8. That within me

Verse 6

என்னிலே இருந்தஒன்றை யான்அறிந்தது இல்லையே

என்னிலே இருந்தஒன்றை யான் அறிந்து கொண்டபின்

என்னிலே இருந்தஒன்றை யாவர்காண வல்லரோ

என்னிலே இருந்திருந்து யான் உணர்ந்து கொண்டனே

Translation:

I never knew the One that was within me.

After I knew the One that was within me

Who is capable of seeing the One that was within me?

Remaining constantly within me, I realized it.                                 

Commentary:

            The Ultimate Reality, kaḍavuḷ (that which is beyond- kada, and inside-vul) is the immanent and transcendent Being.  It is the all-pervading Supreme consciousness which dwells within all of us.  However, none of us are conscious of its presence. We think that we are different and distinct from that Divinity.  In this state, there is the seeker (us) and the sought (the Absolute).  However, when one realizes the presence of the Divine within, then the soul no longer remains ignorant. The ‘one who is seeing’ and that which is ‘seen’ become one.   Distinction ceases to exist.  In this state of realization there ‘no one to see’.  Civavakkiyar refers to this when he says ‘who is capable of seeing the one that was within me?’ 

            Civavākkiyar says that this transformation is possible by contemplating incessantly within oneself, one’s own true nature. As Sri Krishna says in Bhagavad Gita, one becomes what one contemplates.   The nyāya śāstra calls this as ‘tatkratur nyāyam’. 

This verse powerfully reminds one of Tirumandiram verse where Tirumular sings as follows:

All these days I did not realize myself

After I realized myself, there is nothing else to know,

When I existed with this self-realization, without forsaking me,

He guided me/ counseled me with myself.     (Mandiram 2366)