[1]
Within and beyond the three worlds
Traversed by the Sun,
What fills everything,
As the happy essence is THAT.
[2]
The blissful silence controlling
The many mental modes, again making
Everything blossom forth is only THAT.
[3]
The foolish and vain votaries of the Six Faiths,
Debating fanatically and prattling aloud;
What lies beyond all such differing conceptions is THAT.
[4]
For them that wallow and sink,
The dark mire of the three impurities,
My and Mine, karma and maya;
What helps them to cross 'over the useless ways is THAT.
[5]
The Guru of Lord Shiva
Who wears the arka and cassia flowers on his head
Is our Lord Muruga, who manifests as THAT.
[6]
The amounts of good and bad deeds
Added up, makes this dirty body of ours.
Subtracting our identification with it,
What becomes the answer defying comparison is THAT.
[7]
Even if all the learning and arts,
Beginning from the Rig Veda,
Will fail to counter-balance
If weighed against THAT.
[8]
When messengers of the Lord of Death
Come before one at the time of death,
What endows one with a natural ability to cross over to safety, is THAT.
[9]
Where the thickly-set Upanishads end
At that edge, what exists alone as the crest is THAT.
[10]
Without form, what lies concealed
The core and essence
Of Fire, Earth, Ether, Wind and Water
Which fill things, nought left out, is THAT.
[11]
Thought, Object and Thinker vanish:
What evolves the state where
One abides forever and ever is THAT.
[12]
To the unwavering devotees, their hesitancy gone:
Released of all troubles,
The precious treasure they enjoy is THAT.
[13]
What makes thought, word and deed lie submerged
Making it possible to experience the joy
Of bathing in the divine grace is THAT.
[14]
As the light of lights, as space beyond space
And as the life of lives,
What manifests forever and ever is THAT.
[15]
Lord Shanmukha, the valorous One,
He rode on the strong peerless peacock
To fight the asuras who ran and hid themselves.
He married the hunter girl, wearing a dress
Fashioned of beautiful foliage. It was He,
The incomparable One who graciously taught me THAT.
