The Discipline of Compassion for All Life

The Discipline of Jeevakarunyam, the first means of Suddha Sanmarkkam.

Part One.

Sivamayam: all is Siva. Thiru Chitrambalam.

The Discipline of Jeevakarunyam Is Itself the Worship of God.

Those who have received a human birth in this world must know, while there is still time, the soul’s true gain that can be reached through this birth, and must attain it.

If one would know what that true gain of the soul is: God, whose form is natural truth, makes all universes, all worlds, all things, all living beings, all disciplines and all their fruits appear and shine through the Power of Grace, His perfect natural light. One must truly know that the incomparable great life, in which one receives the perfect natural bliss of God and lives without hindrance at all times, in all places, in every way and in every measure, is the soul’s true gain to be reached through this human birth.

If one would know by what means that great life, lived without hindrance in natural bliss, can be reached: one must know that it can be reached only by Grace, which is the natural light of God.

If one would know by what means Grace, the natural light of God, can be received: one must know with certainty that God’s Grace can be received through the discipline of Jeevakarunyam, compassion for all living beings, and cannot be received in the least by any other way.

If one asks how it is that God’s Grace can be received through the discipline of Jeevakarunyam and by no other way: Grace is the compassion of God, the natural light of God. Jeevakarunyam is the compassion of living beings, the natural light of the soul in living beings. So compassion can be gained by compassion, and light by light. Since it is a matter of experience that it cannot be gained by anything else, Grace can be gained through Jeevakarunyam, and it is certain that it cannot be gained by any other means. One must know that no further proof is needed for this.

Since Jeevakarunyam alone is the way to receive Grace, it is understood that what is called the path of wisdom, and what is called Sanmarkkam, is the discipline of Jeevakarunyam; and that what is called the path of ignorance, and what is called the evil path, is the absence of the discipline of Jeevakarunyam. When Jeevakarunyam shines, knowledge and love shine together with it; through them the power to do good shines; and by that power every good arises. When Jeevakarunyam is veiled, knowledge and love are veiled together with it; through that the power to do good is veiled; and once the power to do good is veiled, every evil arises. Therefore it is understood that merit is Jeevakarunyam alone, and sin is the absence of Jeevakarunyam alone.

One must know as truth that the light that comes through the discipline of Jeevakarunyam is the light of God, and the bliss that comes through the discipline of Jeevakarunyam is the bliss of God; that the accomplished ones who have seen and enjoyed this light and this bliss many times and reached fulfillment are the liberated in this life; and that it is they who know God through knowledge and become wholly one with God.

What, then, is the discipline of Jeevakarunyam? One must know that it is to live worshipping God by means of the melting of the soul that arises in living beings toward living beings.

If one asks when the melting of the soul toward living beings arises: one must know that the melting of the soul arises when one sees living beings suffering through hunger, thirst, disease, desire, poverty, fear and murder, or when one hears of it, or even when one knows that such suffering will come.

If one asks what the ground is on which Jeevakarunyam arises: all living beings are parts of the one natural truth, of one nature, created by almighty God; they are therefore brothers of one kinship. When one of the brothers suffers through some danger, or is known to be about to suffer, the melting that arises in another brother who sees him as his own brother is brotherly kinship. In the same way, one must know that the melting that arises in one living being when it sees another suffering, or knows that it will suffer, is the ancient kinship of souls.

Even when they see living beings suffer, some remain hard-hearted, without Jeevakarunyam. If one asks why brotherly kinship fails in them: the eye called the knowledge of the soul, which could know the sufferer as their brother, know that he is suffering and know that he will suffer, has had its light badly dimmed by the cataract of ignorance; and the spectacles taken as aids to that eye, the mind and the other faculties, are thick and do not let the light through. So they cannot see and know. One must know that this is why, though brotherly kinship is there, Jeevakarunyam did not arise. From this it is understood that those who have Jeevakarunyam have the clear sight of the soul.

If one says, “The sufferings that come to living beings through hunger, thirst, fear and the like are only experiences of the faculties and senses, such as the mind and the eye, not experiences of the soul; so there is no special benefit in having Jeevakarunyam”: in this gross body, apart from the soul, which is present in it as the living being, and the natural light of God, which is the Knowledge within knowledge, everything else, the faculties, the senses and the rest, are only inert principles that serve as instruments; they are not conscious. Therefore inert things cannot experience pleasure and pain. One cannot say that red earth rejoiced or grieved; in the same way, one cannot say that the mind rejoiced or grieved. As one builds a house of red earth for bodily living, so the body, built by God out of the mind and the other faculties and senses and given for the life of the living being, is a small house. It is the one who lives in the house who experiences joy and sorrow, not the house. Again, when eyes whose light is dimmed by cataract look through spectacles and see something painful, it is the eyes that shed tears; the spectacles do not. So one must know that the mind and the other instruments, which serve as spectacles for the sight of the soul, do not experience pleasure and pain; the soul alone experiences them.

If one asks, “When pleasure comes to a living being the mind rejoices, and when sorrow comes the mind droops; should we not then understand that the mind experiences pleasure and pain?”: we should not. As the radiance and the weariness of the master of a house made of crystal are reflected in that crystal house and appear outside; and as the brightness and the weariness of the eyes are reflected in the spectacles placed over them and appear outside; so the gladness and the drooping that pleasure and pain bring to the soul are reflected in the mind and the other faculties and senses, and appear outside. Therefore one must know that pleasure and pain are the experience of the soul alone, and that the faculties and senses are instruments that help the soul to know and experience them.

If one asks why many of the living beings created by God suffer so greatly from hunger, thirst, fear and the like: one must know that they are living beings who in a former body did not love the discipline of Jeevakarunyam, became hard-hearted and walked the evil path; and so, by the decree of Grace that God has ordained, they suffer greatly from hunger, thirst, fear and the like.

If one asks how we know there was a former body: a householder who has come to live in a house, paying rent, must before that have lived in another house, paying rent, for he could not have kept house without a house; and if trouble arises in the house he has now come to, he will move again to another house. As we know this, so one must conclude that the living being that has come to dwell in this body, paying the rent of food, must before this too have lived in another body, paying that rent, for it could not have lived without a body; and that if trouble arises in this body too, it will move again into another body. Therefore one must know that bodies come to living beings both before and after.

If one asks how the sinful deeds that living beings did in a former body come into this body as well: if a householder, in the house where he lived before, did not keep to the orders of his master but brought in men of the evil path and kept company with them, then when he leaves that house and comes to live in another, those men of the evil path will come to this house too and keep company with him. In the same way, one must know that if a living being, in the body it dwelt in before, did not keep to God’s orders but through the evil path willingly did sinful deeds, then when it comes into another body, those sinful deeds will come into the body it has now entered and join that living being again.

If one asks: “If it is the law of God’s decree of Grace that living beings who left the discipline of Jeevakarunyam and walked the evil path in a former birth should be made to suffer in this birth from hunger, thirst, fear and the like, then is it not against God’s decree of Grace to have compassion on those living beings, give them food and the like, and remove their suffering?”: it is not. A king has food given, through his servants, even to great criminals who have wholly opposed his command and sit in prison with fetters on their feet. In the same way, God has food given, through His attendant celestials, even to sinners who have wholly opposed His command and lie in hell, bound in many ways. When ordinary offenders stray from a king’s command, he keeps them from the gain they would have had from him, removes them from office, and, so that good sense may come to them, sends them out of that place to other places. Having lost their office, they lose comforts such as good meals and go to the outskirts of towns, wandering and suffering for food and the like; and kind people, seeing them, give them food and the like. When the king hears of it or sees it, he rejoices, calls the givers good and merciful householders and honors them; he is not angry. In the same way, when living beings with ordinary faults do not keep to God’s command, God by His power keeps them from the comforts they would have had, takes from them the comfortable worldly enjoyments He had given, and, so that good sense may come to them, removes them from that body and places them in another. Having lost those comfortable worldly enjoyments, those living beings lose good meals and the like and suffer in place after place without food; and if kind people see that suffering and give them food and the like, God rejoices over the givers, saying, “May these good and merciful people gain ever greater happiness,” and honors them; He will not be angry. Therefore one must truly know that what accords with God’s decree of Grace is precisely that living beings have compassion on living beings.

It is through this Jeevakarunyam that the order of this world goes on. One must know that without Jeevakarunyam the order of this world cannot go on in any measure. How so? When there is no Jeevakarunyam, knowledge and love do not appear; when they do not appear, kindly regard, unity and helpfulness do not shine; when these do not shine, the way of life of the weak is obstructed and destroyed by the strong through envy and the like. Then the ways of the strong also become tamasic, and wherever one of them grows slack through arrogance, his way is overturned and destroyed by another’s. In a forest where tigers, lions and other beasts with no trace of the discipline of Jeevakarunyam roam, the order of this world does not go on at all. In the same way, one must know that wherever human beings without Jeevakarunyam move about, the order of this world will never go on.

