The Hermeneutic Analysis of Religious Experience as Expounded in Jnanamirta Kattalai - Intro Part 2

2.0 Jnanamirta Kattalai

The text I am referring to is 'Jnanamirta Kattalai' [2] one of the basic kattalai literature of Saiva Siddhanta held very justifiably, in high regard. 

Nothing definite is known about the author and the date. But from the internal evidences and the fact that Saiva monasteries are very favorably spoken of, the author could be taken to be one of the members of the Saiva monasteries.[3] This also allows us to infer that the text was probably written sometime in the 17th or 18th century, periods in which the monasteries were great centers of scholarship.

The first three sections are strikingly similar to another kattalai literature viz. 'Siddhanta tattuva laksanam'. It is possible to conclude that the text under study is an elaboration of this earlier text, filling in details and adding additional explanations to generate a text that is reasonably comprehensive. 

The outcome is a superb text, with an impressive sweep and depth with all the different portions hanging together with a logical coherence that is characteristic of the major texts in the Indian philosophical tradition.

Though it is termed 'Jnanamirta kattalai' it is not simply restating in prose the essentials of Jnanamirtam, a 12th century Saiva Siddhanta classic. There are many new ideas in the body of the text reflecting the advances made not only in the philosophical analysis but also in aesthetics and other fields. The reference to Jnanamirtam could be due to the prominence given by the author to Civa as the Intelligent Agent of the cosmic activities that are elaborately argued in that text (akaval 53, 54, 56 and 57) 

Or alternatively it may be named so in order to indicate that Civajnanam, absolute illumination, is really the ambrosia that ensures longevity.[4]

( to be continued )

Loganathan @ Ullaganar

[2] By 'kattalai' is meant philosophical, scientific treatises in prose that are at the same time concise. Before such treatises were written all such texts were in verses. The earliest prose text is probably Tukal Aru Potak Kattlai dated around the 14th cent. There are now in existence about 30 such texts. Some were even produced in the 19th cent.

[3] Saiva Adheenams. Madams or monasteries were in existence from very ancient times. But it appears that only after the 16th cent. they became devoted to Saiva Siddhanta as expounded by Meykander. They simultaneously became centers of higher learning attracting many brilliant scholars to its' fold.

[4] 'Jnanamirtam' literally means the Gnostic ambrosia, i.e. supreme illumination that ensures deathlessness.

The Metaphysical Gynecology of Tirumular - Part 4

The Notion of Causality of the Hermeneutic Sciences

These verses below show clearly that Tirumular is developing this branch of the general science of Naataantam as a Hermeneutic Science where the notion of causality is NOT that of the physical sciences but that of Agentive Cause of the human sciences. In the study of human behavior the action and the agent of the action are SIMULTANEOUSLY present with the causal linkage of the sort: A is the cause of B because if A is absent there will not be the presence of B and which implies that A and B are simultaneously present.

In physical causation, which is of the sort: A causes B because A is prior to B and there is a significant correlation between A and B.  Here having caused B, A can even disappear without ceasing to the cause. Here the paramount importance of TIME should be noted  and which is NOT so in Agentive Cause. The agency and the effect are simultaneously present and in such a way that without the agency the effect will not be a  presence.

The relation of BEING and ParaBindu from which emerge all is said to be of this sort. BEING pervades ParaBindu and through His five fold Universal Praxis generates all and in which ParaBindu remains both the material basis as well as the formed effects.

Here it also transpires that BEING is the Final Cause for He is the Power unto Himself- One who can destroy and regenerate Himself, the TaRparan

5.

1927.

அந்தமும் ஆதியுமாகிப் பராபரன்

வந்த வியாபி எனலாய வந்நெறி

கந்தமதாகிய காரண காரியம்

தந்து ஐங்கருமந் தான் செய்யும் வீயமே

உரை:

இனி சுத்தமாயையில் விளங்கும் நிவிர்த்தாதி பஞசகலைகளின் மூலம் அனைத்தையும் சங்கரித்து பிறகு மீண்டும் உற்பவிக்கும் பராபரனே, இந்த சுத்தமாயையிலும் வியாபித்து நிற்கின்றான் என்லாய தெளிவின் வழி அறியவரும் ஒன்றாகும். இது எவ்வாறோவெனில், கந்தமதாகிய ஐம்முக சதாசிவ மூர்த்தி வடிவில் எழுந்து, புதையுரு புறவுரு என்னும் காரண காரியம் என்றவாறு நினைக்கத் தந்து, காரணமாகிய தோற்றலாதியின் சுத்தமாயையில் எழும் நிவிர்த்தாதி பஞ்சகலைகளுக்கு வித்தாக நிற்கும் என்பதாம்

கந்தம் : கந்தவேள் என்பது போல், பலமுகங்களை உடைய தெய்வமாக எழல், இங்கு ஐம்முகத்து சதாசிவரே சுட்டப்படுகின்றார். மேலும் காரணத்தையும் காரியத்தையும் தன்னுள் அடக்கிய கூட்டு எனினும் அமையும்

5.

