The Psychoanalysis of Appar - Part 1

The Psychoanalysis of Appar-1

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

Appar 4:3 TiruvaiyaaRu

1.

மாதர்ப் பிறைக் கண்ணியானை மலையான் மகளொடும் பாடிப்

போதொடு நீர் சுமந்தேத்திப் புகுவார் அவர்பின் புகுவேன்

யாதுஞ் சுவடு படாமல் ஐயாறு அடைகின்ற போது

காதன் மடப்பிடியோடுங் களிறு வருவன கண்டேன்

கண்டேன் அவர் திருப்பாதங் கண்டறியாதன கண்டேன்.

உரை:

அழகிய இளம்பிறையை தலைமாலையாக அணிந்து சந்திரசேகரனாக தன்னை வெளிபடுத்தி அருளும் சிவபெருமான் அவனது இடப்பாதியாக இருக்கும் மலையமான் மகளாகிய பார்வதியோடு இணந்திருப்பதை ஞானக் கண்ணில் கண்டு பாடியவாறு , அர்ச்சனைக்கு வேண்டியது பூக்களும் சுத்த நீராகிய தீர்த்தமுமே என்று கொண்டு அவற்றை சுமந்தவாறு செல்லும் நல்ல அடியார் கூட்டத்தையேப் பின்தொடர்ந்து அவர்கட்கு பின்னேயே செல்வேன். இப்படி அடியார்களுள் ஒருவனாக, அகம்பாவத்து எவ்வித சேட்டையுமின்றி, நான் இருக்கின்றேன் எனக் காட்டும் சுவடுகள் யாதும் விடாது ஐயாறு எனும் சிவத்தலத்தை அடைகின்ற போது வழியில் ஓர் இளம் பெண்யானைமேல் காதல் கொண்டதாய் ஓர் களிறு வருவதைக் கண்டேன். அதுபொழுது ஊனக் கண்ணால் காண்டற்கு அரிதாகிய சிவபெருமான் நாதவிந்துக்களை பெண்னென ஆணென உயிரினங்கள் எழுமாறு அசைத்தாடும் ஆனந்தத் தாண்டவத்து திருப்பாதங்களை ஞானக்கண்ணிற் கண்டேன்; அதுவரையிலும் நான் கண்டறியாதிருந்த ஆழ் உணமைகளைக் கண்டு மகிழ்ந்தேன்.

1.

maatarp piRaik kaNniyaanai malaiyamaan makaLodum paadip

pootodu nii cumanteetti pukuvaar avarpin pukuveen

yaatunj cuvadu padaamal aiyaaRu adaikinra pootu

kaatan amdappidiyooduG kaLiRu varvana kaNdeen

lkaNdeen avar tiuppaataG kandariyaatana kaNdeen

Meaning:

BEING as Candrasekaran wearing the beautiful Crescent Moon as a head ornament stays with Parvati, the daughter of the King of Himalayas. Holding this in my mental vision and singing of them eloquently, I follow behind the adiyars who carry only fresh blossoms and pure water for worship and enter the temple. As I move along with them inconspicuously and near the Temple in AiyaaRu, I noticed on the way a male elephant coming with a young female elephant and in love with it.  At that point I saw with my mental eyes, the Divine Feet of Siva (where he creates the males and females of all species with agitating the Natam and Bindu). Thus I saw what are impossible to witness with the fleshy eyes alone.

Comments:

Appar obviously draws attention in this verse that a natural phenomenon such as the male and female elephants being in love with each other and enjoying sexual bliss can be SEEN differently. For those who posses the capacity to penetrate the surface features and gain a vision of the DEPTHS, the love and sexual union of the animals (and human beings) disclose the Dance of Bliss of Siva who by manipulating the Siva Tatvas Natam and Bindu (the Yin and Yang of Taoism) creates the male and female of all species in such a way that they are drawn to each other with the intention for enjoying the bliss of sexual union. The eyes of the ordinary people who have only the fleshy eyes that show only the PHYSICAL and without even a hint of the Third Eye that discloses the metaphysical depths, can only see that as an instance of carnal sexuality but not the Dance of BEING at the depths and where as Siva and Sakti, there is also sexual union.

At every expression of love and at every act of sexual union there is the union of Siva and Sakti at the deepest level and for those who manage such a vision of ordinary sexual unions of the creatures they become SACRED,  and ICON that help  witnessing of Siva and Sakti in sexual union of a kind.