The order of the world beyond also goes on through Jeevakarunyam; if Jeevakarunyam is absent, the order of the world beyond cannot go on either. How so? When there is no Jeevakarunyam, the light of Grace does not appear; when it does not appear, the state of God is not reached; when that is not reached, no one attains the bliss of liberation; and when none attains it, one must know that the order of the world beyond cannot go on at all.

Because the discipline of Jeevakarunyam is so little practiced, births of the evil path multiply and base ways prevail everywhere. How so? All the hard-hearted who lack Jeevakarunyam have been born, each according to the hardness of their deeds: some as dwellers in hell, some as dwellers in the sea, some as dwellers in the forest; some as fierce beasts such as tigers, bears, lions, yalis, elephants, sambar deer, he-buffaloes, pigs, dogs and cats; some as venomous creatures such as snakes and scorpions; some as harsh creatures such as crocodiles and sharks; some as the vilest of birds, such as crows and vultures; and some as impure plants such as the strychnine tree and the spurge. Therefore one must know that it is base ways that chiefly prevail.

One must know that Jeevakarunyam is not only the chief means of receiving God’s Grace but also a partial light of that Grace itself. Since Jeevakarunyam is the natural light of souls, the light of God will never appear, within or without, to living beings who lack that natural light.

If one asks what the chief aim of Jeevakarunyam is: God has ordained in the Veda the following. All souls are parts of the natural truth, and are the places of unity and kinship where Grace, the natural light, shines as the Knowledge within knowledge. Bodies made of the elements are the rightful means by which those souls become living beings and grow. If souls do not become living beings in such bodies and grow, the light of the soul is veiled; then the light of Grace does not appear; then dullness arises; and that dullness becomes the bondage of souls. For this reason a body made of the elements is necessary. Since māyā is the material cause of such bodies, dangers often come upon them through hunger, thirst, disease, desire, poverty, fear and murder, which are the shifting illusions of that māyā. So that such dangers may not come, living beings have been given by Grace the power and freedom to prevent them, striving with all vigilance by their own knowledge, aided by the faculties and senses. With that freedom all living beings ought to strive to remove dangers from their bodies and to gain the soul’s true gain. Where living beings suffer, unable, through destiny or carelessness, to remove the dangers that come through hunger, thirst, disease, desire, poverty, fear and murder, living beings who have the freedom to remove those dangers must remove them out of compassion. In such relief, removing sufferings other than the suffering that comes through hunger and the suffering that comes through murder is lower Jeevakarunyam, and so it brings only a little happiness in this world; removing the suffering that comes through hunger and the suffering that comes through murder is higher Jeevakarunyam, and through it one attains by Grace the happiness of this world, the boundless bliss of the siddhis and the bliss of liberation that never perishes at any time. Those who have the freedom and the knowledge to remove the dangers that come upon other living beings through destiny or carelessness, yet do not do so but deceitfully hold back, will not gain by Grace the freedom to enjoy the bliss of liberation together with the happiness of this world, and will lose even the freedom of worldly enjoyment they have now. Since God has so ordained, one must know that the chief aim of Jeevakarunyam is this: where living beings lack the knowledge and freedom to remove the dangers that come through hunger and murder by destiny or carelessness, living beings who have the knowledge and freedom to remove them should remove them out of kindness, without deceit. And one must know that the highest benefit is this: to put true faith in it, to remove with food the hunger of hungry beings, to remove by whatever means one can the murder of beings about to be murdered, and so to bring them the joy of contentment.

If one would know why, though the rule is to remove the dangers that come through hunger, murder, disease, thirst, poverty, fear and desire, it has been marked here as special to remove only the dangers that come through hunger and through murder: in the discipline of Jeevakarunyam there are two kinds, lower Jeevakarunyam and higher Jeevakarunyam. Of these, relieving hunger and preventing murder are higher Jeevakarunyam, and so they have been marked as special, one must know. Moreover, those kind enough to remove the hunger of suffering living beings will not fail to give water to remove their thirst. Giving water is no great labor; water is there in lakes, ponds, canals and such places. Thirst brings only a partial danger that can be remedied; it does no lasting harm to the body. Hunger does the body harm that cannot be remedied. One kind enough to remove the suffering that comes through hunger cannot fail to be kind enough to remove the suffering that comes through disease. It is from excess of hunger that diseases grow, and it is by rightly prepared food that they are removed. Even if other medicines are given for disease, the prescribed diet is the support the body needs to stand. One can keep the body for a long time with disease; one cannot keep the body even for a day without food. Those kind enough to remove the hunger of the hungry with food cannot fail to be kind enough to remove the sufferings that come through desire. When living beings are truly hungry, they have desire for nothing but food. If food is found, one who has eaten and ended his hunger can fulfill his desire with small efforts, or else come to terms with it. One can keep the body for many days with desire; one cannot keep it a single day with hunger. Those kind enough to remove the hunger of hungry living beings with food cannot fail to be kind enough to remove the poverty of living beings who lack freedom. There is no poverty greater than the poverty of suffering from hunger. Poverty can be remedied after some days; hunger cannot be remedied in that way. One can keep the body in poverty; one cannot keep it in hunger. One kind enough to remove hunger cannot fail to be kind enough to remove fear. There is no fear greater than the fear that comes through hunger and the fear that comes through murder. Fear can be removed by some device; hunger cannot be removed by any device. One can keep the body with fear; one cannot keep it with hunger. The torments and sufferings that come through hunger and the torments and sufferings that come through murder are alike. Therefore one must know that removing the suffering that comes through hunger and the suffering that comes through murder is the chief aim of Jeevakarunyam.

If one asks why, when removing the suffering that comes through hunger and removing the suffering that comes through murder are both the chief aim of Jeevakarunyam, it is only the removal of hunger that is stressed again and again here: one who knows that a living being will be killed by hunger, and out of compassion removes its hunger and lets it live, will not fail, if the murder of a life comes about in some other way, to feel pity for it and remove the suffering that comes through that murder. Those who do not remove the suffering that comes through murder will not be kind enough to remove the suffering that comes through hunger either. The murder that hunger brings cannot be prevented by any means but food, while the murder that comes through enmity and the like can be prevented by many means. One must know that this is why the suffering that comes through murder is included in the suffering that comes through hunger, and hunger is stressed again and again.

Moreover, those who suffer from thirst, from disease, from desire, from poverty or from fear all forget those sufferings when the pain of hunger comes; the pain of hunger overpowers them, and they strive to find food. Again, even an offender whom the king’s order has sentenced to be killed for the crime of murder forgets his fear and his suffering when hunger comes, and tries to relieve that hunger. The sick and the aged who have learned from their physicians that their death is certain also forget their suffering when hunger comes, and try to remove it. One who has resolved to give food out of kindness to the hungry will never consent to living beings being harmed and destroyed in any other way. For this reason too, one must know, the dharma of relieving the suffering that comes through hunger is stressed again and again.

If one says: “If it is true that the harm that comes through hunger destroys the body of every living being, then the hunger of all living beings must be known and relieved. But if one sets out to relieve it so, it would be impossible to know and remove the hunger of the living beings God has created, of these seven kinds, celestials, humans, beings in hell, beasts, birds, creeping things and plants, with their countless varieties”: one must know the following. Celestials have a freedom greater than human freedom and the power to relieve by their own effort the hunger that comes to them; so others need not concern themselves with their hunger, and it is necessary only to feel pity, knowing that celestials too would suffer if hunger came to them. Beings in hell are not in places where we can relieve their hunger but elsewhere, and their hunger is relieved by the attendants of their punishment; so we need not concern ourselves with their hunger, and it is necessary only to feel pity, knowing that beings in hell too suffer when hunger comes. Among trees, grass and other plants, which through destiny have no freedom at all, it is necessary to pour water, for their hunger, on the kinds of plants that people grow by their own effort to support their living. All other kinds of plants live because the order of Grace has food given to them; to know the hunger of all of them and feed them is not within our freedom but within God’s. So we need not concern ourselves with them, and it is necessary only to feel pity, knowing they would suffer without food. Creatures that creep on land and in water, birds and beasts eat and relieve their hunger as the order of Grace has food given to each according to its destiny; to know and give each the food that suits it is not within our freedom but within God’s. But among them it is necessary to feed and relieve the hunger of certain animals that people acquire by their own freedom to support their living, such as cows, oxen, buffaloes, goats and horses. As for humans, men and women, the losses and sufferings that come through hunger and the gains and joys that come from its relief are in general the same for all. And God has ordained that humans alone must, in general, necessarily and firmly hold to the rule of Jeevakarunyam that relieves hunger, for these reasons: because their soul-knowledge, which knows the losses and sufferings of hunger intensely through the workings of the inner faculties such as the mind and through the senses such as the eye, is alike in all; because humans cannot keep the body alive on the food alone that destiny brings them by the order of Grace; because they must also relieve their hunger and keep the body with āgāmiya food, earned by their own effort, knowledge and freedom; because the freedom of the living being to earn by āgāmiya has been given to humans in great measure by Grace; because the order of Grace has ordained that some should go hungry and suffer when destiny brings them no food, that for the relief of that hunger they should look to one another, that another should give them food out of kindness, remove their hunger and set them on good effort, and that the one who gives food should attain the siddhis and liberation; because the human body cannot be had easily like the bodies of other living beings; because the light of the soul and the light of Grace shine most fully in the human body; because there is no certainty that this human body, once gone, will come again; because this human body is the body taken for the very purpose of attaining the bliss of liberation; and because, from the first creation, this human body alone is the body of high knowledge created by God’s consent. Since God has so ordained, one must know that the discipline of Jeevakarunyam that relieves hunger with food must be carried out chiefly among human beings.