1927.

antamum aatiyumaakip paraaparan

vanta viyaabi enlaaya vanneRi

kantamaakiya kaaraNa kaariyam

tantu aiGkaruman taan ceyyum viiyamee

Meaning:

It is BEING as the Transcendent-immanent reality (paraaparan) and the destroyer-regenerator of all, who is the real power behind the processes of Nivritti and so forth in the Media of Consciousness, the Cutta Maayai. He pervades by spreading fully into this Cutta Maayai and assuming the form of five-faced Cataaciva showing the notions of Deep Structure that serves as the causal basis of the Surface Structure, establishes the Nivritti and so forth as the Surface Structure features of the Deep Structure processes of the Panca Kritiyas of Himself.

6.

1928.

வீயமதாகிய விந்துவின் சத்தியாக

ஆய வகண்டமும் அண்டமும் பாரிப்பக்

காய ஐம்பூதமும் காரிய மாயையில் 

ஆயிட விந்து அகம் புறம் ஆகுமே

உரை:

உளதாய் எழுவிக்கும் வீயமதாகிய பரவிந்துவின் ஆற்றலின் திரிபுகளாக பேரண்டங்களும் அவற்றுள்  பல சூரியர்களின் தொகுப்புகளாக விளங்கும் அண்டங்களும் காணவரக்கூடியதாக நிலைப்பெற்றிருக்கும்.  பல்வேறு வகையான உடம்புகளும் அவற்றை எழத்தரும்  ஐம்பூதங்களும் மாயையின் புறவுருக்களாக ஆகிட, பரவிந்து இதனால் அனைத்தின் புறவுரு ( காரிய மாயை) என்றும் புதையுரு (காரணமாயை)  என்றும் ஆகும்.

பீசம்> வீசம்> வீயம் : அனைத்திற்கும் வித்தாகி நிற்பது. 

6.

1928.

viiyamataakiya vintuvin cattiyaaka

aaya vakaNdamum aNdamum paarippak

kaaya aimputamum kaariya maayaiyil

aayida Vintu akam puRam aakumee

Meaning.

The immense Cosmos (akaNdam) and the various galactic systems within (aNdam) emerge as presence as the manifest Power of  ParaBindu. In this way the various concrete  bodies and the five basic physical elements that go into their configuration, are evolutes of the  Maayai that becomes the Surface Structure of the Cosmos as a whole. In this way also the paraBindu becomes both the inside and outside of all.

Comments:

In these verses Tirumular is still with the larger question of how the whole of cosmos is generated and there comes to be concrete things as realities. He notes that paraBindu serves as both the causal basis as well the things that are generated out of them , i.e. the kaaraNam, the causal basis and kaariyam, the various effects. Thus ParaBindu stands both as the KaaraNa Maayai, the primordial stuff out of all are generated and the Kaariya Maayai, the collectivity of formed things. 

Here we should note also the cosmological notions -akaNdam and aNdam. The akaNdam is the huge and boundless Cosmos while the aNdam is the bound galactic systems.  The AkaNdam is the boundless and endless cosmos that continues to subsist with immense number of galactic systems coming and going.

Now the concept CAUSALITY in all these notions is NOT that of physical causality but that Agentive Causality and where co-presence of the Cause and Effect are accommodated. The Cause and Effect are simultaneously present only that the Cause remains the Deep Structure, the akam while the Effect remains the Surface Structure,  the puRam or the manifest. Thinking along these lines it is also pointed  out that the ultimate AGENT of all is BEING, the Paraaparan and the various processes in the material media are in fact the Universal Praxis of BEING- the Pancha Kritiyas.

( to be continued)

Loganathan @ Ullaganar

The Hermeneutic Analysis of Religious Experience as Expounded in Jnanamirta Kattalai - Intro Part 1

1.0  Introduction: Scientific Analysis of Religious Experience

Within the last few centuries the world has seen many great advances. The most visible ones are the technological breakthroughs that have shrunk the wide world into a village. The modern world has achieved what the ancients only dreamed of or enjoyed only in fantasies. There are also advances made in fields outside the technological but equally important in the long intellectual history of man.

