28. Our body is a temple; keep it healthy and clean

Teachings to treasure, teachings that transform.

Thirumoolar Thavamozhi

Motivation

28. Our body is a temple; keep it healthy and clean

 

The Thirumandiram is filled with experiential knowledge of our Saint Thirumoolar. Our Saint has lovingly composed and sung poems to share with joy his experiences from his personal spiritual practices, in simple Tamil.

Though we know that our body will perish one day, there is an important exercise, called “Kaya siddhi”, that helps to keep the body healthy and fit while the body is alive. Our saint Thirumoolar sings nicely explaining the importance of taking care of the body and keeping it healthy.

Using our own body, we need to perform the tasks that benefit our soul to achieve the purpose of this life. If our body perishes, before we achieve the purpose of life, it will be a huge waste of life or being born with a human body!

உடம்பார் அழியில் உயிரார் அழிவர்

உடம்பார் அழியில் – if the body perishes; உயிரார் அழிவர் – the soul will also go away without achieving the purpose of life.

He uses the super honorific to refer the body as a sacred body, and the soul as a sacred life force. When the body perishes, the soul also leaves the body simultanously. That is, if our body dies without achieving the purpose of human birth, our soul is not able to get the benefit of human birth. Our Saint clarifies that we should learn to correctly understand the meaning of the line that there is no death for the soul. The soul misses the benefit of entering the body of a human being. Since the human body has a sacred purpose to help the soul to achieve a higher goal, our Saint mentions that the human body is sacred.

 

உடம்பார் அழியில் உயிரார் அழிவர்

திடம்பட மெய்ஞ்ஞானஞ் சேரவும் மாட்டார்

திடம்பட – strong and able; மெய்ஞ்ஞானஞ் -to get experiential wisdom;  சேரவும் மாட்டார் – the soul will not get the benefit of entering the body.

Our Saint laments in this poem, the soul will not easily get another chance to enter a human body, if it misses this opportunity when it is our human body. Upon realizing this, our Saint goes on to say that he learnt the way to take care of the body and took good care of it.

உடம்பை வளர்க்கும் உபாயம் அறிந்தே

உடம்பை வளர்த்தேன் உயிர்வளர்த் தேனே  

வளர்த்தல் – to take care

When the physical and mental health of the body deteriorates, the soul is not able to use  the body as an instrument to perform the tasks that are required for the soul to achieve its purpose.  Therefore, our saint says it is wrong to disregard the human body. One should take good care of the human body, as it is important for the soul. In fact, we should take good care of the body, until the soul has full used the body to achieve the purpose of human life!

உடம்பார் அழியில் உயிரார் அழிவர்

திடம்பட மெய்ஞ்ஞானஞ் சேரவும் மாட்டார்

உடம்பை வளர்க்கும் உபாயம் அறிந்தே

உடம்பை வளர்த்தேன் உயிர்வளர்த் தேனே  1

 

Our saint goes not share his person journey in life.

 

At one point in my life, I had disregarded the body and treated it as unimportant. However, when I was able to see divine indweller residing in my body, which is the soul, I began to treat the body as sacred and stopped disregarding it.

உடம்பினை முன்னம் இழுக்கென் றிருந்தேன்

முன்னம்-  in the past; இழுக்கென்று – blemished and temporary.

உடம்பினுக் குள்ளே யுறுபொருள் கண்டேன்

உறுபொருள் – residing inside and give life to the body – the indweller or the soul.

உடம்புளே உத்தமன் கோயில்கொண் டான் என்று

உடம்பினை யானிருந் தோம்புகின் றேனே  

உத்தமன் – God; ஓம்புதல் – taking care.

I realised that it is not correct to disregard the body.  As the divine resides in the body, the body is a temple. Therefore, I started to keep the body clean and take care of it as we clean and take care of the temples in our country!

யானிருந் தோம்புகின் றேனே   - in this last phrase, we should see how our Saint lovingly explains using the word “இருந்து”! I bear the burden that the human body undergoes and strive to take care of the human body which is a temple for the soul that resides in the body!.

உடம்பினை முன்னம் இழுக்கென் றிருந்தேன்

உடம்பினுக் குள்ளே யுறுபொருள் கண்டேன்

உடம்புளே உத்தமன் கோயில்கொண் டான் என்று

உடம்பினை யானிருந் தோம்புகின் றேனே  2

 

To read other translated pages in these posts, see: Thirumoolar

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