OmniLight Invocations 365

An old photo of Sathiya Dharuma Saalai (The Home of True Charity) in Vadalur, Tamilnadu, South India – It was opened by Ramalingam on May 23, 1867, and has fed the poor and hungry to this day.

Arutperunjothi Agaval: Couplet: 61

பொதுவுணர் வுணரும் போதலாற் பிரித்தே

அதுவெனிற் றோன்றா வருட்பெருஞ் ஜோதி!

Nondual

Reality,

Which

Cannot

Be

Discerned

By

Commonsense

Divisions

Of

“That”

And

“This”,

And

Realized

Only

By

Unitive

Consciousness,

OmniLight Of Supreme Compassion!

Notes:

The Tamil word “பொது” (podhu), in the context of this couplet, refers to that which is common, shared, and public. The addition of the word “உணர்” (unar), which means “sense or understanding”, makes it clear that the couplet is referring to commonsense, or the shared mode of ordinary experience and understanding, and its separative categories of “this” versus “that”.

This couplet is affirming that the nondual reality of OmniLight cannot be discerned by means of these separative forms of ordinary experience and understanding.

The Arutperunjothi Agaval is Ramalingam’s magnum opus of spiritual enlightenment poetry composed in 798 couplets in 1872.