Sage Thayumanavar

[Guest guest]

The Sage Thayumanavar

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The rock temple at Trisirapuram is a marvel of lndian architecture.

It enshrines the image of Thayumanavar - the God of Mother love. The

temple is busy with crowds of devotees singing devotional songs and

dancing in ecstasy. Among them we see a brilliant boy, fair in

colour, tall in stature, with rosy cheeks, lotus face and

phosphorescent eyes beaming with grace and rays of knowledge. The boy

contemplates upon the Divine for a while and then leaves the crowd.

He quickly gets up to the topmost temple of the hill. There Ganesa

stands. The boy sits self immersed, meditates a while, and then

sings:

 

"Rare is human birth.

While yet I live on this earth, in this body, with heart and soul,

I must revel in the ecstasy of Divine Grace."

The boy seeks a spiritual teacher to initiate him in the secret of

the divine art. He stands again before Lord Thayumanavar and pours

out his soul's aspirations into songs.

 

He becomes silent in meditation, tears gushing out of his eyes in

pearl drops of ecstasy.

 

A tall stately man comes in haste. He looks here and there and

catches hold of the boy saying, "Come home; how long are you to be

here? Come !" That is his father, Kediliappa. Kediliappa ' literally

means immortal Father. Born to this mortal father. the boy sought

Father, the immortal. This saintly boy is our Thayumanavar. He was

named after the Deity of the Rock-Temple. Kediliappa Pillai, a Chola

Vellala was an administrative officer of the Naik Kingdom.

Kediliappa originally lived at Vedaranyam, a famous pilgrim centre.

He was the trustee of the local temple. He was a learned man high in

intellect and wide in heart. His wife Gajavalli was a pious lady

humming devotional songs while attending to house-keeping. Their home

was surrounded by a divine aureole. The liberality of their hearts

expressed itself in charity and hospitality. There was a royal

dignity in the personality of Kediliappa, and a remarkable sweetness

in his words. His elder brother, Vedaranyam, a great scholar well

placed in life, had no children. Kediliappa offered his own boy Siva

Chidambaram in adoption to the elder brother. The brother's face

glowed with joy and there was sunlight again in his life.

 

The King's Favour :

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Those were days of the Naik kings. The Pandyann dynasty had declined.

The Naik chiefs of Vijayanagar possessed the Madurai Kingdom ( 1559-

1736). Visvanatha, Tirumalai, and Mangammal were noteworthy rulers of

Madurai. They were great patrons of art and poetry. The grandson of

Mangammal was Vijaya Ranga Chokkanatha. He set up his residence at

Thrisirapuram. He was a pious man, but not a statesman. He ruled for

twenty-seven years ( 1704-1731 ). His kingdom was often attacked by

the Maharattas and the Mussalmans. He wanted strong assistants. His

minister Govindappa one day came to Vedaranyam. Kediliappa received

the august guest with temple honours and entertained him under his

hospitable roof. Both of them spoke on religion and politics. The

Minister said, "Kedili, you are a scholar, a devotee, an astute

statesman, a clever diplomat and a keen accountant. You are just the

man that we are seeking. Come with me and serve the King". Kediliappa

shifted his family to Trisirapuram. King Chokkanatha, pleased even at

the firstsight, took Kedili into his council and gave him a free hand

in the management of his household. Kedili was faithful to the king,

alert to his duty and timely in advising him against enemies.

Chokkanatha treated him like a brother. Kedili's fame and fortune

flourished day by day. There was only one gloomy spot in his life;

that was the absence of a child to cheer his home.

He and his wife went daily to the rock-temple and prayed to Swami

Thayumanavar for a child. They fed saints and made gifts to scholars.

Kedili chanted holy songs. He also arranged for Vedic recitals before

the sanctum of Thayumanavar. While the atmosphere was thus charged

with holy vibrations, his wife Gajavalli became enceinte. Gajavalli

spent her days in prayer and holy hearing. One day devotees were

chanting the soul-thrilling psalms of Maniccavachakar when Gajavalli

delivered the gifted child. That child was named Thayuamavar, for it

was born by the grace of Thayumanavar Swami. Kedili was overjoyed at

the sight of his luminous son, radiant in beauty. Temple bells rang

in blessings.

 

Learning and Yearning :

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Everyone was attracted to this lovely child. King Chokkanatha admired

the boy and marked him for his service. The father brought up the son

with high hopes. He taught him Tamil and Sanskrit, spiritual lore and

statecraft. The king was satisfied with his progress. He was the

cynosure of saints and scholars. He was an adept in Vedanta and

Siddhanta. He read with rapture the hymns of Saints like

Maniccavachakar, Appar, Sambandhar and Sundarar. He mastered the

Meikanda Sastras. These are holy books in Tamil.

