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Sage Thayumanavar (3)

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The Love Noose :

-------------------

 

The first man to attract the queen was Saint Thayumanavar.

"Holy Sir" implored Queen Meenakshi. "I am helpless and alone. You

are the only wise man whom I can trust. Your head and heart alone can

save the Kingdom. Its welfare depends upon you. Come and help me, in

the name of my husband who loved you so much !"

 

The saint took pity upon the helpless queen; he felt obliged to do

his best to maintain peace and restore order in the realm. Under his

influence, treachery was knocked down like an uprooted tree. The den

of misrule became a heaven of order and discipline, under the control

of Thayumanavar. The Rani was all regard for him. But her regard

carried passion into her youthful heart. His beauty of person his

strong will, wisdom, sagacity, political acumen, religious fervour,

austerity and sweet words, worked like magic upon her imagination.

Regard turned into affection, affection into love, love into lust,

and lust inflamed hidden passions in the uncontrolled mind. She

treated him like her close companion. The friendship ripened into

love; and she approached him alone one night with a pining heart,

with passion-lost modesty. She stood before the meditating saint like

an image of love-lorn beauty. The saint knew her wiles.

 

 

Thayumanavar: What has brought you here, Queen, at this hour ?

Queen: My heart has brought me to you, sir. I offer myself to you in

surrender. I love you.

 

Thayumanavar: But I love none but the Divine in my heart.

 

Queen: Sir, consider me as your wife.

 

Thayumanavar: I consider you as my Mother. Mother, do not test me. I

am your simple child.

 

Queen: My lord, I dedicate my life to you; embrace me now, or I shall

embrace death.

 

Thayumanavar: That shall not be, Mother. O God, save me from the

noose of lust. Divine Force, save me from this flashing sword of

lustful eyes. Let not my purity be killed by its venomed edge.

 

Queen: My beloved sir, I shall give you all my wealth; love me.

 

Thayumanavar: Woman. your wealth is filth.

 

Queen: I surrender my kingdom to you.

 

Thayumanavar: Your kingdom is wardom. Leave me in peace.

 

Queen: My man, it is the Queen's order. Obey me.

 

Thayumanavar: I obey only the King's order. The King of my soul is

God.

 

 

The Rani cast a lust-lit look and departed like stormdriven

lightning. Her love changed into wounded pride; she meant harm and

the saint knew it.

Next day, she was determined to force him to her will. She ordered

one of her ministers, Narayanappa, to bring the saint to her private

apartment. The minister went, saw, came back and reported that the

saint escaped; his whereabouts not known ! She sent spies abroad. But

before she could avenge herself, civil war raged in the kingdom;

Chanda Saheb assailed her capital; conspirators and opportunists

shattered her peace and the minister himself rebelled against this

woman of intolerable pride and suspicious conduct. We shall see the

result of these political upheavals later on.

 

The Escapade :

----------------

 

Where was Thayumanavar ? How did he escape the guards and the spies?

Silent, aloof, meditative, Thayumanavar had watched the play of the

egoistic forces in the royal court since the sudden death of the

king. Opportunists and sycophants thought the honest saint a

stumbling block on their way to power. How can the blind know the

sun? They knew that the queen loved him. They made her believe that

Thayumanavar was an impostor. Influential talebearers, wicked

slanderers, double-tongued flatterers, who won her favour, poured

gentle venom into her ears. " O Queen, I sounded his heart today; it

is flaming with passion for you. He closes his eyes just to adore

your image installed in his soul. Meet him alone; He will fall at

your feet; he is your slave; see that today !" Thus the cunning

courtiers calumniated the saint and induced the queen.

The saint knew the nature of the worldly; he heeded not the dagger-

look of jealousy, the frown of insolence and the nuisance of

talebearers. With a calm self-gathered inner strength, he was

prepared for the coming events. Daily he was making himself ready to

leave the capital. He had two trusted disciples. Arulayya, the first

disciple, had the gift of clairvoyance: " Master, the talebearers are

working out a plot that would cost you either your sainthood or your

life. So, I am removing the family property to Vedaranyam. It is

under the Maharatta king of Tanjore. These people cannot go there."

The saint nodded his assent. Arulayya quietly removed all valuables

to Vedaranyam along with a merchandise. Everything was kept ready for

the saint outside the fort. That particular night, the saint dressed

himself as a Naik soldier and escaped watching eyes. The horse was

ready; Arulayya was there to do everything. They quickly crossed the

boundary of the kingdom. And then, Thayumanavar, in the robes of a

wandering sanyasi, joined a party of monks bound for Rameswaram. In

those days, the Maravas of Sivaganga and Ramnad raised the standard

of national Independence against alien powers that usurped the throne

of the Tamil Nadu. Even to the end of the eighteenth century, the

brave Maravas fought for national freedom and gave shelter to

political refugees. It so happened that the party which opposed Rani

Minakshi, hatched its plot in the Marava territory, from Sivaganga

and Ramnad. So Thayumanavar made haste to reach Ramnad where he could

live unmolested by the Rani's men. The king of Ramnad received the

saint with due reverence and gave him a garden home for the practice

of his yoga.

 

The Silent Sage :

-------------------

 

He scarcely saw the people. The few that sought him were satisfied

with hearing his hymns sung by Arulayya every evening. The garden

where Thayumanavar lived is marked today by a small temple where his

image is adored. There too an offer came to him from the Royal court,

but he refused it. "I have seen enough of this political and social

drama. I have watched the world and I prefer silence all the more.

Silence is my book of Knowledge." wrote the saint. He forgot the past

in self-immersion. He opened his heart to divine love. He entered

inner solitude, plunged into inner silence, and settled in the deeper

Self. He kept his self-level, even like the ocean which overflows not

by the inflow of rivers and which dries not by evaporation.

 

(to be contd....)

 

Hari Aum !!!

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