

Arutperunjothi Agaval: Couplet: 165
சுருள்விரி வுடைமனச் சுழல்எலாம் அறுத்தே
அருள்ஒளி நிரப்பிய அருட்பெருஞ் ஜோதி
The
Whirlpool
Of
Mind,
Spreading,
Swirling
Thoughts,
Feelings,
Sensations,
Suppressed,
Stilled
Into
Serenity,
Suffused
With
Light
Sublime,
Consummately
By the Supreme Compassion of OmniLight!
Note: This autobiographical couplet testifies to Ramalingam’s great achievement of stilling the mind’s incessant whirlpool of thoughts, feelings, and sensations, and attainment of the resulting serenity, by the supreme compassion of OmniLight.
In his own words, this was the result of intense, one-pointed aspiration for the OmniLight, sustained inner austerity of renunciation of distracting worldly desires, and the development of compassion for living beings.
The Arutperunjothi Agaval is Ramalingam’s magnum opus of enlightenment poetry composed in 798 couplets in 1872.
In later posts, I will offer commentaries on these verses.