My interest in this is flagging, because there is not enough sincerity in this. Sometimes it seems as if this is a big ego-trip, but I tell myself I am just taking notes, and keeping my note-book open.
Any practice is arduous, and more so is a practice which asks you to turn inward. It needs sincerity, honesty, open-mindedness, spontaneity and constant watchfulness. But there are enough distractions to keep us occupied with everything that is non-Self.
6.
பெரும்பைம் புனத்தினுட்சிற்றேனல் காக்கின்ற பேதைகொங்கை
பெரும்பைம் புனத்தினுட்சிற்றேனல் காக்கின்ற பேதைகொங்கை
விரும்பும் குமரனை மேய்யன்பினான் மெல்ல மெல்லவுள்ள
அரும்புந் தனிப்பர மானந்தந் தித்தித் தறிந்தவன்றே
கரும்புந் துவர்த்துச் செந்தேனும் புலித்தறக் கைத்ததுவே.
Coming to the verse itself, in Tamil Poetry, sometimes there is an unabashedly sensual tone. Even in the most devotional of verses, you find references to the female sexual organs. It does come as a shock, but you get into the habit of chanting it without looking at what it means.
In this verse, the highlighted words mean, Kumaran (the young one) who desires the breasts of the maiden that watches over a tiny patch of the vast, green fields.
It is hard to digest that a God would desire the breasts of a maiden, Valli in this case, whom Muruga married. So Variar Swamigal gives this gloss:
The vast green fields are this world. The tiny patch is where the crop of wisdom grows. The maiden is the individual soul. Breats are the mature state of the individual soul. The Lord seeks the Soul in its mature state.
It is okay as far as glosses go. But if we worship Muruga in His physical form, it is hard to get rid of the physical image.
I don't know what it is, but our religion does not keep the sacred away from the profane- it embraces our sexuality with gusto.
Here is a quote from Chandogya Upanishad:
"Woman, O Gautama, is the fire, her sexual organ is the fuel, what invites is the smoke, the vulva is the flame, what is done inside is the embers, the pleasures are the sparks. (V.viii.I)
"In this fire the gods offer semen as libation. Out of that offering the foetus is formed. (V.viii.II)"
I don't know what to make of this. This is too daring a concept.
However, I would like to add a verse from Guru vachaka kovai. This is verse 425.
"O mind, how restless you are,
as if caught in an obsession!
Is there anything but the consciousness
that was not born of any other thing but itself-
what else could be the ground
for all these moving and unmoving objects!"
There is only consciousness, self-born, self-seeing. All desires that are turned outward, are turned only towards the Self.
This is with men like us, and this should be so with the Gods too, I guess.
Oh, there is nothing wrong in the ego trip Baskaran, especially if it makes you write this blog. (assuming that the first two paragraphs are meant for the readers)
ReplyDeleteFor me, for I, sexuality is not profane, not at all, even when mixed with philosophy or religion.
Despite the symbolism implied through Variar's translation, I find great wisdom and strength in your translation. I see it as pure, untouched by morals and sanctions. Through this pure form, I could be inspired towards stories and philosophies.
And if it's religion, and if it embraces sexuality, then it is the truth, isn't it? Perhaps the followers, down the ages, were removed from it and relied on societal norms and practices of religion. That is why, perhaps, the surprise on reading sacred scriptures.
The definition of sacred has come to mean negation of sex. And thus our surprise.
Good writing.
Thanks a lot for your encouragement.
ReplyDeleteI am a bit uneasy about this, to be frank. Arunagirinathar, who is the author of Kandharalangaram, has no restraints at all. He is one of the poets with no suppression at all, which comes as a surprise, because religion is seen as suppression of our natural drives. Sometimes he is explicit, which you don't see often even in the non-religious poetry. His verses come straight from the heart, it think.
Regards,