Volumes I and II
About the Book
The Tirumandiram, by Siddha Tirumular is a sacred encyclopedia of philosophical and spiritual wisdom rendered in verse form. It is one of India's greatest texts, a spiritual treasure-trove, a Sastra containing astonishing insight. It is a seminal work and is the first treatise in Tamil that deals with different aspects of Yoga, Tantra and Saiva Siddhantha.
"The poems of Tirumular abound in technical terms conveying mystical experience. The symbolic, twilight language of the Siddhas has the advantage of precision, concentration, secrecy, mystery and esoteric significance in that the symbols, at the hands of the Siddhas become a form of artistic expression of the inexpressible. In short, the twilight language of the Siddhas is, in essence, profoundly mystical in nature and contains a "numinous aura" and existential revelations for the man who deciphers their message. The essential difficulty is that to understand the twilight language requires a total hermeneutic of reading, an awareness, in fact, of the total religious and philosophical structures that infuse it. It also requires one to enter deep states of meditation wherein the verse serves as a key that reveals a higher meaning to the initiate." (T.N. Ganapathy)
It took five years and a team of scholars to translate each of the 3000 verses and to write extensive commentaries about them, in nine volumes. The tenth volume contains presentations from two philosophical schools of Saiva Siddhanta and a glossary, select bibliography and index.
Foreword
This monumental publication and all of the research conducted by the Yoga Siddha Research Center's team of scholars and yogins since the year 2000 has been sponsored by Babajis Kriya Yoga Order of Acharyas, a registered educational charity in Canada and the USA, with sister organizations registered in Bangalore India and Sri Lanka. In concert with Babaji' s Kriya Yoga and Publications, Inc. of Canada, the Order is pleased to make this new translation and commentary available to the English speaking world.
There is some history behind this publication. The Tirumandiram is one of the first texts to emerge in the West from the gold mine of ancient Tamil literature, which until recently has been bypassed by scholars outside of south India. While the Sanskrit literature has been mined and studied by Western scholars for more than 200 years, the ancient Tamil language literature has been largely ignored. However, the late Swami Subramaniam, founder of the Saiva Siddhantha Church in Hawaii, USA, commissioned the late Dr. B. Natarajan to translate the Tirumandiram in the late 1980 'so Unfortunately, only the first of the nine tantras was published by the Saiva Siddhantha Church, prior to the death of the translator, Dr. B. Natarajan, in 1982. While it contained no verse by verse commentary, it did include some notes. Having received from Dr. Natarajan in person a copy. of this first tantra in 1980, and dismayed by the fact that the rest had not been published, I, as the founder of Babaji's Kriya Yoga and Publication, repeatedly urged Dr. Natarajan's heirs, from 1986 onwards, to allow me to publish the entire manuscript. Unknown to me, Dr. N. Mahalingam, the noted industrialist, philanthropist and scholar of Sangam literature, finally persuaded the heirs to do the same, and financed the publication of Dr. Natarajan's manuscript in a single volume published by the Ramakrishna Mission in Chennai, India in 1992. Seeing that this edition lacked the presentation which would make it appealing and useful to the vast majority of Western readers, Babaji's Kriya Yoga and Publications, Inc. received permission to publish it from the Ramakrishna Mission in September 2002. The new edition which we published in 1993 was a three volume international edition entitled the Thirumandiram: A Classic of Yoga and Tantra. This edition contained special introductory chapters, glossary and index which made it much more accessible to the readers in the West in particular. Since then, this publication has gone through five printings, and as a result, the Tirumandiram has become known to lovers of Yoga all over the world.
However, the need for a more accurate translation became apparent as Tamil speaking specialists pointed out that Dr. B. Natarajan had too often sacrificed precision for poetic grace. Furthermore, he neglected to translate many of the technical terms, and consequently, the average reader, with little or no background in the philosophical and rich cultural, esoteric and religious tapestry of the Tirumandiram, was often unable to grasp the significance of many of the verses. Finally, it became apparent that the non-specialist would need a running commentary along with translation, in order to easily understand the meaning and significance of most of the verses.
