Arunagiri Antadi

Arunagiri Antadi

Page 2

Those who have seen the holy feet of the Red Mountain Lord,

The foremost one, whose body blazes with the fire of true knowledge, The refuge unattainable both to the boar, who sought his two feet,

And to the swan who sought his glorious crown,

They will never again enter the womb.

Supreme Lord, who stands beyond the reach

Of him who is like a black cloud and of lotus-borne Brahma,

Great One who rides the bull!

For those who praise the devotees of the royal Lord Sonagiri

Who bears aloft the incomparable deer and axe,

What sorrow can there be?

The thought of reaching the lotus foot of the Red Mountain Lord

Praised by all those who have practised great austerities,

Can it arise in a dog such as I,

Languishing daily, as I am, in the sorrowful unending cycle of births?

Speak!

Father Sonagiri, whose greatness is such that it cannot be spoken,

And even the thoughts of Mal (20) and Brahma cannot encompass it!

Grant that the surpassing beauty of yourself,

Joined in indissoluble union with your bride,

Will never fade and recede from my sight.

Unapproachable Red Mountain Lord,

Whom even the dwellers in heaven praise!

When I, enquiring with bold confidence,

Look upon the lotus flowers of your two feet.

Which neither Hari nor Brahma could perceive,

The mind of this poor beggar will be destroyed.

To the bestower of wealth who destroyed the three cities(21)

To assuage the mental turmoil of the great rishis!

To the protector who cut off the head of Daksha,

Who was born of Brahma, through his grace!

To the Red Mountain Lord!

Look to him, O my heart, for your salvation.

My heart, place your trust each day in that truth

That was fully proclaimed by the king of heaven,

The Red Mountain Lord.

Whether he brings ruin upon our heads,

Or whether he lifts us up through his grace,

Repeat the name of Lord Sonesan and believe in his word.

Unique One, giver of goodness, Lord Sonagiri!

He whose beautiful form is seated upon the bull!

When will you grant me the boon of eternal life,

At what time shall I, in joy, obtain it?

This much tell to me, your solitary devotee, this very day!

Taking a necklace of rudraksha beads,

Whose nature is suited to solitude,

Recite the five letters(22) with full voice, one by one,

Mindful of their meaning.

Thus, earnestly seeking the feet of Lord Sonagiri,

Whose ornament is the snake,(23)

We shall obtain the boon of freedom from death for all eternity.

Those human souls who know nothing of the devotees of the

Eternal Red Mountain Lord,

Who lays down the path that we must follow,

They have no thought for the fruits of their actions,

No thought for the results of their good and evil deeds.

They are ignorant of the worship that is fitting for Lord Siva.

Bounteous one, Lord Sonagiri!

Though men are one in their physical form,

Why have you thus ordained it

That some live according to their desire,

Whilst others must cover their mouths,

And fold their arms in humble obeisance?

All the worlds are his possession;

That which moves all beings is his own movement.

He is father to all, and protector of all living things,

The Red Mountain Lord.

The mental suffering of those who speak of him

Will die away and disappear.

My heart! If you desire that medicine

Which is needed to cure the deep suffering

Of wandering from birth to death,

Pay no heed to the empty words of those that mock,

And speak but once the name of the Red Mountain Lord.

My heart! Being ever mindful of the lotus foot of him,

Who, out of his love for us,

Wears the invincible poison as an ornament at his throat,

Stand firmly fixed in the exalted worship of Lord Siva,

Believing in accordance with the injunctions of the four Vedas,

Whose meaning is hard to speak.

Unapproachable Red Mountain Father,

Who stands immanent as my place of refuge,

When it is time for my painful struggles in the ocean of births to end,

You must come.

For when I reflect, there is no other like you to help a dog such as I.

My heart! Hold tightly to the feet of the Red Mountain Lord,

The pure one, who wears flowers and the crescent moon

Entwined in his hair,

And who shares his being with her who gave birth to the world.

If you do thus, death himself will fear to approach you.

His front foot deals out death to the Lord of the dead.(24)

On his back foot the eye of Vishnu is ever displayed.

In his hand, of noble fame, he bears the head of Brahma.

He is the unapproachable Red Mountain Lord.

If anyone knows the equal of his ruddy shoulders' might,

Let him speak!

Effulgent light, difficult to describe! Sonagiri Father!

For those who do not take as the ultimate truth

Your advent upon this earth in the form of the Guru,

Everything they discover and learn will be in vain.

However many worthy books they study,

What good will come of it?

For those who choose not to follow

The path that leads to the lotus foot of the Red Mountain Lord,

Who joyfully wears at his throat the poison from the ocean of milk,

Will the ancient fetters of their former actions be sundered by learning?

Though nobly born, will their birth be any the less painful?

My foolish heart! Recite the five-lettered name of the First One,

The Red Mountain Lord, and mediate upon it.

Thus will the straight path, the steadfast condition,

And the marks of true knowledge become manifest to you.

Your every wish will be granted, and fulfilment will be yours.

A mind we have with which to think of him

And a tongue with which to speak.

For study, we have many Saiva Agamas.

But when we wish to worship the two feet of Lord Sonagiri,

That even the primordial Vedas cannot reach,

Our sins rise up high and block our way.

King of kings and greatest among the great!

Lord Sonagiri, whose glory is dear to our hearts!