This vision comes as a new disclosure to Appar and for which he is so immensely grateful.

But there are many preconditions for gaining such a vision and appreciate the aesthetics behind it all, a natural marvel that in fact it is. These preconditions are:

One must understand the Icon of BEING as the wearer of the Crescent Moon, that which can become the amutu, ambrosia of good mental and physical health and hence longevity. The Woman becomes here the Parvati, the Lady of Earth but located at the peak and hence someone not that easily approachable. Parvati here is the same as the Sumerian ( and Toda) Nin Hur-Sag, the Lady of the Peak. She is also the ManonmaNi of the Ajna Cakra who descends at lower Cakras as the various Female Powers, KalaivaaNi, Laksmi etc.

Thus one must gain a vision of BEING as such and SING about it so that the aesthetics, the MUSIC of it all is kept alive.

Now having gained it and to sustain it in the vision,  one must worship,  not with animal sacrifices and so forth but only fresh blossoms and pure waters. One must kill and expel the animistic thinking that shows ties with the flesh in order to sustain the vision of Siva--Parvati in love embrace.

Now another attendant feature is that one must have conquered the EGO, the tendency to push oneself to the front and establish various kinds of signposts of one’s presence. One must follow the crowd of Adiyars inconspicuous and hence totally humble. As long as the Ego is present, there will be metaphysical BLINDNESS and because of which the vision of the depths will not be available.

Now what is wrong with Western Psychoanalytic account of such events?

Against what is implied by Appar in this verse, it would follow that such Western scholars lack the EYES to see the Divine Sexual Embrace of Siva and Sakti at the depths of all natural events where we have a male and female coming together to enjoy sexual bliss. The SACRED in every act of sexual union is beyond the reach of such scholars and because of which they become something revolting, carnal and promiscuous. The fault is NOT in such events and their depiction in temple iconography and so forth but rather in the BLINDNESS of such scholars who cannot see the DIVINE presence in such events.

ULLAGANAR

( editing and re-paragraphing by his student )

The Psychoanalysis of Appar - Introduction

The Psychoanalysis of Appar

The study of this remarkable Patikam of Appar (4: 25) that deals with the sexual act is prompted by the recent controversy about the application Freudian psychoanalytic interpretations of Ganesha, which has served to offend the feelings of Hindus. It is NOT sufficient say that the analytical psychology of Freud, Jung and so forth is inadequate to understand how the Hindus view sexuality. We have to also articulate how the shapers of Hindu thoughts, in particular the Tamils have actually viewed the matter and how it differs from that of Freud, Jung and so forth.

The Tevaram and Divviya Prabantam, the Divine Tamil is full of metaphysical insights all of which have not been brought out by scholars. Most of the Indologists  focus too much on Sanskrit, almost to the total negligence of Divine Tamil containing within it metaphysical insights perhaps unique to Tamil divine literature.

This has a commentary by Tiru Muttu. C. Manikka Mutaliyar (published by Tarumai Ateenam, 1957) that while I take into account but venture to give my own both in English and Tamil. My intention is to bring out the psychoanalysis buried in these verses.


ULLAGANAR

Sumerian In-Anna and the Androgynous BEING

In-Anna and the Androgynous BEING



Recently a biologist remarked that even if life forms are found in outer space, they are sure to be males and females whatever physiognomy they assume.  This shows a grasp of a fundamental kind belonging to Natural Metaphysics. 

The Sumerians seem to have noted this but with their characteristic plunge into the metaphysical depths they also saw BEING to be androgynous to account for the fact that in nature we find everywhere the creatures being born as males and females . BEING has to be one half male and one half female for there to be biological forms organized as males and females. . So it was a pleasant surprise for me to locate the following line in the Temple Hymn 16 of En Hudu Anna, the daughter of a Sumerian mother and an Akkadian father, the Sargon the Great (c.2300 BC) who ruled for the first time  both the Akkadian Uruk and the Sumerian Ur.

