शिवज्ञानबोध (मेय्कण्डार - शैव सिद्धान्त का आधारभूत दार्शनिक सूत्र ग्रन्थ)

SECOND SUTRA. 27
as the physical covering of man completely hides his real self, so
the husk may conceal the rice. There is one more thing which
conceals the whiteness and purity of the rice (soul) and that is
the dark bran (anava) more intimately connected with it. And
then there is a sprout (Karma) but for which the grain will not
germinate (attain births). And what is the use of the husk?
Remove it, the seed will not germinate and grow into a plant
(attain bodies) and when you want to get at the rice (the real
self-soul) it helps by friction (by successive births—evolution) to
romove the dark bran (Anava-ignorance.)
Take Copper again. As we find it imbedded in the bosom of
a rock (God) it is a darksome ugly thing (man with his imper-
fections). What is it that makes it ugly, dims its real lustre? Its
rust. When did it become covered with rust? It was always so.
It is not a mere covering. The rust is in its very core. Was
Copper (soul) derived from Gold (God)? No. Can its rust
(anava) be removed and can it become Gold? We will see. Bring
it into use (births) and by friction applied by the hand or tama-
rind (Maya) it brightens a little (becomes intelligent and active.)
Lay it at rest, (resolution) the rust covers it again. And it is
the Alchemist's belief that after an innumerable number of Putams
(fire and friction) and when it had reached a certain kind of tone,
a touch of the Parisa Vedi (Alchemist's. stone) will turn it at once
into Gold. And our belief is that after we had undergone a suffi-
cient number of births, and we had reached malaparibagam
(மலபரிபாகம்), God's grace (சத்திநிபாதம்) will touch and con-
vert us into Himself. The Alchemist may or may not have suc-
ceeded in his life-long hope; at least there is no harm for us if we
believe that we will reach perfection, Divinehood. At any rate
we are sure of reaching perfect manhood.
Cf. “ கருமருவு குகையனையகாயத்தினடுவட்
டளிபுதோய் செம்பனைய யான்
கண்டகலவிருத்தி நீ ஞானக் கனல் மூட்டியே.