You who ate the poison that the celestials, in fear, could not overcome!

There are those who number you as an equal among the gods.

How can this be?

Those who give no alms and know not how to speak soft words,

Those who do not describe him as:

'The one who in ancient times

Burned down the three cities of his enemies,

And at whose side sits Goddess Unnamulai.'

Those who wear not the holy ash,

What birth might they expect upon this earth?

I did not wear the holy ash

Nor did I think lovingly upon the five letters, and speak them out.

Yet did he not take upon himself the burden

Of making me his slave.

Wise Lord Sonagiri, he who wears the holy river in his matted locks,

And whose hand clasps the victorious axe.

Red Mountain Lord! My sin is that of failing

To diligently mediate upon your five-lettered name,

The seed that develops into the path of higher knowledge.

My recompense is to be born in a hellish birth,

And having been born, to die again.

My heart! Why do you keep on, day and night, mortifying your body?

By seeking refuge in Lord Sonagiri,

Our Father who delights in the deer,

The painful effect of our good and evil deeds will disappear.

If we fill our minds with thoughts of him,

What further need we do?

Unless we follow the command of the Red Mountain Lord,

What other task is there for us to do?

Although we may torture our minds through and through with

Thoughts and speculation,

Can we thereby attain in fullness to that greater life?

Can our mind fulfil our deepest yearning

By virtue of its own power.

Sonagiri Father! You who ride upon the bull!

You it is who are the goal of my austerities, and their fruit.

You are both father and mother to me.

And you it is who will draw me to the shelter to your holy feet,

So difficult to describe.

For those who, whilst living upon this earth,

Do not hold in their hearts

The thought of the five-faced one, Lord Sonagiri,

What is the good of going off to bathe in a thousand holy rivers,

Famed for granting the wishes of the righteous?

Even if they offer as many as sixteen charitable gifts on those banks, What is the use of it?

My heart! You did not steadfastly practice austerities

Nor did you go to the temple

To perform puja and meritorious deeds in the name of Lord Siva.

Is it thus, without any effort, that you hope to reach

The lotus foot of the Father who grants victory,

The universal doer, the Red Mountain Lord?

Speak!

My Heart! Neither Vishnu himself nor Brahma

Could perceive the foot of the Red Mountain Lord.

Can it then be reached so effortlessly?

What will you gain if you remain idle, merely recounting tales about him,

If he does not, in fitting manner, bestow his graceful thoughts upon you?

He who knocked out the teeth of the sun god! (25)

Father of mighty Virabhadra, who on that day

Tore off the nose of the goddess Devi,

Wife to the lotus-dwelling Brahma!(26)

He who is pleased to wear the crescent moon in his hair,

And who bears aloft the whitened skull of Brahma!

He, the Red Mountain Lord, will be here this very day.

Lord of the Red Mountain in whose wild locks the crescent moon

Is entwined among kondrai, punnai and erukku flowers!

When will they leave me,

The time-bound sorrows of past, present and future?

These thoughts indeed oppress me.

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(20) One of the names of Visnhu, as is Hari in the following verse.

(21) At a time when the devas and the asuras were having one of their many wars, the three cities of the asuras were protected by a boon which specified that they could only be destroyed by one shot of a single arrow. When the devas were on the point of finally losing, they appealed to Siva and he obliged them by destroying all the asura cities with a single shot.

(22) Na, Ma, Si, Va, and Ya, which comprise Nama Sivaya, meaning 'Obeisance to Siva'.

(23) There is a puranic story in which Siva appeared before some rishis in the guise of a beggar. Through his power he caused the rishi's wives to fall in love with him. The rishis, angered by his behaviour, decided to kill him. They dug a pit, out of which emerged a tiger. Siva killed it and wore its skin. Later snakes came out of the pit, but they had no effect on Siva. He wound them around his body and used them as ornaments. Because of this incident Siva is almost always depicted as having at least one poisonous snake wrapped around his body.

(24) A reference to the story Markandeya, a sixteen-year-old who, with Siva's help, managed to avoid his predestined death.

Mrikanda, Markandeya's father had prayed to Siva to get a son. Siva appeared before him and said, 'Do you desire to have a virtuous, wise and pious son who will only live to be sixteen, or a dull-witted, evil-natured son who will live for a long time.'

Mrikanda opted for the short-lived son, who turned out to be a child-sage. On the day of his appointed death, Yama came to collect him. Markandeya cried out to Siva for help and embraced the idol of Siva that he usually meditated on. Yama threw his rope and lassooed the idol as well as Markandeya. This angered Siva, who came roaring down from the heavens, after which he killed Yama with a single blow of his foot. Siva then gave Markandeya a boon that he could be sixteen forever, and thus avoid death, and he also restored Yama's life.

(25) After Siva had cut off Brahma's head, Brahma cursed him, saying that he would always have to beg for his food, using the skull as a begging bowl. This made Siva very angry, so he went on the rampage, killing thousands of devas in the process. At one point Surya, the sun god, confronted him and tried to make him stop. Siva hit him in the face and knocked out all his teeth. When Siva's anger had subsided, he restored them all.

(26) As Virabhadra was driving out the gods and the sages from Daksha's sacrifice, he cut off Devi's nose. See note ten for more details of Daksha's sacrifice.