Man has thought about himself for a very long time. Philosophies, religions, social and cultural norms and so forth are products of man's reflecting about himself and his understanding of how the psychological nature of man can be changed for the better, the destructive forces within can be regulated for the betterment of everyone in the community. 

With the birth of psychology as a scientific discipline in the nineteenth century, speculative ideas, dogmatic assertions, unfounded hunches and beliefs, superstitions and so forth have given way to a more rational understanding of man. This breakthrough in the approach to understand man himself has not reached its full growth yet. But it is growing steadily as more and more of the social sciences develop and expand. The educational field and modern psychiatry are two good examples of the manner in which the scientific bent of mind is slowly gaining grounds even in areas where man is the focus. Here we are not referring to the positive sciences but rather to the newly emerging hermeneutic or interpretive social sciences, that form of science that developed in India from ancient times with a rigour unknown in the West. {1}.

Religions have remained till today either indifferent or unaware of the possibility of such scientific approaches to deepening religious experience and channeling the religious motivations of man into productive expressions. Some have even built impregnable barriers to safeguard the central dogmas so that they remain unchallenged by the adventurous social scientists. The main objective of such people seems to be to safeguard what they have inherited at whatever cost rather than to deepen and further our knowledge about the deeper recesses of human mind and thereby pattern the social behavior of the community on the basis of a true knowledge of man's real nature .

But fortunately not all religions are organized to be impervious to the scientific approach to its problems.  all in the interest of gaining a true knowledge about man and his essence. The chief attraction of Saivism to the modern world appears to be precisely this openness to challenges of whatever kind,

The goal is not preservation of beliefs and dogmas enunciated by some significant individuals in the past but rather knowledge about man and the world that is not further challeangable and discoveries of procedures and practices that are unfailingly efficacious in improving the psychological nature of man. 

The modern Saivas have inherited millenniums of effort in this direction of a group of people who have contributed significantly to enrich world culture. As such it is highly possible that among the philosophical and psychological theories that have evolved within the fold of Saivism, there are some that are universally true and hence possibly the terminal knowledge about the essence of man.

Among the ancient Tamils, there arose a school of thought precisely with this claim - the claim that they have reached the terminal phase in the open ended and hermeneutic investigations about the psychic constitution of man. It arose after living through great religions such as Buddhism, Jainism and a host of minor Hindu religions. 

Of course, here I am referring to the Saiva Siddhanta school of thought that was the Saiva foundations for the bakti movement in the 5th century that regained Hinduism for India and South East Asia. 

The rational foundations of this great religion was brilliantly expounded by Meykandar in the 13th century initiating a very remarkable intellectual revolution in India particularly among the South Indians. This process of reexamining the foundations of religious experience continuously, in order to gain an understanding of it without denying its reality and its essential character has continued to this day and in this long march many brilliant individuals have written numerous treatises making significant advances.

It was my good fortune that I came across a brilliant treatise belonging to this school which summarizes in prose, the essential advances made in this school of thought. The importance of the text is as follows. It is probably one of the most brilliant expositions of the theistic interpretations of religious experience without any recourse to dogmas and revelations. As such one could say that it reveals the essentials of a universal framework for a scientific and objective understanding of the phenomena of religious experience , the philosophical and psychological foundation for not only understanding religious experience but also patterning it both as an individual and collective experience in directions that are efficacious and beneficial.

We are living in a world where several religions coexist. Any understanding of the deep seated commonness beneath the superficially differences will pave the way for a better understanding among the individuals, a greater acceptance of each others cultural norms or values. In view of this, one of the best things I could do in the opportunity that is given to me now is to present the essentials of this text with the hope it would serve as a foundation for reflecting further upon the universal aspects of human religious experience.

( the introduction itself, which is rather long,  to be continued )

Loganathan @ Ullaganar

[1] The sciences that were developed by the Tamils are essentially hermeneutic sciences that's emerging also in the West at the moment. The methodology was established at least by Tolkappiyar (300 B.C) if not by some unknown linguists even earlier. In Tol. it is termed Nul Neri, the way of textual analysis, which when translated into Sanskrit became Tantrika (Tantra :text) which later as Tantrism not only lost its original rigor but also degenerated into bizarre forms.

The Metaphysical Gynecology of Tirumular - Part 3

The Science of Naataantam

In the comments below I have given enough details of these two verses where Tirumular describes further his cosmo-gynecology where he also succeeds in locating the birth of KuNdalini, the root cause of the sexual libido in all creatures and which underlies the will for self-propagation through demographic means. This desire arises from Kudilai, that which harbors the Logos, Ogkaaraam and which differentiates into akaaram, ukaaram and so forth. 

