நாடககத்தால் - As if in a drama உன் அடியார் - a seeker நடுவே - In the midst of (true seekers) வீடு அகத்தே - reaching விரை கிரேன் - am impatient ஆடகம் - gold சீர் மணி குன்றே - beautiful mountain of gems ஊடு அகத்தே - within the mind உடையானே - one who owns
"Impatient to reach Your abode, I act as if I am a true seeker. Oh Lord, grant me that my soul be filled with love for You."
Expanded as, "I fool myself by thinking that if I impersonate Your true seekers, I can also, undeservedly, reach You. But what is Godliness without love? Grant me, therefore, Oh Lord, resplendent like a mountain of gold studded with gems, that I be filled with unstinted and unbroken love for You."
one commentary on thiruvasagam reads like this: "In the midst of true seekers, I am finding my feelings for You as unlike my self like a pretender on a drama stage." the rest is as you said... very well put verse :)
Yes, a very poignant verse. I'm reminded of the words of the Mother of Pondicherry, paraphrased as "He who advertises himself as being good is seldom so. The truly good people rarely speak of themselves that way."
Could you post the link to the commentary? I'm interested in exploring the Thiruvasagam further.
I dint know there existed an online version. I used a hard copy at home. Google gave this: http://www.shaivam.org/siddhanta/thivapop.htm
Rev. G. U. Pope says this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Uglow_Pope
'Midmost of Thy devoted ones, like them in mystic dance to move; Within Thy home above to gain wish'd entrance, lo, I eager haste ! O golden-glorious Hill of gems ! Give grace, that ceaseless love to Thee. Our Master, in my heart of hearts, melting my very soul, may 'bide. (44)
Must say, after glancing through his translation of the Thirukkural, I utterly hated G.U. Pope. If there was an equivalent of "peter" in Tamil, G.U. Pope qualifies right away. Reading the lines you've quoted reaffirms my feelings.
P.S.: If ever someone wanted to understand the Tamil verse by reading G.U. Pope's translation, good luck to him / her. I found the Tamil version easier to grasp. Yabba, sema peter da saami!
:) unfair machaan... he was a victim of the writing style of his times. (1850s-80s). Sometimes even Thomas Hardy's prose could sound pompous ! Its in a different time for a different audience.
content wise, yeah.. he is sticking to word level translation rather than the meaning of the whole.
9 comments:
wat does it mean?
நாடககத்தால் - As if in a drama
உன் அடியார் - a seeker
நடுவே - In the midst of (true seekers)
வீடு அகத்தே - reaching
விரை கிரேன் - am impatient
ஆடகம் - gold
சீர் மணி குன்றே - beautiful mountain of gems
ஊடு அகத்தே - within the mind
உடையானே - one who owns
Wondering if I understood it right...
"Impatient to reach Your abode, I act as if I am a true seeker. Oh Lord, grant me that my soul be filled with love for You."
Expanded as, "I fool myself by thinking that if I impersonate Your true seekers, I can also, undeservedly, reach You. But what is Godliness without love? Grant me, therefore, Oh Lord, resplendent like a mountain of gold studded with gems, that I be filled with unstinted and unbroken love for You."
one commentary on thiruvasagam reads like this:
"In the midst of true seekers, I am finding my feelings for You as unlike my self like a pretender on a drama stage."
the rest is as you said...
very well put verse :)
Yes, a very poignant verse. I'm reminded of the words of the Mother of Pondicherry, paraphrased as "He who advertises himself as being good is seldom so. The truly good people rarely speak of themselves that way."
Could you post the link to the commentary? I'm interested in exploring the Thiruvasagam further.
I dint know there existed an online version. I used a hard copy at home. Google gave this:
http://www.shaivam.org/siddhanta/thivapop.htm
Rev. G. U. Pope says this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Uglow_Pope
'Midmost of Thy devoted ones, like them in mystic dance to move;
Within Thy home above to gain wish'd entrance, lo, I eager haste !
O golden-glorious Hill of gems ! Give grace, that ceaseless love to Thee.
Our Master, in my heart of hearts, melting my very soul, may 'bide. (44)
Goks, thanks for the links.
Must say, after glancing through his translation of the Thirukkural, I utterly hated G.U. Pope. If there was an equivalent of "peter" in Tamil, G.U. Pope qualifies right away. Reading the lines you've quoted reaffirms my feelings.
P.S.: If ever someone wanted to understand the Tamil verse by reading G.U. Pope's translation, good luck to him / her. I found the Tamil version easier to grasp. Yabba, sema peter da saami!
:)
unfair machaan... he was a victim of the writing style of his times. (1850s-80s). Sometimes even Thomas Hardy's prose could sound pompous !
Its in a different time for a different audience.
content wise, yeah.. he is sticking to word level translation rather than the meaning of the whole.
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