மனிதரும் தேவரும் மாயா முனிவரும் வந்து சென்னி
குனிதரும் சேவடிக் கோமளமே! கொன்றை வார்சடைமேல்
பனிதரும் திங்களும், பாம்பும், பகீரதியும் படைத்த
புனிதரும் நீயும் என்புந்தி எந்நாளும் பொருந்துகவே.
maṉitarum tevarum māyā muṉivarum vantu cĕṉṉi
kuṉitarum cevaṭik komal̤ame! kŏṉṟai vārcaṭaimel
paṉitarum tiṅkal̤um, pāmpum, pakīratiyum paṭaitta
puṉitarum nīyum ĕṉpunti ĕnnāl̤um pŏruntukave.
Translation: Men, Celestials, and Ageless Saints bow down and place their crowns at your beautiful lotus feet. The Lord with golden shower flowers, a moon with cool rays, a snake, and Bāgīrathi- river Ganges on his matted locks of hair, You and the pristine lord be present in my mind ever.
Worship of divine mother had been undertaken by many at various times and spaces. The worship of the divine mother was not limited to only a specific group of beings. She is the divine mother and the manifested form of Brahman, and the creation sought her grace through various means. Men of all classes worshiped Abirāmi, which can be inferred by the word maṉitarum, In Devī māhātmyaṁ the king Suratā and the Vaiśyā samādi worshipped her to get her blessings. Among men whom we have come across in history, Kalidasa was a devi Upāsakā and composed the famous Śyāmalā dhaṇḍakam, in the recent past eminent poets like Subramanya Bharathi aka Bharathiyar was an upāsakā of Devi.
Men time immemorial had worshipped Devi to obtain boons. All Devi Upāsakās have had name, fame, and wealth as they sought blessings from Abirāmi. This can be widely seen in the lives of these great personalities. It is important to note that men became great after worshipping her and not great men worshipped her. Lord Krishna, Lord Rama the famous incarnations of Maha Vishnu had worshipped Devi during times of distress, to obtain strength and overcome the troubles encountered. For instance, Lord Rama worshipped Devi in the form of Durga before the battle with Ravana. Devī Bhagavathaṁ was recited and worshipped for Lord Krishna’s safe return when Lord Krishna went in search of retrieving Śyamanthakamani a rare gemstone, for which he was falsely accused of stealing it. Manu, the foremost among Men, worshipped Abirāmi which is recorded in Lalithā sahasranāma refers to this as Manu-vidyā मनु-विद्या (238). King Suratā becomes the Manu for Sāvarṇi Manvantarā and the Vaiśyā Samādi attains ultimate wisdom as a result of worshipping the divine mother.
tevarum – All Celestials. Abirāmi’s worship was undertaken by all celestial beings for their welfare. Lalithā Upākyānam recounts the appearance of Lalithā in Brahmāṇḍa purāṇa. When there were times of tribulations for the celestials and they were tormented by Asurās and had to be in exile, the celestials worshipped Abirāmi for her intervention, the worship was done in a fire, in which the celestials offered themselves as a sacrifice, she appeared out of that fire pit which contained the bodies of celestials, hence she is called as Cidagnikuṇḍa-saṃbhūtā चिदग्निकुण्ड-संभूता (4) in Lalithā sahasranāma. The subtle interpretation conveyed here is she appeared out of the Cit- consciousness, of celestials. Here celestials mean one who has raised his consciousness to the level of a celestial being or purified his mind and intellect to such an extent that he can witness the appearance of Abirāmi in his consciousness. The storyline given in Puranas can always be interpreted in both gross and subtle terms. As she appeared out of the sacrificial fire to help the celestials Lalithā sahasranāma calls her Devakārya-samudyatā देवकार्य-समुद्यता (5).
Kandar anubūthi, an experience of ultimate, by Saint Aruṇagirināthar states as follows,
நாதா, குமரா நம என்று அரனார்
ஓதாய் என ஓதியது எப்பொருள் தான்?
