Understanding Compassion through Manu Murai Konda Vasagam by Sri Ramalinga Swamigal !

In the late 70s and early 80s, Paramakudi in the Ramanathapuram district was a melting pot of Dharmic culture. It is on the way to Rameshwaram from Madurai, almost the mid-point, so Paramakudi always got its share of knowledge and wisdom from the wise, great people, yati purushas, who were on their way to Rameshwaram and back. Paramakudi was dotted with many temples, big and small. The Chitirai Thiruvizha (Festival in the Chaitra month) of Paramakudi used to be¹ as grand as it is celebrated in Madurai. Among the many temples, grand and simple, stood this small hall; there was nothing “temple” about it. It was in a residential street, sandwiched between an Electricity Board office and the Paramakudi Girl’s High School. As an 8-year-old kid, the small name board that was hung outside intrigued me: Samarasa Suddha Sanmarga Sangam² (சமரச சுத்த சன்மார்க்க சங்கம்). I could get the meaning of the four words individually, but what do they mean together? What does this thing as a whole stand for? More intriguing was that this hall didn’t have any Devata Murtis or pictures of them. There were three things: a small picture of a radiant-looking man shrouded in white cloth; he must be 30 years old, I thought. A small lamp was kept inside what looked like a glass box that was always burning³. And finally, on the wall above the lamp, there was this text – Arutperunjothi Thanipperunkarunai (அருட்பெருஞ்சோதி தனிப்பெருங்கருணை) meaning, graciously grand light, unique immense compassion. At that age, I knew nothing except that the radiant man was Thiruatrutprakasa Vallalar, Sri Ramalinga Swamigal of Vadalur. I learned a bit more during ninth grade when we had one of Swami’s songs as part of Tamil poetry⁴. But it took me till the Dravidian Model government sanitised Sri Ramalinga Swamigal’s picture by removing a forehead full of Vibhoothi. This picture engineering happened when the Government of Tamilnadu decided to celebrate the 200^th Avathara Dinam⁵ of the great Yati.

January 30 happens to be the anniversary of his Mukti, the day when he dissolved into the Jyoti at Siddhi Valagam in Melkuppam near Vadalur.

Sri Ramalinga Swamigal was a poet, a man with immense knowledge about herbs and their medicinal effects, a great philosopher, a social worker and a Gyana Siddha. Among his many works is one work of prose that stands out. This work called “Statements that explore the ways of King Manu Neethi Chola” (மனுமுறை கொண்ட வாசகம்⁶), was one of the early works of Sri Ramalinga Swamigal.

King Manu Neethi Cholan’s son, Crown Prince Veethi Vidanga, accidentally kills a calf by running it over by his chariot. The cow that lost the calf complains⁷ to King Manu Neethi Cholan. The King puts his son down by running the chariot over him to provide justice to the cow. Lord Shiva appears and brings Prince Veethi Vidanga back to life, blessing the King and his subjects with abundance. This part of the work of prose by Sri Ramalinga Swamigal covers the part where the King laments about what brought him the misfortune of killing his son to deliver justice. The great King lists forty-three things that any human shouldn’t and cries, asking if he did any for him to undergo this misery.   

First, see the forty-three points from Sri Ramalinga Swamigal’s Manu Murai Konda Vasagam⁸.

1. Did any of my acts make good people cringe?
2. Did I litigate for defaming someone?
3. Did I obstruct/ divert charity?
4. Did I create a rift among close friends?
5. Did I bring ill to a friend by deceit?
6. Did I tax people to misery?
7. Did I force the poor to go hungry?
8. Did I abandon Dharma to commit injustice?
9. Did I waste my time doing unnecessary talk?
10. Did I abet a murder?
11. Did I help a robber with intelligence/ information?
12. Did I lie for material benefits?
13. Did I deceive by breaking promises?
14. Did I do any act that obstructed the revenue stream for someone?
15. Did I deny wages to a worker for his hard day’s work?
16. Did I turn my back to the hungry?
17. Did I not provide for the needy?
18. Did I slander and break a family?
19. Did I let go of the hand of a drowning man?
20. Did I betray someone hiding from danger?
21. Did I take advantage of a vulnerable woman?
22. Did I lust on a lady I was supposed to guard?
23. Did I molest a virtuous wife?
24. Did I derive delight out of causing a miscarriage?
25. Did I do anything disrespectful to my Guru?
26. Did I refuse Guru Dakshina?
27. Did I abuse wise people?
28. Did I find (non-existent) mistakes in the works of learned?
29. Did I cage a hapless bird?
30. Did I pull a calf away from its nursing mother?
31. Did I nourish myself by killing animals (eating meat)?
32. Did I sell adulterated grain?
33. Did I cause heartburn to my loved ones?
34. Did I cause the silting/ contamination of a source of drinking water?
35. Did I cut a tree that provided shade to people down?
36. Did I cause damage to crops because of enmity?
37. Did I destroy a public property?
38. Did I lock a temple down?
39. Did I abuse/ mistreat a devotee of Shiva?
40. Did I talk ill of people who are doing penance?
41. Did I slander wise people?
42. Did I act against the words of my parents?
43. Did I take pride in smearing Gods?

