Annamalai Venba

Annamalai Venba

(Translated by Robert Butler)

Page 1

Invocation

You whose feet are luxuriant flowers!

You, Supreme Lord, who, mounted on the rat,(1)

Lead the celestial retinue!

Guide me as I, a mere dog at your feet,

Sing in delicate Tamil venba

A song garland to holy, everlasting Annamalai.

Mountain, dancer of the primal dance.(2)

Mountain sought on that day by the two.(3)

Mountain adorned with the bright moon and the dancing serpent.(4)

Mountain where justice flourishes.

Mountain who summons those rich in jnana tapas,(5)

Saying, 'Come!'

Annamalai.

Mountain who destroys the births of devotees.

Mountain who fosters the births of the cruel and the faithless.

Mountain who causes love to stream forth.

Mountain who, taking the form of the bird Simbul,(6)

Came and vanquished the lion:

Annamalai.

Mountain who vanquished death with a blow of the foot.(7)

Mountain who stemmed the river of Madurai's Pandiyan king.(8)

Mountain sublime, praised by Sundaramurti.(9)

Mountain who disregards all my faults, doer of evil deeds as I am:

Annamalai.

Mountain who shows compassion to the wretched.

Mountain who gives without fail whatever is asked.

Mountain who flayed the elephant.(10)

Mountain of medicine who bestowed half his form upon Parvati:(11)

Annamalai.

Blue-throated Mountain, three-eyed Mountain,(12)

Mountain impossible for the inhabitants of all the worlds to praise.

Mountain who manifests to devotees.

Mountain who dispels the arising births

Of those who daily worship him:

Annamalai.

Mountain, provider of food and wealth.

Mountain who bestows all the boons desired by his devotees.

Mountain on whom praises thickly fall.

Mountain who, as a column of fire, penetrated through all the worlds:

Annamalai.

Mountain to whom Guhai Namasivaya, performer of great austerities,

Makes obeisance, daily adorning him with a garland of one venba verse. Mountain who abides in the blissful hearts

Of those who have transcended the waves of desire and all the rest:

Annamalai.

Mountain standing serene as the five sacred letters.(13)

Mountain who dispels the effects

Of his devotees' deceitful and dark karma.

Mountain, reformer of hearts.

Mountain of divine medicine,

Conferring the supreme attainment of true knowledge:

Annamalai.

Mountain whom the faithful walk around, keeping him to their right.

Mountain who steals away the entire burden

Of the past actions of those who circle him.

Mountain penetrating all the worlds.(14)

Mountain where my father and Guru, Om Namasivaya, dwells:

Annamalai.

Mountain where gypsy maidens, slender as reeds,

Sport with the heaven-dwelling moon.

Mountain like red coral.

Mountain who, as Sadguru,

Placed his splendrous foot upon my head:

Annamalai.

Mountain who, taking the form of my spiritual Guru and Master,

Namasivayan, the compassionate heavenly Lord,

Held me in his power.

Mountain whom the Gods themselves praise,

Mountain who dispels all my mental anxieties,

Evil-doer that I am:

Annamalai.

Mountain where ripens a harvest of venba verse

In the affectionate thoughts of his devotee Guhai Namasivaya.

Mountain fathomed by those strong in devotion.

Mountain who grew as a column of red flame

As the two sought him:

Annamalai.

Mountain sought after by tall Mal and he of the cool lotus.

Mountain whose flowery foot yields up the fruit of liberation to devotees. Mountain upon which devotees of great austerities swarm.

Mountain who established Uma, her of the unsuckled breast,

As half of himself:

Annamalai

Mountain who manifested in triangular form.(15)

Mountain adorned with the snake,

Along with the skull beads of Brahma and Vishnu.

Mountain who affords ample protection.

Mountain who endures in the hearts

Of devotees who praise him:

Annamalai.

Mountain praised by my Guru, Om Namasivaya, in beautiful Tamil. Mountain who affords a sweet sight

To those who, seeing, worship him.

