Gunamgudi Masthan rightly pointed out: even if a man learns all scriptures of the world, god of Death will take only a second to catch him and no scholarship will save him.
What must be learnt? If we experience the divine presence in our eyes, death will not approach us. Only this we must learn, and it has been endorsed by an Indian Muslim saint.
Spiritual wisdom is beyond all religious fervour. It is above all religions of the world.
One who has conquered the feelings of caste, creed, racism and regionalism alone will attain spiritual wisdom. Those who practise such fanatical differences will never acquire such a great wisdom.
Spiritual wisdom can be achieved only by those who treat all living things equally. There are plenty of books – Vedas, Puranas, religious treatises and scriptures of various religions. Can one read all of them and claim mastery over the subject? Yes, the lifetime is not enough to learn all scriptures. Goddess Saraswathi, the Goddess of learning in Hindu tradition, is keeping a stringed instrument (veenai ) and it shows that she too is still learning.
Avvaiyar said: What we have learnt is only a handful of knowledge; what is yet to be learnt is as big as the earth. Ramalinga Swamigal asks: What use did you find after acquiring so much of spiritual knowledge from religious scriptures?
The saints have already advised us about what should be learnt. Thiruvalluvar says: mathematics and language are the two skills one must learn; they are like two eyes for a living being. These two types of knowledge are the result of true learning. Two eyes symbolically stand for these two sources of knowledge which is perennial.
‘Number’, he refers to are mystical numbers “eight” and “two”. In Tamil they are represented by (a) and (u) and they are right and left eye respectively. Mystically it is understood as the sun (right eye) and moon (left eye). Both of them are symbols of light, the brilliant feet of God. One who understands this principle will attain the true knowledge and live a meaningful life. A human should acquire only this knowledge. Wise learning for a human being is everlasting life-giving education. All scriptures and spiritual epics have mentioned this indirectly and expressed in a subtle code. Only a true spiritual teacher will decode these expressions and explain the deeper meaning of the spiritual message.
Instead of learning many scriptures, one who knows Tamil can learn at least the following religious treatises
Thirumanthiram – the great philosophy (saiva sidhantham)
Thiruvasakam – the great book of prayer
Thiruarutpa – the great collection of devotional songs
These are the books of ultimate knowledge by great saints –– the enlightening treatises for human mind!
We all know that the human mind is like a monkey. It is restless, keeping on asking questions with a lot of doubts occurring every moment. That is why I have recommended these four books which will stop your wavering mind and make you concentrate on what is liberation for humans.
Our ancestors have pointed out that there are three stages —- Suruthi, Yukthi and Anubhavam. They are the three terms which mean: listening to these scriptures, finding suitable path and concentrating on it, and finally experiencing the divine grace through staunchly practising what is learnt from these books.
Well, how can an illiterate acquire this knowledge and experience? what must he do? He must approach a truly spiritual teacher and realize that ‘eight’(in Tamil a) and ‘two’ (in Tamil u ) are symbols of two eyes – the sunlight and the moonlight – which are the two feet of God. One must meditate upon these two eyes. This spiritual activity is more than enough to realize God.
This is the true knowledge, explained by saints of yore. This is the highest form of penance one should perform. This is the only way to salvation; the highest form of learning. An ancient saying tells us: one who learns whatever is available to him is called a learned person (Pandithan / Arivazhi). Those who speak a lot about God, would not have seen Him. When we refer to the divine experience, we say “one who sees God, never speaks about his experience”. Most of the saints keep their mouths shut and find solace in silence. One who speaks a lot about the divine experience has not seen God. In short, the eyes that see Him will not speak but one who speaks about Him can never see Him. That is why saints advise us to have the divine experience with our eyes open, and aim at liberation quietly.
Our physical eyes, after practising penance, become brilliant eyes. Bharathiar says: Bright light emitting eyes are the outcome of staunchly committed and well-trained mind.
