12-2. How the senses come under control

 

Teachings to treasure, teachings that transform. 

Thirumoolar Thavamozhi

Motivation

 

12-2. How the senses come under control

Once devotion to the teacher and wisdom have occurred, what benefits do they cause ?

தானே புலன்ஐந்துந் தன்வசம் ஆயிடும்

தானே – automatically without external help.

Our Saint Thirumoolar assures that “If you constantly see, chant, listen, and contemplate on the lord who is our teacher, and more importantly if you treat your teacher as the lord himself, then all the five senses will on their own be under your control.”

 

 தானே புலன்ஐந்துந் தன்வசம் போயிடும்

The five senses which have now come under the control of the individual soul, will no onwards follow the the path of the individual soul.  One scholar said that it is like how an elephant obediently follows the path of the mahout.

In the Upanishads, the senses are compared to the horses, and say that a good driver will guide them with control.

That is what our Saint mentions in the second line.

தானே புலன்ஐந்துந் தன்வசம் போயிடும்

போயிடும் – means will obediently follow the path; தன்வசம் – under the control of the individual who has acquired wisdom, obediently under his guidance.

தானே புலன்ஐந்துந் தன்னில் மடைமாறும்

மடைமாறும் – will now choose the right path.

The senses which were earlier following wordly desires, will turn towards the true wisdom. How does this grand achievement happen ? When once the individual soul sheds all the attachments that have been binding it, the soul travels alone and meets the divine.

 

தானே தனித்துஎம் பிரான்தனைச் சந்தித்தே

 

தனித்து  - after shedding the attachments that bind

 

When the mind, words and action all these three are intune with the lord who is the teacher, what happens then to the individual soul ? our saint Thirumoolar sings that the individual soul, after shedding all the attachments, on its own goes and meets the divine !

Upon this meet, the five senses stop wandering outside. They are obeying the command of the individual soul. They also changed their focus away from worldly pleasures, They are racing with full energy towards another drain.

 

Our saint says that the penance is for the soul inside the body to use the teaching from the divine teacher to meet the lord who is also inside the body. That penance can be fruitful only by the grace of the teacher. He explains all this in this nice poem.

தானே புலன்ஐந்துந் தன்வசம் ஆயிடும்

தானே புலன்ஐந்துந் தன்வசம் போயிடும்

தானே புலன்ஐந்துந் தன்னில் மடைமாறும்

தானே தனித்துஎம் பிரான்தனைச் சந்தித்தே.  28

 

It also resonates the teaching the Bhagavad geeta “ Vishaya vinivarthane”. When a person observes a fast, he refrains from taking food. But he is not disliking the taste of the food itself. However, when one meets the lord, all that desire for worldly things will go away. Our saint Thirumoolar reaffirms this nicely, when he says

தானே தனித்துஎம் பிரான்தனைச் சந்தித்தே

 

The great wisdom that all the saints experience is one and the same. We see that the sacred texts also surprising tell the same message in the various texts.  We can be surprised and elated that the  “param dhristhwa” in the Gita is the same as our Saint Thirumoolar’s “பிரான்தனைச் சந்தித்தே”!

 

To read other translated pages in these posts, see: Thirumoolar