Mountain who, growing long, stretched from the root of the universe. Mountain who prospers in the hearts of devotees

Who, praising, think of Him:

Annamalai.

Mountain who stands as the five letters, the Vedas and Agamas. Mountain who shines out alone

As the single syllable 'Om'.

Mountain firmly fixed in the heart.

Mountain who placed me, a mere dog, in the company of his devotees: Annamalai.

Mountain to which my Guru, Om Namasivaya,

Who exercises enduring rule over me, makes obeisance,

Praising him for many days in verses of pure Tamil.

Mountain who is ever true.

Mountain who placed me, evil-doer that I am,

Beneath his own foot:

Annamalai.

Mountain who drives out the darkness of spiritual ignorance.

Mountain who, for devotees, illumines what is false.

Mountain in the form of perfect jnana.

Mountain who came to me, a mere dog,

As father, mother and Sadguru:

Annamalai.

Ash-besmeared mountain.

Mountain who stood as a column of fire.

Mountain who rides the bull as his mount.

Mountain who struck death with his foot.(16)

Mountain who, on that day, becoming the bird Simbul,(17)

Vanquished Hari:(18)

Annamalai.

Mountain who contained the poison halahala in his throat

So that the loudly lamenting hosts of the gods might be saved.

Mountain who is the essence of the four Vedas.

Mountain who, taking the form of my Guru,

Came to rule over me, a mere cur:

Annamalai

Mountain who on that day

As Mal (the First, the Tall) and Ayan looked on,(19)

Manifested as the supreme light In a column of brilliant flame.

Mountain who thundered forth the Vedas.

Mountain who stands before those who meditate on it

And bestows liberation upon them:

Annamalai.

Celestial Mountain who, coming into the world

As my Guru Om Namasivaya,

Dwells within the heart of this devotee.

Mountain who wipes out the fruits of former deeds.

Mountain who abolishes all the suffering

Of a long succession of births, too numerous to tell:

Annamalai.

Mountain who stands with his Sakti,

To whom he gave half of himself.(20)

Mountain who sprouted forth as the cause of liberation.

Mountain praised in every quarter.

Mountain who removes the arising births

Of those who praise and extol him:

Annamalai.

Mountain who wears the young moon in his matted locks.

Mountain to whom righteous sages flock.

Mountain who is beyond time.

Mountain who subdued Yama with a blow of his foot (21)

As he advanced, roaring:

Annamalai.

Mountain whose throat darkened as he drank the deadly poison,

Thus assisting the dwellers in heaven

And becoming their Supreme Lord.

Mountain agreeable to those who serve it.

Mountain praised and worshipped

By the inhabitants of both heaven and earth:

Annamalai.

Mountain who is the delightful sweet honey

Of the pure Siva-jnana,

Which assuages the pangs of hunger.

Mountain who eternally affords his gracious sight to devotees,

Warding off the obscuring waves of illusion:

Annamalai.

Pure Mountain who unites with the hearts

Of those servants, clothed in eminence,

Who, eschewing the five senses that connect one to the world,

Embrace the happiness of true knowledge.

Mountain who deludes the wicked,

Concealing himself from them:

Annamalai.

Majestic Mountain who, as my Guru,

Held me in His sway,

Keeping me from wandering through ever-increasing births,

Placing in my hand sweet, true knowledge,

And uniting his twin feet together upon my head:

Annamalai.

Pages: 1 2 3

Photo of Arunachala, courtesy Dev Gogoi

(1) The invocatory verse is addressed to Ganesh whose vahana or vehicle is the rat.

(2) A reference to Siva dancing as Nataraja in Chidambaram.