This metaphysical insight into the essence of BEING has been retained by the Tamils to this day where in every Siva Temple you can see such an icon

The line that excited me so much is the following:

>>>>>>>>>>

7(205)

munus-ra se-er-ka-an-di nita-ra sag-tug dul-la ( Who adores the woman, who covers (the head of) the man with a helmet)Tamil ( Ta ): manusinRa seerkaNdi naatanRa saan-tukil toolla  ( Who wears the woman�s necklace and a man�s  head cover)

munus: Ta: manusi : woman

Se-er-ka-an-di : Ta: seerkaNdi > sir-kaNdi : a  beautiful necklace?  > See Ta: kaNdam : the throat, neck etc.

nita : Ta. naatan : the male lord

sag-tug : Ta. tukil:  garments. Also Ta. tookai : feathers,   . Perhaps here a head dress of feathers peculiar to the males at that time.

Notes. We may have here the description of BEING as Male-Female , the androgynous reality that is retained in Saivism to this day

dul-la Ta. tool: skin, that which covers the body

>>>>>>>>>>>>

The meaning of the key terms and their Tamil shapes are very clear.  The �munus� is Tamil >manusi (woman) and �nita� is Ta. naatan ( the male , lord etc) The se-er-ka-an-di is Ta. siirkaNdi, a kind of necklace and �sag-tug� is Ta. saan-tukil a kind of head-dress and which at that time was peculiar to the males. 

What we have here is clearly In-Anna just like Siva during the historical period disclosing Herself as an androgynous reality and which icon form is celebrated to this day among the Tamils. From CaGkam times through the Bakti period( 4th cent AD to 11th Cent AD) there does not exist one major Sacred Tamil that fails to mention BEING as Siva-Sakti, one half male and one half female.  BEING is Ammai-Appar, the Mother-Father and as such the powers that give birth to the whole of the cosmos ( ammai-apparee ulakiRku ammai-appar - Tiruvuntiyaar, 12th cent) 

The following  verse is just one of the hundreds that you can find in Tamil and quite easily:

>>>>>>>>

71.

idappaala vaanattu ezumatiyai niiyoor
madappaavai tannarukee vaittaal - idappaakaG
koNdaaL malaippavai kuuRonRuG kaNdilaG kaaN
kaNdaayee mukkaNNaay kaN!Meaning:

O Lord!  You have placed as worth placing on your head the Moon that arises in the sky and next to the Ganges. Now because of this I am confused as to how these are related to the essence of the Woman whom you have placed as your equal half and on the left side. With my fleshy eyes I cannot see any features of this Woman on them. But perhaps, you the Three Eyed can see. Perhaps it is this Third Eye is the real eye!

>>>>>>>>>>>

This verse not only shows that BEING-as-Siva holds as His equal half the Madappaavai, the eternally young woman but also the Moon, the Sumerian Iti  and Ganges, the  Sumerian Amaru or apa  both forms of In-anna. To this we can certainly add the SNAKE that Punitavati mentions in so many verses and En Hudu Anna also describes as Usumgal, the large dragon... The Devaram corpus is full of terms describing these aspects quite eloquently and which also have entered their metaphysical thinking.

The Third Eye:In the verse above also by a woman Punitavati ( 4th-5th cent AD) there is mention of the Third Eye, the metaphysical eye that remains CLOSED for the ordinary individuals but opened up for the Njaanies. This is the Metaphysical Eye  and Punitavati says  effectively such visions are possible only by those who are blessed by the visions of  the Third Eye, the transductive perceptions. It belongs to transductive perception to SEE the metaphysical Moon, Snake, Ganges and so forth as forms of In-anna, the Madap paavai here, the eternally youthful WOMAN

There are many lines in Sumeria literature that alludes to this vision that it is a kind of dream experience but different  from the  typical dreams  where these visions are had  while awake as belonging to Yogak Kaadci ( yogic visions)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

3(200)

an-sa-ta e-de es gu-de du-a  ( Descending from the midst of heaven, shrine built for the steer)Ta. vaan-saay-tta ezittee iisu koodee edu-a (  (Temple) that has descended from the heavens and built for the Bull)���. ����� ������  �� ����.� ��-�
an-sa-ta : Ta. vaan-saaytta : an > ta. aan, vaan : sky. Heavens etc. sa ; Ta/ saay: depression, the inside. The �ta� is �t-a� where the �a� is locative case marker with �t� as sound filler .

e-de: Ta. izittee � Ta. izi ; to fall down, descend.  This word is also used to describe the flood  coming down from the hills. See



9( 207)

nin-gal an-ki-a (d) inanna-ke ( The great queen of heaven and earth, Inanna)Ta. niiGkaL vaan-kiiza (d) iinannakkee ( �)����� ��� ��� (���) ��������

nin-gal : Here the use of �gal� as signifying something great and honorific is still available in the use of �kaL� as is �niiGkaL� ( yourself (hon), taaGakL ( you (hon)  etc.

