OmniLight Invocations 365

சத்திய ஞான சபை (Sathiya Gnana Sabhai) or The Great Hall of Truth-Knowledge, and place of special manifestation of OmniLight, designed by Ramalingam without any formal training in architecture. It was constructed in 1871 and opened to the public in January 1872. It is not a Hindu temple and ought not to be considered one. It has no anthropomorphic idols or images.

The Afternoon Meal (La Merienda) by Spanish painter Luis Egidio Meléndez (1716–1780) – The OmniLight is the inner (essence) and outer (form) reality of these ordinary objects.

Arutperunjothi Agaval: Couplet: 451

அதுவினு ளதுவா யதுவே யதுவாய்ப்

பொதுவினுள் நடிக்கும் பூரணப் பொருளே!

That

Indwelling

In

that

Denoted

By

“that”,

That

Itself

Denoted

By

“that”,

That

Which

Poses,

Presents

Itself

As

Ordinary,

Common

Reality,

That

Which

Dances

In

The

Universal

Theater

Of

Consciousness,

OmniLight Complete Reality!

Note: This couplet is a brilliant play on the Tamil word “அது” or That, alluding to the famous declaration “That Thou Art” (Sanskrit: Tat Tvam Asi) in the Chandogya Upaniṣad. In this Upaniṣadic declaration, “That” refers to ultimate reality, and the import is that the individual self is in its essence identical to the Atman or Universal Self.

The import of this Agaval couplet is that the OmniLight is the indwelling referent (inner essence) and the manifested referent (outer form) of anything picked out by the term “that”.

The Tamil word “பொது” (Podhu) denotes the ordinary, common, and public reality, but it also traditionally alludes to the “Hall of Consciousness-Space” in the great temple of Siva at Chidambaram, Tamilnadu, India.

The Arutperunjothi Agaval is Ramalingam’s magnum opus of spiritual enlightenment poetry composed in 798 couplets in 1872. In later posts, I will offer commentaries on these couplets.

Tags: Arutperunjothi Agaval, Arutperunjothi Agaval in English, Chidambaram Ramalingam, OmniLight Invocations, Way Of OmniLight