Wednesday, August 08, 2012

Your vigil and wisdom alone accompany the departing soul - mantrA 144

srigurubhyO namahA |

In the 144th mantrA the sage declares that the merit gained through the performance of tapas or austerities and the wisdom (i.e true self knowledge) gathered in one's life are the only things that will accompany the soul once it has left the body. Neither ones loved ones nor wealth is capable of making this journey beyond life.


பண்டம்பெய் கூரை பழகி விழுந்தக்கால்
உண்ட அப் பெண்டிரும் மக்களும் பின்செலார்
கொண்ட விரதமும் ஞானமும் அல்லது
மண்டி அவருடன் வழிநட வாதே. I.2.2.144

This roof of delights, when by use, to pieces falls,
Wife nor children who all enjoyed follow the parting Soul
Only the holy vigils kept and wisdom gained
Remain to save--others dwindle and desert us all. I.2.2.144

 
Com - This roof of delights, when by use, to pieces falls, When the allocated karma bhOgAs (i.e. the various pleasures and enjoyments that are earned as a result of merits and demerits from the past) for the sake of which this body was created are exhausted after being experienced, then this body will fall. Wife nor children who all enjoyed follow the parting Soul (At this stage) the wife and the children (i.e. the kin of the one departed from life), who also partook of the pleasures and the gains so long, do not (or cannot) go along any further with the departing soul on its final journey. Only the holy vigils kept and wisdom gained Though the austerities (tapas) performed and the vratAs undertaken while the body was still alive and the wisdom gained thereby Remain to save--others dwindle and desert us all. Are the only things that accompany the soul on this leg of its journey, after all else have deserted it.

*The term ‘pandam peikUrai’ in the original refers to a thatched roof – a symbol to evoke the fact that our lives are such a thatch work of good and bad karma. Roof is used here to also suggest a limit and the limit of human life span is really the end of the allotted experiences arising from merit and demerit from previous lives. Like many other poets and other siddars, the sage speaks the brutal truth by declaring that the wives and children etc, though were together at the time of sharing the various pleasures and gains in life (it also suggests the downs in life too) cannot however accompany the dead man when his allocated time is up.

The sage speaks of one’s family here as all of one’s life is usually spent in gathering the material needed for the comfort and safety of the family and oneself. But ones family and their love for one is unable to go beyond the fall of the physical body. If however one spent that time in practising the path of siva yOgA and lived according to the dharma by observing the specific rites etc, then the knowledge and wisdom gained through this will accompany the soul on is journey after the body has fallen. The wisdom and merit so gained will guide the soul into a better life or to the holy feet of siva and free him from the cycle of birth and death. Here is an indication to suggest that the merits from the right practise and wisdom are the only things that can accompany the soul into the after life.

 

thirucchitrambalam

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sir, what happens after life? Once we leave our body, the soul, is it still in knowledge of its past or it is a soul not bound by any of its bodily past?

If my body is called, say, Obama, and after death where this body perishes, does the soul have any name, any identity? Does the soul still bother about the state of affairs of the environment of its past birth or it gains a new identity, new relation, everything new?

Sri.

Anonymous said...

Sir, please add this also to my previous query?

What happens to the knowledge, wisdom gained by me in this birth. Even after leaving my body, is my soul the same one to which i had enriched through the knowledge, through the practices i did, through the rituals i did, etc etc.

Sri.

mooligai sidhan said...

srigurubhyO namahA |

@Sri,
What happens after life? This is a question that has been almost as important as is there a soul in the history of human thought. Different traditions have different opinions on this subject and of course there are those who believe that there is only one birth!
I wish to answer your question in a brief manner here without much elaboration as this is merely a comments section and will not accomodate the full extent of a proper answer.Moreover, the siddar thirumUlar himself will speak more on this in the tantrAs to come and I dont wish to jump the gun so to speak. I will explain these ideas as they come up in the later parts of the text.
Briefly,according to our rishis the soul will either travel through the dhUmamArgA (the path of smoke)or the sUryamArgA (the path of the sun)to the world of manes/ancestors or the world of dEvAs respectively; depending on whether death occured in the dakshinAyana or uttarAyana (the southerly or the northerly path of the sun). The great bhIshmA (of the mahAbhAratA)delayed his death even while lying on a bed of arrows till the arrival of uttarAyanA, and this indicates this truth.

mooligai sidhan said...

srigurubhyO namahA |
@Sri,
This newly departed soul will still be affected by the conditions of time, hunger,thirst,anger,fear etc for a period after death. This is the reason why we perform specific rituals to help this soul to make this transition (to a state of living without a physical body)for the first 13 days after death. This is a complex journey and one needs to understand many background things to discuss this properly. Please refer to the garuda purAnam if you would like to know more details about this journey of the soul after parting company from the physical body - but please be warned, it is not easy reading. There is a custom in our dharmA where different sections of this purAnam is read in the evenings in the first 13 days following death, so that those who have just lost a loved one can take comfort by understanding the bigger picture and so that they may perform the rituals with more understanding.
After a variable time period, this soul will spend time in the swarga lOkAs or the different lower talAs based on the account of merit and demerits and eventually, it will once again be born in this world called earth. The birth and the nature of life led etc are based on the karma vAsanAs and thus we are in perpetual motion - from one life to the next, with periods of non physical being in between. That is why this is known as the transmigratory cycle and that is why it has been feared by the wise.

mooligai sidhan said...

@Sri,
As the sage has revealed in this mantrA, the knowledge one has gained (not worldly knowledge, but self knowledge)and the effects of the rituals one has performed while possesed of the body will definitely accompany the soul even after the loss of the body. Thus it is evident that the effects of spiritual sAdhanA and the performance of the accorded karmAs (i.e.nitya and naimitta karmAs)are directed to produce chitta and bhUta shuddi and thus transform the soul - from being a limited being deluded by the illusory effects of avidyA, to one that can realise its true nature of sat chit AnandA. The goal of human birth is the attainment of this knowledge and we will continue incarnating physically and continue to experience the fruits of our actions until such a state is attained.

In the real and transcendental level, births and deaths are but illusory. No one was ever born and no one ever died. The Avarana (veiling) and the vikshEpa (projecting)shaktIs of mahAmAyA is such that all manner of things appear to be while there is nothing but beingness (sat).The soul, depending of its spiritual maturity will understand this at different levels.

Anonymous said...

Really enjoying your site. The only grouse i have is that, i was introduced to your site just a few days back and feel that i may have missed a lot.

Really a great literary / religious work, you are doing here.

Wishes my dear friend.

K.

Anonymous said...

was this the inspiration for veedu varai uravu, veethi varai manaivi, kaadu varai pillai, kadaisi varai yaaro..

mooligai sidhan said...

srigurubhyO namahA |

@ K,
Thank you very much for your kind words and your wishes. I hope that you enjoy your future visits to this space. All the older posts through the last several years are in the archives, so you could look through them anytime.

mooligai sidhan said...

srigurubhyO namahA |

@ anonymous,
You may be right in guessing that this verse could have been the inspiration for the song. The few more mantrAs to follow in this section would invoke the same thoughts in the mind of anyone reading them. Infact, there is a mantrA which sounds pretty much exactly like the song.