OmniLight Invocations 365

A reconstruction of Ramalingam’s appearance based on descriptions by those who knew him. The Tamil words below the image express his sincere wish: May All Beings Attain Bliss and Flourish!

Arutperunjothi Agaval: Couplet: 166

விருப்போ டிகல்உறு வெறுப்பும் தவிர்த்தே

அருட்பே றளித்த அருட்பெருஞ் ஜோதி

Interrelated

Polar

Opposites,

Attraction,

Aversion,

Desire,

Dislike,

Causing

Conflicts,

Ceased

Consummately,

Thwarted,

Terminated,

By

Light

Transcendent,

Bestowed

By the Supreme Compassion of OmniLight!

Note: This autobiographical couplet testifies to Ramalingam’s transcendence of the interrelated pairs of opposites, e.g., love and hate, desire and dislike, and so forth, and the conflicts they generate in the mind and heart, 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.