an-ki-a : Ta. vaan-kiiz-a : lit the sky and the earth below but in meaning the whole of the cosmos, including the metaphysical realms. It can also be understood as the metaphysical ( vaan) and physical ( kiiz) realms

>>>>>>>>

Here the crucial term is �an-sa-ta e-de�  3  which means � descending from the inside the heavens. The �heaven� here is also described as �an� ( > T. vaan) but not meaning the sky but the Metaphysical Space, the DEPTHS from which emerge all and  where reside the gods.  The term �an-ki-a �  (Ta. vaan kiiz-a) and also� an-ur-a�  (> Ta. vaan-uura)  elsewhere  all mean the same - the phenomenal and noumenal reality - the cosmic reality with both the visible  Surface Structure (SS) and invisible Deep Structure.(DS)

Now in describing in-Anna as the Queen of this kind of Cosmic Reality, she implies that what  she says is a matter of transductive perception a vision of the fleshy eyes that sees the sensible  , the SS as well as the metaphysical eye  that sees the DS

It must be the case that this understanding was not only retained by the Tamils but also  articulated as the vision of the Third Eye and linked with Sivayoga such as that of the Siddhas in later times.



ULLAGANAR

( 11-1-2005, AT )

The Tamil Hermeneutics and Metaphysics - Part 17

Vedanta - The Metaphysics of Avoidance

We have successfully disconstructed Tat Twam Asi by noting that it captures in a formulaic manner the intentionality and hence intentional temporality, the most universal existential structure. This is true not just of Indians but all human beings, perhaps also other living creatures that are nonlinguistic or prelinguistic. For all living things search for this and that and therefore infected with intentionality of some kind or other. And this also means the possibility of becoming FREE of this intentionality is also UNIVERSAL, all human beings are capable of attaining this state of genuine metaphysical freedom.


We gained this understanding, i.e. there is intentional-temporality as the integral structure of Tat Twam Asi by bringing together the metaphysical reaches pertaining to this of Tolkaappiyar ,Heidegger and Meykandar. Among these, Tolkaappiyar and Heidegger operate within I-T and do not attempt to disconstruct it. Meykandar using the insights of Tirumular, Appar Sambantar and a host of others successfully does this disconstruction and thus understands BEING whose njaanam is NOT temporal at all and hence absolute and that we can enjoy this atemporal understanding provided we effect the disconstruction.


But we noticed that this final disconstruction is NOT something we can do -- we have to AWAIT the Grace of BEING for that final disconstruction that would catapult us into the realms of Permanence, Absolute Understanding and so forth.


Let us use the term "thrice born" to describe those who enjoy this final disconstruction and hence enjoy Mukti, the final releasement from Samsara, historicity-- existential repetition, being born again and again into the phenomenal world. The thrice born are Muktas, those who have attained Mukti, NirvaNa and what not.


To become the thrice born is a possibility all of us already have and therefore EQUAL in that sense. This understanding provides the framework for becoming UNITED despite being different in sexuality, professions, birth. lineage and whatever. At the deepest level all of us hold the possibility of becoming the thrice born and once all of us realize this and restructure the mind along these lines then we have a social organization founded upon MUTUAL LOVE and RESPECT for each other and LEARNING especially the metaphysical type as the central ingredient of political life.


It would transpire that there are NO privileged individuals and anyone who claims such special privileges would turn out to be a cheat who would distort truths for very selfish reasons.


The spirit of social equality was, that was forged during the Bakthi period but unfortunately never became fully established with the necessary fundamental reorganization of the social ethos. It was a revolution that failed and one of the reasons it failed, was, I think, the rise of the Vedantic schools of thought that arose as commentaries to Vedanta Sutras of Badarayana, and with different notions about what constitutes Mukti -- the Advaita, Visistatvaita, Dvaita and so forth.


But how is that possible? How did Vedanta kill the spirit of bakthi?


Philosophy that begins with " therefore now inquire into Brahman " CANNOT be true philosophy, for such an inquiry CANNOT answer questions pertaining to the meaning of EXISTENCE but only articulate a metaphysics of AVOIDANCE of existence and NOT that of understanding. Vedanta makes one close the eyes to the existential struggles of man and justifies this methodically induced blindness through recourse to the authority of the Vedas


Let me explain this in some detail.


