Saint Arunagirinathar

[Guest guest]

Om Namah Sivaya Lord Subrahmanya This famous devotee lived in Tiruvannamalai (in South India) about 500 years ago and belonged to Devadasi (prostitute) caste. There is indeed something unique in this case. For, Sri Shanmukha’s blessings had to blossom here not merely in a barren soil but one in which we find worst conditions, inimical to any divine prospect. In such cases, none but lazy scholars can find any difficulty of compromise and would say that Bhagavan’s grace bestowed on such people as Arunagiri would mean a license as it were (if not a wanton sanction) for people behaving in worst manners and getting the grace of God completely. This biography illustrates that howsoever a man’s life be

dissipated in early years, if there is a small nucleus of divine love serving as substratum, there can occur a sudden outburst of divine passion and sacrifice, which sages could envy and yet not get by years of Tapas! So, the early life of Arunagiriar was one of reckless debauchery and vile corruption so that even his flesh soon became corroded and diseased with venereal affections. By the wish of her mother who died in his early life, his sister would not say anything against the wishes of her brother and would give everything and anything for him and his ways. Having spent all that she possessed, she (as her caste permitted it) would sell her flesh to those who sought with her the pleasures of sex for the sake of earning the wherewithal for her brother. Even this resource was exhausted; for she became uninteresting to her paramours. She was utterly helpless. But Arunagiriar took no lesson

either from his own physical decline and disease or from the privations of his sister, whom he always worried. Lo, one day, he beseeched her once again and said, “You must send me today with so much. Else I shall sink at your very gates.” No persuasions could prevail; he must have his way. Poor woman, what could she do! She grew desperate, and yet would not displease him. She rushed into saying, “Brother, all this does not convince you; your love for woman’s pleasures is so keen and intense that you think you must have them still. Look here! our caste is intended for affording pleasures of this sort to men of privileged classes, who cannot obtain them otherwise legitimately. Though we are born of the same mother, our fathers are different. So, as I am unable to give you anything at all now, I who was helping you all these years without seeing the means we have got, with me, you can find the pleasures you seek! Brother, I find no other solution for the difficulty!” She

would add; but her grief choked her voice. All this terrible speech poured through Arunagiri’s ears like molten lead and shook the very foundations of his being; and in a moment he came to the sense of his life’s iliad of mistakes. So moved and fundamentally shaken he became that he suddenly rushed away from her side, climbed the top of the temple tower, and dropped himself down to dash his mortal life to end, as a sacrifice for all his misdeeds! Attempt is half-deed. Here it is more than attempt. Arunagiri verily fell from the tower top, and topsy-turvy his body was hurling down. Behold! Lord Subrahmanya, Whom he loved more than he loved other Gods and more than others loved Him, and Whom he preferred before all Gods as a young “Yogi,” bore him in His hands from below! The Lord spoke, “Arunagiri, how can’st thou do like this, which is not meet for

thee! The good of thy past Karma has saved thee now. Take this Kaumara Shadakshara (a Mantra dedicated to Sri Subrahmanya). Go and sing the glory of Lord God, and spread My fame throughout the world, far and wide.” Until that figure which saved him and delivered the message melted away before his very eyes, he took him to be a mere human “Yogi”. The great soul,—great now because of the privilege described above,—soon began to do the sacred commission of the Lord. He visited many places and sang many songs. But it is worth noticing that while all other saints devoted songs to many Gods, Arunagiriar knew none but Lord Subrahmanya, and all his wealth of inspiration was utilised for His glorification alone. Saint Arunagirinathar has given us sixteen thousand songs in praise of Lord Subrahmanya, though only about 1,300 are now available. These songs are known as Thiruppugazh (Praise of the Lord). Every song is elevating and soul-stirring. The same saint has given to the world other books namely, Kandar Anubhuti (Experience of God, and how to attain it) and Kandar Alankaram. The former has so much efficacy that its constant repetition with faith and love bestows every blessing that one can ask for. These devotional songs are being sung by

devotees with great devotion and favour throughout the world even today. Sivaya Namah

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