However I just want to say that Tirumular is mindful of the NEED for social consensus so that such views are NOT  simply the imaginations of a fertile  mind and  quite mystical at that.

The science being articulated here  is that of Naataantam, the science of Mantras (that the later Siddhas too developed in various ways) and the truths are available for anyone to see and understand in the workings of MIND itself. Saivism sees the self working with the mental modules of Manam, Buddhi, AhanGkaaram and Cittam where they are also hierarchically organized with Manam as the most immediate to physical world and Cittam as the deepest and the most intimate with the soul itself.

All the motivational dynamics emerge from the Cittam component and which gives rise to the ego-self, the AhanGkaaram and which feeds into cognitive component of Buddhi and which then influences the Manam which, with the five senses as its tool,  processes the physical stimuli that impinges on the senses. As we investigate the workings of such a Manam, we can discover the presence of Buddhi there and as when we  try to unravel the cognitive processes, including the semiological, we can see the presence of the ego-self. And as we penetrate into the mysteries surrounding the ego-functions, we can discover the Cittam, the primordial source of the various kinds of desires that impel self into action. As we contemplate into the workings of these modules of the mind we can also access the UNIVERSAL or cosmological processes such as the ones Tirumular is articulating here.  Recall that  for Tirumular, the human body is a micro version of the Macrocosm that's the Universe, a crystal that is formed with the axial forces that configure also whatever in the universe.

3.

1925

வந்திடு  பேத மெல்லாம் பரவிந்து

தந்திடு மாமாயை வாகேசி தற்பரை

உந்து குடிலையோடு ஏமுறு குண்டலி

விந்துவில் இந்நான்கு மேவா விளங்குமே

உரை:

மேலே விளக்கப்பட ஐம்முகத்து சதாசிவ முர்த்தம், ஆறு ஆதாரத் தலங்கள், நான்கு நாடிகள் என்றும் இவற்றையெல்லாம் தாங்கி நிற்பதாக எழும் 36 தத்துவங்கள்  என்றும் வரும் பேதங்களெல்லாம் பரவிந்துவின் திரிபுகளே. மேலும் இவற்றோடு அறிவிற்கு உருவம் தரும் மாமாயையாகிய சுத்தமாயையும், வைகரியாதி நான்கு வாக்குகளும், சுத்த சைதன்ய வடிவைத் தரும் தற்பரையும், எல்லா ஊக்கங்களுக்கும் காரமாகிஅய குடிலையிலிருந்து எழும் காமவேட்கையின் குண்டலியும் இதே பரவிந்துவிலிருந்து  உலகெங்கும் மேவி விளங்கி நிற்கும்.

3.

1925.

vantidu peeta mellaam paravintu

tantidu maamaayai vaakeeci taRparai

untu kadilaiyoodu eemuRu kuNdali

vintuvil innaanku meevaa viLaGkumee

Meaning:

The differentiated forms such as above - i.e. the five-faced  Cataaciva, the Six Atara Cakras, the Four Nadies and the 36 Tatvas that give form and function to all these, emerge from the primordial ParaBindu. In addition to that ParaBindu also gives rise to the various elements that give structure and function to intelligence such as  the Cutta Maayai (out of which consciousness is generated) the Vak ( the languages Vaikari and so forth) and the Pure Consciousness (TaRparan). Now in addition to that,  from the Kudilai that gives the push to all, emerges the KuNdalini, the sexual libido that leads to the enjoyment of various kinds of joys. All these four elements also emerge and take shape from ParaBindu and pervade the whole space.

4.

1926

விளங்கு நிவிர்த்தாதி மேவு அகராதி

வளங்கொள் உகாரம் மகாரத்துள் விந்து

களங்கமில் நாதாந்தம் கண்ணினுள் நண்ணி

உளங்கொள் மனாதியுள் அந்தமு மாமே

உரை:

இனி சுத்தமாயையில் விளங்கும் பஞ்ச கலைகளாகிய நிவிர்த்தி பிரதிட்டை வித்தை சாந்தி சாந்தியாதீதை போன்றவை அகாரம் மந்திரம் மேவுதால் எழுவன.  இனி இந்த அகாரத்தோடு, உலகப்பொருட்களின் உருவத் தோற்றத்திற்கு மூலகாரணமாக விளங்கும் உகார மந்திரமும், எல்லா பேதங்களையும் போக்கி மூல அபின்ன நிலைக்குக் கொண்டு செல்லும் மகார மந்திரத்தினுள், ஒர் வித்தாக ( விந்தாக) நிற்கும். இப்படிப்பட்ட அகார உகார மந்திரங்களில் உண்மையான முடிவான நாதாந்த நிலையை ஞானக்கண்ணினுள் தரிசிக்க விரும்பி , உள்ளம் என்பதை இருத்துவதாகிய மனம் புத்தி ஆங்காரம் சித்தம் எனும் அந்தகரணண்க்களுள் காண, அவற்றின் முடிவான நிலையைக் காண முடியும் என்றவாறு

4.