(3) The principal puranic story about Arunachala features a dispute between Brahma and Vishnu over which of them is the greater. Siva witnessed their dispute and decided to teach them a lesson in humility. He appeared before them in the form of an infinitely long column of light (some versions say fire) and announced that whichever of the two could find the end of this column could call himself the greater. Vishnu took the form of a boar and burrowed downwards to find the bottom end, while Brahma took the form of a swan and flew upward in search of the top. Neither extremity was found even though the two gods spent thousands of years trying. Both returned unsuccessful, finally conceding that Siva was greater than either of them. Vishnu then requested Siva to manifest in a form that was less dazzling to the eyes so that devotees through the ages could have darshan of his form. Siva obliged by condensing himself into the mountain of Arunachala. Thus, for devotees of Arunachala, the mountain is not merely a symbol of Siva or the place where he resides, it is Siva himself, manifesting in a physical form.

(4) Siva wears as a diadem on his head the crescent of the fifth-day moon. According to Sri Siva Tattva, a Saiva Siddhanta text, 'The moon is soma, the sacrificial offering. Placed near the fiery third eye, the crescent moon shows the power of creation coexistent with that of destruction'.

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.

(5) Meaning, those who have strenuously pursued liberation either for a long time, or with some degree of success. Ramana Maharshi often cited this line when he spoke of the magnetic power of the mountain.

(6) One of Vishnu's avataras was as Narasimha, a half-man and half-lion form. Narasimha disembowelled the demon Hiranyakasipu, who had harassed the gods. After the demon had been killed, Narasimha was still full of anger and threatened to annihilate the whole universe. Siva appeared in the form of Simbul (in Sanskrit he is known as Sarabha), an eight-legged flying creature. This 'bird' dug its claws into Narasimha, lifted him off the ground and killed him. Siva subsequently wore the skin of Narasimha as an item of clothing.

(7) 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.

(8) About a thousand years ago, when the king of Madurai conscripted everyone in his city to help to shore up the dams on the Vaigai River when it was about to overflow its banks, Siva took the form of a coolie and did the work that had been allocated to an old woman devotee. She paid him in sweet rice cakes.

(9) One of the four principal Tamil Saiva poet-saints whose devotional outpourings now constitute the earliest portions of the Saiva scriptural canon.

(10) The elephant was Gajasura, 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.

(11) In Arunachala Mahatmyam and Arunachala Puranam, Parvati, known locally as Unnamulai, unites with Siva to such an extent that each shares the other's form. Unnamulai means, 'She whose breasts have never been suckled'. Traditionally, Siva and Unnamulai appear as a half-male and half-female figure, the left side being Unnamulai and the right side Siva. In this merged or unified state Unnamulai becomes Siva's sakti, the divine energy which brings into existence all manifestation. Iconographical representations of their combined form, which is known as Ardhanariswara, show a half-male and half-female body, with the dividing line being the vertical axis running down the middle of the body. Parvati (Unnamulai) earned the right to this union by performing intense tapas over two lifetimes, the first as Sati, and the second as Parvati.

(12) After a long period of animosity the devas and the asuras agreed to cooperate to churn the ocean of milk to obtain amrita, the elixir of immortality. At some point during the churning a burning mass of poison appeared whose fumes began to asphyxiate the whole world. At Brahma's request Siva swallowed the poison and held it in his throat. This poison left a blue mark on Siva's throat, earning him one of his many titles - Nilakantha, which means 'blue-throated'.

The two normal eyes of Siva represent the sun and the moon. The third, in the centre of the forehead, symbolises fire. The eyes together represent the three sources of light that illumine the earth, space and the sky. Through his three eyes Siva can see past, present and future, an accomplishment which, as Guhai Namasivaya points out in verse 28, enables him to transcend time. The central eye is the eye of higher perception. Normally it is directed inwards, but when it is turned outwards, it burns all that appears before it.

(13) Na, Ma Si Va Ya, making Nama Sivaya, which means 'obeisance to Siva'.

(14) A reference to Siva as the infinitely long column of light who penetrated all the heavenly and subterranean worlds.

(15) Seen from a distance, the profile of the mountain is triangular.

(16) See footnote seven.

(17) See footnote six

(18) Hari is one of the names of Vishnu.

(19) Tamil names for Vishnu and Brahma.

(20) See footnote eleven.

(21) See footnote seven