வேதா முதல் விண்ணவர் சூடும் மலர்ப்
பாதா குறமின் பத சேகரனே.
nātā, kumarā nama ĕṉṟu araṉār
otāy ĕṉa otiyatu ĕppŏrul̤ tāṉ?
vetā mutal viṇṇavar cūṭum malarp
pātā kuṟamiṉ pata cekaraṉe.
Translation by Swamiji N.V Karthikeyan: (Sourced from http://www.arunagirinathar.in/p/the-esoteric-kandar-anubhuti-ebook.html )
“Prostrations, O Lord Kumara!” — So, saying when Ṣivā, the Great, Implored You for Upadesa, what secret did You impart? Brahma and the gods, on their heads, adorn Your Lotus-Feet! O Lord, Your head You adorn with the huntress’ Feet!
“O Lord Skanda! Brahma and other gods adorn their heads with Thy Lotus-Feet, while You adorn Your head with that huntress’ (Valli Devi) Feet! ‘Lord Kumara, Prostrations to You! (Be gracious to) Instruct Me.’ — So, saying, when Lord Ṣivā beseeched You, what was the (Secret) Teaching that You imparted to Him?”
Translation from Author: Lord Ṣivā, prayed to you with your kumāra Pañcākṣarā as “kumarā namaḥ” and requested you to impart the secret teachings, please teach me as well that you had taught to Lord Ṣivā, O Skanda your lotus feet are adorned by Brahma and other celestials on their heads, though you collect the footprints of / adorn your head with the feet Goddess Valli.
Abirāmi and Lord Skanda, in this context, display their unity in terms of imparting the teachings to celestials and men alike. It is to be noted that when the consciousness of men is raised to the level of a celestial, the lord imparts the complete teaching as Guru and leads the Sādhakā to liberation, in the context of Kandar anubūthi, Including Lord Ṣivā, Brahma, and other celestial beings adorned the feet of Lord Skanda on their heads and requested for secret teachings of Vedas. Thus, when Bhattar refers to tevarum in Abirāmi Anthathi, he subtly conveys that the consciousness of Men, which when elevated to tevarum– as celestials, the secret teachings towards liberation will be imparted by Lord Skanda or Abirāmi in one of their various forms. Since Lord Skanda is the Guru of Ṣivā, he is the Guru of all of us and thus taking the form of one’s Guru, he will teach us the knowledge of the ultimate.
māyā muṉivarum – Ageless less / immortal Saints/ Sage Mārkaṇḍeya. As inferred by the Sthala Puranam of Thirukaḍaiyur Kṣetra, Lord Ṣivā appeared and killed Lord Yama with a kick from his left foot, to save Sage Mārkaṇḍeya from impending death. Because of this Sage Mārkaṇḍeya attained immortality and eternal youth. Therefore, the term māyā muṉivarum also refers to Mārkaṇḍeya. However, if we continue to interpret this term along with the context of men, celestials, and saints in that order, it also means that once men become refined with their consciousness and reach the level of celestials, and after getting imparted by the sacred teachings of the lord on Atma darshana, the same men become immortal and conquer death, hence the term māyā muṉivarum. Here deathlessness is achieved because, men achieve the state of liberation and they are free from the cycle of birth, since they achieve the state of no birth anymore, they achieve deathlessness. For achieving such a state of liberation men, celestials and sages adore the feet of Abirāmi, as stated in vantu cĕṉṉi kuṉitarum cevaṭik komal̤ame – they come and bow down at the beautiful lotus feet of Abirāmi.
cevaṭik komal̤ame kŏṉṟai vārcaṭaimel – Lotus feet of Abirāmi are on the Matted locks of Ṣivā. Kandar anubūthi as well states this interpretation in verse 36 as we saw, in which Lord Skanda adorns the feet of Valli on his head in the line kuṟamiṉ pata cekaraṉe. Bhattar will also make the same inference in coming poems, especially in stanza 35 starting with the words tiṅkaṭ pakaviṉ maṇamnāṟum.
