Thiruvadi Perumai-

Commentary

Dear seekers of truth,

With the grace of Saint Vallalar, the commentary on “Thiruvadi Perumai” has been taken up and it is to be pursued to its logical conclusion for publishing as a book under the caption “Vallalar, Scientist of the Scientists” so that the precious message in the collection spreads the length and breadth of this world. The generation today which seeks a scientific foundation for any of its consideration ought to experience the scientific depths attained by the Spiritual Saint more than a century before when the scientific thought itself was in its infancy. It is the duty of the devotees of Vallalar to lift ‘Thiruvadi Perumai’ from the land of its forgetfulness and elevate it to the intellect of earnest aspirants as the alpha and omega of the philosophy of Vallalar.

2. Thought form is the most subtle eruption within and when it is forged into a linguistic expression, its reach is hampered because of the limitations inherent in the lingua franca. Therefore, it may be stated in all sincerity that none of the lexicons and the thesaurus on Tamil in this world could accurately delineate the meaning inherent and intended in the most powerful thought latent in the spontaneous outburst of the songs of Vallalar. We all know in which of the dictionary, lexicon or thesaurus the meaning given by Vallalar to the word “Tamil” and the epithet “the world all over” as it appears in “Periya Puranam”, is inherent? The collection of the songs commenced its journey under different captions -- ‘Varambil Viyappu’, ‘Thathuva Malai’ and ‘Thiruvadi Perumai’--as deemed appropriate by the thoughtful publishers committed to serve the cause of the supreme among the saints

3. In my opinion, vallalarSpace.com is the electronic Sathya Gnana Sabai where the modern day world participating in the ‘sat vichara’ as professed by Vallalar is underway. Therefore, any member within or outside the Space having contrary views on this commentary is at liberty to correct me wherever it appears to be lacking in meaning and wherever the message is distorted as not intended, by a constructive criticism drawing appropriate passages from the repository of poetry or prose of Vallalar. Then only, this ‘sat vichara’ could be far from partial and beneficial to all the members congregating around the Space to seek the correct path of Vallalar.

4. Now let us take up the opening song of ‘Thiruvadi Perumai’ which also overlaps as song no 34 in Anubhava Malai;

Thiruvadi Perumai –Sixth Thirumurai Courtesy Vallalarspace.com

திருவாளர் கனகசபைத் திருநடஞ்செய் தருள்வார்
தேவர்சிகா மணிஎனக்குத் திருமாலை கொடுத்தார்
உருவாளர் அருவாகி ஒளியாகி வெளியாய்
ஓங்குகின்றார் என்னுடைய உயிர்த்துணைவர் அவர்தம்
பெருவாய்மைத் திறம்சிறிதும் பேசமுடி யாதே
பேசுவதார் மறைகளெலாம் கூசுகின்ற என்றால்
துருவாமல் இங்கெனக்குக் கிடைத்ததைஎன் சொல்வேன்
சொல்லளவல் லாதசுகம் தோன்றுவதென் தோழி

Song No.1

Dancing in the golden council, graceful, prime of Supreme,

Monarch of the pantheon blessed me with a garland divine

Being the form, becoming the formless, all light and space

Excelling all, has become the mate of my soul, of His own

Truthfulness, grain of His grandeur could never be assessed

All of Vedas praising the sole of Him are to shrink if to praise

On my part without any effort blessed I was, how to express

How bliss immeasurable springs beyond words, oh my maid.

Gracing Prime Supreme:

திருவாளர் கனகசபைத் திருநடஞ்செய் தருள்வார்
Dancing in the golden council, graceful, prime of Supreme,

5. Even within the six darsanas of Hinduism, there is no room for god in Sankyam. Above that of Purusha, there is no specific mention or any reference to god in Nyaya and Vaishesika. Purva Mimasa is silent about god. Buddhism and Jainism negated god. Lao Tzu the founder of Taoism questioned the very existence of god but now he is being deified and worshipped as god. Philosophers like Bertrand Russell denounced god and scientists like Stephen Hawking challenged god. Albert Einstein wondered aloud as to whether God played dice in the cosmos. But Vallalar places god in the unimagined altitude of humanity much beyond the pinnacle of religion with the wings of science as it is evident from the line of thought emanating from the songs as we progress through the collection. The god of greatest truthfulness graces all by his eternal cosmic dance within the council golden.

6. Vallalar addresses not only the atheists and agnostics but also the theists as to how their perception about god is fundamentally defective by drawing a comparison. He is the monarch of all the pantheon of gods known to this world. The world is his dance. In what sense the god of Vallalar is supreme to others could be better appreciated if we draw Vallalar’s conclusion which is highly authoritative and categorically arbitrary in the following passage.

