Arunagiri Antadi

Arunagiri Antadi

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I have perceived the means of dissolving away

All the manifold maladies and sufferings

That beset my life unendingly, and crush me down.

I have taken into my heart the lotus foot of the Red Mountain Lord.

What then do I lack?

Nothing do we lack when we speak of him.

Professing our undying devotion to the ruler of the heavenly host,

We have taken refuge in him.

The king of the dead is powerless to pursue and take hold of us.

When we consider, my heart,

Ours is the victory over the spear that Yama (27) flourishes in his hand.

The gods themselves who dwell on high

Performed puja and virtuous deeds at the lotus foot

Of the immaculate one, who drank the poison from the ocean of milk,

The Red Mountain Lord,

Whose breast is adorned with garlands of flowers.

And so doing did they cleave to the path that leads to all goodness.

That all beings must undergo birth and death, this we clearly know

Through the works of the masters of Tamil poetry.

That Lord Sonesan took birth in some dwelling,

This we have not heard.

Neither have we heard that he lived upon this wide earth,

Enjoyed its pleasure, and then passed away.(28)

Those who do not praise and strew beautiful flowers

At the feet of the devotees of Lord Sonagiri

Who abides in supreme bliss,

They will live each day in fear of the cruel Lord of death,

Who stalks them like a vengeful huntsman.

Exalted Lord Sonagiri spoke to me,

Desolate and weak as I was, through fear of cruel death,

Saying: 'Do not be afraid!'

You who came as my Guru, in a form my heart could know,

And enslaved me,

The austerities of those who know you not,

They will be like earth heaped around the roots of a tree already dead.

Red Mountain Lord, he who cannot be numbered among those gods

Who are born upon this earth, die, and are destroyed!

I have but one request:

It is that I, your devotee, should never be parted from you.

May you grant me this.

Sovereign Lord who burnt the three cities of his foes!

You whose visible form is known as Aruneshan!(29)

Having taken the form of my Guru,

Abolished the effects of my former deeds,

And raised me up to the estate of true reality,

May you grant me finally the grace of your two feet!

Lord Sonagiri! Performer of virtuous deeds,

Who, by drinking that poison, banished the fear of so many gods!

You it is who lift me up and protect me,

You it is who embrace me, and grant that I may embrace you,

And you it is who guard me from suffering.

May you look upon me this very moment.

When shall I cease to reject, and begin to feel compassion for

Those who entreat you, saying that for them

There is no today and no tomorrow?

When shall I reach the stage of offering them thrice-daily worship?

When shall I, fixing my thoughts on the immaculate one,

Lord Sonagiri, take him into my heart?

I have not thought of you.

Standing in the temple, I have not drenched my body

With tears streaming down from my eyes.

I have not sought the means of cutting through the bonds of birth.

Nor, praising you, Red Mountain Lord,

Have I adorned your beautiful feet

With garlands of flowers.

In the time to come, who will there be here to help me?

When we reflect, neither good nor evil can befall us

Without the knowledge of the great one, who bears a thousand names,

The unfathomable beatitude, Lord Sonagiri.

Be still then, my heart!

Knowing that all is in him.

The peerless five letters of our Lord of the Red Mountain,

The Supreme One who affords shelter to all living things,

Are they not a fitting remedy

To remove the effects of the good and evil deeds

Of those who keep their minds fixed steadfastly on him,

And to dispel their soul's poverty in this very birth?

'He it is who once cut off one of my five heads.

Today he could easily cut off the remaining four.'

Thus reflecting to himself will Brahma,

Fearing those who chant the sacred five letters,

Erase from their foreheads the marks of destiny.(30)

Always does the Lord of death

Summon his messengers to him in a fitting manner,

And stand before them advising them thus:

'To those who have devoted themselves this day

To the worship of Lord Sonagiri, the Eternal One,

You should offer reverential greetings, and depart from there.'

For those who worship his beautiful foot,

The Red Mountain Lord, bestower of wisdom,

Will inspire devotion, impart true knowledge,

And confer final liberation.

Therefore take to yourself and praise the five letters

That dispel the evil effects of our deeds,

So difficult to allay.

Auspicious One! Wearer of the Ganges! Red Mountain Lord!

However you should wish to adorn yourself,

There are jewels and pearls most fitting,

And bright gold in abundance in which to set them.

But you, taking none of these, choose to bedeck yourself

With bones, an elephant's hide,(31) and a rearing serpent.

Why is it so?

Wearer of the Ganges!

When will you lovingly summon me to your presence,

Mean wretch that I am?

When will you test our love, O Red Mountain Lord?

And having tested it, when will you set us upon the supreme path?

Speak!