As Ṣivā, Skanda are Gurus of the world and have propitiated Abirāmi. Lalithā sahasranāma states this as Śivārādhyā शिवाराध्या (406) – she is worshipped by Ṣivā. As Ṣivā, Skanda being Gurus, they had shown the world how to worship the divine mother by their own acts. Arunagirinathar in his Tirupugazh calls Skanda vīrācarya, as Skanda did the worship of Abirāmi in vīra bhava. Lord Ṣivā on the other hand, gave the tantra sastras to the world and as Adi guru of Abirāmi worship did the same act for the benefit of Sādhakās, as Gurus they meditated on the lotus feet of Abirāmi / Valli and had shown us the right way of worship and meditation.
In the saiva philosophy, out of the five sabhas or halls of the dance of Nataraja, Tiruvālaṅgāḍu is one of them. This place is referred to as Ratna Sabha. Situated in the Tiruvallur district of Tamil Nadu, this serene temple is the house of Nataraja, the dance in this place is called Urdhva Thandava, he lifts his left leg upward close to his matted crown. Since he lifted his leg in this fashion the dance is also named urdhva thandava. The subtle message conveyed here is the lord’s dance here will propel one’s consciousness upward. When one worships Śakti, she takes you to the crown of Ṣivā or makes you equal to Ṣivā, which is nothing but the knowledge of Ṣivā. Devotees having a darshan of this lord and understanding the meaning of this dance will benefit surely by propelling their spiritual knowledge.
One of the 63 nayanmars named Karaikkal Ammayar, a female saint, used to walk on her head to this place to obtain the darshan of the Lord. In her poems, she establishes that the darshan of the lord’s dance in Tiruvālaṅgāḍu will absolve one from their sins. The subtler meaning of Tiruvālaṅgāḍu or banyan forest is the Sahasrāra chakra, just like multiple branches of a banyan tree, Sahasrāra petals are countless, and the darshan of lord in Sahasrāra is symbolically denoted by, lifting the left leg up, which is the Śakti bhaga of Ṣivā. Which is again raising one’s kundalini Śakti to crown. The meaning conveyed by upward dance is nothing but the dance of Ṣivā and Śakti in the union in Sādhakā’s Sahasrāra. Thus the line cevaṭik komal̤ame kŏṉṟai vārcaṭaimel in its subtlety conveys the realization of self. This will confer the realization Ṣivā. When Ravi Guruji once said “Atman Atmanena pashyathi – Atma can be seen only by Atma” he meant that the Self can be realized only by Self, thus becoming Ṣivā one realizes Ṣivā.
paṉitarum tiṅkal̤um, pāmpum, pakīratiyum paṭaitta puṉitarum – Ṣivā the pure one has cool moon, a snake and Ganges on his head. As Abirāmi’s Śakti or Kundalini Śakti goes to the crown chakra, a person becomes pure as Ṣivā, as one becomes pure, the cool rays of the moon act on him and dissolute one’s karma, as a result of it the serenity of the mind is realized. Just as a snake is ever alert on the object in front of it, the mind being pure and free from modifications is ever alert on the awareness of self, and as the Ganges washes down sins of mortals on the earth, this realization of Ṣivā or Atman absolves the sins and prepares the Sādhakā for his next leg of journey i.e., Ṣivāgnana or knowledge of Ṣivā which is also liberation. The realization of Self alone in Sahasrāra is not realization as put down by Ravi Guruji, however, one must go to the state of ParamaṢivā or Mahāsunyā to get liberated. This destination is prayed by Bhattar in the line nīyum ĕṉpunti ĕnnāl̤um pŏruntukave – which means O Abirāmi, you along with your consort be in my consciousness ever, which can happen only when the ParamaṢivā state is realized and the knowledge of Brahman establishes in the Sādhakā, making him as Ṣivā.
Bhattar in this verse speaks about the devotees of Abirāmi, the benefits accrued due to her worship, and the ultimate realization of Self as Ṣivā.
Abirami Samayam 