A block-buster Hollywood movie that made every spectator sit on the edge of the chair throughout and that shimmer’s in the mind even long after the end was the movie ‘Odyssey’ . The movie based on Homer’s 3000 year old Greek epic was perhaps the first movie that showed the nature in its splendor and glory, the vast sea, the blue sky, the grey sand and above all the relation between humanity and nature. The closest relation the human maintains is the tree. The tree is almost the part of everyone life. Even when branches are cut, the tree grows and similarly even if diversions take place, the Samskara, the culture, survives. The tree is an integral part of religion too.
Thiruppugazh is a giant tree (Karpaka Vriksha) under its shade one can rest, contemplate, pray and get a yield. There are prayer that are answered with clothes to wear (Udukka thukil Vendum), house to reside (Antarpathi Kudiyera), a body free from disease (Irumalum Roga), the grace of the Lord (Ainkaranai yotha manam), a heart full of devotion (Ethirilaatha Bakthi thanai mevi), a mind free from thoughts and worries (Manakavalai), and a life free from the consequence of Karma (Iruvinai Anja). As the devotee looks up the tree, he gets the fruits of knowledge that liberates him from the world of illusion. It was the grace and knowledge which Lord Muruga bestowed on him that transformed him and made it possible for Arunagirinathar to plant this Karpaka tree. In his Kandhar Alamgaram, the Tiruvannamalai saint-poet says: “Oh! Muruga, as you bestowed your grace, I could reach the state of divine silence, transcend myself beyond the three Gunas, remain in a state bereft of all qualities (Nirguna), forget my individuality and even the existence of this body” (Sonna Krownja ….Kandhar Aalamgaram 19).
The deep roots of the tree symbolize the eternal values, the Vedas and Upanishads and its branches symbolize the Sanatana Dharma. It provides the shelter, solace and an ideal ground for contemplation. We find different manifestations of this tree. It denotes the higher wisdom that radiate from Siva, the infinite power and compassion of Lord Vishnu and Brahma, the creator. It is the same tree referred in Mundaka Upanishad where two birds resided. Seated on the top was the bird self-illumined and self-contained. It is always blissful, cheerful and it never depends upon anything for its existence. It stays where it is, as it has no wants and no desire. There is another bird very similar in appearance which shifts from one place to another. It is always restless. It tastes a fruit and goes for another one. Then it looks at the happy bird at the top, aspires to be like that and goes towards that bird. Finally it is absorbed into the upper bird and loses its separate existence. The real Self is the higher bird. The lower bird or our physical and mental system is just the shadow of the higher one.
There is another tree, the Bodhi tree. The word Bodhi comes from the term “bodha’ which means consciousness or awakening. It was by meditating under this Bodhi tree that Lord Buddha got enlightened. He said “we are shaped by our thoughts and we become what we think”. It was under the shade of Vada Vriksha, Lord Sri Dhakshinamurthy sat facing South and showed the path of realization through silence and contemplation. There is a view that the realized sage, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi, who mostly remained in silence, was another manifestation of Sri Dakshninamurthy. Just as the tree, there was another gift of the nature; the Arunachala Moutain. Bhagavan remained most of the time in Samadhi state at Virupaksha cave. As he studied scriptures, he felt they were analyzing what he had already felt intuitively. In ‘Illathu Narpathu’, he says: “True Knowledge is that state where nothing is to be known other than one’s own Self. Knowledge that relates to worldly objects is ignorance. For one who has known the knower, there exists no ‘other’. Real knowledge is Self knowledge which shines by itself and which knows itself, without any outside help. The real knowledge is not about the objects but about the subject, the Self, which is ever existing, which is self-luminous, which is beyond knowledge and ignorance. The real knowledge is Self-knowledge which is complete by itself, knowing which there is nothing else to be known.
Here, in this Thiruppugazh website, we go through three trees; Thiruppugazh, Sri Ramana and Generl. Come, get glimpses of devotion from Thiruppugazh, sparks of knowledge from Ramanopanishad and knowledge in general.