Bhagavan, Manikkavachagar and the Tiruvachakam

Though Manikkavachagar had composed the songs that comprise the Tiruvachakam and sung them all over Tamil Nadu, the poems themselves had never been written down. Suri Nagamma once asked Bhagavan about how the Tiruvachakam came to be written, and Bhagavan replied by recounting the final dramatic details of Manikkavachagar’s life:

Nagamma: When was the Tiruvachakam written?

Bhagavan: No, [Manikkavachagar] he never wrote [it]. He merely went about singing his songs.

Nagamma: Then how did Tiruvachakam get to be written?

Bhagavan: Oh that! He was going from one place to another until he came to Chidambaram. While witnessing Nataraja’s dance he started singing heart-melting songs and stayed in that place itself. Then one day [Siva] Nataraja, with a view to making people know the greatness of Manikkavachagar and to bless the people with such an excellent collection of hymns, went to the house of Manikkavachagar in the night, in the guise of a brahmin. He was received cordially and when asked for the purpose of the visit, the Lord smilingly and with great familiarity asked, ‘It seems you have been singing hymns during your visit to the sacred places of pilgrimage and that you are doing it here also. May I hear them? I have been thinking of coming and listening to you for a long time but could not find the required leisure [time]. That is why I have come here at night. I suppose you don’t mind. Can you sing? Do you remember them all?’

‘There is no need to worry about sleep,’ [replied Manikkavachagar]. ‘I shall sing all the songs I remember. Please listen.’

So saying Manikkavachagar began singing in ecstasy. The Lord in the guise of a brahmin sat down there writing the songs on palm leaves. As Manikkavachagar was in ecstasy he hardly noticed the brahmin who was taking down the songs. Singing on and on, he completely forgot himself in the thought of God and ultimately became silent. The old brahmin quietly disappeared.

At daybreak the dikshitar [priest] came to the Nataraja temple as usual to perform the morning puja and as he opened the doors he found in front of the Nataraja image on the doorstep a palm-leaf book. When the book was opened and scrutinised there were in it not only the words ‘Tiruvachakam‘, it was also written that the book was written as it was dictated by Manikkavachagar. It was signed below ‘Tiruchitrambalam Udaiyan‘, meaning ‘the Owner of Chidambaram’. The stamp of Sri Nataraja also was there below the signature. Thereupon all the temple priests gathered in great surprise and sent word to Manikkavachagar, showed him the Tiruvachakam, and the signature of Nataraja, and asked him to tell them about the genesis of the hymns.

Manikkavachagar did not say anything but asked them to accompany him. He went into the temple of Natarajan and standing opposite the Lord said, ‘Sirs, the Lord in front of us is the only answer to your question. He is the answer.’ After having said that, he merged into the Lord.

[Suri Nagamma comments:] As he narrated the story, Bhagavan’s voice got choked. Unable to speak any more he remained in ecstatic silence. (Letters from and Recollections of Sri Ramanasramam, pp. 10-12)

This version does not make it completely clear that Manikkavachagar vanished from sight at this moment by merging into the formless space of consciousness, the chitrambalam that gives Chidambaram its current name. In verse 1,324 of Padamalai Bhagavan emphasised this dramatic ending in the following words:

When asked by others about the meaning of the Tiruvachakam, the great and saintly Manikkavachagar pointed at the subtle chidakasa [space of consciousness] and merged in it. (Padamalai, page 355)

Bhagavan was once asked how this was possible:

He [Bhagavan] remarked, ‘Manikkavachagar is one of those whose body finally resolved itself in a blazing light, without leaving a corpse behind.’

Another devotee asked how this could be.

Maharshi said that the gross body is only the concrete form of the subtle stuff – the mind. When the mind melts away and blazes forth as light, the body is consumed in that process. Nandanar [an outcaste saint] is another whose body disappeared in blazing light. (Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 215)