If one asks why it was said that, while beasts, birds and other living beings have only the food appointed by Grace according to their destiny, humans alone necessarily need, besides the food appointed by destiny, the food of āgāmiya effort as well: God has ordained that humans should eat the appointed food according to their prārabdha and so work out the experience of prārabdha; that through āgāmiya they should eat the food of their own effort and so make the body, with its faculties and senses, strong; and that, following the practice of Sanmarkkam, they should attain the bliss of the siddhis and of liberation. So one must know that humans necessarily need both prārabdha food and the food of āgāmiya effort. The bodies of living beings such as beasts, birds, creeping things and plants are bodies ordained for punishment, and their prārabdha food is given without fail by the Power of Grace as God has ordained; so one must know that they need not earn āgāmiya food.

If one then asks why it was first stated that Jeevakarunyam is common to all living beings: in the discipline of Jeevakarunyam the chief thing is to relieve the suffering that comes through hunger for all human beings alike and to give them the joy of contentment through food; if the murder of a living being comes about in some other way, as it does through hunger, to stop that murder by any means, as far as one is able, to save its life and make it glad; if suffering comes to living beings through other causes such as disease and fear, to remove those sufferings if one is able to; to remove by every means the suffering that comes through fear and the suffering that comes through murder among living beings such as beasts, birds, creeping things and plants; and, even toward the harmful creatures among them, to cause no more than a little suffering through fear, and never to inflict the sufferings that come through murder. Since all of this together is Jeevakarunyam, one must know that God has commanded Jeevakarunyam toward all lives.

If one asks: “Some of the creatures people acquire to support their living eat meat, which is tamasic food. When their hunger is to be relieved, may it not be relieved by giving them that food?”: one must know that to kill one living being in order to relieve the hunger of another with meat is not the discipline of Jeevakarunyam at all, nor is it what God approves; it is wholly against both. All living beings are parts of the natural truth and are the dwelling place of Grace, the natural light of God; when the natural light of God is veiled, there is no life in a being; the natural light of God and the natural light of the living being do not differ from each other; and the natural light of God and the natural light of the living being shine in each and every body. Therefore one must know that to slay one living being in order to relieve the hunger of another is wholly against the discipline of Jeevakarunyam.

If one asks: “Tigers, lions and other beasts kill and eat another living being, relieve their hunger with tamasic food, reach the joy of contentment and are glad. May that gladness not be taken as a portion of the natural light of God and the fullness of the natural light of the living being?”: it may not. Through tamasic food neither the portion of God’s natural light, which is perfect sattva, nor the natural light of the soul, which is partial sattva, can shine, just as light does not shine through darkness. Why is this called tamasic food? Because it is food got by violence, which veils the light of the soul so that the light of God cannot appear; so it became tamasic food. If one asks whose light it is, this light of gladness that is the joy of contentment from such food: one must know that it is the light of the bound soul’s instruments of māyā, which are without beginning. What is the bound soul? The bound soul is the soul that is held together in the bondage of the three impurities, āṇava, māyā and karma, and has lost its knowledge. If one asks how light can appear to that bound soul: in the darkness of a cloud that hides the sun, something of the sun’s brightness still appears, and so even that darkness passes for light. In the same way, though the instruments of impure māyā and the tamasic quality are dark in nature, the instruments of impure māyā and the tamasic quality pass for light because of the special light of God and of the living being that they hide. Therefore one must know that the light that comes from tamasic food is only the light of the instruments of impure māyā.

If one asks: “But trees, grass, paddy and other plants are also said to be lives. If they are harmed and taken as food, is that not tamasic food, and is the gladness that comes from it not the gladness of the impure mental faculties?”: trees, grass, paddy and other plants are indeed lives. If they are harmed and taken as food, that is indeed partly tamasic food, and the gladness that comes from that food is indeed the gladness of the impure faculties. But that is not what happens here. Trees, grass, paddy and the like are living beings with one sense, touch; the light of life shines in their bodies only in part; the seeds from which those lives arise are inert, like other seeds; we ourselves can sow those seeds and raise life from them; without harming those lives, we take as food only the seeds, vegetables, fruits, flowers, tubers and leaves that appear on them as inert things without life, places where life may arise, and we do not take the living plants themselves as food; when seeds, vegetables, fruits and the like are taken from them, no harm arises, just as none arises when semen, nails or hair are taken; and plants have no development of the inner faculties such as the mind. For these reasons it is neither the murder of life nor the causing of suffering, and so it is not against Jeevakarunyam. One must know that the gladness that comes from that food is the light of God together with the light of the living being.

If one asks how seeds that appear on trees and other plants can be called inert things, places where life will later enter: if there were life in seeds, they would sprout before ever being sown in the soil; and even when sown in the soil, some seeds never sprout. Again, a seed is a cause, and even small children know that this cause is for a body to appear. Again, life is eternal and the body is not; eternal life needs no cause; only the body, which is not eternal, needs a cause. Therefore one must know that seeds are inert. If one then asks how souls enter seeds: one must know that when water is given to a seed mixed into the soil, souls, joined to an atomic body, go into the soil through that water by the order of God’s Grace, mingle with the ripening power of that soil and pass into the seeds.

Some say that sprouts must not be plucked. If one asks how, then, it can be said that seeds, unripe fruits, leaves and the like may be eaten: once the seed has settled in the soil, the soul travels by way of the water, mingles with the ripening power, enters the seed and sprouts. The sprout, therefore, is not inert matter like seeds, unripe fruits and the rest. Know, then, that the saying that sprouts must not be plucked is true.

If one asks, “Even if there is no murder of life in seeds, unripe fruits, ripe fruits and the like, do they not carry the impurity that is in nails, hair, semen and the like?”: since they have no growth of the tattvas and no growth of the bodily tissues, there is no impurity in them either.

Therefore know that eating the seeds, unripe fruits, ripe fruits, leaves and the like of trees, grass, paddy and other plants is not contrary to Jeevakarunyam.

If one would know whether flesh is not the ordained food of fierce animals such as the tiger: know that it is not the food ordained for those beings at creation; it is food acquired through inherited habit. It is therefore possible to wean them from it and make them eat sattvic food. A man of good conduct keeps watch over the cat and the dog that live in his house, so that they do not go elsewhere and eat impure food, and from their earliest days accustoms them to pure food alone; they eat it and live. In the same way one may know that tigers, lions and the other fierce kinds eat impure food from habit, because there is no one over them to train them in pure food.

Therefore know for truth that to murder one living being in order to relieve the hunger of another is neither acceptable to the Grace of God nor the discipline of Jeevakarunyam.

The bliss attained through this means called Jeevakarunyam is of two kinds: lower bliss and higher bliss.

The bliss that comes from relieving the suffering that arises from desire and the like is lower bliss. Know that these are some of the blisses enjoyed in this life. If one asks what they are: Jeevakarunyam arises toward living beings who suffer for want of clothing to wear, a place to live, land to plough, a wife to live with, and money and other means to do as they wish; and when they are given clothing to wear, a place to live, land to plough, a bride to live with, money to do as they wish and the like, the radiance of joy that rises from within those who receive and shows on their faces, and the radiance of joy that arises in the givers on seeing that joy, appear only in part in the divine faculty and in full in the faculty of the living being. Therefore know that this is lower bliss.

Again, if one asks: when one sees the distress of a person who, finding his own clothing poor and another’s fine, sets his desire on it and suffers, is compassion not needed for that too?

The bliss that comes from relieving the suffering caused by hunger is higher bliss. Know that it is the bliss that comes in this life through the attainments of enjoyment, the attainments of yoga and the attainments of wisdom, and the bliss of liberation enjoyed at the end. When food is given out of Jeevakarunyam to living beings faint for want of food, and they eat and their hunger leaves them, at that moment the joy that swells, surges and brims over within them and on their faces, and the joy that arises in the same way within and on the faces of the givers when they see it, appear in full in the divine faculty united with the soul. Know, therefore, that this is what is called higher bliss.

