Guest guest Posted October 26, 2004 Report Share Posted October 26, 2004 What is the difference between kOyil and Alayam? The translation for Alayam as the place of union is beautiful... but union of what? the jiva and Ishvara? the mind and the soul? Could someone clarify. Thanks Aarathi. shaivam.org wrote: > uLLam peruN^kOyil UnuDambu Alayam > vaLLal pirAnArkku vAy gOpura vAcal > theLLath theLin^thArkku cIvan civaliN^gam > kaLLap pulan ain^thum kALA maNiviLakkE > > thirucciRRambalam > > Meaning: > Mind is the great abode; > Fleshy body is the place of union; > For the Bountiful Lord mouth is the tower-entrance; > For those who are fully clear soul is the shivalingam; > The cunning five senses are the unextinguishing lamps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 The word Alaya is a sanskrit word - as in himAlaya. MW lists the meaning as dwelling place. But in Tamil tradition, it is read as "Atma layikkum iDam" -- that is -- jIvAtma paramatmAvidam layikkum idaM. That is a place where jIva attains laya with paramAtma. This laya is taken as absorption and not necessarily the knowledge of true union. It is a place you concentrate and get absorbed in the thoughts of Lord. The word Alayam is used a dwelling place of Lord even by Tamil Christians -- they denote their temples as devAlAyam, orphanages as karuNAlayam etc. kOvil is kO + il. In Tamil, kO means God, king, etc. Here is taken as God. "il" means home. So literally it is "House of God". Tamil grammar allows kO + il to be written either as kOvil or kOyil. Hence, kOvil and Alayam are synonymous. In this specific context -- uuN uDambu aalayam means the body made of flesh is abode of jIvAtma. Here, aalayam should be taken as dwelling place. uLLam perunkOvil is very interesting phrase. It is uLLam -- inner organ or antaH karaNa -- which is loosely translated as mind but denotes manas+chitta+buddhi+ahankAram -- is the great temple. From philosophical arguments you can clearly see why antaH karaNa is denoted as the great temple. Only for those who are rid of avidya, jIva is shiva -- that is they see the one-ness. For the rest, ahankAra in the antaH karaNa tricks them into duality - which itself is borne of avidya. I think senses are mentioned as lamps because it is through senses manas gets the information or knowledge about the xternal world. As the lamp through its light helps to see. Otherwise is manas is blind. It is relies on senses for data. This is one of the reasons why in yoga-allegory of mahAbhArata dhRtarAshhTra is equated to the blind manas. My 2c. Needless to say I may be wrong. Ravi > > Aarathi Sankaran [aarathi] > Tuesday, October 26, 2004 3:19 PM > > Re: ThirumuRai Series - 443 > > > > What is the difference between kOyil and Alayam? The translation for > Alayam as the place of union is beautiful... but union of what? the jiva > and Ishvara? the mind and the soul? > > Could someone clarify. > Thanks > Aarathi. > > shaivam.org wrote: > > > uLLam peruN^kOyil UnuDambu Alayam > > vaLLal pirAnArkku vAy gOpura vAcal > > theLLath theLin^thArkku cIvan civaliN^gam > > kaLLap pulan ain^thum kALA maNiviLakkE > > > > thirucciRRambalam > > > > Meaning: > > Mind is the great abode; > > Fleshy body is the place of union; > > For the Bountiful Lord mouth is the tower-entrance; > > For those who are fully clear soul is the shivalingam; > > The cunning five senses are the unextinguishing lamps. > > > > -- > pradiipajvaalaabhirdivasakaraniiraajanavidhiH > sudhaasuuteshcandropalajalalavairarghyaracanaa . > svakiiyairambhobhiH salilanidhisauhityakaraNaM > tvadiiyaabhirvaagbhistava janani vaacaaM stutiriyam.h > > www : http://www.ambaa.org/ > Contact: help > Links > > > > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted October 27, 2004 Report Share Posted October 27, 2004 > I think senses are mentioned > as lamps because it is through senses manas gets the information or > knowledge about the xternal world. As the lamp through its light helps to > see. Otherwise is manas is blind. It is relies on senses for data. This is > one of the reasons why in yoga-allegory of mahAbhArata dhRtarAshhTra is > equated to the blind manas. Dwelling further on this - The cunning sense organs tend to dwell outside in the world. The yogis have made the senses revert inside the body, which is why they see the jIva as shivali.nga. i.e. the senses have the sole purpose of dwelling on the lord, as in the example, the lamps in the temple show us the Lord. Corrections welcome. Aarathi. >>>uLLam peruN^kOyil UnuDambu Alayam >>>vaLLal pirAnArkku vAy gOpura vAcal >>>theLLath theLin^thArkku cIvan civaliN^gam >>>kaLLap pulan ain^thum kALA maNiviLakkE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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