The ordinary existence, the existence of the philosophically naive is simply Being-in-the-World, simply living a life of basic passions and emotions, fully locked up in the world of the historical states oblivious to the higher possibilities that lurk behind the naive. Now when this is disconstructed and the naivety overcome with a heroic struggles to liberate oneself from the mundane then awareness grows of there being BEING and the possibility of drawing close to BEING and hence an attitude of Bakthi. The existence here becomes differentiated into Being-with-BEING-and -the- World (BBaW). This is the existential structure of the genuinely philosophical, where there is an understanding of the Metaphysical realms over and above the worldly and where BOTH ARE REAL only that the realms of BEING, the metaphysical realms are absolute and not transient as that of the physical. But the philosophical individual is both Physical and Metaphysical, trapped into the physical because of the bodily existence but TRYING to get releasement from it by metaphysical endeavors of various kinds.


Now this BBaW can be differentiated further into Being -only-with -World (BWW) and Being-only -with-BEING (BWB) where the emphasize is "being only with" that carries along with it the notion of negation, avoidance , exclusion, denial etc. BWW is the Godless metaphysics of Buddhists who were logical positivists of a kind such as Dignatha, Dharmakirti ARavaNa adikal of maNimekalai and so forth and who disallowed the matters of transductive perceptions and hence the Agamas and so forth as reliable sources of metaphysical understanding. They disallowed the TRUTH of the metaphysical realms and hence Bakthi as such. They could NOT disconstruct intentionality for they never recognized the presence of that by dissecting everything into flow of momentary particulars, including TIME which they dissected into a endless chain of photonic-times, the KaNikam. In this way they failed to understand and articulate a metaphysical realms WITHOUT temporality and hence BEYOND time.


Now the Vedanties , beginning from Badarayana seem to have opted for the antithetical to this viz. BWB, being only BEING and which they understood as the meaning of Aham Brahmam Asmi( I am Brahman really). The BEING is understood as the Brahman, the radiant and because of the "only" here we see also the emergence of the only Brahman is real and hence all else Mythiya, a falsity of a kind , adhysa and Aropitam etc. Being in the world as embodied person is DENIED as real and that too in order to maintain that BWB is the real possibility and justified by the authority of Vedas (which is NOT mythiya! )


With this begins a systematic blindness of the Vedantic traditions to the physical world, to existence as the embodied , historicity of existence and hence understanding as such. And since such a special vocation is NOT for everybody it also began to be asserted that only those privileged by birth to the study of the Karma Kanda of the Vedas are eligible for inquiry into Brahman thus transforming metaphysical inquiries themselves into a casteic affair and NOT something universal. Nowadays the caste restriction is no more but the acceptance of the Vedas as authoritative is insisted upon for otherwise " therefore inquiry into Brahman" cannot be maintained as proper starting point of philosophy.


In this way the emergence of bakthi and the FREE inquiry into metaphysical realms arising from existential struggles are DENIED as legitimate and dominance of Vedantic Brahmans in the philosophical world of India also ensured that the freedom of human mind be suppressed as a whole except when they talk about the Vedas and Vedanta fondly and with reverence. 


ULLAGANAR

The Virtue of Agamic Science - Part 5 - A Summary

Summary by a student of Dr Sivakumar

The Virtue of Agamic Science - Part 4 - A Summary

A summary by a student of Dr Sivakumar

The Virtue of Agamic Science - Part 3

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

The Virtue of Agamic Science - Part 2

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

The Virtue of Agamic Science - Part 1

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

Tamil Language and Agamic Science - A Summary

Summary of the talk by a student of Dr Sivakumar.

Tamil Language and Agamic Science - Part 2

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

Tamil Language and Agamic Science - Part 1

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia.

The Tamil Hermeneutics and Metaphysics - Part 16

Disconstructing Tat Twam Asi 

We have noticed that we are infected with TIME in our existence and that we are both I-T, intentional-temporality and P-T physical-temporality. But the new insight we have wrested out in our hermeneutic reflections is that the famous Tat Twam Asi is in fact an oblique way of putting the IT dimensions of existence and where it is more fundamental than PT the physical temporality in the sense that once IT is no more there would be no more also PT.