These bright eyes will shower compassion and love towards all. Thirunavukkarasar, one of the four saivite saints, says: one who blesses us in Kalahasti, ( God staying in Kalahasti, a religious place ) is present in my eyes.
All saints teach us the spiritual wisdom and it makes us realize the nature of God and gives us complete wisdom. To tell the truth, all arts and sciences are taught only to earn some money. There are people who blow their own trumpets claiming that they have acquired many degrees from various institutes. These people are useless because they have not received spiritual knowledge.
Let me narrate an incident which happened a few years ago. A Vallalar’s song from his Thiruarutpa was included in a textbook prescribed for a course in a university.
Many scholars tried to interpret a line (. The problem led the scholars to the extent of regretting for inclusion of such a mystic song in the prescribed textbook for students.. Who regretted it? It was the same doctorate professor who included this text while compiling the textbook for the university students. One professor suggested that they could consult some guide books prepared for students.
One of those scholars suggested that they could seek my help. All senior professors came to me and eulogised me that I was an expert in interpreting Vallalar’s songs. They did not tell me that they could not interpret this mystic line. Instead, they started to test my knowledge about the philosophy of Vallalar. Finally one of them asked me to interpret the above mentioned line. I explained: it is concerned with divine experience. When we meditate, we will see the sky, bright with a ray of light. After some more practice of meditation, we would hear a unique sound. Vallalar referred this mystic vision as peacock (a brightly coloured feathers) and the sound was metaphorically mentioned as ‘Kuil’ (cuckoo bird) which produces sweet sounds of music. Professors were very happy to know the meaning of this line. However, they were not satisfied with the interpretation. They asked me if there was any example or any parallel literary passage to confirm this symbolic meaning. I continued. As Science deals with light and sound, metaphysics also has the same kind of interpretation. As one continues his spiritual journey, he sees a light first, and then he sees light in different colours that we witness in a rainbow. Ramalinga Swamigal used seven screens to represent the seven colours of rainbow and finally showed us the light (Jyothi Dharisanam). Saint Arunagirinathar in his Tirupugal says: Naadha vindu kalaathi namo nama.
He refers to the light and sound which he experienced as a mystic. Peacock feathers have these seven colours and cuckoo is always referred to as a song bird producing mellifluous sounds.
One who practises penance will witness the light first and then ten types of sounds, as described in Tirumanthiram (Dasa vitha naatham ketkum). It is this unique experience that Vallalar speaks about in this line.
The visitors were satisfied with the explanation, but were not ready to admit their ignorance. Their intellectual arrogance prevented them from doing so. The professors remarked: We admit that you are a well-read man!
Teachers who teach Tamil (language) are helped by publishers of study guides. If teachers do not understand the literary texts in Tamil, how can they teach them to their students? Some teachers go to the extent of recommending the guide books to their students.
We do not teach spiritualism in schools, but we claim that ours is a land of spiritualism. Students are taught history and politics. They are not taught meaningful lessons about the nature of man, God and the ways and means to lead a happy life with healthy mind and body.
They must be taught fine arts and spiritual practices so that they will follow the right path and lead a happy life.
As a Tamil saying goes, we can discipline anyone when he is a very young child but when he is fifty years nothing can be done. Another saying tells us that we must learn when we are very young. This education of disciplined behaviour will make us righteous in our life.
Thirugnana Sambanthar and Vallalar did not have school education. But they learnt what is good in order to overcome the fruits of past actions and become wise. That is why they could live an immortal life. They transformed themselves into a form of light and became one with God.
Valallar says:
You taught me precious arts which are not ordinarily learnt by
people.
You have made me learn those spiritual treatises which are
unwritten and not yet recorded.
The Omnipotent God taught them the complete knowledge and made them wise saints. So many great saints have written about the path of righteousness. If one learns any one of them, it will do. They are written in order to provide the path of liberation to the ignorant general public who are suffering because of their past actions. Only because of the divine grace, those saints have been blessed to write about the spiritual message in different languages. Studies about the nature of God is the only way to lead a renowned life.