This present work fulfills this need and several others, which the previous translation did not. It has the advantage of being based on the Tiruppanandal Kaci-t-tirumadam edition. We have followed the numbering of verses of this edition only. It also has the advant- age of making use of the annotated and critical edition of the Tirumandiram written by Dr. S. Annamalai in 1999 for many critical points. To produce that critical edition, Dr. Annamalai examined thirteen different manuscripts of the Tirumandiram in their original Tamil language. From this examination, he was able to identify interpolations and other errors in several of the manuscripts.
This present edition also benefits from the experience and knowledge gained by the Yoga Siddha Research project's team of scholars, lead by Dr. T.N. Ganapathy. Since 2000, they have produced six volumes of translation and commentary on the works of the eighteen Yoga Siddhas. Tirumular, the author of the Tirumandiram, is one of these eighteen Siddhas, or supreme masters of Yoga, and like them, uses their twilight language, or sandhya bhasa, extensively to deliberately obscure the meaning of his verses, as well as many other of their literary forms and references. These scholars' unique experience and knowledge has. enabled them to produce what has never been done before: a precise English translation with verse by verse commentary of the entire Tirumandiram in nine volumes, plus a tenth volume, which serves as an index.
As a final step in preparing for the present publication, two years ago, we published The Yoga of Tirumular: Essays on the Tirumandiram, by Dr. T.N. Ganapathy and Dr. KR Arumugam. It develops many important themes of the Tirumandiram and serves as both an excellent introduction and companion resource for both the specialist and the non-specialist reader.
This edition of the Tirumandiram, because of its size, in well over 3,000 pages, has been a great challenge to publish. It was clear that with the exception of a few research libraries, very few individuals would want such a mammoth work on their book shelves, even if they could afford its high cost. Modern technology, in the form of digital storage on a DVD has provided a solution that is both convenient and affordable for the vast majority of potential readers. Also, it enables us to honor our commitment to "Green Yoga." In early 2 0 0 8, as we neared completion of this work, we therefore made a strategic decision to print only a limited number of copies in a paper edition, which will be made available to research libraries, and to make this new publication accessible to everyone who wants it, reproduced and stored in a digital form, on DVDs.
We are grateful, however, to Dr. N. Mahalingam who at the end of July 2009 offered to pay for the cost of printing 2,000 copies of the ten volumes in a hard bound set, and to distribute many of these to various institutions on a charitable basis. We concluded an agreement to co-publish the same, while at the same time going ahead with our plans for printing a single volume English translation of the 3,047 verses with a DVD containing all ten volumes inserted into its rear jacket cover.
It has also been a challenge to produce a translation that would not take sides in the important philosophical debate between Saiva Siddhantins or realistic pluralists, and those who see the Tirumandiram as an expression of the highest mystical states of consciousness accessible to the Yogin, or monistic theism. The views of the two sides are reproduced in the special introductory chapter. The translation and commentary itself has been kept neutral, with an aim of making the original terminology as clear and accessible as possible.
As the world wide interest in authentic Yoga grows, the importance and reputation of the Tirumandiram is bound to excel. May all lovers of truth and the Sanatana Dharma, in particular, find their path illuminated by the poetry and wisdom of Tirumular.
Preface
The main aim and purpose of publishing the content of the Tirumandiram, in nine volumes with the Tamil verses, their transliteration, their translation and commentary in English along with a separate volume (vo1.10) for glossary and index, is to allow the majority of Anglophones in our country and in other countries the opportunity to study this Tamil classic in depth. The Tamil Saiva and Siddha traditions have been largely ignored by both Indian and foreign scholars and deserve recognition for their great contributions to the understanding of the science of Yoga, spirituality and immortality. Although previously translated into English by B. Natarajan, and published by Ramakrishna Mission, Chennai, India and later by Sri. M. Govindan, the Tirumandiram has not previously had either verse transliteration or systematic commentary. One could only find a few sporadic translations and commentaries on verses of the Tirumandiram by J. M. Nallasami Pillai in the Siddhanta Dipikajournals published between 1897 and 1914, (now brought out in fourteen volumes by the Asian Educational Services, New Delhi). The foremost difficulty in carrying out this great enterprise was in finding competent translators among the Tamil-speaking scholars on this great subject. The aim of bringing out this series of nine volumes was so demanding that it made me stagger at times-myself being seventy-eight years young -and also made me wonder whether I was attempting the impossible. a
My concern about the impossibility of bringing out this series with commentary, moreover, grew intense due to two factors. First, certain Saivites object against writing a commentary, especially in English, on the sacred text of the Tirumandiram, the only tiru-murai (sacred Tamil Saiva scripture) that is both a cattiram (stotra, or philosophical treatise) and a tottiram (stotra, or devotional literary product) in the Tamil Saiva tradition. This traditionalist view gains its support in one of the verses by Tirumular himself.
