The divine child grew up and followed in his father’s footsteps. Once the father sent him on a ship with a good lot of merchandise and when he came he brought back sacks full of paddy husks. The father was angry and locked him up in a room and going to the harbor, threw the husks out. What was his surprise to see they were all gold; Every dried piece of the husk turned out to be gold and precious gems. He hurried home to see his son. He was not in the room. His wife gave him a small box the son had given before he disappeared. In it was an Palm-leaf manuscript and a needle without an eyelet. On the script were the following words (in English for understanding): “Not even an eyeless needle will accompany you in the final journey of life.”
Pattinathar (Thiruvenkadar) realized the philosophy and wisdom of the words, and renounced everything - his wife, his wealth, his kith and kin and all other mundane attachments. With only a loin cloth he left. He sang many a philosophical song to enlighten people on the Blissful state of renunciation. He sang about the human life and its complex dimensions, made his lyrics more appealing to the common man. He urged repeatedly not to be attached to the body and its pleasures, for the body which perishes and becomes food for animals and worms. Think of God and surrender at God’s feet.
Pattinathar worshiped Shiva at the Srikalahasti temple, which has inspired great poetic and musical works. The samadhi [attained salvation in this place] of Pattinathar is a h i s t o r i c l a n d m a r k l o c a t e d o n t h e E n n o r e E x p r e s s w a y i n Ti r u v o t t i y u r. i i t i s a r o u n d 5 0 0 y e a r s o l d . I n s i d e t h e Nandrudayan Vinayaga temple in Devadhanam, Tiruchirappalli, idol for Pattinathar is found.
30. Body and soul
Gross Body (Sthula Sariram). (Annnamaya Kosam) ‘Annam’ means food and ‘maya’ means modifications. the body i s t h e r e s u l t o f m o d i f i c a t i o n o f f o o d a n d h e n c e c a l l e d ‘Annamaya’. The food eaten is digested. Its very essence becomes the sperm in man and the ovum in woman. They combine to form the seed, from which the foetus is formed. It is nourished in the womb by the food eaten by the mother. At birth, the child emerges from the womb and is nourished by the mother’s milk. It grows up and develops in strength and size due to the food eaten. We consume mountains of food in our lifetime. Finally, we die to merge into food (Earth). The earth itself becomes the food we eat. So, we are born from food (earth) and go back to food (earth). Food is that which is eaten by being and which eats beings.
We eat food and food in turn eats us. Many die by overeating. Many die by under eating. Also the body gets eaten by many viruses and bacteria, even while we are alive; and by worms and other beings when we die. Identifying with the Annamaya Kosa, I say-”I am tall, fair, vaisya, healthy, beautiful, strong etc.”
Annamaya Kosam is our Gross Body (Sthula Sariram) to the astral body. In the same way the astral or Sukshma body is within the gross or physical body. The gross body cannot do anything without the astral body. Every grosscentre of the body has its astral centre or Sukshma body is within the gross or physical body. From the fourth ventricle it runs along the third, then the fifth ventricle The subtle body Sukshma sarira or Sukshma sharira in Vedantic philosophy.
31. Lobi
An Avaricious person
32. Lord Muruga
The peacock, cock and the sphere held by the Lord are symbolic of bindu, nadam and gnanam. Bindu is the first expression and nadam is the first vibration of the Absolute. The cock has a name ‘Irulakattan’ in tamil which means one who is capable of removing darkness ignorance.
Murugan means beauty and attraction. Guhan means one who is seated in the heart. Kanthar means non-dual aspect. Kumaran means one who destroys ‘ku’ (mummalam i.e. ego, maya and jagat). Shanmugha means with six faces emanated from Lord Shiva. Vela means with sphere in hand.These are different names to Lord Subhramonya
33. Kantharalangaram
Arunagirinathar has weaved a beautiful garland to adore Lord Muruga. He weaved not a garland of flowers (Poomalai), b u t a g a r l a n d o f s o n g s ( P a a m a l a i ) b y w a y o f K a n d h a r Alangkaram. Each word appeared like a selectively chosen flower to adore God. Kandhar Alangkaram, consisting of 102 verses, is a marvelous creation of poetry that portrays the magnificence of Muruga and presents Him in all His splendor and glory before us.
Apart from being an ornament that adds to the beauty of Muruga, Kandhar Alangkaram describes the various qualities of Muruga, His benevolence, His knowledge, His valour, the power of His Vel, the exquisitely beautiful peacock and the ensign of the rooster. It describes how Muruga comes into our lives in various roles.
34. Arunagirinathar
Arunagiri was born in Thiruvannamalai, a town in Tamil Nadu. His father died soon after his birth and his mother and sister brought him up in the rich cultural and religious traditions. Legends
claim that Arunagiri was attracted to the pleasures of the flesh and spent his youth in pursuing a life of debauchery. He used to get money from his sister each time to go to devadasi’s. His sister always give whatever she earned to make his brother happy. One day he demanded money from his sister, but unfortunately she had no money. She was very sad and said, “Oh brother, I am sorry that there is no money to give you today.” Arunagirinathar shouted how its possible and he wanted money now to have pleasure. His sister then said “Brother, if you need to have pleasure then please come sleep with me, tomorrow I will get you the money somehow”. Hearing that, Arunagirinathar felt how self centered and selfish he was. He decided to end his life, went to the temple hit his head in all the pillars and steps, begging for forgiveness. Then he leaped from the tower of Thiruvannamalai temple. He was however miraculously saved from the death by Lord Muruga who also transformed him to a holy saint instantaneously
Arunagiri sang his first devotional song and thereafter decided to spend the rest of his life singing in praise of the God. He was a devotee of Lord Muruga and worshipped the God at Vedapureeswarar temple at the sacred place known as Cheyyar on the banks of the Cheyyar River .His fame got the jealousy of chief minister of the Kingdom. He claimed Arunagirinathar as a false saint and not a true devotee of Lord Subramaniya. So the king arranged a public gathering and asked Arunagiri to show Lord Subramanya to others also. Arunagiri started singing songs towards Lord Muruga and soon after Lord Muruga appeared in a stone pillar in the form of child. He was as bright as equal to hundred of suns and the people were unable to see this with their ordinary eyes. Due to this everybody lost their eyes including the king and ministers. It was suggested that bringing the Parijatha flower could only get sights back to the people. Arunagirinathar is said to have entered the body of a parrot in order to fetch the parijatha flower. His enemy Sambandan burnt his body and hence Arunagirinathar settled himself on the temple tower in the form of the parrot and sang his famous kantharanubhuthi. There is a form of a parrot in one of the sthubis (Kili Gopuram), testifying to this story.
35. Pathanjali
Maharishi Patanjali was the avatar of Adi Shesha - the Infinite Cosmic Serpent upon whom Lord Vishnu rests. He is considered to be the compiler of the Yoga Sutras, along with being the author of a commentary on Panini’s Ashtadhyayi, known as Mahabhasya. As per one legend, he fell (pata) into the hands (anjali) of a woman, thus giving him the name