1926.

viLaGku nivirttaati meevu akaraati

vaLaGkoL ukaaram maakaarattuL Vintu

kaLaGamiL naataantam kaNninuL naNNi

uLaGkoL manaatiyuL antamu maamee

Meaning:

Now we have the akaaram mantra syllables pervading the Cutta Maayai and generating the dynamics of consciousness of Nivritti, Piratiddal, Vittai, Caanti and Caantiyaatiitai. Now these mantras along with the ukaaram remain as the seed forms within the makaaram mantra that seeks to coalesce and with that disallow differentiations. The science of understanding these mantras, the Naataantam, can be practiced and these truths ascertained only if one desires to understand them with the Third Eye and see how they configure the functions of the mind modules of Manam, Buddhi, AhaGkaaram and Cittam that configure the essence of self.

Comments:

In this verse Tirumular attends to the genesis of Intelligence Consciousness, Thinking Desires and so forth of the psychic entities as such and for which he brings in the mantras and the Logos. While Parabindu is the source of the 36 Tatvas that go into the configuration of every element in the cosmos, it is also said to be the causal basis of intelligence languages and consciousness (Cutta Maayai, Vak and TaRparai) The notion of language is very broad and is designed  to include all modes of communications including that of animals, insects and so forth.  It also includes the audible speech, the symbolic languages, the dream language, mythological language and so forth. All these are understood within the classification of Vaikari, Paicyanti Mattimai Cuukkumai and Ati cuukkumai where the Ati cuukkumai is the Primordial Logos, Om itself.

Now Kudilai is where this Om is located and it is said to be the source of the sexual libido, KuNdalini. The Coiled Power and which is the source of motivational dynamics and joys of all kinds (eemuRu kuNdali) is also located here. The Kudilai is the Universal Will and the KuNdalini is the fractional crystallization of this WILL as the will of the creatures and which is basically sexual, taking this notion in a very broad sense. As such this KuNdalini becomes the causal ground of the experience of bliss of all kinds.

Now it is also further observed that the dynamics of consciousness as constituted by the processes of Nivritti etc are the workings of the mantras akaaram and ukaaram and their variants and which exist as seed forms within the mantra makaaram, that which disallows differentiations and seeks to maintain a state un-differentiation.

But how are we to understanding all these  and which is the science of Naataantam, the limiting understanding of Mantras?

The self-functions with the mental modules of Manam, Buddhi, AhanGkaaram and Cittam.  Once we withdraw into ourselves and explore the workings of these mind-modules, then these truths will be transparent.

Loganathan Krishnan @ Ullaganar

The influence of Sanskrit on Tamil.

The influence of Sanskrit on Tamil.

This view may be true on the influence of Sanskrit in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and so forth but NOT Tamil.

In the deep past perhaps there was a stage where the distinction between Sanskrit and Tamil was not that great. Perhaps Rigkrit was simply a dialectical variation of Tamil. It is only after the
CaGkam epoch that you hear of Sanskrit in the South of India.

Many secondary developments in lexicon were borrowed into Telugu, Kannada and so forth but not Tamil.

The Tamils fought hard to maintain the essential purity of Tamil language and which continues to this day. And you cannot rule out that many words of Sanskrit are Tamil in origin and which entered the language after the CaGkam epoch.

The fact that Dikshitar wrote his Prayoga Viveekam in the 17th century does not in any way discredit his essential findings. Both Sanskrit and Tamil that he compared are existent even now and we can cross check his claims and refute them if wrong. If you read his treatise you can also see continuous references to PaNini and other traditional Sanskrit grammarians. He had also the good sense to do the same with Tolkaappiyam and Tamil linguists who followed his ways.

What matters is NOT the date of the composition of the treatise but the CLAIMS. He clearly shows that Sanskrit is an agglutinative language and hence not a lanaguage that belongs to IE family of languages which are not agglutinative.

This you can cross check even now with respect to the various
features of agglutinative languages I have mentioned.