Those who suffer for want of clothing, shelter, land, a wife, money and the like can bear those sufferings by strength of mind, stay alive, and make what effort they are able. When the suffering of hunger comes, it cannot be borne by strength of mind; if they try to bear it, they will lose their lives. If, when hunger comes, parents dare to sell their children, children their parents, a husband his wife and a wife her husband, to be rid of the suffering that hunger brings, need it be said that they will sell what is outside themselves, house, cattle, land and possessions, to be rid of hunger? Even an emperor who rules the whole world, when hunger comes, lays aside all the height of his authority and complains in humble words to the ministers beside him, “Hunger has come; what is to be done!” Pure heroes, who can grasp with their hand the arrow an enemy has driven through their chest and fearlessly conquer every foe before them in a moment, lose their ease when hunger comes; afraid of hunger, they look to those standing beside them and plead, “Weakness will come! How can we fight!” The wise (jñānis), who have spurned the pleasures of this world and even the pleasures of Indra as straw, renounced everything, known Knowledge itself, and in whom experience has dawned; yogis who have subdued the senses, stilled the mind and abide in true absorption; Siddhas in whom shine boundless powers great enough to raise the dead; sages and ascetics: all of them, when hunger comes, leave their goals of experience and set out toward the next village for alms, and when no alms come, their state is shaken. Men of honor who would give up their lives over a disgrace suffered even in a dream, when hunger comes, ask even of those who should never be asked, and their honor crumbles. Preceptors firmly set in the observances of caste and religion forget their observances when hunger comes and look out for food. Those filled with learning and instruction, who know subtleties hard to know and can accomplish deeds hard to accomplish, when hunger comes, lose their understanding and their judgment and stumble. The lustful, who swell in the pleasure of union without knowing night from day, when hunger comes, forget union, find desire bitter and are troubled. The proud, who swell with conceit, saying, “We are the great; there is none greater than us,” when hunger comes, lose their pride and praise the one who gives them food as the great one. The vain, who make others honor them in many ways over a single matter, when hunger comes, lose their show and are bewildered. If even these are so, what will the poor, who have no support of any kind, not suffer when hunger comes! At such a time, if food reaches those poor, what joy will arise! What gain will come to those who brought that joy about! Know that it is hard even to say what it is like.

When hunger grows strong in living beings, the understanding of the living being loses its light and grows faint; as it grows faint, the light of God, the Knowledge of knowledge, is veiled; as that is veiled, the purusha tattva flags; as it flags, the prakriti tattva is dulled; as it is dulled, all the qualities fall into disorder; the mind falters and scatters; the intellect fails; the reflecting mind is troubled; the ego collapses; the vital breath reels; all the elements of the body swelter; wind, bile and phlegm leave their balance; the eyes cloud over and sink; the ears go deaf with a hum; the tongue dries and parches; the nose softens and burns; the skin thins and loses feeling; hands and feet grow weak and limp; the voice changes its tone and stammers; the teeth loosen; the passages of excretion are scorched; the body darkens; the hair stands stiff; the nerves soften and waste; the pulses lose their hold and grow slack; the bones char and the joints crack open; the heart burns; the brain shrinks; the semen is heated and dries up; the liver dissolves; blood and body fluids drain away; the flesh softens and loses its nature; the stomach blazes up; burning and agitation increase more and more; and the signs and experiences of being very near to death appear more and more. That all these afflictions arise from hunger is common to every living being.

When food is found and eaten and the hunger leaves, all these afflictions leave with it. Then all the tattvas flourish, the heart grows cool, the understanding shines, and within and on the face the glow of life and the glow of God brim over, and a matchless bliss of satisfaction arises. What merit can be called the equal of the merit that brings about such bliss? To which deity can the people of merit who do this merit be called equal? Know for truth that they are a portion of God, who is above all deities. From this it will be known that the agony of hunger is the agony in which the three agonies, the agony of hell, the agony of birth and the agony of death, are joined and brought to completion; and that the bliss of satisfaction that comes from food is the very bliss of liberation, which fills every place, within, without, in the middle, below, above and on every side, and never changes at any time.

If there were no hunger, living beings would not look to one another for food; where they do not look to one another, acts of help do not arise; where help does not arise, Jeevakarunyam does not shine; where Jeevakarunyam does not shine, the Grace of God cannot be gained. Know, therefore, that hunger too is an instrument of help given by God.

If those who suffer from hunger do not feel, even on seeing their mother, father, wife, children, estate, land, gold, gems and the like, the joy they feel on seeing food, what must their joy be when they eat it? Know, therefore, that the essential nature, form and character of this food are themselves a partial essential nature, form and character of the Grace of God.

When the fire called hunger catches and blazes within the bodies of the poor, to put it out with food: that is Jeevakarunyam. When the poisonous wind called hunger is about to blow out the lamp that is the understanding of the poor, to give food and keep that lamp burning: that is Jeevakarunyam. When the temples called the bodies of living beings, the dwelling place of the natural light of God, are falling into ruin through hunger, to give food and make those temples shine again: that is Jeevakarunyam. When the whole household of tattvas of the living being, who keeps house in the body in order to gain the bliss of God, is shaken from its place and perishing through hunger, to give food and set that whole household firm again: that is Jeevakarunyam. When the tiger called hunger springs on poor living beings and begins to kill them, to kill that tiger and save that life: that is Jeevakarunyam. When the poison called hunger rises to the head and the living being swoons, to draw that poison down with food and clear the swoon: that is Jeevakarunyam. When the cruel scorpion called hunger enters the belly and stings, and the poor writhe in the throbbing pain, to soothe that pain with food and end their distress: that is Jeevakarunyam. The poor who are seized with dread, saying, “That sinner called hunger, which half killed and devoured us all day and night yesterday, will come again today! What shall we do?”: to remove their dread is Jeevakarunyam. The poor who are bewildered like a fly fallen into honey, saying, “The sun is climbing; soon the torment called hunger will be upon us! What can be done against this fate?”: to remove their bewilderment is Jeevakarunyam. The poor sunk in worry, saying, “It is growing dark; where shall we go now for food? Whom shall we ask? What shall we do?”: to change their worry is Jeevakarunyam. The poor who shed tears, saying, “Walking and walking, our legs are worn out; asking and asking, our mouths are worn out; thinking and thinking, our minds are worn out. What shall we do now for this wretched belly?”: to give them food and turn away their tears is Jeevakarunyam. Living beings who are people of honor, who say, “The day is gone, hunger torments us, shame stops us from going elsewhere, our dignity aches to open our mouths and ask, the belly burns, and we know no way even to give up our lives; why did we take this body?”, whose minds and faces droop, whose tongues will not rise to speak, and whose minds churn like a mute who has seen an ominous dream: to give them food and guard their honor is Jeevakarunyam. The poor who reason with themselves, “If in our former birth we had read the signs of hunger in the hungry and relieved it, someone would come in this birth to read the signs of our hunger and relieve it; we did not do so then, and no one does so for us now,” and who grieve and cannot sleep: to give them food, remove their grief and let them sleep is Jeevakarunyam. There are discerning people who, even when hunger has worn them so thin that the veins show over the whole body, their life is shrinking and faintness covers them, cannot bring themselves to ask strangers, and who, thinking of God again and again, lie down with the cruel fire of hunger in the pit of the stomach, like those who lie down on a fire to sleep: to give them food and cool that fire of hunger is Jeevakarunyam. The poor who think and think, “How can we starve today as we starved yesterday? Even if, being young, we dare to starve again today, what shall we do for the belly of our poor wife, who cannot bear starvation? Her hunger is not the worst of it: our mother and father, worn out by old age, will die if they starve again today! What shall we do? How shall we look at the drooping faces of our children, exhausted from crying and crying with hunger?”, and who grieve with their cheeks in their hands and tears welling in their eyes, while the fire of hunger, the fire of fear and the fire of worry blaze within them like the fire a smith blows up in his forge: to give them food and change their distress is Jeevakarunyam. The poor who grieve, each thinking alone, again and again, “Even those who lack nothing in eyes, hands, feet and the other limbs, and have the strength to earn food, lie here suffering from hunger. By what way will food come to us, who are blind, deaf, mute and lame? How will our hunger go?”: to give them food and remove their grief is Jeevakarunyam. Those who suffer from hunger may be of any country, any religion, any caste, any occupation: without instructing them in or questioning them about the ways of their country, religion, caste, occupation and the like, but knowing that the light of God shines alike in all living beings, to look on all alike and relieve their hunger in keeping with each one’s own ways: that is Jeevakarunyam. When hunger comes to animals, birds, creeping things and plants, beings whose hunger can be relieved with sattvic food in keeping with the discipline of Sanmarkkam, to relieve their hunger: that is Jeevakarunyam.

There are living beings who have the understanding to gain the rights to the world’s goods by which hunger may be relieved, yet, through former karma and through carelessness, have not gained those rights and suffer from hunger. Jeevakarunyam moves one to give them food, remove the distress of their hunger and bring about the bliss of satisfaction; and it is with this key called Jeevakarunyam that one must open the door of the upper house that is liberation, go in, and live enjoying a bliss that never perishes. Therefore householders who have earned, while there is still time, the key to the house of liberation called Jeevakarunyam will need no help from the means of temple service, ritual worship, yoga and wisdom; they will reach the house of bliss that is never otherwise reached, open its door, go in, and live as the eternally liberated.

