on his learnedness. correlating...
Marathai :
visihistadvatiam: Adhanaal naan irukiren. yaanai enbadhu onru irukku. adhanaal u see it as an elephant.
Dvaitam:
yaanai is different from the yaanai u see. {or}
yanaai maraikkum maramum yaanayum different.
as said though tirumoolar talked abt advaitam in this verse the readers can take it differently. I know u are not convinced :p may be because i did not put forth properly.
thx for the clarifications.. ill think it over..
Excellent Stuff Partha
Hats off
-- Madhavan V ( Ur VEC Senior)
hi maddy anna.. feels great to have your comment here... :)
how on earth did you stumble upon my blog?
please mail me at
parthasarathyDOTkrATgmailDOTcom
where can i get thirumoolar thirumanthiram with tamil meaning.
i need this.
Nadunin raarku andri gyaanamum illai
Nadunin raarku naragamum illai
Nadunin raarnalla thevarum aavar
Nadunin raarvazhi naanumnin rene
In geethai, krishnan says "in this battle you either be on side of dharma or adharma. there is no middle path. if one is abstaining from this war then he is in the side of adharma." contradicting ??? :)
dear friend, The meaning of naduninrar is related to the agna chakra. when one concentrate on this point which is in between eyebrows, he will get all the above benefits
There is one god with different names ...our mind never believes the truth until we control it...so try to control your sense and be sincere and truthful to yourself and others...luv and care the peoples around you..god is everywhere he is in Shiva,Vishnu,brahma,you and me...shiva,Vishnu,brahma are guna moorthis...all the devas have gunas...the god has sargunam...that sargunam splitted to Shiva,Vishnu and brahma and many other devas to create,sustain and destroy the universal cycle...we will born again and again until we know who we were...we were from one who has sargunam to run this universe and he is truly in the state of nirgunam which is the conscious state of bliss called sivam,Krishna conscious,christ conscious...one who is always blissful and ever lively soul is called god...who is everywhere in shivan,Vishnu,brahma,you,me,animals,trees everywhere which is the Mei porul...sathyam...sivam...sundaram... hariyum sivanum idha ariyamal vazhbavar mannu...om namashivaya om namo narayanaya...
விச்சுக் கலமுண்டு வேலிச்செய் ஒன்றுண்டு
உச்சிக்கு முன்னே யுழவு சமைந்தது
அச்சங்கெட் டச்செய் அறுத்துண்ண மாட்டாதார்
இச்சைக்குப் பிச்சை இரக்கின்ற வாறே.
(ப. இ.) உடலை வளர்க்கும் உணவினும் சிறந்தது உயிர்ப்பு. உயிர்ப்பு - பிராணவாயு. உயிர்ப்பு உடலைக் கால நீடிக்கச் செய்யும். உணவு பசித்துண்டு பின்னும் பசிப்பதனோடொக்கும். உயிர்ப்பு இயங்குதற்குரிய கலம் மூக்காகும். தக்க காவலையுடைய விளைநிலம் போன்றது புருவ நடுவாகிய ஆணையிடம். உச்சிக்கு நேராகப் புருவ நடுவின்கண் அகத்தவமாகிய யோகப் பயிற்சியால் உழவாகிய அமிழ்தம் சமைந்தது. கூற்றுவனுக்குச் சிறிதும் அஞ்சாது வயலறுப்பதுபோல் அவ்வமிழ்தத்தை அருந்தமாட்டாதார், உடன்மேல் வைத்த வேட்கையால் பிச்சை உணவினைப் பிறர் சமைத்துத் தர யிரந்துண்டு உழல்கின்றனர். யோக உணவாகிய அமிழ்து தாமே தமதுடலகத்துத் திருவருளால் சமைப்பது. உச்சிக்குமுன்னே என்பது உண்ணும் வேளையாகிய உச்சிக்குமுன் எனினும் அமையும். கலம் - கருவி.
(அ. சி.) விச்சுக்கலம் - (விச்சு - வித்து) உயிர் நிலைப்பதற்கு வித்தாயிருக்கின்ற பிராணவாயு இயங்கும் மூக்கு. வேலிச்செய் - ஆஞ்ஞை உச்சிக்கு முன் - உச்சிக்குக் கீழே புருவ மத்தி நேர். உழவு - யோகம். அச்சங்கெட்டு - பயம் இல்லாமல். செய்யறுத்து - அமிர்தம்கொண்டு. இச்சைக்கு - உடலை வளர்க்கும் ஆசை கொண்டு.
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