By Periyava
Translation from
Tamil: Veeraswamy Krishnaraj
அதுவேதான் இது! : தெய்வத்தின் குரல் (முதல் பகுதி)
1-05
That is This! Deivathin Kural (the Divine Voice)
A carpenter made a wooden elephant for the temple. Another carpenter
went to the temple to examine the wooden elephant. As he went close to
the elephant, his child shouted, “Father, don’t go near the elephant. It
will butt you with its head.”
The carpenter to his child said, “It is a wooden elephant. It
will not butt me.” He took her near the elephant.
The elephant mount appeared real to the child. It hid the Jñāṉam from
the child it was merely a wood piece. To the carpenter, the
elephant-ness of the object disappeared, though it bore exact
resemblance to an elephant.
That it was wood was the knowledge, he held.
He only saw the wood.
The elephant was in his perception. That was real Jñāṉam.
மரத்தை மறைத்தது மாமத யானை
மரத்தில் மறைந்தது மாமத யானை
Verse 2290
என்று இந்த இருவர் நிலையையும் திருமூலர் திருமந்திரத்தில்
சொல்லியிருக்கிறார்.
The great elephant in musth hides the wood. (The child’s view of
the elephant. She sees the elephant and not the wood.)
The great elephant in musth hides in the wood. (The carpenter’s
view of the elephant. He sees the wood and sees not the elephant.)
This presents the views of the child and the carpenter, as depicted by
Tirumular in Tirumantiram
பரத்தை மறைத்தது பார்முதல் பூதம்
பரத்தில் மறைந்தது பார்முதல் பூதம்.
Verse 2290
Tirumular is a great God
of Yogis. He tells great Tattvas in easy laymen’s terms. The above
saying is in Tirumantiram (verse 2290).
Why did Mular tell the story of the life-size elephant sculpture, seen
by a child as the real elephant and the wood seen by an adult. The 3rd
and the 4th lines of the verse explains it.
The world and the elements hide Param.
The world and the elements hide in Param.
The message is the elephant and the wood are nondifferent. Likewise,
Paramātma
and the world are nondifferent. By this illustration (Elephant and the
wood) Mular explains. This world and the elements are made of the wood
of Paramātma.
In the doll of this world and
the elements, the child did not see the wood. Likewise, in the world,
the Param is not seen by us. In our sight, the world and the elements
hide the Param. For Jñāṉis,
all appear as Brahmamayam (wholeness
of Braḥmam or Essence of Brahman).
All right. This story, for what purpose, you may ask. What we need is a
comfortable life in this world. For that, there is a necessity for
money. You may ask why we should worry about this and where is the
relevance regarding Param and the world.
OK, let us assume that all become rich. Will it serve us to stay in
tranquillity, calmness, fearlessness…? Once all people come to a great
fortune, everyone desires to be richer than the next one with the result
there will be competition and quarrels. It is just not enough to live in
comfort. It is the nature of man to have a competitive spirit and more
than the other. Though the conveniences are equally shared by everyone,
there is a penchant to have it first. I serve holy water to everyone and
then only I leave the hall. They all know it. Could they not wait in a
queue in peace and receive it at a time when it happens? The prevailing
attitude is it is not enough to receive the Tīrtham but get it first and
to achieve it, they jostle each other, fall, rise, fight… As long there
is such competition, there will not be mental satisfaction for anyone.
Competition will not diminish just because there is prosperity.
If competition must be had, we should get the wisdom there is no object
worth to compete for. Then
only, we can live in full measure and in peace. Not denigrating wisdom,
the perpetual action is to indulge in self-enquiry. If you do not want
to pay to buy the miseries of the world, this world in not what we think
of it; It is all Śivamayam (Śiva in essence); this and that are
non-different. The wood is elephant; that the universe is Param (the
Supreme) must be in your constant thought. If you don’t have this
Jñāṉam, any prosperity coming your way means the world is shrouded in
the darkness of night. We should not be lackadaisical about the effort
in acquiring Jñāṉaprakāsam (Light of wisdom) to drive away to night of
ignorance. Even if the sun is gone forever, it is not a grievous loss.
This Jñāṉaprakāsam should not be allowed to leave us anytime.