But we can disconstruct IT only if we disconstruct our INTENTIONAL way of Being, a way of Being where we continuously search for this and that, get pushed hither and thither, be pulled here and there etc. Disconstructing INTENTIONALITY requires that we BECOME non-intentional or as it is said in Indian circles, attain the state of "desirelessness", the PaRRu aRRaan PaRRu of ThirukkuRaL. Where we attain this state of Being, there is no IT and hence no PT as well. And hence NO TIME at all. It is a state of Being of the self where understanding exists as the understanding of a self but without TIME and because of which it is Absolute , the civacattu of Meykandar, Civanjanam or simply the Jnanam of Nyanasambantar that he distinguishes from maRainjanam, the scriptural understanding and puts above it.


And that it is TIMELESS also means the language , the ordinary vaikari type with syntax as constituted by Verb Phrases and Noun phrases becomes IMPOSSIBLE for without the notion of time, such linguistic structures are just impossible. One cannot simply SPEAK and hence in enjoying the Nyanam, one can only be Deeply Silent, hold oneself in the
famous Mouna Muttirai.


But does this mean that COMMUNICATION ceases to be?


No , I do not think so. My Deep Silence and the Posture I assume during those precious moments are in fact communicative. But I can be more specific here by assuming the posture Cin Muttirai, with hand gestures of a special sort where through gestures I communicate something profound and deep but without speaking. In enjoying the nyanam, the Absolute Understanding, my tongues are locked up but NOT by body and the hands. They begin to speak nonverbally and communicate something that even scriptural languages cannot communicate.


My language has been, I notice now, both verbal and nonverbal or the bodily, the language of Mudras. Now at this final state of Being, verbal language drops out leaving me only with the nonverbal, the bodily!!


Thus in disconstructing myself from INTENTIONALITY I disconstruct also from the hold of the scriptures, hence the hold of Brahma. Also the states of transductive perceptions, the aRituyil and hence also the world of Vishnu. I must learn the scriptures with the help of Brahma and having done that transcend that world and enter that of Vishnu. And having learnt all that I have to in the world of transductive perceptions , transcend even that and go beyond the world of Vishnu, BEING-as--the- Manifest- World


But these fundamental discontructions : am I doing myself? That will be impossible for at this point we are NOT disconstructing one kind of intentionality and allow another to take over. Here in this ultimate disconstruction we are doing something more fundamental, more drastic -- disconstructing the intentional disposition itself, the KILLING of the Ego-Self itself. So it has to be something AGAINST my WILL , something done on me and by something else. But at this point only BEING remains as the ONE above Brahma, as the ONE above Vishnu and hence absolutely transcendent BEING, the ParaCivan.


This BEING, this ParaCivan ( or whatever name you may choose) is the one who disconstructs me and catapults me into the state of Being timeless, and hence experiencing everything non-temporically, as it is in itself, the CattaRivu of Meykandar. Because no temporality as a component of my understanding, there is only Cuunyam, a NOTHINGNESS as a that, just as Meykandar observed : cattu etir cuunyam


And I can progress in this only by allowing myself to be thus disconstructed by BEING by becoming willingly egoless and humble. I allow myself to be thus disconstructed without any resistance when I understand that BEING is LOVE and that I can TRUST Him absolutely. My Love develops into Bakthi and within Bakthi , I happily allow myself to be disconstructed continuously by BEING and in the way He sees fit.


I have NO CHOICE really for I am given to understand that "aadduvitaal aaroruvar aadaataaree?" the famous words of Appar: if played by BEING, who can refuse to play? 



ULLAGANAR

The Tamil Hermeneutics and Metaphysics - Part 15

I am This and That and This ...: The "tat twam asi" 

So let me continue with my reflections undeterred by the noise of the False elites, knowing well that I cannot expect more than these from them and having also experienced something worse in the hands of others especially the religious fanatics of all shades for whom metaphysical reflections are monkey tricks, useless mental acrobatics. But in the History of Metaphysics this is NOT new. The early Alwars and Nayanmars were Pey's and Buuthams ( ghosts and gobblings). Perhaps I am also one in the eyes of the naive and the false elites. So let it be. Nothing is lost by this.


I exist therefore BEING is. 


This is a fundamental achievement of my own, an accomplishment through a massive disconstructive effort, an act whereby I have extricated myself from the purely physical and natural and allowed the metaphysical and the supernatural to open up itself in the horizon of my understanding. And with it, I notice now, my understanding as to what EXISTENCE is,also changes , and changes for the better.