These forty-three things are a great lesson for each one of us. While I would love to double-click and expand on these forty-three points, I will only focus on a few relevant to certain things we see in the news today and see how the current dispensation of Tamilnadu, who want to appropriate Sri Ramalinga Swamigal fares when it comes to walking the talk.

1. Did I take pride in smearing gods? All the Hinduphobic comments of the present dispensation in Tamilnadu will qualify. The Sanatana Dharma Eradication Conference that the Tamilnadu CM’s son, a minister in the TN cabinet, actively participated in takes the cake
2. Did I abuse/ mistreat a devotee of Siva? Sri. TR Ramesh, Sri. Rangarajan Narasimhan, Sri. Pon. Manikkavel IPS etc. have spoken in detail as to how the HR&CE department of Tamilnadu abuses the authority bestowed on them and mistreats devotees
3. Did I lock a temple down? Yes, the Sri Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman Temple, Melpathi, Villupuram⁹ comes to mind immediately
4. Did I cause the silting/ contamination of a source of drinking water? It is the duty and prerogative of the government to ensure its citizens get good drinking water. They also must prevent any vested interests from contaminating drinking water sources. Here, Manu Neethi Cholan is questioning himself as the King, the country’s ruler. Similarly, should the rulers of Tamilnadu should ask this question themselves, they will get an emphatic no as an answer. While there are more than one, the best example of the inefficiency of the current dispensation is their inability to identify, prosecute and punish the perpetrators of the shameful Vengaivayal incident¹⁰ 
5. Did I obstruct/ divert charity? The many Innova and other cars and the diversion of Temple funds to non-devotional activities are great examples of this point by Sri Ramalinga Swamigal. People like Sri. TR Ramesh, Sri. Rangarajan Narasimhan, Sri. Pon. Manikkavel IPS etc. have done much and spoken enough about this particular aspect of the HR&CE department of Tamilnadu

We can go on and on and double-click on each of these forty-three points that Sri Ramalinga Swamigal has made in his treatise, Manu Murai Kanda Vasagam. But I will leave that to you, reader, as a little homework to arrive at your list of things that the present dispensation of Tamilnadu might have failed.

These forty-three amazing points also stand testimony to how Dharmic a Yati, Sri Ramalinga Swamigal is. And how mischievous any attempt to de-Hinduise him by wiping the Vibhooti off his forehead or sanitising his work and twisting it to suit the Dravidian agenda is. To ensure great Saints like Sri Ramalinga Swamigal’s works are not twisted and appropriated by the Hinduphobic forces, we need to get the younger generation to read more about this great Yati and his works. Let us on his Mukti Jayanti, the day when he dissolved into the Jyoti at Siddhi Valagam (Siddhi campus) in Mettukkuppam near Vadalur, Cuddalore district, take a vow to celebrate and propagate his philosophy and thoughts and keep the flame of Sanatana Dharma alive.

Notes:

¹I left Paramakudi in 1986. I have not been there since except in transit to my Kuladevata temple. So I don’t know much about the Paramakudi of today.

²The four words mean Samarasa – Equality; Suddha – Pure; Sanmarga – Righeous path; Sangam – Association/ Group

³To stop my incessant questioning about why there is no Devata Murti but only a little lamp inside that glass enclosure, one of the elders (don’t remember who) came up with this ingenious explanation – The Jyoti is the Bana, and the Agal Vilakku (the lamp) is the Avydayar (the base on which the Bana Linga stands). From that day, I started seeing a Shivalinga inside the glass enclosure

4Pongu Pala Samayamenum Nadhigalyelam (பொங்குபல சமயமெனும் நதிகளெல்லாம்)

⁵Sri Ramalinga Adigal was born to Sri Ramaiyya Pillai and Smt Chinnammai in Marudhur, near Chidambaram on October 5, 1823       

⁶According to Ooran Adigal, this work was done at the behest of Chennai Sastra Exposition Sangh (சென்னை சாஸ்திர விளக்க சங்கம்) and was published in June 1854.  There is also an alternative thought that Writer B. Prabhakaran offers in his The Luminary of Compassion – Sri Ramalinga Swamigal (Samvit Prakashan and Media Pvt. Ltd., October 2023). He says that Sri Ramalinga Swamigal did this work at the request of his teacher, Kanchipuram Sabhapati Mudhaliyar. He wanted to use this work to instill compassion in the minds of children

⁷Manu Neethi Cholan – The Chola King who ruled according to Manu’s ideals

⁸The translation of Manu Murai Kanda Vasagam is entirely mine. So, any mistakes or mistranslations is all mine

⁹Melpathi Sri Dharmaraja Draupadi Amman Temple

¹⁰Human excreta mixed in a water tank in Vengaivayal village in Pudukkottai

I want to acknowledge the role of Sri B. Prabhakaran, the writer in taking Sri Ramalinga Swamigal and his work to the people of Tamilnadu. His works on the great Yati across mediums have been immensely helpful to me. He is my “தங்கநிழல் பரப்பிமயல் சோடை யெல்லாந்

தணிக்கின்ற தருவேபூந் தடமே” when it comes to understanding more about Sri Ramalinga Swamigal.



- Articles by RBR