Thiruvadi Nilai- Sixth Thirumurai Courtesy Vallalarspace.com

தடையுறாப் பிரமன் விண்டுருத் திரன்மா
யேச்சுரன் சதாசிவன் விந்து
நடையுறாப் பிரமம் உயர்பரா சத்தி
நவில்பர சிவம்எனும் இவர்கள்
இடையுறாத் திருச்சிற் றம்பலத் தாடும்
இடதுகாற் கடைவிரல் நகத்தின்
கடையுறு துகள்என் றறிந்தனன் அதன்மேற்
கண்டனன் திருவடி நிலையே

Unhampered Brahma, Vishnu, Rudhra

Maheshwara, Sadasiva and as of the light

Transcending Brahmam, higher Primordial,

The celestial Sivam of all, I learnt them as

Particles of dust accumulated at the base

Of the finger nail last, of the leg to the left

Dancing incessantly in the council astral

Above them, I saw state of the feet divine.

Garland Divine:

தேவர்சிகா மணிஎனக்குத் திருமாலை கொடுத்தார்
Monarch of the pantheon blessed me with a garland divine

7. God has gifted a garland divine to Vallalar. In several passages in all the six cantos Vallalar has declared that he is the bride married to God, the bridegroom who has shown to Vallalar from the beginning of all the schematic design and function of this cosmos. Many a brows have been raised and a quilt of sinister questions was arrowed as to the incompatibility of such a matrimonial relationship between god and Vallalar. It is Vallalar’s way of expressing the intensity of the spiritual intercourse with god and it is a spiritual integration of not a realised soul but a truthful soul with its master. The marriage is not on the volition of the soul but on the choice of the master who has elevated the state of the soul to be in union with the creator of such soul. That is the garland of divine union. The knowledge is not consequent to a disciple sitting near his master as in the case of an Upanishad. The knowledge is consequent to a soulful integration on a premise where Vallalar not only witnessed the cosmic mechanism but also engineered the operation of the cosmos as per the divine will.

Full of form, void as the formless:

உருவாளர் அருவாகி ஒளியாகி வெளியாய்

Being the form, becoming the formless, all light and space

8. Vallalar declares that everything manifests in this cosmos is He. He is of all the forms in this world. “Vishnu Sahasranama” sings about a thousand names of Vishnu. ‘Saundharyalahari’ is an epitome praising the beauty of the Primordial. Vallalar asserts that god is the form of all forms. He is also the formless and in that sense nameless also. He is the light with which we can dispel the darkness of ignorance, darkness of limitation. He is measureless beyond the space infinite

A sojourn with god as His soul mate:

ஓங்குகின்றார் என்னுடைய உயிர்த்துணைவர்

Excelling in all, has become the mate of my soul,

9. The declaration of Vallalar that

“Never I shall utter falsehood, Never shall I exaggerate and I speak only truth”

is not to be restricted to ‘Gnana Sariyai’ alone. Only a person who chooses to walk along with Vallalar in the path of truth leaving falsity and exaggeration could have a glimpse of God. Before knowing the experience of the soul, we ought to know the existence of the soul. The cosmos is a relationship between god and soul. The soul when experiences the nature of truth which is the manifestation of god, it understands its master in all his grace.

10. Socrates believed in the existence of soul, Plato did but Aristotle did not. Buddhism asserts that nothing is permanent in this world. Then how soul which is known for its permanence can have a place in Buddhism? No wonder J Krishnamurthi denounced the very existence of soul on the ground that soul is the very creation of mind which wants some sort of permanence in this world to cling on.

11. Every soul is unique. The lock of one soul can never be opened by the key of another soul however great it may be in its existence. The life of such a realised or enlightened soul may be a beacon light for the souls still wallowing in darkness but each and every soul has to work its own way just as every seed has to grow into a tree to bear its own fruit. Whatever may be past actions of the soul, the soul is always set at liberty to correct its path in line with truthfulness leaving aside falsity and exaggeration much against the clutches of praraptha karma. It is only the conduct of the soul which forges the key to unlock itself not from the bondages of its past but to have access to its future in the territory of immortality.

12. While the vedantic school and its exponents such as Adi Sankara down to Maharishi Ramana in the chronology have propagated that even the soul which have attained the state of a jeevan muktha are under the mercy of praraptha karma till their bodies fall on the ground, Vallalar alone showed that the soul is always at liberty to overcome the clutches of praraptha to forge its own path towards perfection. When the carbon becomes the diamond, who would assay the diamond on the merits of a carbon?