The undiferentiated naive notion of existence becomes differentiated into TWO basic types: Being-only-with-the -World (BWW) and Being-only-with -BEING (BWB). My existence can be purely physical with purely materialistic concerns and which I disallow, as a crass dialectic materialist or the rationalist of the recent Dravidian variety or the ancient Carvakas of a kind, anything that smells nonphysical, anything beyond the reaches of the five senses; or it can be purely metaphysical where, I, like a Advaita Vedanti, would consider the physical and natural world a dream-reality, somehow there and about which I cannot speak anything, anirvacana, and somehow there through a mayasakthi, a power that escapes my comprehension.


But I notice that I am BOTH, I am, as Thirumular said long ago "Cat-acat Anma" a thinking being capable of BOTH. I notice that I background or foreground alternatively in my understanding these possibilities to be. When I push BWW to the background then, only then, I foreground BWB. And I shuttle between these two, unable to be fully in one of these but always BWB pulling me unto itself as if a magnet, the Kaantap Pasaasam of Meykandar. There is a strange fascination for BWB within me and I succumb to it even when the world calls me crazy.


And now I look at this state of Being of myself and the fact that now I have gained a more differentiated understanding of EXISTENCE. I have been saying that all these have become realities because of my own disconstructive efforts. But how then I disconstruct in such a way that I gain an understanding of existence that is true and more differentiated?


I could disconstruct only because in my vision there is a THAT that I want to be, fuse with the THAT so that it ceases to dangle in my mental horizon providing me a goal, calling unto itself and inviting me to be that. And with this I notice that right from the beginning my understanding has been PROJECTIVE, in the Heidegerian sense, future oriented with the three ektases of time or temporality - the future and hence the present and hence the past. There are thousands and thousands of these 'thats ' and "thises" that infect my understanding and configure me as one restless and always trying to be this or that, accomplish this and that. Thus my understanding has been structured by Tat Twan Asi, Thou art That. It is a result of such 'thats' in my understanding that I can be disconstructive at all.


Understanding is projective and here I agree with Heidegger but I find that I have to part company with him when he says that the Da-Sein moves from itself to itself by itself. For if the dynamics of my growth in understanding were to be this sort, I would understand only the Da-Sein (whatever it is ) and NOT the presence of BEING. My understanding MOVES but moves in the direction of BEING, I am projective only because I am PULLED out of my closedness , delimitedness , atomicity etc by BEING. And this I realise and formulate it in terms of the makavaakkiyam "tat twam asi", perhaps in a sense quite different from the Upanisadic sense but somehow akin to that.


And when I reflect further I notice that I am TEMPORAL when my state of Being is of the sort "tat twam asi" and this temporality is INTENTIONAL-TEMPORALITY (IT), the KuRippuk kaalam of Tolkaapiyar and different from the PHYSICAL-TEMPORALITY (PT) of the astronomers. And furthermore I notice that I am purely in IT when I exist as BWB and purely in PT when I exist in BWW and hence because of my inherent duality, cat-acat anma nature of myself I am both IT and PT , a being oscillating between these two states of Being.


But because BWW can be discontructed and made to recede to the background but NOT BWB, I also learn that IT is more fundamental and that it is only because I am IT that I am PT. I cannot measure out TIME using the regular motions of the planets or the immensely regular photonic expulsions of the subatomic particles unless I am already in IT. I am in essence INTENTIONAL, my understanding is configured by Tat Twam Asi and hence something founded by throwing me into IT.


My existence is founded by being thrown to be in TIME in the forms IT and PT in which IT in more fundamental and which cannot be disconstructed as can PT be. There is something peculiar and fundamental about IT and the INTENSIONALITY that underlies it.

But does that mean I cannot disconstruct from IT also? That I cannot free myself from INTENTIONALITY as a fabrique of my understanding?


Now understanding that is temporal in both these senses is acattu, as the Saivas are fond of saying, it is non-absolute in the sense that it can be displaced, sublated and backgrounded i.e disconstructed. This means my fundamental intentional way of BEING can also be discontructed.


At that point what happens to Tat Twam Asi? Does it still hold?

We shall attend to this next. 



ULLAGANAR

Agam Puram Agamic Formations - Part 3

Summary of the talk on the same topic by a student of Dr Sivakumar.

Agam Puram Agamic Formations - Part 2

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia

Agam Puram Agamic Formations - Part 1

Talk by Dr Sivakumar, University Science Malaysia.