Oh! Fools are they who try to describe the indescribable How can one explain the One that is boundless?"
One can counter this objection against rendering a translation and commentary by saying that one need not commend this spirit, however well intended it might be. Furthermore, there is also a favourable statement in the Tirumandiram itself.
The Lord with the matted locks stood blemishless to those whose mind is like a waveless sea.
How can the boundless One be bound in translations and commentaries? Tirumular provides the answer: Only those with a clear mind, that is, with a waveless mind, like the calm deep sea, can comprehend it. Though the translators and commentators claim no such mind, they seek and obtain protection in the words of Tirumular.
The second factor concerns a basic requirement of writing a commentary as found in Nannul, which I casually stumbled on. The Nannul, a Tamil work on grammar composed by the Jain ascetic Pavanandi of Kancheepuram, several centuries back, states that the work of a bhasya or commentary depends on fourteen characteristics, viz., pure text, purport, construction, word- meaning, paraphrasing, citing parallel passages, questioning, answering queries, adding fresh explanatory matter, free exposition, the relevancy of the sutras (aphorisms), comprising chapters or sections, giving the meaning boldly in doubtful cases, the result of this and quoting authority."
This second factor is being addressed by stating that this work (the present nine volumes) is not a bhasya in the strict sense of the term featuring the fourteen traditional characteristics, but only a general commentary in the ordinary sense of the term, viz., consisting of explanatory notes. The commentaries provided in these volumes are linguistic expressions of the mystical experiences of Tirumular, as expressed in the Tirumandiram. They claim only to provide the clues and guidelines for understanding the richness of the spiritual mystical experiences of the saint. It is said that those who read and interpret the scriptures and get "knowledge" through them are like bees hovering round the ripe jack-fruit. The bees may hum at the fragrance of the jack-fruit, but can never break into the kernel and have the taste of it. So it may be the case with the scholars who have commented on the Tirumandiram. The commentaries are meant to be guides, pointing to the goal, to the essence, but themselves are unrealized, mere descriptions of truth. In bringing out the the entire Tamil text in translation, saint Cekkilars words come before me. Cekkilar says:
Contents
Volume I
Publisher's Foreword
XV
General Preface
XX
Contributors
LXXX
Guide to Pronunciation in Tamil
LXXXIX
Introduction to Tandiram One
1
Invocation of Lord Vinayaka
11
Prologue (9 Sections)
15
1.
In Praise of God
17
2.
The Greatness of the Vedas
72
3.
The Greatness of the Agamas
80
4.
The Guru Tradition
94
5.
The History of Tirumular
101
6.
Humility in Assembly
127
7.
Number and Import of the Tirumandiram Hymns
131
8.
Spiritual Lineage
133
9.
The Trinity and the Relationship
136
Tandiram One (24 Sections)
Instructions on the Essence
147
Transitoriness of the Body
189
Transitoriness of Wealth
214
Impermanence of Youth
223
Impermanence of Live
233
Non-killing
243
Meat-Eating, Forbidden
246
On the Evil of Adulterous Life
248
The Dishonourable Public Women
252
10.
Poverty
257
1l.
Efficacy of the Propitiation of Fire
263
12.
Way of the Brahmins
276
13.
A Code for Governance
295
14.
In Praise of Rain
307
15.
In Praise of Giving
310
16.
In Praise of the Righteous
312
17.
Path of the Unrighteous
321
18.
By Love Possessed
331
19.
Siva Knows the Ones that Love
342
20.
Learning
352
2l.
Fulfilling Inquiry
363
22.
State of Being Unlearned
374
23.
In the Midst of Grace
385
24.
Abstention From Drink
391-406
Volume II
Introduction
411
Tandiram Two (25 Sections)
Agattiyam
415
Eight Heroic Deeds of the Lord
419
Linga - Purana
431
Daksa ' s Sacrifice
438
The Deluge
449
Gift of a Discus
455
Skeleton and Skull
460
Search for the Crown and the Feet
462
Creation
474
Sustenance
505
11.
