In Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 215, it is recorded that Bhagavan read from G. U. Pope’s English translation the Tiruvachakam. In this report it merely states that Bhagavan read ‘stanzas describing the intense feeling of bhakti as thrilling the whole frame, melting the flesh and bones, etc.’. Though the exact reference is not given, Viswanatha Swami, in the Tamil edition of Talks, states that it is this portion which is being referred to:
Viswanatha Swami
Clad graciously in a brahmin’s glorious form,
He summoned me and graciously ruled me.
At once my very bones melted through undying love.
I called aloud, roaring, roaring like the heaving sea,
rose to my feet, collapsed again all in a daze,
rolling over, wailing,
raving like a madman, raging like a drunk,
frightening those who saw, amazing those who heard,
in a state of total derangement
that even a rutting elephant would find unbearable.
Then, when I could bear it no longer,
he fashioned my limbs with a delightful sweetness,
like honey fresh from the bough.
Just as, with the flame lit by his beauteous smile,
He brought low the three cities of his demon foes,
He did that day, without exception,
destroy in the great fire of His grace
the humble [bodily] dwellings of us His devotees.
To me He became as a nelli fruit in the palm of the hand.
Blessings upon You; I can find no words to express it!
Is this justice? I cannot endure it, dog that I am.
What You have done to me, I do not understand.
For pity, this is death itself.
This grace You have granted me, I cannot comprehend!
I have drunk of it, yet still I am not sated.
I have swallowed it down, yet I cannot tolerate it!
Like waves upon the rich, cool Sea of Milk,
like the ocean when the moon is at the full,
in a way that cannot be described,
He filled my heart to overflowing,
distilling and collecting nectar in my body’s every pore.
Within the body of this cur, taking up His abode,
He caused ambrosia sweet to flow
through every conduit of my sinful fleshly form,
sending fulsome streams of wondrous nectar
rushing up through the hollow of every bone.
Taking my melting heart and making it one [with Him],
He made for me a form saturated [in His grace].
Like an elephant inspecting a field of bright sweet sugar cane,
He came at last, even to me, and transformed me into pure being.
His nature neither Mal nor Brahma knows,
yet with grace He transformed me into supreme ambrosia,
making the pure honey of His compassion merge with me. (‘Tiruvandappahudi’, lines 148-82)
The ‘three cities’ refers to a famous puranic incident in which Siva destroyed the three cities (the Tripura) of the asuras after a protracted war between the devas and the asuras, who are, respectively, the good and the demonic inhabitants of the spirit realms. In this war the asuras‘ cities were protected by a boon that stated that the cities could only be destroyed if they were all hit by a single arrow. When the devas appealed to Siva, he intervened on their behalf and destroyed the three cities with a single arrow. In a variation on this theme, Siva destroys the three cities with a single smile. This is the version that Manikkavachagar seems to prefer.
‘As clear as the nelli in the palm of the hand’ is a well-known proverb that means that something is clear and obvious. In this context it means that Manikkavachagar had an incontrovertible experience of Siva.
‘Neither Mal nor Brahma knows’ is a reference to Brahma and Vishnu’s (Mal’s) inability to find the beginning or end of Siva when he manifested as a column of light, the column that he later condensed into the form of Arunachala.
Manikkavachagar’s path to Siva was clearly through love and devotion. Bhagavan confirmed this when he echoed a well-known statement that the four saints (Jnanasambandhar, Appar, Sundaramurti and Manikkavachagar) had differing relationships with Siva: Jnanasambandhar saw himself as the son of Siva, Appar as his servant, Sundaramurti as his friend, and Manikkavachagar as his beloved. (Letters from Sri Ramanasramam, by Suri Nagamma, 26th January 1947)
Bhagavan was once questioned about some of the more extreme manifestations of devotional ecstasy. In his interesting and informative replies he mentioned both his own and Manikkavachagar’s experiences:
Devotee: Horripilation, sobbing voice, joyful tears, etc., are mentioned in Atma Vidya Vilasa and other works. Are these found in samadhi, or before, or after?
Bhagavan: All these are symptoms of exceedingly subtle modes of mind [vrittis]. Without duality they cannot remain. Samadhi is perfect peace where these cannot find [a] place. After emerging from samadhi, the remembrance of the state gives rise to these symptoms. In bhakti marga [the path of devotion] these are the precursors to samadhi.
Question: Are they not so in the path of jnana?
Bhagavan: May be. There is no definiteness about it. It depends on the nature of the individual. Individuality entirely lost, these cannot find a place. Even the slightest trace of it being present, these symptoms become manifest.
Manikkavachagar and other saints have spoken of these symptoms. They say tears rush forth involuntarily and irrepressibly. Though aware of tears they are unable to repress them. I had the same experience when I was staying at Virupaksha Cave. (Talks with Sri Ramana Maharshi, Talk 372)
Bhagavan seems to be saying in his first reply that such extreme symptoms are only possible if one still has a mind and a subtle sense of individuality, but in his final reply he makes it clear that symptoms such as spontaneous and uncontrollable crying can also break out in jnanis.
Though Bhagavan does not make it clear in his answer which specific verses of the Tiruvachakam he was alluding to when he made these remarks, he may have been thinking of the following lines in which Manikkavachagar describes the whole gamut of extreme emotional behaviour that God-intoxicated devotees indulge in:
As maya’s manifold delusion
surrounds them all about,
not succumbing to such errors,
not wavering from their fixed resolve,
they worship, melting
like wax before a flame;
they weep with body trembling;
they dance, cry out, sing and praise.
Crocodile jaws and an ignorant woman
hold on and don’t let go, they say.
They [these devotees] hold on tightly
in love’s true and unrelenting sway
like a spike that’s driven into fresh, green wood.
As love’s flood grows higher,
they heave like the ocean’s swell,
minds withering away, their bodies
quivering with delight.
When the world calls them ‘Possessed!’
and makes a laughing-stock of them,
they remain unabashed, wearing
their countrymen’s abusive words
like a jewelled ornament.
To hold onto and attain final liberation,
free of all sophistry, knowing naught,
is, for them, the miracle of the Supreme.
As a cow yearns for its calf,
they bellow and become agitated.
Not even in their dreams
do they think of any other God.
Nor, thinking it of no account,
do they spurn the majesty
of the unattainable supreme One,
who came in grace upon the earth
in the jnana Guru’s form.
Like a shadow that knows
no separation [from its object],
they follow behind Your twin holy feet,
caring not in what direction [they go].
As bones soften and dissolve,
they melt in yearning, and melt again,
as love’s river overflows its course.
Stammering, their hair on end,
all senses focussed on the One,
‘My Lord!’ they weeping cry.
The lotus of their heart blossoms,
as hands close like a flower bud.
Teardrops spring forth,
and ecstasy shows in their eyes,
as in them daily flourishes
the love that never dies.
Praise be to Him who, as a mother,
nurtures such as these. (‘Potritiruvahaval’, lines 58-85)