Those under vows, devotees and seers who perform the practices of temple service and ritual worship, such as walking around holy lands, bathing in holy waters, living in holy places, beholding holy images, singing hymns of praise, chanting, keeping vows, performing fire sacrifices and offering worship; yogis who give up food, abandon sleep, renounce attachment to the objects of sense, subdue the senses, still the mind and remain in yoga; Siddhas who have gained the boundless bliss of the attainments; and the wise (jñānis) who have discerned the eternal from the transient, renounced every attachment and gained the experience of Brahman: know truly that, if they have not earned the key called Jeevakarunyam, they will climb up, some sooner and some later, to the upper house called liberation, wait close by, and turn back again to earn that key; they will not open the door, go in and live in its bliss. From this it will also be known that for all living beings in whom understanding has dawned, Jeevakarunyam is itself the worship of God.

Moreover, all householders who hold to the discipline of Jeevakarunyam, while enjoying the pleasures of the world such as eating and married union, become wholly fit to receive the Grace of the all-powerful God. Those who practice wisdom, yoga, austerity, vows, chanting, meditation and the like without the discipline of Jeevakarunyam are not in the least fit to receive the Grace of God. They are not even to be thought of as having the light of the soul. Know that all acts done without Jeevakarunyam are useless acts of conjuring.

All living beings are partial expressions of the natural truth of God, and the light of God’s Grace shines in each of them in its own place. Therefore, among householders, it is not acceptable to the Grace of God that householders of small means, able to relieve the hunger only of their own family, mother, father, spouse, children, siblings and the like, should leave their family of mother, father, children, siblings and the rest to suffer from hunger and begin to relieve the hunger of strangers; nor that they should leave the strangers who come to them hungry to suffer from that hunger and begin to relieve the hunger of their own family. Know for truth, therefore: that they must cut their household spending as far as they can and remove the hunger of both; that householders who fall short even of small means, who by toil earn barely enough to relieve the hunger of their own family, must at least relieve their own family’s hunger, and, being very kind toward the strangers who come to them hungry, must make a fitting effort to have their hunger relieved, if only through someone else; that householders of means and standing must, each according to their income, relieve the hunger and bring about the bliss of satisfaction of mother, father, spouse, children, siblings, relatives, friends, guests, elders, servants, strangers, enemies and others, and also of the cows, bulls, buffaloes, goats, horses, plants and other living things they have gained to help their household; that at weddings, the birth of children, offerings to the deities and other such occasions, they must restrain the spending of money on different ceremonies, different entertainments and different displays of grandeur, and at each of those occasions, weddings and the rest, do the one excellent thing that relieves the hunger of hungry living beings and brings them bliss; and that, if they do so, they themselves will gain a bliss many times greater than the bliss the hungry gained when their hunger left them.

At weddings and other special occasions householders decorate the pavilion, have various ceremonies performed there, and hold entertainments such as dancing, singing, the display of gifts and processions, and displays of grandeur such as cakes, sweets and flavored rice; and while they are sunk in revelry, they will not consent even to look at the faces of the hungry poor. At just such times of joy some calamity or other befalls them, or their children, their siblings or others. Then they lose all that joy and grieve. When they grieve so, no one has ever seen the decorated pavilion, the ceremonies with all their resolves and variations, the entertainments of dancing, singing, music, the display of gifts and processions, or the displays of cakes, sweets and flavored rice ward off that calamity. If, at that auspicious event, they had truly given food to hungry living beings, removed their hunger, and made the light of God and the bliss of God shine out within them and on their faces, would not that light and that bliss have removed the calamity that came at that moment and, in truth, brought about light and bliss? Know, therefore, that at weddings and other special occasions too, the important thing is to relieve the hunger of the hungry, each according to their station, and bring about the bliss of satisfaction. If householders suffering from incurable diseases such as colic, abdominal ulcer and leprosy take up the relieving of the hunger of the hungry as their vow, each according to their station, that practice of Jeevakarunyam will itself act as a good medicine, cure those diseases and bring about exceptional well-being; this is the truth.

Householders who have long been without children and grieve, keeping vow after vow: if they take up as their vow the relieving of the hunger of the hungry poor, each according to their station, that practice of Jeevakarunyam will bring them children of good understanding; this is the truth. Householders who have learned from signs that their life will be short and live in worry, afraid of dying: if they take up as their vow the relieving of the hunger of the hungry poor, each according to their station, that practice of Jeevakarunyam will bring them long life; this is the truth. Householders who grieve over learning, knowledge, wealth, enjoyment and the like: if they take up as their vow the relieving of the hunger of the hungry poor, each according to their station, that practice of Jeevakarunyam will bring them learning, knowledge, wealth, enjoyment and the rest; this is the truth.

For householders who possess Jeevakarunyam and have made the relieving of the hunger of the hungry their vow, the summer sun will not oppress them, nor the ground scorch them; great rains, great winds, great frosts, great thunderbolts, great fires and other calamities will not bring them suffering; incurable diseases such as smallpox, poisonous winds and poisonous fevers will not arise; those householders who possess Jeevakarunyam will not be troubled by river floods, by thieves or by enemies; they will not be dishonored by kings or by deities; in the fields of householders who possess Jeevakarunyam the harvest will increase more and more without toil; in trade there will be profit without hindrance, and in office advancement without harm; they will be surrounded by kin and servants; they will not be put in fear by fierce animals, harmful creatures, evil spirits or evil deities. Truly, no calamity of any kind will come to householders who possess Jeevakarunyam, whether through carelessness or through destiny.

Know that it is God’s command that this supreme vow, the discipline of Jeevakarunyam, which relieves the hunger of the hungry and brings about bliss, must of necessity be kept by all: by celestial beings, humans, celibate students, householders, ascetics, renunciants, men, women, the old, the young, those of high and those of low station, and everyone else.

Know also that, in the matter of relieving the hunger of the hungry, even if a wife stands in the way of her husband or a husband in the way of his wife, a father in the way of his children or children in the way of their father, a preceptor in the way of his disciple, a master in the way of his servants, or a king in the way of his subjects, one must not be held back in the least by these obstacles, but must carry on the discipline of Jeevakarunyam, firmly believing in truth that the good and the evil each one does comes back to that one and goes nowhere else.

When people of merit think of giving food to living beings truly suffering from hunger, their minds have let go of all other attachments and become a pure faculty in so thinking; know truly, therefore, that such people of merit are yogis. When they serve the food as they intended, they rejoice, knowing the other’s eating as their own eating; know truly, therefore, that they are jñānis. At the moment those who are given food eat and are rid of their hunger, the light of God fills the soul within and without, below and above, in the middle and on every side, cools all the tattvas beginning with the faculties, makes the whole body flourish with coolness, and shines out in fullness on the face; and since the givers see and enjoy this light of God, and the bliss of God that is the bliss of satisfaction, before their very eyes, know that those people of merit are those who have seen God, and liberated ones who enjoy the bliss of God. Since those who have eaten, been rid of hunger and rejoiced look upon these people of merit as divine, know truly that they are indeed divine.

Know that it is sworn, with the all-powerful God as witness, that the noble ones who hold the discipline of Jeevakarunyam and deliver living beings from the peril called hunger, whatever their caste, whatever their religion, whatever their occupation, have an excellence worthy of the reverence of all: celestial beings, sages, Siddhas, yogis and everyone else.

The further unfolding of this discipline of Jeevakarunyam may be found in the Samarasa Veda.

Prabhava year, month of Chithirai.

Thiru Chitrambalam.

Here ends Part One of Jeeva Karunya Ozhukkam.

Thiru Chitrambalam. Jeeva Karunya Ozhukkam, Part Two: The Life of the Soul’s Bliss.

Those who have gained human birth, the highest birth in this world, must quickly know, while there is still time, and attain the foremost bliss and happiness of the soul that can be attained through this birth.

If one would know how many kinds there are of that foremost life of the soul’s bliss: know that there are three kinds, the life of bliss in this life, the life of bliss in the life hereafter, and the life of supreme bliss.

The bliss of this life is this: know that the bliss enjoyed for a few days, by one who has received a small body and small faculties, through small effort, in small objects of sense, is the bliss of this life.

The gain of the bliss of this life is this: in human birth, to have good understanding, with no lack in body, faculties, world or enjoyments; to be free of obstacles such as hunger, disease and murder; to be embraced by relatives, friends, neighbors and others; and, with a virtuous wife through whom the family line may flourish, to enjoy the objects of sense for a few days. Know that this is the gain of the bliss of this life.

The bliss of the life hereafter is this: know that the bliss enjoyed for many days, by one who has received a large body and large faculties in a higher birth, through great effort, in great objects of sense, is the bliss of the life hereafter.

The gain of the bliss of the life hereafter is this: know that the gain of bliss enjoyed for many days, by one who has received a higher birth, with all the good things named under the gain of the bliss of this life, in an exalted state, in pure objects of sense, is the gain of the bliss of the life hereafter.

Supreme bliss is this: God, whose form is perfect natural truth, makes all bodies, all faculties, all worlds and all enjoyments appear and shine by the special presence of the Power of Grace, His perfect natural light. To receive the perfect natural bliss of this God, and to enjoy it at all times, in all places, in every way and in every measure, without hindrance: know that this matchless great bliss is supreme bliss.

