The Removal of Paasam
O Lord of Vennainallur girt with fields
Watered by the never-decreasing Pennai river!
O Meikandaa, You made Your advent in a lofty
Human form sporting hands, eyes, head, lips,
Legs, ears and nose, and extirpated, root and all,
My Karma! O deedless One! O the One Blue-throated!
O the Conferrer of flawless Gnosis to me!
With the advent of iruvinai-oppu, You removed
My malas and made ingress into me by Your grace.
If so, O divine Preceptor who annulled
My three malas, if follows that I stood one with
You inseparably. If You say that You did not abide
In me owing to the presence in me of the three malas,
Then the malas should continue gain the umbrage
Of Your feet like unto red lotus, but continue
In my thralldom to the malas. O Lord, if You say
That the residue of unexhausted Karma causes
My transmigrations, then it means this.
My embodied life ceases not so long as Karma lasts.
Neither Maya nor Karma will quit me; again
Aanavamala will continue to conceal my consciousness.
Since these malas continue to abide in me
I will be committing deeds which will result
In my endless transmigrations. Again, as
These malas are beginningless like You, they cannot
Cease to exist. So, Paasam too is peerless like You
And this contradicts the ancient truth
That declares that You alone are peerless.
So, how am I to assess and come by the truth?
Should I take it that You abide in me – a cur - ,
Or You do not abide in me at all?
Does Aanavamala perish in moksha or not?
What can I say of this quandary?
Give me in grace the one answer
That will spell all-sufficient clarity.
Translation: Dr. T. N. Ramachandran,Thanjaavoor ,2003