The greater truthfulness;

பெருவாய்மைத் திறம்சிறிதும் பேசமுடி யாதே

of His own

Truthfulness, a grain of His grandeur could never be assessed

13. The earth rotates on its axis around at 1,600 km per hour. The earth goes round the sun at one lahk km per hour. But we are not alive to such natural truth and even when aware of tend to ignore such cosmic phenomena as irrelevant to the existence on earth. Our intelligence which is related to our physical and mental living fails us. It is where the human intellect lacks to grasp the reality. We see with naked eyes. Beyond our sense of sight, we see with equipments or instruments. Our existence is between the infrared and ultraviolet. We are not in a position to know what is beyond infra red and ultra violet. But there is something beyond the instruments and in that sense we are blind. We are not in a position to hear below or above certain decibels. In that sense we are also deaf.

14. With such limitations rampant in our nature we are actually handicapped. Therefore, it passes comprehension, as to how could our understanding blissfully oblivious of such deformities be complete to know about god, much less competent to pass any comment on the very existence of our creator?

Shrinking Vedas:

பேசுவதார் மறைகளெலாம் கூசுகின்ற என்றால்

All of Vedas praising the sole of Him are to shrink if to praise

15. We all think that the discourses given by Swami Vivekananda at Chicago from September 11, 1893 are more eloquent. Anyone who follows the Swami on his return to India is astounded by the extensive discourse on vedas by Vivekananda enroute at Yalppanam on 23rd January 1897. He explained as to how the Vedas are eternal and in that sense they are infallible. But Vallalar holds whatever may be the antiquity of the Vedas and the authority of the seers, still the Vedas are inadequate and the Vedic content is incompetent to reflect on the great truthfulness of god. Vedas were revelations made to certain aspiring minds. Therefore, the revelations on receipt were limited corresponding to the capacity of the aspiring souls. In that sense the Vedas as such do not reflect the truthful whole but a part of the whole. At one point of time revelation was frozen and there was only evolution in the commentary alone. That is why all the commentaries as on date on the said Vedas result in only interpretations of the divided whole.

16. Vedas were reduced to Upanishads, Upanishads to Brahma sutras. When writing commentaries on the Brahma sutras, Adi Sankara delieneated as Advaitha, Ramanuja as Visistadvaitha and Mathwa as Dvaitha. Even such enlightened seers differed in their ideologies and stood divided without reaching the unity at the god head. But Valalar wrote in Mahadevamalai as to how god is beyond all the philosophies created by human intelligence realised and enlightened in partial truth.

Mahadevamalai Courtesy Vallalarspace.com

தோன்றுதுவி தாத்துவித மாய்வி சிட்டாத்
துவிதமாய்க் கேவலாத் துவித மாகிச்
சான்றசுத்தாத் துவிதமாய்ச் சுத்தந் தோய்ந்த
சமரசாத் துவிதமுமாய்த் தன்னை யன்றி
ஊன்றுநிலை வேறொன்று மிலதாய் என்றும்
உள்ளதாய் நிரதிசய உணர்வாய் எல்லாம்
ஈன்றருளுந் தாயாகித் தந்தை யாகி
எழிற்குருவாய்த் தெய்வதமாய் இலங்குத் தேவே

“Manifest in all as that of duality, conditioned

As that of monism, as of monism unconditioned

As that of monism chaste; untainted as equitable

Pristine monism of universality, other than self

With foundation none, emanating out of nothing,

Immortal as ever in the awareness immaculate,

Delivering in birth with grace as mother, as father,

Beautiful as a teacher and as deity, my Lord”

Bliss Immeasurable:

துருவாமல் இங்கெனக்குக் கிடைத்ததைஎன் சொல்வேன்
சொல்லளவல் லாதசுகம் தோன்றுவதென் தோழி

On my part without any effort blessed I was, how to express

How bliss immeasurable springs beyond words, oh my maid.

17. Those who cherish the view that vallalar came of age and maturity only after entering into Vadalur of Mettukuppam may be pleased to note that such a cardinal departure from the theory of karma has been formulated by the saint In ‘Manumuraikanda Vasagam’ published in the year 1854. It is also equally true in the case of the collected writings of Vallalar upto 5th Thirumurai which saw the light of the day in print in the year 1867 after a protracted compulsion on the part of Irukkam Rathinasamy from 1860 to 1866 with Vallalar and the remaining collection withheld from publication by Vallalar himself came out in print in the year 1885 as 6^th Thirumurai which contain supreme thoughts unknown to the world as on date in philosophy and still alien to science till date as well. Therefore, the contribution in its entirety well prior to 1860s barring Aghaval and few others prove beyond any doubt that Vallalar did not evolve from a sapling to a tree. The wisdom of mellowed fruitfulness of the supreme saint consequent to the supreme grace is still visible even in his silence as well.

18. It is the duty of the present generation devoted to truth and committed to peace to see that such precious findings bequeathed by the Saint to posterity are not meant simply to be preserved like Egyptian mummies in some of the well guarded archives as artifacts of antiquity but to be disseminated throughout this world as a knowledge essential to every human being to understand the instrument of existence as a whole with all its parts.

With regards

sivajayakumar