The gain of supreme bliss is this: to shine as all things oneself.

If one would know what the greatness of those who have attained the bliss of this life is: know that it is to gain the auspicious qualities of love, kindness, right conduct, self-restraint, patience, truthfulness, purity and the like, to enjoy the pleasures of the senses through toil and effort, and to live with a good name.

If one would know what the greatness of those who have attained the gain of the bliss of the life hereafter is: know that it is to gain the auspicious qualities of love, kindness and the like, to enjoy the pure pleasures of the senses for many days, as they wish and without hindrance, through effort, and to live with a good name.

If one would know what the greatness of those who have attained the gain of supreme bliss is: they will have changed the body made of the impure elemental products, skin, nerves, bone, flesh, blood, semen and the like, and of their causes, the atoms of impure prakriti; and they will have gained the Pure Body, a body of the pure elemental products, which is gold so high that its fineness cannot be measured; the Pranava Body, a body of the pure elemental causes, which only appears as a form of gold and, like space, cannot be touched; and the Body of Wisdom, which does not even appear, yet shines like space. Within, they are not pinned down by the solidity of earth; without, even if earth, stones and the like are thrown at them, these do not strike their form. Within, they are not chilled by the nature of water; without, even if they are pressed under water, their form does not sink. Within, they are not burned by the heat of fire; without, even if they are burned in fire, neither heat nor scar appears on their body. Within, they are not moved by the force of wind; without, the wind cannot touch their form and move it. Within, they are not suspended by the pervasion of space; without, space cannot suspend their body. Their body moves about not only with support but without support as well. Their organs of knowledge, the eyes and the rest, and their organs of action, speech and the rest, do not take hold of objects such as seeing and speaking; if, out of compassion, they wish to take hold of objects, walls, mountains and other barriers do not veil their eyes. Their eyes, from where they are, see and know objects anywhere in the macrocosm and the microcosm, within, without and everywhere. Wherever in the macrocosm and the microcosm anyone speaks, their ears, from where they are, hear and know it. Their tongue, from where it is, tastes and knows flavors wherever they are. Their body, from where it is, touches and knows what is to be touched wherever it is. Their nose, from where it is, smells and knows fragrances wherever they are. Their hands, from where they are, can give to those who are anywhere. Their feet, from where they are, can walk anywhere. Their speech, from where they are, can speak with anyone, anywhere. Their other senses, from where they are, can rejoice everywhere. The mind and the other inner faculties do not take hold of objects of any kind; if they begin to take hold of them out of compassion, they think over, examine and determine, in a single moment and all together, all the thoughts and doubts of all living beings. Their knowledge does not know anything by pointing to it; if out of compassion it begins to know by pointing, it points to and knows, all together in a single moment, all universes, all living beings, all qualities, all experiences and all fruits. They are beyond the qualities: within, they are not altered by the three qualities, tamas, rajas, sattva and the rest; without, their qualities do not take hold of the faculties. Within, they are not covered by prakriti; without, their prakriti does not take hold of the qualities. Within, they are not divided by the tattva of time; without, their sacred body is not hindered by time. Within, they are not measured by the measure of the fixed order; without, their sacred body is not bounded by the fixed order. Nor do they have the other tattvas, time, knowledge, desire, purusha and the rest, or the products of the tattvas. They are not divided by maya; they pass beyond pure great maya and shine above it as forms of knowledge. They are not hindered by food, sleep, sexual union or fear. No faults arise in their body, such as shadow, sweat, dirt, gray hair, wrinkles, old age and death. Their body is not harmed, anywhere or at any time, by frost, rain, thunder, sun and the like; by rakshasas, asuras, ghosts, demons and the like; or by celestial beings, sages, humans, the beings of hell, animals, birds, creeping things and plants; nor can it be cut by sword, knife or any weapon. It belongs to their body that all universes appear small as atoms and all atoms appear great as universes. The attainments of action, the attainments of yoga and the attainments of wisdom, such as raising the dead and making the old young, shine unceasingly in their presence. The functions of creating, preserving, destroying, veiling and bestowing Grace take place the moment they think of them. The five Lords of these functions carry out their tasks at the glance from the corner of their eye. Their knowledge will be the knowledge of God; their action will be the action of God; their experience will be the experience of God. They will shine as possessing all power, imperishable at all times, free of the three impurities, egoity, maya and karma, and of the traces of those impurities, and bearing the very form of the great Grace. Even a lifeless straw, by their holy gaze, receives life and performs the five functions. Know that their greatness shines in the six ends, Vedanta, Siddhanta, Kalanta, Bodhanta, Nadanta and Yoganta, and shines beyond them as well. Know that this is the greatness of those who have attained the gain of supreme bliss.

If one asks by what means these three kinds of life, with their gain of bliss, can be obtained: one must know that they can be reached by a portion of Grace, the natural light of God, and by the fullness of Grace.

If one asks which of these three kinds of bliss can be reached by a portion of Grace, and which can be reached by the fullness of Grace: one must know that the two, the gain of bliss in this life and the gain of bliss in the life hereafter, can be reached by a portion of Grace, and that the one, the gain of supreme bliss, can be reached by the fullness of Grace.

If one asks of what nature Grace, the natural light of God, is: one must know that it is of the nature of the perfect light, which shines and makes shine all the modes of every power, the ways in which those who speak speak, those who think think, those who know know, and those who experience experience, so that they shine as mere portions of its own nature.

If one asks where that Grace shines: one must know that it shines in the place where the seer sees and the place that is seen; where the hearer hears and what is heard; where the taster tastes and what is tasted; where the smeller smells and what is smelled; where the one who touches touches and what is touched; where the speaker speaks and what is spoken of; where the doer acts and what is acted upon; where the walker walks and the ground that is walked; where the one who lets go lets go and what is let go; where the thinker thinks and what is thought; where the inquirer inquires and what is inquired into; where the one who resolves resolves and what is resolved; where the one who prompts prompts and what is prompted; where the knower knows and what is known; where the one who experiences experiences and what is experienced: in all such places, at all times.

If one asks by what means that Grace can be obtained: one must know that it can be obtained through the discipline of Jeevakarunyam.

If one asks how Grace can be obtained through the discipline of Jeevakarunyam: Grace is the natural light of God, or the compassion of God. Jeevakarunyam is the natural light of souls, or the compassion of souls. Hence, by the small light, which is the instrument of oneness, the great light can be obtained, and by the small compassion the great compassion can be obtained. One must know that it is like obtaining a great fire from a small fire.

Hence the discipline of Jeevakarunyam is known to be Sanmarkkam. When Jeevakarunyam shines, knowledge and love shine together with it; through them the power to do good shines; and from that power to do good all good things arise. When Jeevakarunyam is veiled, knowledge and love, which stand with it, are veiled together; so the power to do good is veiled; and once the power to do good is veiled, all evils arise. Therefore one must know that merit is Jeevakarunyam alone, and sin is the absence of Jeevakarunyam alone. Further, one must know as the truth that the light that comes through the discipline of Jeevakarunyam is the light of God, and the bliss that comes through it is the bliss of God; that the accomplished wise, who have known, attained and experienced this light and this bliss many times over and have reached fullness, are the liberated who have gained the supreme bliss spoken of above; and that it is they who, knowing God by knowledge, have become wholly one with God.

If one asks what the defining mark of the discipline of Jeevakarunyam is: one must know that it is to live worshipping God through the melting of the soul that arises, in all living beings alike, toward other living beings.

If one asks how God is worshipped through the melting of the soul that arises toward living beings: as the melting of the soul, that is, compassion, arises in living beings toward living beings more and more, Grace, the light of God within that soul, comes forth and shines in fullness; and as that divine Grace shines, the bliss of God becomes experience and grows full. One must know that this experience growing full is the worship of God.

If one asks how, as the melting of the soul arises more and more, Grace, the light of God within the soul, comes forth: one must know that it comes forth just as, when churning makes curd and wood yield more and more, the butter and the fire within each come forth.

If one asks how, as divine Grace shines, the bliss of God thereby becomes experience and grows full: one must know that the bliss of God grows full just as, once butter and fire come forth, their true nature becomes experience and grows full.

If one asks when the melting of the soul comes forth in living beings toward living beings: one must know that the melting of the soul arises when one sees, hears or comes to know that living beings are suffering through hunger, murder, disease, misfortune, thirst, fear, destitution and desire.

One must know these things. Hunger is a fire of the bodily frame, a varied product of māyā: when food is not received, it takes hold within the stomach, burns away the proper working of the instruments and faculties inside and outside the body, weakens the understanding, and is the first cause in driving out the soul. Murder is a cruel deed, a varied product of the elements: through many kinds of dislocation of the instruments and faculties it throws the instruments and faculties inside and outside the body into turmoil, so that they writhe, weakens the understanding, and is the instrumental cause in driving out the soul. Disease is a disorder of the bodily frame, a varied product of māyā: deranged by the imbalances of wind, bile and phlegm, it afflicts the instruments and faculties inside and outside the body, weakens the understanding, and stands as the instrumental cause in driving out the soul. Misfortune is the hindrances that block the experience of bodily enjoyments, arising through egoism, forgetfulness and differences of karma. Fear is the trembling that arises in the faculties and in the understanding when things befall that bring harm to the body and its other instruments. Destitution is not obtaining, by one’s own free power, such means of life as learning and wealth. Desire is the movement of mind that dwells on how hard to obtain are the things one means to attain, and makes one think of them more and more.