Loganathan Krishnan @ Ullaganar

Kantha Sashti Viratham (Fasting) : Remedy for All the Obstacles Part 3

Kantha Sashti Viratham (Fasting):Remedy for All the Obstacles Part 2

Kantha Sashti Viratham (Fasting):Remedy for All the Obstacles Part 1

The Metaphysical Gynecology of Tirumular - Part 2

The Dynamics of the  Cosmos and the Psychodynamics of the Anmas

The bringing into birth or presence (Tamil : utayam) of the universe also brings into presence both the dynamics of the cosmos as a whole and the psychodynamics of the anmas and which are NOT independent, in the understanding of Tirmular. What is there in the universe is also there in the human body, the human body being a microstructure of the macrocosm. The human person or the creature in general, the Pacu, is a crystallization in accordance with the axial forces already there in the universe.

These axial forces are those captured in the Icon of Cataaciva, the details of which are explained  below. They constitute not only the basis of the psychodynamics of the living creatures but also the whole movement of the universe. The cosmos is an immensely dynamic reality and it is so only because of the five faces of Cataaciva and which is understood also as the Dance of Siva and Sakti, the various modifications, transmutations and translations of Pure Energy from one form into another creating in that process everything that populates the universe, including the universe itself.

But overall there is an Intelligence behind it all and hence it is NOT simply a chaotic symphony of blind physical forces but rather a movement or Dance that is designed to lead the anmas to EVOLVE and attain Moksa. It is here where the Saiva Cosmology differs from the modern Astrophysics where the universe is NOT seen as a Macro Man, the Purusha of a kind, the Cataaciva etc.

More details below.

2.

1924.

செய்திடும் விந்து பேதத்திறன் ஐயைந்தும்

செய்திடும் நாத பேதத்திறனால் ஆறும்

செய்திடு மற்றவை ஈர் இரண்டின் திறன்

செய்திடும் ஆறாறு சேர் தத்துவங்களே

உரை:

இறைவன் பரவிந்துவினை அதிட்டித்து பேதப்படச் செய்து, சதாசிவ மூர்த்தியின் ஐந்து முகங்களாகி அதற்கேற்ற மனோன்மணியும் ஐந்து வகை சத்திகளாகப் பரிணமிக்கச்  செய்வர். இனி ஆங்கு விளங்கும் பரநாதத்தினை அதிட்டித்து, மூலாதாரம் தொடங்கி ஆக்ஞை வரையுள்ள ஆறு ஆதாரங்களை உருவாக்குவர். இனி எஞ்சி இருப்பதாகிய இடகலை பிங்கலை சுழிமுனை நாடி என்பவற்றோடு குருநாடியாகவும் இவற்றையே மிக்கும் குறைத்தும் சமமாக இருத்தியும் திரிப்பர். இவ்வாறே உலகிற்கும் உடலிற்கும் மூலமாகிய 36 தத்துவங்களை உருவாக்குவர் என்பதாம்.

2.

1924.

ceytidum vintu peetattiRan aiyaintum

ceytidum naata peetattirRanaal aaRum

ceytidu maRavai iir iraNdin tiRan

ceytidum aaRaaRu ceer tattuvaGkaLee

Meaning:

BEING pervades the ParaBindu and brings into the presence the icon of Cataaciva with the FIVE faces with both the Masculine and Feminine aspects and with that ten metaphysical realities there. And pervading the ParaNatam, BEING brings into presence the SIX Atara Cakras or existential worlds and the FOUR kinds of hierarchically organized psychodynamics of (PiGkalai, IdakaLai, Cuzi Munai and Guru nadies). And to sustain all these are brought into presence the 36 Tatvas, the building blocks of everything in the world.

Comments:

We are still with the genesis of the whole of the cosmos and the presence of KuNdalini, the Coiled Power that emerges in animal body as the sexual libido. Here Tirumular goes on to elaborate further the genesis of the cosmos so that we can make sense of the overall structure and the presence of various kinds of psychodynamics including the sexual which is the theme of this chapter.  I interpret, the aiyaintu, the five as the faces of Cataaciva where each face is dual - the Natam and Bindu parts and hence altogether TEN.  Each face establishes one kind of the primordial dynamics of the whole of the universe,  split into the illuminating type and attractive type. For example there is this Vaamateevam, that face which installs the sexual dynamics, which has both the function of pulling the anmas towards sexuality and LEARNING and hence becoming illuminated by experiencing sexuality. The same goes for TatpuRudam (self understanding), Satyosaatam (seeking to enjoy only truths) Akooram (seeking to become loving and merciful) and Iicaanam (seeking Moksa as the most meaningful)

Now this also leads to the creation of Six Atara Cakras or existential worlds for no one can jump immediately to the highest state of being-in-the- world. The WAY is one on Sobaana MuRai, a stage by stage process where one has to EVOLVE bit by bit towards the highest and which is becoming a mumuksu, one desiring Moksa and nothing else. BEING provides various worlds organized into a hierarchy, the higher nested inside the lower so that an anma living in one can access the higher within it and with that EVOLVE into higher of species.

