Highest form of Compassion
I have been reading and meditating on Tamil devotional literature over the past few months. I started reading and interpreting the verses of the great Tamil devotional poetry titled Abhirami Andadi, which sings the praises of the universal Godly principle, that is in the form of Goddess Abhirami in the village of Thirukadaiyur, in the Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu. The author, Abhirami Battar, who has penned these 100 verses of poetry in easy-to-understand Tamil, must have been in a state of spiritual enlightenment as he penned these verses and his spiritual journey is captured in the songs. Following this my interest in Tamil devotional literature increased and I followed it up by reading the great Tiruvasagam, literally translated to mean the Divine Verse. This was written by the great Shaivite poet, Manickavasagar, in the 9 th century and it comprises of 51 chapters. The poetic, aesthetic and devotional sensibilities of this poem are beyond description and there is a very old ...