2013-12-18

Thirumanthiram Wooden Elephant

"Marathai Maraithathu Mamara Yanai
Marathil Marainthathu Mamara Yanai !
Parathai Maraithathu Parmuthal Bhootham
Parathil Marainthathu Parmuthal Bhootham !!

This is simple yet strong poem from Thirumoolar. This poem is using wooden elephant toy as an analogy to perceive God or Absolute Reality. Rough translation in english is below.
Elephant hides the Wood
Elephant got hidden by the Wood
Gross nature hides the God
Gross nature got hidden by the God

in short, when you see the elephant in the toy, we don't see the wood. when we see the wood in the toy, we don't see the elephant. like that what ever we know as "us" is what prevents us from understanding absolute reality. When we see absolute reality, we can not see this gross nature. Dictionary
Maram = Wood,
Maraithathu means hides, marainthathu means 'got hidden'
param means god,
parmuthal bhootham means everything materialistic from earth to body (par = earth, muthal = starts/from, bhootham means gross-body).