Divine Light

8

ஒளியில் விளைந்த வுயர்ஞான பூதரத் துச்சியின்மேல் 

அளியில் விளைந்ததோ ராநந்தத் தேனை யநாதியிலே

வெளியில் விளைந்த வேறும்பாழைப் பெற்ற வெறுந்தனியைத் 

தெளிய விளம்பிய வாமுகத் தேசிகனே!

Oliyil vilaintha: Born of light...  

Light has such high connotations in our tradition...  

"As the sun shines, illumining all the quarters- above, below, and across- so also God, self-resplendent, adorable, and non-dual, controls all objects, which themselves posses the nature of a cause." - Svetasvatara Upanishad (V.5) 

"May I become famous among men! Svaha! May I become richer than the rich! Svaha! O Gracious Lord, may I enter into Thee! Svaha! May Thou, O grcious Lord, enter into me! Svaha! O Lord, I an cleansing (my sins) in that Self of Thine, which is like (a river of) a thousand branches. Svaha! O Preserver, as waters flow downward, as the months merge in the year, so may brahmacharins come to me from all directions! Svaha! Thou art a refuge. To me do Thou shine forth. Accept me unto Thyself completely. - Taittiriya Upanishad, I.iv.3  

"Bhagavan explained that the Self is the one reality that always exists and it is by its light all other things are seen. We forget it and concentrate on teh appearances. The light in the hall burns, both when persons are present there and when they are absent, both when persons are enacting something as in a theatre and when nothing is being enacted. It is the light which enabled us to see the hall, the persons and the acting. We are so engrossed with the objects or appearances revealed by the light that we pay no attentin to the light. In the waking state or dream state, in which things appear, and in teh sleep state, in which we see nothin, there is always the light of consciusness or Self, like the hall-lamp always burning. The thing to do is to concentrate on the seer and not on the seen, not on the objects, but on the Light which reveals them"

-Sri Ramana Maharshi  

Caught in this dark world,  

in the absence 

of God's pure light of Grace,

it is hard to reach 

through one's own effort- 

the true source of wisdom, 

the effulgent light 

that shines even at the core of deluding darkness. 

-Guru Vachaka Kovai, 634.