Old Tamil Poetry

Sivavakkiyar – 35

 What are temples? What are holy tanks?
You misers worshipping in temples and tanks,
temples and holy tanks are within one’s mind;
Nothing, nothing, nothing is created or destroyed.

கோயிலாவது ஏதடா குளங்களாவது ஏதடா 
கோயிலும் குளங்களும் கும்பிடும் குலாமரே 
கோயிலும் மனத்துளே குளங்களும் மனத்துளே 
ஆவதும் அழிவதும் இல்லைஇல்லை இல்லையே.

Siddhar Sivavakkiyar, dated to around 10th Century CE was one of the leading rebel poets in Tamil literature. Siddhars were iconoclastic rebels whose thoughts were against the organised Vedic religion. Their main idea was one had to find God within oneself and not rely on temples and rituals.

In these verses he chides those who go to temples and sacred tanks for salvation. He says find God within you and not in these temples and tanks.  God can neither be created or destroyed by mortals. The last line I interpret it as “all that in this world only transforms into another form. There is nothing that is created new nor destroyed”.

/Joke/Simply put, The first law of thermodynamics 🙂

குலாமர் – miser.