The Story of Saint Poosalar: Conquest of ?kaama? ------------------------------------------------ through Sublimation of Desire -- --------------------------------- ?bhakti yOga? ----------- The apathy and ridicule that fellow citizens showed towards his rather grandiose idea of a temple at Tiruninravoor deeply disappointed Poosalar Nayanmar. But it did not frustrate him. It only stoked further the fire of such desire --- "kaama" --- as it burned deep within his ardent heart. Since he found none around him who was willing to lend him a sympathetic hand, Poosalar looked around desperately for means to satisfy the burning urge. The plight of the Nayanmar, the pangs of agony he underwent are very movingly depicted by the great hagiographer Sekkizhar in his classic Tamil work "peria-purAnam". Let us savor a rather weak but nonetheless gripping translation of Sekkizhar's original: "Poosalar of Tiruninravoor spent many sleepless nights and days. Deeply agitated in mind he wondered when would come the time when he would speedily raise a temple for the Lord. Days went past. Weeks passed by and then months.... alas, he could see no solution to his plight. "Is my wish for an abode of God in Ninravoor a futile one? Is my dream really what my friends say it is: a madman's fantasy?", thought Poosalar, with grief and frustration gnawing away his heart, bit by bit, day by day... After many months spent thus in utter futility and insatiation, Poosalar's sinking heart one day awoke suddenly to an inspiring idea. It dawned upon him suddenly like an epiphany. "If I cannot fulfill my life's purpose with the help of my fellowmen, let me raise then the temple of my desire and dreams by the method my heart now bids!", he said to himself. "If I cannot physically erect a temple upon a land-site, let me then do it inside the site of my mind's innards. Let me raise the edifice of my Lord's Temple within the vast precincts of my mind.". With this bright new idea now seizing and captivating his heart, Poosalar began fabricating the great big temple he had conceived for the Almighty --- brick by brick, stone upon stone, as it were --- with the aid of his mind. A great big temple that could not be built in the objective world of reality now began to slowly take shape and form in the virtual reality of Poosalar's mind. His original desire for a "dream home", through a process of relentless Sublimation, had now reached culmination in "bhakti" -- i.e. what had once been narrow and selfish "kaama" for a personal abode now stood raised in the "culturally" or "ethically" higher realms of "bhakti". A deep passion seized Poosalar --- a passion to build a grand "Abode for God" through pure mental projection even if not through physical exertion. *************** Like a professional architect Poosalar first conceived in his mind a master-plan or blueprint of the design for the temple of his dreams. He went around Tiruninravoor and surveyed the landscape. Then he chose a site of his liking. Then he mentally constructed detailed detailed stuructural drawings such as the ones architects of those days drew up before breaking the ground at the construction site. "Let me make these drawings and engineering designs with my mind and my mind alone", thought Poosalar, "for I can do so without a care for the lack of the large sums required for it". After many months of such cerebral effort, and after he was satisfied that the designs and drawings of his great temple were drawn up to the lowest level of details, Poosalar next turned his attention to the plan of execution --- i.e. he began to go to work on producing a detailed project management schedule fully supported by estimates of bills of quantity and specifications! After spending many months in drawing up the detailed project plan, Poosalar next went about looking for a good way of assuring they were of top-class quality and specification. For this purpose, he consulted the various "aagama sastras", and ensured that the design and implementation program he had produced were all compliant with the strictest and most sacred standards/canons laid down for temple-structures in the aagamas. Finally after almost a year thus spent in planning and designing his project --- all in the deepest recesses of his imagination --- Poosalar was finally ready to begin construction. Mentally, he next began to mobilize resources at the "building site". And along with the required equipment so mobilized --- all in the mind --- he sought out the architects and masons and artisans too. He selected his imaginary artisans, 'sthapati-s' and masons and formally contracted their services! Finally, after all preliminary preparations done, and fixing an auspicious day as per the "panchAngam" (Vedic almanac), he finally laid the ceremonial foundation stone. And he then formally inaugurated the construction...!! *************** For the next few years Poosalar spent all his days personally supervising the imaginary construction of his great big temple project. His mind which had by now gone into a deeply meditative mood became a construction site! Day and night, his mind worked overtime on its desired project. Day and night, for months and years on end, Poosalar thus spent his years totally engrossed within the landscape of his own imagination. With single-minded devotion and extraordinary diligence --- through the small hours of the night, through the summers and fall --- he went about supervising the construction of his grand temple. ************ Mentally he constructed and made the several tiers of the temple-tower right from the basement to the base of the dome that was taking perfect shape. The crowning temple-dome was made according to the prescribed cubit height as per the aagama. The temple flagpost he re-erected and re-located here and there until it was perfectly situated and installed. With lime plaster he ensured (mentally) that he created architectural embellishments. Then wells he sunk, ramparts all around the temple walls he raised; tanks he dug and all other necessary structures like a "gO-shAla" (cow-sheds) and "yAga-shALas" ("sacrificial halls") he constructed besides these.... Years and years thus did Poosalar Nayanmar live and toil -- going about his daily labour of love, nay passion, his extraordinary engine of "kaama" relentlessaly driving him towards the final accomplishment of a dream: the erection a great big temple for the love of the Lord Almighty! It was a marvellous the way Poosalar's "bhakti" grew! His fellowmen laughed and jeered at him, taking him for an utter lunatic. He alone knew what great things were being accomplished within himself.... what a grand edifice of the spirit was taking shape within the mind and imagination. ************** (to be continued) Regards, dAsan, Sudarshan __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new. http://in.answers.yahoo.com ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Home is just a click away. 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