He studied the Upanishads, side by side with Tiruvachakam. He was a

clever logician and none could rival him in discussions. But, he was

not satisfied with book-lore. Books did not reveal the Blessed One

cradled in his heart. Words did not quench his thirst. From sunrise

to sunset, he was seeking for something within, for somebody that can

lead him to the fount of Self-Conscious Bliss. He had a rich home. He

had free access to the King's palace. He was welcomed in royal

circles. But the born sage preferred solitude to company, reflection

to reading and introspection to speaking. Words were loads to him,

and books burdens. He went often to the rock-temple and spent his

time in meditation and prayer. In the bosom of purified calmness, in

the silent seclusion of inner peace, he sought Self-reality with all

the fervour of his faith. His eyes flowed with tears of yearning. His

lips throbbed with songs of spiritual melancholy. He had the sage-

mind of Pattinattar, the contemplation of the Buddha, the inspiration

of Vedic seers, the fervour of Maniccavachakar, the humility of Appar

and the faith of Sambandhar. Nuggets of golden truth, cast in

brilliant couplets, came out of the inner mine. Then longer poems

flowed out spontaneously. Showering tear-pearls gushing out of his

lotus eyes, the boy saluted and contemplated upon the Supreme.

Learning yielded to yearning.

 

Thayumanavar saw the Hata-yogins controlling breath and twisting

their bodies. He saw religionists in hot discussion; he saw

verbomaniacs quarrelling about the God whom they cannot even imagine.

He sought solace in the Unique One who is all and all in all.

 

He invoked His grace day and night for a Guiding Light.

 

Royal Service :

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Kediliappa did not live to see the brilliant manhood of his son. He

joined the majority while yet Thayumanavar was in his teens. His

father's death intensified his yearning for spiritual freedom. "With

this body, I must attain liberation ", This was his resolution. But

the King would not leave him to himself. " Dear Thayumanavar, serve

me in your father's place" said he. Thayumanavar had to obey the

King. He became the Chancellor of exchequer of the Naik Kingdom. He

fulfilled his state duties to the entire satisfaction of the King who

loved him more and more. His Rani Meenakshi, fondled him. She was

ready to do anything for him. People liked his gentle manners and

benevolent heart. He did his duty for duty's sake; but his heart was

aloof from the distractions of state affairs. He saw what the world

was and took lessons from what he saw.

Those were troubled times. Trisirapuram was a field of conflicting

forces. The throne was shaken by invasions and revolutions. Political

butchery, local treachery, social animosity, royal indolence and

religious pretence disrupted the harmony of life everywhere. The

marauding Maharatta hordes and the invading Nawab's forces were

lurking in ambush in the vicinity. The clatter of enemy swords

enervated the Naik forces. Thayumanavar saw with open eyes the danger

of royal courts disrupting by flippant pleasures. The kingdom was a

web of spies and a trap of enemies. The friends of today became the

foes of to-morrow. None can play with fire without being scorched.

Thayumanavar did not like to be caught in this political turmoil. He

witnessed a thousand golden hypocrisies and pitied humanity caught in

the coils of temptation.

 

Thayumanavar despised the mere life of carnal desires. Yoga was his

deep aspiration. A Master sought the Seeker.

 

(to be contd......)

[Guest guest]

Master :

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One day Thayumanavar went up the rock-temple for his daily worship.

There he met a Sage who belonged to the order of St. Tiru Mula. The

Master and the disciple discovered each other. The disciple fell at

the feet of the Master, shedding tears of joy and poured out his

heart in sublime hymns.

The Master blessed him graciously, took him alone, and accepted his

devotion.

 

"Master" said the disciple, "I shall follow Thee, renouncing home and

royal service."

 

"Wait. good soul! " admonished the Teacher,

"Be a householder until you beget a child.

Then I shall come to initiate you in meditation.

Be silent. Rest in peace; keep quiet; have faith.

You will reach the supreme state of Bliss".

Having said this, the Master went away.

 

Thayumanavar shed tears of joy and gratitude at the love of his

gracious Master

who opened his inner eye and followed his teachings faithfully.

 

Liberation :

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The free soul, hungering for the inner delight, cannot live in the

limitations of a royal court. Its proud pleasures are flimsy shows of

sanity. It is a place for flatterers and not for sages and seer-

poets. Thayumanavar would make his life a song-offering to the Divine

of his heart. He would live in the Divine, for the Divine. He lived

in tune with the Infinite and would not seek the lightning smile of

royal favour. He would be the king of the Spirit's kingdom and never

a slave of worldly empires. He would enjoy the soul's birth-right.

He remembered God in all the changing phases of life. He aspired for

grace and never for gold.

