srigurubhyO namahA |
In the 164th mantrA the sage observes that we have decided to ignore common sense in order to delude ourselves with ideas of 'possession' and 'ownership' when our time here is but fleeting and momentary.
The lamp remains but the flame is out,
Loud the fools lament but the truth ignore;
Night follows day--this they fail to grasp,
And thus immersed fall and moan,
Ever sobbing more and more. I.2.22.164
In the 164th mantrA the sage observes that we have decided to ignore common sense in order to delude ourselves with ideas of 'possession' and 'ownership' when our time here is but fleeting and momentary.
இடிஞ்சில் இருக்க விளக்கொ கொண்டான்
முடிஞ்ச தறியார் முழங்குவர் மூடர்
விடிஞ்சுஇரு ளாவது அறியா உலகம்
படிஞ்சு கிடந்து பதைக்கின்ற வாறே. I.2.22.164
முடிஞ்ச தறியார் முழங்குவர் மூடர்
விடிஞ்சுஇரு ளாவது அறியா உலகம்
படிஞ்சு கிடந்து பதைக்கின்ற வாறே. I.2.22.164
The lamp remains but the flame is out,
Loud the fools lament but the truth ignore;
Night follows day--this they fail to grasp,
And thus immersed fall and moan,
Ever sobbing more and more. I.2.22.164
Com
- The lamp remains but the flame is out,
while the lamp like body remained, the Lord of death has snatched away with his
noose the flame like life. Loud the
fools lament but the truth ignore; and the fools lacking in wisdom fail to
recognise the truth about the mortality of the body, and instead lament for the
body and are led astray. Night follows
day--this they fail to grasp, they fail to grasp the truth that the day
(life) and the night (death) occur repeatedly one after the other, again and
again. And thus immersed affected by
this delusion they imagine that this body is real fall and moan, Ever sobbing more and more. And considering it to be
permanent, they go through the misery of the cycle of birth and death forever.
*Common
sense should be enough knowledge for one to recognise the temporal nature of
the body. We choose to ignore this basic and most startling fact and instead willingly
engage ourselves with the false notion of our permanence on a daily basis. This
delusion keeps us performing actions that eventually become seeds for future
births and thus trap us more and more in the quick sand like samsArA or the transmigratory cycle.
Like night follows day invariably, death follows birth.
thirucchitrambalam |
2 comments:
your english translation is so good, at times, your translation looks better than the original tamil verse.
only a person who could have grasped the poem in its entirety can do this job and you are great in it.
Kudos.
Major Randhawa
srigurubhyO namahA |
@ Major Randhawa
You are simply too indulgent! Thank you for the kind words.
Though I know only too well that I could never even in my wildest dreams compare myself to the siddar thirumUlar. Often I lament the limited scope of English as a language (not to mention my miniscule intellect)when it comes to metaphysical writing. The original thirumandiram in Tamil is at once poetic and full of true statements and extremely astute observations on human nature and psychology. I could never bring out the essence of it fully to do the justice it deserves.
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