Now the question arises: How are these cosmic pulls reflected in an individual?

It is here that we have the  FOUR nadies and which are those inner pressures that establish the Naaddam, the seeking (which also underly the genesis of the human body particularly the nervous system including the brain). The PiGkalai Nadi comes to be when the Bindu is dominant and by itself and Idakalai when Natam is dominant and stands by itself. The Cuzi Munai comes when both Bindu and Natam act jointly, one penetrating into the other. As one progresses thus, then the Guru Nadi comes to be active displacing the others and making the person a seeker of Moksa and nothing else.

With these fundamentals of the Dynamics of the universe as a whole and the Psychodynamics as part of it, the whole world is seen as something configured out of the 36 Tatvas that are generated form these basic ParaNatam and ParaBindu or the Kudilai that contains both.

Loganathan Krishnan @ Ullaganar

( to be continued ) 

( image on the nadis taken from 'Merging with Siva' , by Satguru Subramunia Swamy )

The Metaphysical Gynecology of Tirumular - Part 1

The Metaphysics of Gynecology

The question : How there is the urge to procreate and propagate themselves among all the creatures and sexuality as an expression of it seems to be the basic question that Tirumular poses himself in writing these verses. 

And he begins with  Cosmology and relates the creative urges to the fundamental metaphysical realities and for which reason the gynecology is not simply biological or biophysical but rather metaphysical in essence.

One of the basic themes of Tirumular is that the creature body is a micro version of the macrocosm that's the universe and that there  is an isomorphism between the universe and the human body. Any understanding that does not relate the bodily functions to the cosmological realities would not have  achieved the ultimate in the hermeneutic scientific understanding of the phenomenon.

The word Bintu (> Vintu) can be traced to Sumerian  bi-ji, that which gives (bi) life (ji) and which exists in Tamil now as Vittu, the seed and in Malay as Biji, also the seed. Thus the investigation is into the Vintu, the primordial seed from which all sprout or made to sprout.

He brings the study of human gynecology and the sexuality that founds it, within such a global cosmological understanding, something quite unique to him.

1.

20. VintuRpaNam, விந்துற்பனம்

1923.

உதயத்தில் விந்துவில் ஓங்கு குண்டலியும்

உதயக் குடிலில் வயிந்தவம் ஒன்பான்

விதியிற் பிரமாதிகள் மிகு சத்தி

கதியிற்  கரணங் கலை வைகரியே

உரை:

ஆணவ இருளால் முற்ரிலும் விழுங்கப்பட்டு தோற்றம் இல்லாது கிடந்தது விட்டு உளதாய் இருக்குமாறு தோற்றுவிக்கப்பட்ட உலக உதயகாலத்தில் , அதில் ஒன்றாய்த் தோன்றிய அபரவிந்துவில் ஓர் கூறாய் குண்டலினி சக்தி விளங்கும். டூந்த குண்டலினியிம் மூலமாகிய குடிலையில் இருக்கும் வைந்தவமாகிய சக்தியே பரதெய்வங்கலாகிய பிரமன் திருமால், உருத்திரன் மகேஸ்வரன், சதாசிவம் சக்தி சிவன் என்றும் சிவதத்த்டுவங்களாகிய நாதம் விந்து என்றும் ஒன்பது வடிவங்களை பரசிவனின் விதிப்பில் தோன்றும். இத் தெய்வங்களின் கதியாகவே உலகத்தில் நின்று நிலவும் கரணங்களும் கலைகளும் அவற்ரை மொழிப்படுத்தும் வைகரி மொழியும் ஆகும்.

1.

1923.

utayattil vintuvil ooGku kuNdaliyum

utayak kudilil vayintavam onpaan

vitiyiR piramaatikaL miku cattti

katiyiR karaNaG kalai vaikariyee

Meaning:

When BEING violates the Malam, the Dark Killing Energy that swallows the whole world and causes its absence, and let them be present, there emerges also the Bindu within which also emerges the KuNdalini. Now the Kudilai is the primordial source of this KuNdalini and which transmutes itself into the nine root archetypes or ICONS - Brahma, VishNu, Rudra, Makeswara, Cataaciva, Sakti, Sivam and the Siva Tatvas, Natam and Bindu and which are powers behind all. Now it is as the blessings of these root Icons that we have all the technologies, sciences and the language of Vaikari that serves as the medium for them.

