Sri Arunachala Padigam
Note: Padikam means ‘ten stanzas’; but this poem has ended up consisting of eleven verses.
ELEVEN VERSES TO SRI ARUNACHALA
l.
Oh the One who has ruled over me by your kindness!
If you haven’t blessed me by presenting yourself before me,
in the world lacking brightness,
longing and being perturbed
if I leave this body, what will be my fate?
Without seeing the Sun, will the lotus bloom?
Oh Sun of the Suns! You Grace springs forth like from an eternal geyser,
Oh Love that is called Arunachala!
2.
Oh Arunachala in the form of Love! Like wax in fire,
in my Heart, thinking and longing for you,
me the loveless one, instead of offering your Grace to me,
ruling over me and destroying me, is this very nice?
Oh Happiness that springs from Love!
Oh the wonderful Nectar that springs in the Heart of true devotees!
My refuge is to accept your Wish as my Wish,
Oh my God, my Life!
3.
To me who never has the idea of thinking of the God that is you,
You pulled me with the rope of your Grace,
and stood to kill me destroying the separation of God and Soul.
What mistake did I, the simple, humble one make?
What else is the complaint? Leaving me half dead,
why do you torture me?
Oh God, prevailing here as Arunachala,
fulfill your wish and always live long as the One Self.
4.
Among all the people who live this world,
what profit did you get from me?
Protecting this humble one without falling into waste land,
you placed me at your Feet.
Oh Great Ocean of Kindness! Even when I think of you,
I become ashamed within my Heart.
Oh Arunachala! I bow my head to you,
praise you and worship you!
5.
Oh Chief! Bringing me here by stealth
you kept me at your Feet to this day.
Oh Leader! When I seek to know your Real Nature,
you made me hang my head in shame.
Oh Lord! Without making me like a deer trapped in a net,
please seek to destroy my lethargy and inertia.
The God who is Arunachala! Whatever your Divine Will is,
Who am I, a destitute, to understand it?
6.
Even though for so long I stayed at your Feet,
I became like a frog living near the Lotus flower (without tasting the honey from the flower).
If you make me a bee that feeds on the flower
of the state of Self-Realization, there would be salvation for me.
Instead, if I give up my life at your supreme Feet,
the blame will be yours like a pillar driven deep in the ground.
Oh unassailable Aruna (Blazing Mount of Light)! The sunlight that spreads everywhere!
The wide expanse of Grace that is subtler than Space!
7.
Space, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth – these five elements
and the beings and things that sprung from the combination of these elements,
these are not separate from you, the brilliant light of consciousness.
Then how can I alone remain separate from you, Oh faultless One?
Since you shine as a single Awareness within the Heart
Who is that who has come out as “I” ?
Please come out, Oh Arunachala,
placing your all-pervading flowery Feet on my (ego’s) head.
8.
You have made me uselessly live in this world
as a vagabond; destroying my intellect if you
keep me this way, no one is happy, one’s fate is misery.
Better to die than to live.
I have become mad and useless; give me the rare medicine
of attaining your Perfect state, Oh golden red Arunachala,
who brilliantly shines as the medicine
to cure the craziness of attachment to the world.
9.
Oh All-pervading Self! Clutching your Feet to remove attachments –
among those who do not have this supreme wisdom, I am the first.
Remove my duties and take my salvation as your duty,
for what can be a burden to you, the One who sustains everything.
Oh Almighty! Parting from you and carrying the load of the world,
what I have suffered is enough.
Oh All-pervading Arunachala! From now on, don’t try to
get rid of me, to keep me away from your Feet.
10.
I have seen something new! This mountain is a magnet that
attracts lives. The soul that thinks of this even once,
this mountain subdues its activities, draws the soul face to face with It,
and fixes the soul motionless like Itself,
and feeds upon the soul thus ripened. (gives salvation)
What is this! Oh souls, become aware of It and live.
One that shines within the Heart, It is the
Great Aruna Mountain, the destroyer of egos.
11.
Considering this Hill to be supreme,
how many are there who had themselves (egos) ruined?
Oh people, those who, because of miseries, hating the world,
disgusted with life, seek a means to die,
there is on earth an excellent drug which, just thinking of it once,
kills (the ego) without actually killing (the body).
Know that it is none other than
this great Arunachala.
