The order
in which Thiruvalluvar has stacked the Kurals will always have a logic. They were
not randomly bunched or thrown around. In the first Kural the nature of the
Supreme Power was explained. In the second Kural, he told us that the goal of
education (book knowledge) was to put us on the path to the Supreme. In the
next Kurals Thiruvalluvar introduces the different ways in which we can approach the Supreme Power. In Kural #3 he talks about approaching the Almighty with our minds.
Kural #3
மலர்மிசை ஏகினான் மாணடி சேர்ந்தார்
நிலமிசை நீடுவாழ் வார்.
Transliteration
Malarmisai Aekinaan MaaNati serndhaar
nilamisai needuvaazh Vaar
My Rough Translation.
Those who think constantly about the Feet of God, who
resides in the hearts (mind) which is as tender as a flower, will live forever.
- Live forever?
How can someone live forever? Obviously it is not
possible on this earth. Parimelazhagar explains that the word Nilam
refers to Veedu (Mukthi or our final destination) and not earth. Only in
Veedu we can live forever.
Our mind is compared to a flower for its tenderness.
As humans we are blessed with a soft manam at birth. We have made it rough by acquiring
jealousy, hatred, evil, violence anger etc. Even among animals that have only
five senses, cannibalism is not the norm. However hungry a ferocious tiger is,
it doesn’t eat its cubs. When love enters the manam, even a five sensed
creature exhibits tenderness. So we understand that humans with their
six senses, are more cultured in their behavior and were not meant to harm each
other. We are tender and soft creatures by nature. So this Kural says that God
will come and reside in a tender flower which is our manam.
- In what form?
He will come in a form that the person desires. If I
think that God is in the shape of a pen, then He will come and reside in the
shape of a pen in my heart.
Example:
In Kamba Ramayanam, Prince Bharathan agreed to wait
for fourteen years and to rule as a representative of Lord Raman. He
worshipped Raman by placing Raman’s sandals on the throne. Bharathan vowed that if
he did not see Raman on the following day when the fourteenth year had fully
ended, he would enter the fire once for all.
As the 14 years drew to a close, Raman worried that
Bharathan might kill himself and so sent Lord Hanuman to meet Bharathan and
inform that all went well and Raman would return shortly.
Some devotees of Raman raised a question that if
Bharathan worshipped Raman with all his heart then Raman should have appeared
in person, why did he send Hanuman instead ?. Scholars explain that, Bharathan worshipped
the Sandals of Raman, so in times of danger Raman sent his Holy Feet (God’s
feet are respectfully called as Holy Feet or Thiruvadi). Hanuman was a
loyal devotee of Raman and in Vaishnava tradition he is also referred to as
Raman’s Thiruvadi.
So the point is, the Kural tells us that God will come
to reside in our manam, in exactly the form that the devotee worships.
- When will He come?
He will come immediately, it seems. In a rush and
hurry. There is a usage of the word Aeginaan in the Kural. It means “Came”.
Normally it would mean “God Came”. Since the past tense is used, readers might
misunderstand that God once came quickly and all that, sometime in the past, but will He come now?
Parimelazhagar gives a beautiful explanation here. I really loved it.
In spoken Tamil, there is a usage where past tense is
used to refer to the future tense with an added urgency. For eg: Consider this scenario: we agreed to go for a movie with a friend after lunch. The friend is
waiting outside our house and honks repeatedly to hurry up. We stuff food in
our mouth and in a rush to leave quickly, respond “I am there, am there”
(vanthutten, vanthutten). We don’t say “I’m coming”, we say “I’m
there” even though we are not already there. We use the past tense to
indicate that we are coming in a hurry.
Similarly, God telling us, “I’m there, I’m there” and He is coming in a hurry to sit in our tender heart!
- In whose heart?
God will reside in those hearts that think about Him constantly.
This is the crux of this Kural. The word Serndhaar
in Tamil normally means “those who joined.” Parimelazhagar explains that the
word Serndhaar in the Kural means thinking constantly. As humans,
we think that doing good or bad means actually doing with or hands or our body.
But there are three types of doing:
1.
Doing by way of mind - we wish for good and bad things for others.
This is also doing – (By way of Manam or mind)
2.
Doing by way of words - We
use good and bad words towards others – (By way of Vaaku or words)
3.
Doing by way of the body - This we are familiar as doing good and bad
deeds – (By way of Mei or Body).
We must learn to keep all these three types of our “doings”
clean. That is called Tri-karuna-suthi. In our lives, we take a ton of effort
to keep our body clean, and some effort to keep our words clean, but we don’t understand
the importance of our thoughts because no one can see them. We think it is okay
to have ill thoughts in our minds, and smile and speak sweet words. That is of
no use. All good things MUST begin at the manam. Otherwise the sweet words and
the smile will have no use.
We need to start working on cleaning our minds as well
because that is the origin of everything. Thoughts will lead to words and words
will lead to action.
So prayer can also be done in these three ways,
praying in the mind, praying in words, and praying using our body. The most
powerful prayer is the one using our mind.
- How is it possible to think about God constantly?
There is one more concept that is told to us repeatedly
by many religions. What ever thought is held in the mind at the time when the
life departs from the body, the next birth will so continue. So if we have
thoughts of becoming a rich person, then we will be born as one in the next
birth. But this thought will not come easily whenever we want. But if we constantly
practice thinking like that, then it will come at the time of our last breath
too.
- Power of our thoughts
To stress further on the power of our thoughts, our
Guru points to us that, Poet Saint Avvaiyar in her poem Athichudi, says, Aram
seya virumbu.
It means “(we must) desire to do Aram”
These poets come from a time where words were used
sparingly. Like Valluvar, she would not put a word unless it has a purpose. She
could have said “Aram Sei” and saved a word. But no, she finds it important to
place the word Virumbu (means - to desire). She puts that word because we have
to first have a DESIRE to do aram. The words and actions will automatically
follow. What a powerful message!
Today we are doing affirmations and talking about
positive thinking and all that. Our ancestors understood this a long time ago,
and said beautifully, Aram seya VIRUMBU!. Thoughts are like seeds. We only need
to plant a seed in our mind and watch it grow as actions in the world.
Thoughts will precede words and will eventually lead
in action.
So by thinking about God’s presence in all our actions
in our lives, we will have Him reside in our hearts in any form that we desire. Such a person will live forever in Veedu. That is the meaning of this Kural.
In Tamil tradition, teachers taught the difficult concepts first and easier ones later. So in the first Kural Thiruvalluvar talked about a heavy subject. Compared to that ,this kural is fairly easier to understand.
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