Kandhar Anubhuti : Verse #23 - Will I be ruined without thinking about your Feet? (adiyai kuriyathu)

அடியைக் குறியாது அறியா மையினால்
முடியக் கெடவோ? முறையோ? முறையோ?
வடி விக்ரம வேல் மகிபா, குறமின்
கொடியைப் புணரும் குண பூதரனே (23)

adiyai kuriyAthu ariyAmaiyinAl 
mudiya kedavo? muraiO muraiO?
vadi vikrama vel magipa kuramin
kodiyai punarum guna bootharane! (23)

அடியைக் - Holy Feet
குறியாது  - Without Meditating
அறியாமையினால் - Out of Ignorance
முடியக் கெடவோ? Will I be destroyed?
முறையோ? முறையோ? Is that ok?
வடி  - Sharp
விக்ரம  - Strong
வேல்  - Spear
மகிபா - Leader
குறமின் கொடியைப் - Tribal lady (Valli)
புணரும் - Loving
குணபூதரனே - Storehouse of virtues


Short Meaning
Will I be ruined by not meditating on the Holy Feet of the Lord? Dear Lord Murugan, is that ok? You are the storehouse of all virtues, and who wields a sharp and strong spear, and in deep love with Mother Valli, of the tribes

Gloss

In this verse, Sri Arunagiri Nathar again repeats that he wants to meditate on the Holy Feet  (அடி) of Lord Murugan 

The feet has great significance in Hindu literature. Lord Murugan, who is the Supreme Lord, is non-different from Mother Lalitha, the Supreme Goddess. It is important to know that Lord Shiva, Lord Murugan, Lord Ganesh, Mother Lalitha and Lord Maha Vishnu are reflection of the same Supreme principle reflected in different forms. We develop our liking towards them only because of our likes / dislikes. Otherwise, they are not different from each other. 

When we think of God, we think that the act of Creation, Sustenance and Destruction are the three main acts, done by Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Rudra respectively. This is commonly referred to as the 'Trinity'

But, the acts of God are five - The five acts are wonderfully described in Sri Lalitha Sahasranamam (Thousand names of Mother Supreme, Sri Lalitha)


Srushti kartri - Brahma rupa (She Creates - She is in the Form of Brahma ) 
Goptri - Govinda Rupini (She Protects / Sustains - She is in the Form of Govinda) 
Samharini - Rudrarupa (She destroys (all Forms) - She is in the Form of Rudra) 
Tirodanagari-Ishwari (She Obfuscates the Reality - She in in the Form of Ishwara) 
Sadashiva - Anugrahata (She showers Grace - In the form of SadaShiva) 
Pancha-Krutya-Parayana (She thus, does all 5 Acts)


Since the first three are popular, let's look at the last two:

1. Obfuscation - Everyone knows they are going to die sometime - sooner or later. Then what is the motivation for people to pursue goals, try to excel or do anything meaningful. Why don't people just roll and die? The reason is obfuscation, While trying to pursue the reality and breaking free of the illusion of this Universe is the only meaningful goal, Goddess uses this power of obfuscation to create false goals to pursue, false enemies to vanquish etc. We get attracted to people, things, develop dislike to the same and perform some sort of action to be happy. This is the main work of Goddess. Else, the entire world would come to a standstill. 

Any rational person, with a minute amount of introspection will find that the goals we aspired for, esp the ones that we thought were life altering did come and go and we are still the same person after years. The mind just shifted to a different goal once we achieved the previous one. There is no such goal post which we are 'happy, ever after'. 

This is described in detail in 'A New Earth' by Sri Eckhart Tolle in section structure of the mind. A more intense analysis can also be found in Yoga Vashishta, but it is a book not recommended for beginners :) 

A soul tries to seek pleasure by pursuing different goals. In the end, it figures out that the goal it chased made it happy, but only temporarily. Hence it seeks its attention to the next goal and the process repeats. This continues over millions of birth (in search of something which will give eternal peace and happiness to the soul). 

This searching cannot be avoided - One really needs to feel the pain and heaviness of seeking pleasure in aspects of the world over many many births for them to completely give up on this seeking pleasure in objects.