Taking into my heart as my Guru

The Red Mountain Lord, who now stands formless before me,

I have put to flight

The results of my good and evil deeds, impossible to describe,

My soul's threefold impurity

And my unparalleled suffering.

Exalted Red Mountain Lord! Regent of the heavenly host

Who abides in the hearts of those

Who never for an instant fall away from the path they have chosen!

The hearts of those who worship you

Will never slip back to their former state,

Nor, as a result of their good and evil deeds,

Will they ever become embroiled in the sevenfold round of births.

Except for the ineffable Lord Annamalai

And his consort Unnamulai, who sits at his Lordship's side,

I have known no other gods,

Or if I have know them,

I have never cherished them in my heart of hearts.

Except for those who in previous births

Thought of you with melting heart,

And meditated upon the Red Mountain Lord,

Will it be easy for anyone upon this earth

To witness in this lifetime your sacred dance,

Whose praises men of virtue sing?

For those who are without love for the Red Mountain Lord,

Who cleaves away falsehood and subjects us to his rule,

Will it be of any benefit to mortify the body?

Will our earthly bonds be severed by reciting weighty tomes?

Can a snake be killed simply by striking the termite hill in which it lives?

Lord who takes the holy form of the Red Mountain,

You have so ordained it upon this earth

That our bodies, which fill us with desire

And which we cherish as our own possession,

Will soon be claimed as carrion by the jackals.

Even knowing this, I have not curbed my desires,

I have not conquered my soul's thirst for the three impurities,

I have not come to know your greatness.

Virtuous one whom Vishnu could not see!

Lord Sonagiri who bears an eye on his forehead!

He who remains invisible even to the knowledge-giving Vedas!

I was born a poor wretch, spurning your holy feet,

And in pain do I wear this body,

Which is no better than a packet of rice to feed the jackals.

Lord Sonagiri by whose grace all virtue flourishes!

Paying homage to yourself, who were never born and can never die,

And to those whom you have made your slaves,

I did not honour the corruptible bodies

Of those gods who suffer birth and death.

Munificent Lord Sonagiri! For the sake of the gods,

You destroyed the three cities of the asuras,

And joyfully swallowed the poison from the ocean of milk.

Why is it then, that when Vishnu himself in the form of the boar

Desired to reach your lotus foot,

You stood as an unfathomable pillar of fire?

Eternal One who joyfully ate the poison from the ocean's depths!

Untasted ambrosia! Lord Sonagiri, my Master!

Father who rules over the earth!

For a wretch such as I, who wander aimlessly,

Knowing nothing of puja and meritorious deeds,

Who else is there to help me?

Red Mountain Lord who gives me support and sustenance!

To raise me up, protect me,

And deliver me from the suffering of birth and death,

You are the straight path.

Other than you, there is no one else to help me.

Immaculate One who wears the holy river in his matted locks!

Righteous One who grants upon this earth

All entreaties that are not uttered in falsehood!

When I reflect, Lord Sonagiri, abode of compassion!

Except for you, who else is there to break this long chain of births?

You who are compassion's abode!

In my final hours, as death approaches,

I shall not be able to worship your holy foot,

I shall not be able to call out to you, crying 'Red Mountain Lord!'

My mind will be unable to think of you,

And my eyes incapable of discerning your form,

And fixing their gaze upon it.

Unapproachable Red Mountain Lord,

Whom, though they sought him long,

Even the four Vedas could not find!

I did not meditate upon your two feet.

I knew nothing of how to address you;

To those who suffered, nothing did I give.

I am a poor wretch.

My heart will stay as it is, O Lord, and meets its ruin.

My Lord! The dance of a wooden puppet,

Is it a skill learned by the puppet itself?

Or is it due simply to the manipulation of the puppeteer?

Is my arduous fate of my own choosing,

Or is it by your will alone,

You who made me and watch over me?

Speak, O Red Mountain Lord!

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Our Father, the Red Mountain Lord,

Who destroyed the three cities of those that did not honour him!

Like a great cloud of nectar he will come,

And pour forth a flood of bliss upon this earth,

That the living crop in the hearts of those devotees who call out to him, May not become parched and dry.

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(27) Yama is the Hindu god of death.

(28) Saivas make a point of stressing that Siva, unlike Vishnu, has never been born on earth. He manifests, rather than incarnates, whenever the need arises.

(29) Another name of Arunachala, meaning Lord Aruna.

(30) It is a traditional belief in India that one's destiny in this life is written on the forehead by Brahma. Those who chant the five holy letters, 'Nama Sivaya', and reach the feet of Siva free themselves from their destiny.

(31) The elephant Gajasura was a demon who could not control his sensory indulgences. Siva pierced him with his trident. As he was dying, Gajasura asked Siva for a boon, and Siva agreed. The boon was that Siva should wear Gajasura's flayed hide as an ornament.