Dissolution
514
Obscuration
525
Bestowing Grace
535
Creation (Microcosmic)
545
Three Categories of Souls
586
The Worthy Ones
599
The Unworthy Ones
604
Holy Waters
608
Desecration of the Holy Temple
615
Manifestation of Downward Face
621
21.
Reproach of Siva
628
Reproach of Guru
632
Reproach of the Devotees of Lord Siva
639
Forbearance
641
25.
Seeking the Holy Company
645-650
Volumes III and IV
Volume III
659
Tandiram Three (21 Sections)
Astanga Yoga (Eight-limbed yoga)
661
Yama (Abstentions)
666
Niyama (Observances)
669
Asanas (Postures)
672
Pranayama (Regulated Breath)
678
Pratyahara (Withdrawal of the Senses)
695
Dharana (Concentration)
707
Dhyana (Meditation)
718
Samadhi (Intense Contemplation)
740
Benefits of the Eight-Limbed Yoga
756
Eight Great Siddhis
765
State of Kalas
840
The Art of Keeping the Body Intact
855
The Wheel of Time
877
Measurement of the Life Span
912
Daily Pranic Rhythms
937
Hostile Days
945
Kechari –Yoga
948
Pariyanga – Yoga
980
Amuri Dharanai
1004
Candra-Yoga
1012-1050
Volume IV
1055
Tandiram Four (13 Sections)
The Silently Articulated
1057
The Cakra of Tiruvambalam
1087
Archana
1173
The Nine Sacrificial pits
1184
Various Forms of Sakthi - The Tirupurai cakra
1213
The Bairavi Mandiram
1239
Absolute sakti
1281
The Support and the Supported
1305
Yeroli Cakra
1384
The Cakra of Bhairava
1412
The Cakra of Sarnbhavi Mandala
1418
The Cakra of Bhuvanapati
1427
Navakkari Cakra
1437-1512
Volumes V and VI
Volume V
1521
Tandiram Five (20 Sections)
Pure Saivism
1523
Impure Saivism
1531
The Saivism that Helps to Attain Liberation
1538
Extreme Pure Saivism
1554
The Path of Service
1561
Ritualistic Worship
1574
Yoga
1583
Wisdom or Self-Realization
1594
The Path of Wisdom or Self-Realization
1606
The Path of Friend
1618
The Path of Son
1626
The Path of Servant
1634
Reaching the World of the Lord
1640
Proximity to the Lord
1643
Attaining the Form of the Lord
1644
Mergence with the Lord
1646
The Descent of Grace
1649
Condemning the External Faiths
1667
Misconduct
1688
Internal Faith
1695 -1710
Volume VI
Tandiram Six (14 Sections)
The Vision of Siva as Guru
1719
The Merit or Grace of Guru's Feet
1736
The Subject, The Object and Knowledge
1751
Renunciation
1761
Penance
1772
Abuse of Tapas
1780
Attainment of Jnana is due to Divine Grace
1793
Disguised Vanity or Hypocrisy (Sanctimony)
1802
The Robes of Penance
1808
The Sacred Ashes
1812
The Robes of Jnana
1815
The Robes of Siva
1823
One who is Immature or Unfit
1828
One who is Mature or Fit
1839 - 1851
Volumes VII and VIII
Volume VII
1861
Tandiram Seven (38 Sections)
The Six Adharas
1866
The Cosmos as the Symbol of God
1878
The Body as the Linga
1895
Sadasiva Lingam
1901
The Soul as Linga
1926
The Linga of Gnosis
1938
Sivalingam
1950
The Sacred Tradition
1956
Bestowal of Grace
1972
The Glow of Grace
1995
Worship of Siva
2006
Worship of the Preceptor
2033
Worship of the Spiritual Servants
2045
The Greatness of the Spiritual Servants
2057
The Code of Feeding the Servants
2073
Code of Receiving Alms
2076
Variations in Mudra Gesture or Hand Pose
2083
Accomplished Samadhi in the Cave of the Heart
2094
Rituals of Samadhi
2102
The Origin of the Bindu
2114
The conquest of Bindu and the device of
controlling the Life Breath at the time of Enjoyment
2128
The States of the Sun Macrocosmic
Sun - The Sun of the Universe
2168
The Sun of the World or The Microcosmic
Sun - the Sun of the Body
2179
The State of the Sun in the Mind
2182
The Sun of Gnosis
2187
26.