2. Grace - When a tired soul, after millions of births, finally gives up the effort of seeking pleasure out and cries from the depth of its heart for help, then Grace descends.

Grace can never be earned or demanded or be got by any effort. Literally, it descends at the end of any effort. Another reason for this is, there is no effort big enough to earn Grace

This is beautifully described in Sri Subrahmanya Chakra (referred in the west as the Star of David)

The lower triangle represents the ascent of Spirit, which is the Sprit's effort in trying to reach its ultimate goal. Once the effort completely tapers off, the Grace descends and the realization is complete, when there is a perfect equilibrium of ascent of spirit and descent of Grace. There is this magnificent 6 petalled chakra, called the Subrahmanya Chakra. Incidenally, Lord Murugan's famous form is that of Lord Shanmukha, the six-faced one. Each of the petal carries the core-mantra of Lord Murugan 'sa-ra-va-na-bha-va'

In the imagery of Sri Nataraja, the Lord Shiva as Dancer, His raised left leg is is the representation of Grace. You can notice that He gently points us to look at His raised Left Feet  (Kunchita (raised) Vama (left) Paadam (feet) as it is popularly referred to) - When you see a Nataraja idol next time, please mentally bow to the raised left feet which liberates us from the painful cycle of birth / death

This Grace is personified as the feet of the Lord. So, in this verse, Sri Arunagiri worries not focussing on the feet of the Lord. 

In Tamil, there is a funny saying - "அடி உதவுர மாதிரி அண்ணன் - தம்பி கூட உதவ மாட்டாங்க" - Which roughly translates to "Even brothers don't help as much as a sound beating would" (Means violence works better)

But, this is a wrong translation -  அடி (adi) here means feet. It is actually a pious saying that the "Remembering the Feet of the Lord will help more than the siblings you are born with" which over time, the meaning of அடி got corrupted to beating someone up. 

Sri Arunagiri is very worried, that he'll be destroyed (முடியக் கெடவோ?) And implores the Lord that 'Is it right? (முறையோ?)' that he is allowed to be destroyed by not remembering the Feet of the Lord which is the only purpose of life.

The ONLY purpose of human birth is to realize the falseness of this living, and strive to be released from the repeated cycle. Interesting, in Greek, the word 'sin' roughly translates to 'missing the mark'. That is, to perceive this world we experience as real and to miss the Grace of Lord which is real. Lord's Holy Feet as the ultimate goal was also referred to in Verse 21. 

We can actually feel the pain of Sri Arunagiri's request, (which is of course, on behalf of us) that he should not miss the mark and strive and reach God's Grace.

And as mark of his exemplary devotion, he addresses Lord Murugan, thus:

1. வடி விக்ரம வேல் மகிபா - Lord Murugan, is described here as the Leader (மகிபா) wielding a sharp (வடி) and powerful (விக்ரம) spear (மகிபா)

In Lalitha Sahasranama, the ninth name is 'Krodhakara Angusha-ujwala' - i.e., One who wields a Sharp Weapon with Anger - Mother Lalitha, out of Her infinite Grace, cuts the bonding of a soul to a cycle of birth / death. But, this bond is immensely strong. So, it is imperative that Mother cuts it in one quick short. So, She wields the weapon in anger, and most importantly, it is a sharp weapon, and hence it shines (ujwala)

Angusha

In this verse, we can see that Lord Murugan wields a powerful and sharp spear to cut through the ignorance that causes our bonding


2. குறமின் கொடியைப் புணரும் குணபூதரனே - Lord Murugan, even as pointed out in the previous verse, has immense love to Mother Valli. In this verse, Sri Arunagiri address Lord Murugan as a storehouse of virtues (குணபூதரனே) who loves (புணரும்) Mother Valli, lady of slender form  (கொடி) and hails from the Tamil tribes (குறமின்) of Sri Lanka. The word 'kodi' can also mean creeper - Just like a creeper needs support of a tree, Mother Valli loves Lord Murugan so much, that She takes refuge in Her consort. 


Sri Arunagiri also refers to the Lord as the storehouse of eight major virtues, in Verse 15