While life still throbs, fix your mind on the Lord - mantrA 179

srigurubhyO namahA |

Using simple words, the sage urges us to start fixing our minds on the supreme siva before youth and good health are replaced by old age and sickness.

தேய்ந்தற் றொழிந்த இளமை கடைமுறை
ஆய்ந்தற்ற பின்னை அரிய கருமங்கள்
பாய்ந்தற்ற கங்கைப் படர்சடை நந்தியை
ஓர்ந்துற்று கொள்ளும் உயிருள்ள போதே. I.4. 3.179

When youth had danced its way to palsied age,
Scarce the chance to fill the years with good deeds more and more;
So while life still throbs, fix your mind on Nandi,
Into whose spreading locks
The holy waters of Ganga eternally pour. I.4.3.179

Com – When youth had danced its way to palsied age, when one’s youth has waned bit by bit over the years and has diminished totally Scarce the chance to fill the years with good deeds more and more; resulting in old age (with its disabilities and weakness) and in this stage in one’s life it is very difficult (almost impossible) to undertake the performance of various meritorious actions (like intense tapas and other austerities). So while life still throbs, Hence when this life is still connected to a healthy and vital body fix your mind on Nandi, Into whose spreading locks The holy waters of Ganga eternally pour. One must undertake every effort to meditate on the Lord, who is all encompassing and into whose matted locks the holy Ganga flows on her descent from the heavens and merges in the vastness of His form.

*The sage urges everyone to take steps towards attaining union with the supreme siva while still possessed of youth and good health.

thirucchitrambalam ||

Even a lifetime is not enough to know Him - mantrA 178

srigurubhyO namahA |
Keeping with the same theme of the transience of youth, the sage declares that even if the ignorant were blessed with extraordinary life span, they would waste the years in delusion and still be unable to know the true principle that is the source of all.

ஆண்டு பலவுங் கழிந்தன அப்பனைப்
பூண்டுகொண் டாரும் புகுந்தறி வாரில்லை
நீண்டன காலங்கள் நீண்டு கொடுக்கினும்
தூண்டு விளக்கின் சுடரறி யாரே. I.4.2.178

 

The years roll; but none the Lord in his bosom holds;
None to probe and perceive Him profound;
Even if Time's thread be to the utmost stretched,
Still they know not the spark that kindles all the lamps around.I.4.2.178

Com - The years roll; numerous years have been spent in ignorance but none the Lord in his bosom holds; None to probe and perceive Him profound; there are hardly any who are able to seek out the supreme, the source of all life and merge it within their hearts and bask in the effulgence of the akhanda oLi (eternal Light) and thus cultivate their spiritual wealth/ higher intelligence. Even if Time's thread be to the utmost stretched, even if they (i.e. the people of the world) were given the rare boon of having an extraordinarily long life lasting centuries on this worldly plane Still they know not the spark that kindles all the lamps around. They would not be able to realise the supreme lord, who is like the risen wick of the lamp that kindles light.

*The term ‘தூண்டு விளக்கின்’ or the spark that kindles refers here to the process of sAdhanA or the spiritual process/actions. The fact that the supreme truth (Lord) is experienced through the carefully kindled and cultivated fire of sAdhanA is illustrated by the sage’s choice of words. Here, we need to understand that by the word sAdhanA we mean those spiritual processes/ techniques that are characterised by the individual aspirant’s dedicated and conscious effort to attain to the supreme. Though the body of the lamp, the wick, the ghee/oil, the flame, are all part of the lamp; the actual process of kindling the wick is what is mainly responsible for increasing the illumination/light. In a similar vein, the aspirant should engage in constant effort to attain knowledge of the self. Coupling this with the first half of the verse we will arrive at the following meaning – That before the years roll on by and before one’s youth and strength are lost to disease and old age, one must seek the right method through which to attain the supreme Lord and be established in His effulgence. 

thirucchitrambalam ||