Having searched for an alternative to the word “God”, a word which has been horribly corrupted and abused, I have finally arrived at the term “OmniLight” to convey something of the essential import of the Tamil word “அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி” Ramalingam has used to describe the Supreme Being of அருள் (omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent Compassion-Force), inherent and ultimate reality or truth (இயற்கை உண்மையரென்றும்), inherent and ultimate consciousness–intelligence (இயற்கை அறிவினரென்றும்), and inherent and ultimate bliss (இயற்கை இன்பினரென்றும்).
Ramalingam’s term “அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி” is a composite of three Tamil words: அருள் (the supreme compassion-force which is the support of all existence, experience, and activity in the cosmos), பெரும் (Vast or Immense), and ஜோதி (Light).
As described in Ramalingam’s “Short Petition of Samarasa Suddha Sanmargam”, this Being of ஜோதி or Light is the All (எல்லாமானவரென்றும்), All-possessing (எல்லாமுடையவரென்றும்), and All-powerful (எல்லாம்வல்லவரென்றும்).
In the same “Short Petition”, Ramalingam has addressed the Supreme Being or அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி as follows:
உயிர்களின் அகத்தும் புறத்தும் அகப்புறத்தும் புறப்புறத்தும் நீக்கமின்றி நிறைந்து விளங்குகின்ற அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி ஆண்டவரே!
Translation: “அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி, the Supreme Being which is immaculately present in the inmost, inner, outer, and outermost domains of all living beings!”
And in his magnum opus Arutperunjothi Agaval, or “Invocations of the OmniLight”, he describes the OmniLight as the elixir ( அமுது) which expands in the four domains of the inmost, inner, outer, and the outermost:
அகம்புற மகப்புற மாகிய புறப்புறம்
உகந்தநான் கிடத்து மோங்கிய வமுதே
The inmost (அகம்), inner (அகப்புறம் – what is outer to the inmost) , outer (புறம்), and outermost (புறப்புறம் – what is external to the outer) domains are the jointly exhaustive domains of all existence. They correspond to the essence (the soul in the case of all sentient beings), inner structure (the mind and its cognitive apparatus, its inner senses or “organs” in the case of sentient beings), outer structure (body), and environment (habitat, world, universe) of all entities.
The inmost (அகம்), the root of individual consciousness, the domain of the soul, is the locus of experience and knowledge and the source of action in sentient beings. The other domains are instrumental in enabling experience, knowledge, and action in the soul.
The immaculate presence of அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி (OmniLight) in these four domains of existence is also the significance of Ramalingam’s invocation of அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி (OmniLight) four times at the start of his magnum opus அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி அகவல் or “Verses on the OmniLight of Compassion”:
அருட்பெருஞ் ஜோதி யருட்பெருஞ் ஜோதி
அருட்பெருஞ் ஜோதி யருட்பெருஞ் ஜோதி
Taking all these aspects of Ramalingam’s description into account, I think that the term “OmniLight” captures a great deal of the attributes of அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி or the Supreme Being.
“Omni” stems from the Latin word “omnis” meaning “all”. The prefix “omni” has the connotation “of all things, in all ways or places”. Thus, the term “OmniLight” (the absence of hyphenation indicates an integral being which brooks no separation, albeit by punctuation, of its Allness and Light! ) certainly captures important aspects of the inexhaustible essence of அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி or the Supreme Being.
Why is it the Way Of OmniLight? As Ramalingam has repeatedly affirmed in prose and verse, Samarasa Suddha Sanmargam is the Way shown by அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி or OmniLight out of its boundless compassion for sentient beings caught in the dreadful three-fold net of ignorant identification with the physical body, confinement to egocentricity, and subjection to karma or physical, mental, moral and/or spiritual causal chains. The Way shown by அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி or OmniLight is the way of liberation from this dreadful three-fold bondage of ignorance.
It is also the Way Of OmniLight in the sense that it subsists in அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி or OmniLight from inception to consummation. All modes of development on this Way are initiated, sustained, and consummated by அருள் or the supreme compassion-force of அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி or OmniLight.
It is immaculately present at all steps on this way and supports the dedicated aspirant at all times and in all stages of the journey. The essential requirement is total surrender to the workings of அருள் or the supreme compassion-force of அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி or OmniLight. It is the locus (பதம்) and the Lord (பதி) of the Way.
Why is it the “Immortalizing Way”? The Way of OmniLight is the only way to immortality or the conquest of dying and its concomitant adversities of aging, disease, and decrepitude. அருள் or the supreme compassion-force of அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி or OmniLight is the only force capable of conferring immortality on the dedicated aspirant who treads its Way.
As Ramalingam’s late writings in prose and poetry make it clear, this is essentially a question of attaining a supernal embodied state of being, consciousness, and bliss in which dying and its concomitant adversities are completely absent.
The attainment of this supernal immortal embodied state of being and consciousness must be sharply distinguished from the vain pursuit of achieving the immortality of the terrestrial physical body constituted by impure substances, molecules, and atoms, all subject to corruption, deficiency, decay, and disintegration.
The different aspects of Ramalingam’s sublime description of the Great Embodied Life Without Death attained only on the Way of OmniLight will be addressed in other posts on this blog.
Leaving behind the sectarian obscurities, limitations, corruptions, distortions, and divisions of religious traditions and institutions, let us embark on the impeccable Immortalizing Way of OmniLight!
THE IMMORTALIZING WAY OF OMNILIGHT (அருட்பெருஞ்ஜோதி பெருநெறி) 