Among these, one must know that hunger and murder are the obstacles of the first rank, because they block all three, the bliss of this life, the bliss of the life hereafter and supreme bliss; that disease, fear, misfortune and destitution are the obstacles of the middle rank, because they block the bliss of this life and of the life hereafter in some measure; and that desire is the obstacle of the last rank, because it blocks the bliss of this life in some measure.

If one asks what the power of Jeevakarunyam is: one must know that its power is to move one to strive to remove whichever of hunger, murder and the like in other living beings made compassion arise, so that those beings may not suffer from it.

If one asks what the benefit of Jeevakarunyam is: one must know that its benefit is to bring about happiness for living beings.

The essential nature, form, character, pervasiveness and other aspects of this Jeevakarunyam will be found in the third Part.

Thiru Chitrambalam. Here ends Part Two of Jeeva Karunya Ozhukkam.

Jeeva Karunya Ozhukkam.

Part Three.

The Nature of Jeevakarunyam, and Related Matters.

Thiru Chitrambalam.

If one asks what kinship it is that gives rise to the melting of the soul which is Jeevakarunyam, compassion for all living beings: all living beings are portions of the natural truth of God, which is of one nature, and have been brought into bodies made of the elements by the Power of Grace of God; therefore all these living beings are of one kindred. When one of several brothers is seen, heard or known to be suffering from some misfortune, the melting that arises in another brother, who knows that body to be his brother’s body, is known to come from bodily kinship. In the same way, one must know that when a living being is seen, heard or known to be suffering from some misfortune, the melting that arises in another living being, who knows that being to be of its own kind in soul, comes from the kinship of souls.

If one asks: even when they see living beings suffering, some remain hard-hearted, without Jeevakarunyam; why do these lack the kinship of souls? The eye called the knowledge of the soul, which should know the suffering being to be of its own kind in soul, and know that it is suffering and will suffer, has had its light greatly dulled by the cataract of ignorance; and the spectacles taken as aids to it, the auxiliary eyes beginning with the mind, are thick, without brightness or reflection. So they could not see and know. Therefore one must know that, though the kinship of souls was there, Jeevakarunyam was absent.

But if one asks where this Jeevakarunyam, the melting of the soul, finds its strength: one must know that Jeevakarunyam had its strength in the very act of removing whichever obstacle, of hunger, murder, disease and the like, it arose in response to.

Hence, if one asks what answer to give those who say, “All the sufferings that come to living beings through hunger, murder, disease and the like are only experiences of the faculties and senses, such as the mind and the eye, and not experiences of the soul; so Jeevakarunyam has no special use”: in this body, apart from the soul and the light of God that is the Knowledge within knowledge, all the other constituents, the faculties, the senses and the rest, are only insentient instruments, not souls, which are knowledge itself. So it is the souls, being knowledge, that experience pleasure and pain; the insentient constituents do not know how to experience them. The faculties beginning with the mind and the senses beginning with the eye are the fittings of a small house, built and given by the Grace of God for the life of the living being. It is the one who lives in the house who experiences joy and sorrow; the fittings of the house, earth, stone, wood, air, fire, water and the like, cannot know how to experience them.

Moreover, when eyes dimmed by cataract and looking through the spectacles that serve as auxiliary eyes see something sorrowful, it is the eyes that shed tears; the spectacles shed none. So one must know that the instruments such as the mind, which serve as spectacles to the soul’s sight, do not know how to experience pleasure and pain. And if one asks what answer to give those who say, “When pleasure comes to a living being, the mind rejoices; when sorrow comes, the mind droops. Must it not then be understood that the mind experiences pleasure and pain?”: just as the radiance and the weariness of the body of the master of the house, who lives inside a house of crystal, are reflected in that house and appear outside, and just as the brightness and the weariness of the eyes are reflected in the spectacles placed over them and appear outside, so the gladness and the drooping that pleasure and pain bring to the soul are reflected in the faculties and senses, the mind, the eye and the rest, and appear outside.

Again, when a lamp placed inside a house shines with great brightness, the house and the fittings of the house shine very brightly. When the light of that lamp lessens, the house and everything in the house grow less bright.

Therefore one must know that the answer is to establish by proof that pleasure and pain are not the mind’s experience but the soul’s alone, and that for this experience the faculties and senses are instruments that serve the soul.

If one asks why so many of the living beings created by God suffer greatly from hunger, murder, disease and the like: one must know that it is because they are living beings who, in their former bodies, did not love the discipline of Jeevakarunyam and abandoned it, became hard of understanding, and walked the evil path; therefore, by the decree of Grace that God has ordained, they suffer greatly from hunger, murder, disease and the like.

If one asks how it is known that there was a former body: of a householder who has come to live in a house, paying rent, we know that before this too he kept house in another house, paying rent; that he would not keep house without a house; that if trouble arises in the house he has now come to, he will move again to another house; and that if he builds a house of his own, his by right, he will no longer move and pay rent as before. In the same way, one must know that the living being who has come to dwell in this body, paying the rent of food, lived before this too in another body, paying that same rent; that it would not live without a body; that if trouble arises in this body too, it will move into yet another body; and that if it gains for itself, as its own by right, the eternal body of Grace, it will never again move into another body.

If one asks why people argue in so many ways, some saying there was no former body taken and will be no later body taken, and that when the body now taken perishes the one who dwells in the body perishes too; some saying that he attains liberation; some that he experiences his sins and merits for all time; some that he remains without a body in the place where the body perished: one must know that all of them are bound up with the doctrine of the Lokayata creed, which holds that the body itself is the soul and enjoyment itself is liberation. So they are unable to know the truth by the means of proof, perception, inference and the rest: that within the insentient body there is a soul who is knowledge; that he has bondage and liberation; and that until he attains liberation he takes one body after another through the varieties of his bondage. And one must know that their doctrine has neither proof, nor reasoning, nor experience behind it.

If one asks how it is that they have none: if living beings obtained their bodies and enjoyments by their own free will, they would obtain the bodies and enjoyments that suit their own desires. It is not so: some have sound limbs that suit their desire and enjoy pleasures, while others have defective limbs against their desire and undergo sorrows. Therefore one must establish by proof and know these things: that living beings did not obtain their bodies and enjoyments by their own wish; that if it is said each receives what he receives by nature, then nature must be of one kind, never varying at any time, and since it is not of one kind but varies in many ways, it is not nature; that if it is said to be God’s will, then, since God is compassionate and just, He would bring all living beings alike to experiences of happiness only, and since He does not, it is not God’s will; and that in the first creation, made by the Grace of God, the ancient latent tendency of impurity made living beings fail in their effort toward the rules He had ordained so that they might attain His natural bliss, and through the different strivings of that beginningless tendency of impurity, the many, many kinds of bodies and enjoyments came about afterward in the second creation.

If it is said that when the body one has taken is lost one does not take another body: the bodies that have perished from the first creation until now are beyond count, and so, likewise, are the souls; so by now souls should no longer be taking bodies. It is not so; they go on taking bodies. And if it is said that souls are made new each time and new bodies brought to each of them: only bodies can be made new; the soul within the body cannot be made new. The soul has been shown to exist at all times. It neither arises nor perishes; it can be neither made nor destroyed. If souls too were made, like a pot, they would not know how to experience pleasure and pain, and could not acquire merit and sin; they would perish as a pot perishes. And if they perished, there would be no bondage and liberation, no merit and sin. Even children know that when a pot breaks, the air and the space inside the pot do not break. Therefore one must know by reasoning that when the body perishes, the light of the soul and the light of God within the body do not perish, and that it is true that souls receive different bodies and enjoyments through differences in their effort.

To one mother and father, twins are born at one time. Of them, one child is fair, the other dark; one has a defective limb, the other none; one drinks milk, the other vomits whenever it drinks milk; one is sickly, the other free of sickness; one speaks at two years, the other cannot yet speak. If one inquires closely how this difference came to these twins, here, with no cause whatever, one must know that it is the differences of effort, that is, the karma, of the bodies taken in former births. Again, when these twins are three years old and at play, sitting eating the sweets their parents gave each of them separately, if some other child comes along, one of the two sees it and gives it the sweet in its hand, while the other stops it, saying, “You must not give it.” One child takes up a book and reads, as schoolboys read; the other snatches the book away, throws it down, and strikes it, saying, “You must not read.” One child is afraid; the other is unafraid. If one begins to inquire closely how kindness, love, understanding, action and the rest came to be present or absent in these children in this way, at an age before their parents had taught them, one must reflect on experience and know that the latent tendencies of the bodies these two children had in their former births came into these bodies in this birth untaught. Knowing this, it becomes perfectly clear that living beings have bodies before and after. One must know that it is because they cannot know this that people say there is no rebirth.