The Sun of Siva
2195
27.
The Character of the Soul
2199
28.
The Individual Soul
2202
29.
The Cultivated Soul
2206
30.
The Soul that is Bound
2211
3l.
The Enlightened One
2214
32.
The Effort required to control the Five Senses
2221
33.
The Method of Controlling the Five Sense Organs
2230
34.
The Path of the Unholy Guru
2244
35.
The Noble Guru
2250
36.
The Unethical Conduct
2269
37.
Compassion for the Soul's State of Misery
2286
38.
The Salutary Guidance
2304
Volume VIII
2327
Tandiram Eight (43 Sections)
Five-fold Differences of the Body
2351
Relinquishment of the Body
2376
Different States of Experience of
the soul-Lower State of Experience
2380
Middle Waking State
2415
The Paths for Liberation
2437
Pure Waking State and Other States
2444
Triple States of the Soul
2493
The Supreme State
2543
Devoid of Triple Gunas
2573
Different World Systems
2575
Even the Eleventh Kala is to be seen as an
Avastha "state"
2578
Mingling and Departing
2582
The State Free From Impurity
2585
The Dawn of Spiritual Knowledge
2640
The Six Ends
2656
The Non-Difference of Pati, Pasu and Pasa
2698
Exposition of Realizing the Feet and the Head
2720
The Three Defects
2732
The Three Words
2735
The Three-fold Paras
2743
The Nature of the Supreme Lord Siva
2750
Three-fold Turiyas
2764
Three-fold Muktis
2772
Three-fold Svarupas (Real Nature)
2777
Triple Instruments
2785
Three Voids and Tat Tvam Asi
2789
Three Illusions
2796
The Adjuncts of Jiva and Para
2804
The State of Tranquility
2809
Avoidance of Out-Speaking
2816
31.
The State of the Soul within Triple Gunas
in the Sphere of the Eight-Petalled Lotus
2831
Ninefold States and Ninefold Presiding Deities
2842
The Pure and the Impure
2853
Disdain of Liberation
2865
Three Types of Implied Meaning
2874
The Great Statement - Tat Tvam Asi
2883
The Morsel of Cosmos
2902
Truthfulness
2911
39.
The Performance of a Jnani
2926
40.
Curbing the Desire
2930
41.
The Significance of Devotion
2940
42.
The Attainment of Eternal Bliss
2950
43.
Inquiry
2953 - 2966
Volumes IX and X
Volume XI
2977
Tandiram Nine (23 Sections)
The Vision of the Monastery of the Guru
2981
The Vision of the Jnana Guru who is the Embodiment of Wisdom
2994
Pranava-Samadhi
3018
Light
3025
The Pancaksara Mantra-Gross
3045
The Pancaksara Mantra-Subtle
3058
The Pancaksara Mantra-Super Subtle
3068
The Vision of the Sacred Dance of Siva
3073
The Attainment of Space Within
3156
The Dawn of Wisdom
3166
Sat-Cit-Ananda
3176
The Dawn of the Real Nature of Sivam
3190
Karma (ul)
3202
The Vision of Siva
3208
The Vision of the Essential Nature of Siva
3211
Gradations of Liberation, Release from Karma
3220
The Conversation About the Void
3222
The Silent State of Samadhi
3343
The Greatness of the Unlimited
3361
The Greatness of the Realized Ones
3364
Panegyric (Laudation/Tribute)
3389
The All-Pervasive One
3431
Benediction
3450
Volume X
Appendix One
Debate within Saiva Siddhanta Regarding The Tirumandiram
Monism and Pluralism in Saiva Siddhanta
3457
There Can Be Only one Final Conclusion in Saiva Siddhanta
3514
Glossary - T.N. Ganapathy
3637
Select Bibliography - T.N. Ganapathy
3717
Index - Ramesh Babu
3725
The thirty-six principles of existence to Saiva Tandiram
3832
Courtesy: George Feuerstein
(Appendix Two)
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