OmniLight Invocations 365

Entrance to the site of the radiant symbol (Jothi or orb of light) of OmniLight in the Sathiya Gnana Sabhai (1872), or Hall Of Truth-Knowledge, designed by Ramalingam.

Robert Ryman. Series #17 (White), 2003. Oil on canvas

Arutperunjothi Agaval: Couplet: 412

வெண்மைத் திரையான் மெய்ப்பதி வெளியை

அண்மையின் மறைக்கு மருட்பெருஞ் ஜோதி!

The

Space

Of

Supreme

Absolute

Truth-Being,

Concealed

Proximately,

With

The

Pure

White

Screen,

By

OmniLight Of Supreme Compassion!

Notes:

Wielding his command of the Tamil language, Ramalingam uses the word “அண்மை” in the second line of this couplet to convey a sense different from that of the word “அன்மை” used in the second line of the previous couplet. They are different words, but sound the same. The former word means “proximity” whereas the latter is used in the sense of “negation”.

This couplet continues Ramalingam’s remarkable account of the seven colored Cosmic Screens by which the OmniLight conceals the manifold aspects of mundane, supramundane, and divine reality, from the perception or understanding of ego-bound souls.

In this context, it should be noted that since the OmniLight has obscured its governance with the first screen, the immense dark and dense screen of primordial matter-energy, the other screens are not visible to the unenlightened inner eye. Naturally, the realms which these screens hide are also opaque to the unenlightened.

Several of the couplets in this series affirm the reality of other, higher-order kinds of spaces (Tamil: வெளி or Veli). The space in which our universe of impure matter-energy exists is only one kind of lower-order space.

The white screen is the sixth one and hides the “மெய்ப்பதி வெளி“, the Space of Supreme, Absolute Truth-Being, the All-Lord and the Lord of All. The Tamil word “பதி” (Padhi) refers to the OmniLight’s status or mode as the Supreme Being. It is center of the triad of “பதி, பசு, பாசம்” (padhi, pacu, pācam), or God, soul, and the forms of bondage of the soul which obstruct its enlightenment and liberation.

Later couplets affirm that the OmniLight also graciously lifts or sets aside these glorious immense screens, removing their obscuration of the vision of the soul, commensurate with the soul’s effort to liberate itself from the threefold defilement and bondage:

ஆணவம் (āṇavam), or egoism, or the disposition to assert separation, independence, and dominance or superiority,

மாயை, or “Maya“, the identification with, and consequent subjection to, physical body and the laws of impure material stuff

கன்மம், or Karma, or the chain of cause and effect involving thoughts, desires, choices, actions, and their consequences.