The Hindu : Arunagiri's hymnal work

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2003

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous - Religion

Arunagiri's hymnal work

CHENNAI OCT.28 . While several admirable features have been incorporated in the edifice of Hindu religion, one among them reflects the total freedom allowed to every one of its followers to worship any of the numerous gods and demi-gods. There was hence no denigration of one deity against another as the principle governing this aspect was "unity in diversity". There were, however, very few occasions when some difference surfaced and groups of men claimed superiority of their deity over others. Likewise at times some claimed that a particular language, which they liked was far advanced than others. But God never allowed this religious bigotry or linguistic chauvinism to divide people and so deputed His messengers to advise men to sink their differences reminding them of the glorious traditions of both Saivism and Vaishnavism.

One such gift of God was Saint Arunagirinathar, who in his outpourings in Tamil, referred to all gods and who interspersed in them words and ideas from Sanskrit works. In a lecture, Sri K. P. Arivanandam said though the saint's hymns on his personal deity, Subramania, numbered nearly 16,000, yet what remained for public use was only about 1,000 and even out of them only a part is being handled by modern scholars. Each one of them is soaked in devotion while some are set in difficult metres and some are jaw breaking and tough even to spell out fluently by all. Morals have been packed in them to correct men who chose the wrong path. He himself turned a new leaf after a wayward life and once when he jumped from the tower of the Thiruvannamalai temple, Lord Subramania saved him. "Maintain reticence" was the Lord's advice. To keep silent may appear simple but in practice it is only when one is in meditation that the mind will lead him astray. After 12 years of penance, the Lord appeared, scribbled on his tongue with His trident and made him sing profusely.

In one of the popular hymns, Arunagirinathar refers to the charm of the Divine Mother (particularly about Her pearl-like teeth), of the incarnations of Vishnu, how as Rama He destroyed the demons and how as Krishna He delivered His message to Arjuna. As Brahma was unable to render the meaning of the Mantra, "Om", Subramania told him and Lord Siva later its significance, having learnt it when Siva was mentioning its greatness to Parvathi earlier. In another verse the saint mentions the 26 different names of the Divine Mother, some of which are Umai, Vaarahi, Naarani and Komalai.

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