Again, if, even while this gross body has not perished, the soul takes one body after another in dream and experiences many, many wonders, there is no need to say that when this body departs it will take another body and undergo the experiences that suit its latent tendencies. Again, if by the special power of a siddhi one who was in this body leaves this body and enters another body, there is no need to say that when this body perishes the soul that was in it will enter another body through the differences of its karma.

Again, if a bird, through difference of time and difference of quality, is first in one body called an egg and afterward comes into another body called a chick, there is no need to say that souls, through differences of karma, come from this body into another body. Again, if through a wasp a grub comes from the body called a worm into the body called a wasp, there is no need to say that through karma a soul comes from one body into another.

Again, if within a single birth a soul comes from the body of an infant into the body of a child, from the body of a child into the body of youth, and from the body of youth into the body of old age, there is no need to say that the same soul, through differences of karma, will come into another fleshly body. Again, if through various mantras and tantras souls come within a single birth from a female body into a male body and from a male body into a female body, there is no need to say that through differences of karma they will take another body.

Again, the soul that was in a plant body comes, in that very body, into the body of a worm called the emerald worm. Again, an ant comes, from that very body, into the body called the ant-bird. And a snake comes, from that very body, into another body called the serpent-bird.

In this way, if the souls in each kind of body, human, animal, bird, reptile, water creature, plant and the rest, take other bodies from those very bodies, there is no need to say that when those bodies perish they will take other bodies.

Some say, “If it is true that there was a former body, who were you in that body? What is your story? Tell us.” If one asks what the answer to their question is: when a man of seventy is asked, “What was your story when you were five years old?”, he says, “When even my story of yesterday I cannot tell today, but stand blinking, bewildered by the change of state, how could I tell the story of my fifth year? How can you ask it?” If a man is so bewildered that he cannot know and tell even the story of his one birth, because of the changes of state, then how can we, bewildered through so many states, know and tell the story of what happened in a former body? One must know that this is the answer.

If one asks how the meritorious and sinful karma that living beings did in a former body comes into this body too: if a householder, in the house where he lived before, brought in men of the evil path and kept company with them, then even when he leaves that house and comes to live in another house, those men of the evil path will come to that house too and keep company with him. In the same way, one must know that if a living being, in the body it dwelt in before, willingly did sinful deeds, then when that being comes into another body, those sinful deeds will come into that body too and join that being; and that meritorious deeds do the same.

If it is the law of God’s decree of Grace that living beings who abandoned the discipline of Jeevakarunyam in their former birth and walked the evil path are made to suffer in this birth through hunger, thirst and the like, would it not go against God’s decree of Grace to show those beings kindness, give them food and other needs, and relieve their suffering? If one asks the answer to this small question: a king has food given, through his servants, even to the great criminals who have wholly defied his command and sit in prison with fetters on their feet. In the same way, God has food given, through His attendant celestials, even to the sinners who have wholly defied His command and lie in hell, bound in many ways. When ordinary offenders stray from a king’s command, he keeps them from the gain they would have had from him, removes them from office, and sends them out of that place to another, so that good sense may come to them. Having lost their office, they lose also their comforts, good meals and the rest, and they wander about the outskirts of towns, suffering for want of food and other needs. Then the kind see them and give them food and other needs. When the king sees or hears of it, he is pleased with those who gave the food, calling them kind and good householders, and he raises them to a higher place and honors them; he is not angry. In the same way, when living beings with ordinary offenses do not walk by His command, God, by His power, keeps them from the joys they could have had, takes from them the comfortable enjoyments of the world He had given, and, so that good sense may come to those beings, removes them from that body and places them in another body. Having lost the comfortable enjoyments of the world, those beings lose also their comfortable meals and the rest, and suffer in place after place without food and other needs; and when the kind see that suffering and give them food and other needs, God is pleased with those who give, saying, “These are truly kind; may they attain ever greater happiness,” and He raises them to a higher state and honors them; He will not be angry. Therefore one must know that the answer is to know the truth and say it: what is agreeable to God’s decree of Grace is that living beings show kindness to living beings and care for them.

Through this discipline of Jeevakarunyam the order of this world flourishes. Without it, the order of this world cannot flourish in the least. When Jeevakarunyam is absent, knowledge and love do not appear; when they do not appear, kindly regard, unity and helpfulness do not shine; when these do not shine, the conduct of the weak is blocked by the strong, through envy and the like, and perishes. Then the conduct of the strong, too, turns through arrogance into tamasic conduct, goes astray and perishes. In a forest where tigers, lions and other beasts with not the least discipline of Jeevakarunyam roam, the order of this world does not go on at all. One must know that where people without Jeevakarunyam move about, the order of this world will not go on either. The order of the world beyond also goes on through Jeevakarunyam. Without it, the order of the world beyond cannot go on either. When Jeevakarunyam is absent, the light of Grace does not appear; when it does not appear, the state of God is not reached; when that is not reached, no one at all will attain the bliss of liberation; and if it is not attained, one must know that the order of the world beyond cannot go on at all.

Because the discipline of Jeevakarunyam is so little practiced, vicious births multiply and evil conduct greatly prevails. All the sinful beings who had no Jeevakarunyam in their former bodies have been born, each according to their sinful deeds: some as dwellers in hell, some as dwellers in the sea, some as dwellers in the forest; some as vicious beasts, tigers, bears, lions, yalis, elephants, sambar deer, he-buffaloes, pigs, dogs, cats and the like; some as the vilest of birds, crows, vultures and the like; some as noxious creatures, snakes, scorpions and the like; some as savage creatures, crocodiles, sharks and the like; some as impure plants, the strychnine tree, the spurge and the like. Therefore one must know that evil conduct greatly prevails.

One must know that Jeevakarunyam is not only the chief means of obtaining the Grace of God but is also a portion of the light of that Grace; and that, since Jeevakarunyam is the natural light of souls, the light of God will never come forth, within or without, for living beings who lack that natural light.

If one asks what the aim of Jeevakarunyam is: it has been ordained by the Grace of God that all souls are portions of the natural truth, and places of unity and kinship where Grace, the natural light, may shine as the Knowledge within knowledge; that bodies made of the elements are the rightful means by which those souls become living beings and grow; that if souls do not become living beings and grow in those bodies, the light of the soul will be veiled; that if it is veiled, the light of Grace will not come forth; that when it does not come forth, dullness arises; that this dullness itself is the bondage of souls; that for this reason a body made of the elements is necessary; that since māyā is the material cause of bodies made of the elements, dangers will often befall those bodies through hunger, murder, thirst, disease, misfortune, fear, destitution and desire, the shifting illusions of that māyā; that living beings have been given by Grace the freedom fit to ward off such dangers, striving with all vigilance by their own knowledge, which has the help of the faculties and senses, so that those dangers do not befall them; that with this freedom all living beings ought to strive to remove dangers from their bodies and gain the soul’s true gain; that for living beings who suffer without the freedom to remove the dangers that come through hunger, murder, thirst, disease, misfortune, fear, destitution and desire, named above, the living beings who have the freedom to remove them must remove them out of compassion; that in so removing them, to remove the sufferings that come through hunger and through murder is the chief compassion; that to relieve the sufferings that come through the others is the lower Jeevakarunyam, and that it produces only a little of the happiness of this world; that to remove the suffering that comes through hunger and the suffering that comes through murder is the higher Jeevakarunyam, and that by Grace it brings all the happiness of this world, the boundless bliss of the siddhis, and the bliss of liberation that never perishes at any time; that those who have the freedom and the knowledge to remove the dangers named above when they befall other living beings, yet do not do so but deceitfully hold back, do not attain the freedom to enjoy the happiness of this world, the happiness of the other world, and with them the bliss of final release; and that they will lose even the freedoms of worldly enjoyment they now enjoy. Since this has been so ordained, one must know that the aim of Jeevakarunyam is this: that for living beings who lack the knowledge and freedom to remove dangers, those who have the knowledge and freedom to remove them should remove them, without deceit.

While the aim of Jeevakarunyam is to remove the dangers that come through hunger, murder, thirst, disease, misfortune, fear, destitution and desire, if one asks why it was stated here that removing only the dangers that come through hunger and through murder is the foremost compassion:

There are two kinds within the discipline of Jeevakarunyam: the higher Jeevakarunyam and the lower Jeevakarunyam. Of these, relieving hunger and preventing murder are the higher Jeevakarunyam; the rest are the lower Jeevakarunyam. Therefore one must know that the higher Jeevakarunyam was singled out. Moreover, those kind enough to remove the hunger of living beings suffering from hunger will not fail to give water to remove their thirst. Giving water is no great labor. Water is there in lakes, ponds, canals and such places…

Thiru Chitrambalam. Here ends Part Three of Jeeva Karunya Ozhukkam. Here ends Jeeva Karunya Ozhukkam, the first means of Suddha Sanmarkkam.