Comments: 

Though  ‘karaNam” has come to mean narrowly the ritual actions, but in general it means the various kinds of sadhanas or technologies. In the same vein by ‘kalai' is meant all the sciences and arts or simply all those which are LEARNED ( kal-a> kalai: that which are learned) These are the kinds of things that are not innate but rather those which are acquired through learning and which are quite often transmitted as part of the culture and traditions into which one is born. 

Now “Vaikari' is the form language that is audible and hence the normal media of communication with others and hence the social shape of language. As opposed to other shapes. This will include not only the human but also that of birds, insects and other animals, which also have very sophisticated languages of communications of their own

What Tirumular is at pains to articulate is that ultimately their presence is to be related to the POWERS in the form of the nine archetypes or icons mentioned and which are themselves differentiated forms of the primordial Vaintavam or Kudilai. It is BEING whose shape shifts into all these by differentiating the primordial Kudilai. Now it also noted that in this presenting of the universe as there, there emerges also the Vintu, the seed of all creations and KuNdalini, the sexual libido as part of this.

Thus Tirumular observes that the creative urge and sexuality which is an expression of it, are already there as integral parts of the universe and since the human body is homologous with it, this urge is also part of the human nature (in fact creature nature as a whole).

Dr Loganathan @ Ullaganar

( to be continued )

The Metaphysical Gynecology of Tirumular - Introduction

The Metaphysical Gynecology of Tirumular 

Many scholars are lamenting at the negligence by scholars the study of the scientific accomplishments of the Tamil Siddhas. 

I must add here that it is not recognized that there are many books that can pass off as scientific treatises in Tirumular’s Tirumantiram. In order to expound such books which are stringed together by later redactors only with some intuitive understanding, I begin this series where I hope to explicate the essence of the verses 1923 - 1974 where the substance is the birth and death and so forth of living things. 

It is divided into two chapters : verses ( 1923- 1938)   20. VintuRpanam( the genesis of the seminal fluid) and verses ( 1937- 1974) 21: Vintu Jayam ( overcoming sexuality)

I have termed this field of study of Tirumular as Metaphysical Gynecology to bring out the seeing of the biological against the cosmological as he has done in cosmic-sociology and cosmic-psychology and so forth. I use the same numbering as that of G. Varadarajan whose commentary is also taken into account here.

Dr Loganathan Krishnan @ Ullaganar

History of Genuine Wisdom of Tamilar in the Sumerian Roots

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-PM1lb16lE

What is dream - A Tamil Perspective

Dreams are NOT visualizations, imaginations or some aberrant and bizarre
cognitive processes.

What are they then?

Dreams are FABRICATED as for the dreamer and to communicate something
important to him. And since most of the dreams are prophetic, telling in
advance about something that is going to happen to the individual ( this
aspect was denied by Freud but world history of dreams shows that most of
the dreams are prophetic in some ways), the primordial Power that fabricates
these dreams must be BEING, He who stands above Time and as the One who
knows all.

With this we can see that in lucid dreams where the icons are presented, the
same kind of processes are at work. BEING fabricates the lucid dreams and hence
transductive perceptions and because of which the person (we call them yogis
but the Westerners call them psychics!) can understand them something deep
and profound.. This is the essence of Icon Thinking such as Punitavati,
Poykaiyaar and so forth that we are studying now.

It is here we can locate the devas or muurtties as different ways BEING
presents Himself or shape shifts in order to fabricate the dream-drama and
thereby communicate something, the understanding of which would constitute
metaphysical illuminations. 

This is the meaning of avatar, I think. Now when you ask questions about these 
dream-fabrication processes then you would be involved with Mantrayana where
 the dreams and such elements of experienceare constituted by the aksaras, 
the mantra-syllables etc. The Ongkara Antati of Kaviyogi details these views and 
which comes in a long line of the Tamil Siddha tradition that we can trace back Tirumular
 himself. The akaram and ukaram are the dots and dashes of computer language and 
out of which so many marvellous graphics, movements sounds and so forth are fabricated.

Thus devas are shapes BEING projects to configure a dream-drama and the deep
ones becoming the contents of mythologies puraNas ,folk lores etc.

Now the souls of some of the dead may hover around as such spirits and they may
be the amarar of Poykaiyaar and many others. This may also be related to
ancestor worship etc.

Now I can understand devas as various presentational forms of BEING Himself
and hence beyond the categories of being alive and then dying, I am not
sure about these amarars, the spirits.


Loganathan Krishnan @ Ullaganar