 

As knowledge dawned upon the aspirant, he rose above the mythic

imagination of mental poets, coloured exaggerations, fads, creeds,

cults and dogmas. Faith in the inner reality gave him force. Force

fructified into grace and grace into knowledge. He drew the mind from

the wandering senses into inner recollection, and contemplated upon

the pure reality which he was. He discriminated the Spirit from the

body of nature. He internalised his attention, intensified his

concentration, controlled his thoughts and lulled his mind to

meditation. A dynamic peace possessed him. His heart widened into a

deep compassion for all. His equal vision saw one Soul in the king

and in the subject. Life in harmony with the Divine was eternal

springtime; life in separation was cyclonic winter. His brain

thought, his heart loved, his vital liked nothing but the Divine.

 

The invincible Grace heard his heart-beat. It influenced the king.

Chokkanatha was a devotee of Siva and lover of saints. He saw a holy

saint in his secretary, Thayumanavar. "Thayumanavar," said the king

one day. "your Pilgrim Soul seeks the inner temple. I see the hidden

light flaring up in your emotional symphony. We see the world with a

thousand-eyed mind and arc deluded. You see the spirit of things with

the one-eyed heart. Can the myriad-eyed night equal the one-eyed

day ? Your soul hungers after the Supreme Reality. State service is a

hindrance to your aspirations. Waste not your days in politics and

diplomacy's. You are no more the king's servant; the king is your

servant. Come, I shall raise a peaceful Ashram for you, and you can

fix yourself in yoga there".

 

"I am grateful to you. O king; God has heard my prayer from your

heart. I am liberated; thanks " said the saint, and he repaired to

the banks of the Kaveri to continue his meditation. The king raised a

fine hermitage on the river bank and served the saint devoutly.

 

Mother :

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The saint was self-absorbed. The mind was nullified like a burnt

camphor, in the flames of self-consciousness. Body-consciousness was

lost in the Infinite Spirit. The body changes and falls like the

petals of a flower. The immortal Spirit rises up at the magic touch

of the Divine Energy generated by meditation. The saint realised the

self of all throbbing in his heart. He felt the pinch of hunger when

any one was hungry. He shivered when a poor man had no clothes for

the winter.

One day the king offered him a rich shawl. At that moment, a poor old

lady passed by shivering in cold. Thayumanavar gave the shawl to the

lady, saying " Mother, you need this more than I". The king felt

insulted and demanded an explanation.

 

 

King: Swami, I gave a fine shawl for your use

and you have presented it to the old hag of low caste. Why so ?

Thayumanavar: No caste, no hag !

I gave the shawl to the Universal Mother !

It is She who has received back what belonged to Her.

 

Silence meets silence :

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The great silent sage, Sadasiva Firahmam, sanctified the atmosphere

of India in those days. He moved steeped in trance. The sky was his

roof and earth his home. To see him was to know the Real. His songs

were already popular among the learned. On his way to Pudukottah,

Sage Sadasiva met Thayumanavar (1738). Their meeting was like the

meeting of Vedanta and Siddhanta.

 

"Silence is Peace; Silence is Bliss; Silence is Knowledge" wrote the

sage.

 

Thayumanavar already a lover of Silence, became yet more silent.

 

The King Dies :

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The time was troubled by plots of enemy chiefs and by open

skirmishes. Now the Maharatta cannon thundered and now the Musalman

powder exploded. The foreigners became aggressive.

Peace was in exile and war shook the land with terror. Traitors

betrayed masters. Enemy spies created divisions in the camp. King

Chokkanatha was a good man but not a good ruler. He called to his

help, anybody and everybody. The only true helper was the Tondaman of

Pudukottah, a brave hero who guarded the Trisirapuram fort with the

help of his Marava heroes. But a double-dealing Iago sent a secret

spy to the sabre-rattling Maharattas. The Maharattas had politics in

their brain and courage in their heart. One night when everything

seemed quiet, the fort entrance opened; the main door swang aside;

trumpets were heard, guns reported; cannons boomed; the Maharattas

were in the heart of the city.

 

Chokkanatlla was choked with grief. He must either become his enemy's

prisoner or die, shedding blood in fighting an overwhelming force.

Chokkallatlla would do neither. He shouted aloud the name of God: "

Siva, Siva, how false is the world! How dangerous sovereignty and how

heavy the crown! Man has a treacherous tiger in him. How can I trust

human nature? I take refuge at Thy feet, Siva ! Siva ! " The king

died of broken heart. The pathetic scene inspired the Naik army with

new courage. Raghu natha Raya Tondaman, the famous king of

Pudukottah, took charge of the task of guarding the fort: vigilant

swords and cannons kept the Maharatta hordes at hay. The Tondaman

crushed the enemies whose plots were leading to a conflagration. The

dread of war being over, Rani Meenakshi, the widow of Chokkanatha,

assumed sovereignty (1731-1736).